Aligned Layer Secures $20M Series A Funding for Verification

Aligned Layer, an Ethereum-based Universal Verification Layer (UVL), secured a $20 million Series A investment led by Hack VC.

Hack VC led a $20 million Series A investment that Aligned Layer, an Ethereum-based Universal Verification Layer (UVL), disclosed. The other funding participants were Finality, Symbolic VC, Decima Fund, J17, EVG Ventures, Nomad Capital, L2 Iterative, Protagonist, and DAO5.

In preparation for launching the mainnet, the firm intends to use the capital to speed up platform development. The firm has planned to transition to an EigenLayer testnet within the next few weeks. They currently have a testnet that is compatible with the Cosmos SDK.

The release states that Aligned Layer would use EigenLayer’s ETH staking technology to expedite and reduce the cost of verifying ZK proofs on Ethereum.

Using Ethereum and the developer’s preferred DA (data availability) layer, we swiftly and cheaply validate proofs and publish the results. In an X post, the business explained that it gives developers more leeway to concentrate on making great products for customers.

Even though a lot of firms are trying to make evidence generation faster, Aligned Layer claims that on-chain proof verification will be the main bottleneck in the future, rather than proof generation.

The company also highlighted the high costs associated with confirming some proving systems on Ethereum due to the way EVM operates. That’s where their platform comes in. They believe it makes things easier for beginners, shortens the time it takes to prove anything, and makes on-chain verification more affordable.

Once we’ve verified these proofs, we publish the findings on Ethereum and any DA layer. The announcement states that our service provides developers with an SDK to verify the outcomes of any smart contract.

EigenLayer AVS has made this possible by running several ZK and validity proof verifiers on a decentralized network natively in Rust and Go without the need for any virtual machines, according to Aligned Layer.

Among the many potential users of Aligned Layer’s platform are the following: ZK Oracles, on-chain gaming platforms, P2P protocols, verifiable machine learning, and bridge protocols (as stated in the company’s whitepaper).