Axiom Secures $20M in Series A for Zero-Knowledge

Axiom stated the funding will be used to recruit developers and advance their innovative approach to accessing authenticated blockchain.

In a Series A investment round, the smart contract infrastructure company Axiom raised twenty million dollars. Paradigm and Standard Crypto led the funding round, with participation from Robot Ventures and Ethereal Ventures.

Axiom announced on January 25th that it intends to use the funds to recruit developers and accelerate the development of its initial product. An innovative approach to gaining access to authenticated data on the blockchain is being proposed by the startup.

The use of zero-knowledge cryptography is employed rather than conventional consensus procedures, which are characterized by the fact that all nodes reach a consensus on a state of data.

“On-chain applications have adapted to the exorbitant cost of data by removing features or carefully crafting contracts to optimize data usage,” according to Axiom.

As stated by the protocol, developers are unable to exploit data at scale, which compels them to structure smart contracts in a complex form.

Users can demonstrate that a statement is accurate without divulging information using zero-knowledge technologies. To put it another way, it makes it possible to implement a verification method without disclosing the data that is responsible for the computation.

According to Axiom, utilizing ZK cryptography makes it possible for on-chain applications to manage a greater quantity of data at a reduced cost.

In 2023, the deployment of the mainnet allowed developers to access historical Ethereum data, carry out computations off-chain, and communicate data with zero-knowledge proofs.

“We believe the demand to store, access, and operate over authenticated data will only grow over time and that cryptography and blockchains are the correct tools to serve this demand,” according to Axiom’s announcement.

The use of ZK proofs is becoming increasingly widespread across various industries, including banking, healthcare, energy, and voting systems, among others.

There are several cryptocurrency companies that are actively working on the technology for reasons of scaling and privacy. Polygon, for example, published their Polygon zkEVM for the Ethereum ecosystem in March 2023.

This software enables off-chain batching of thousands of transactions and provides cryptographic proof that contains only a limited amount of data.