Router Protocol Raises $4.1M to Bridge EVM and Non-EVM Chains

Router Protocol, a project aimed at connecting multiple blockchains, has raised $4.1 million in a funding round that was backed by Coinbase Ventures.

The funding round was also supported by Bison Ventures, DeFi Capital, Polygon, QCP Capital, Shima Capital, Wintermute and the Woodstock Fund. Router Protocol raised $485,000 in a seed funding round last year.

As the blockchain universe matures, liquidity is at risk of being fragmented across a raft of chains such as Algorand, Avalanche, Polygon, Solana and Terra.

“Rapid growth of various blockchains means the need of the hour is the ability for these to talk to each other through bridges and other forms of connectivity,” said Router Protocol CEO Ramani Ramachandran. “Our unique selling point is that we can do EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) and non-EVM chains, as well as layer 1 and layer 2 networks.”

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When it comes to liquidity bridges, the “big elephant in the room” is security, Ramachandran said. Hacks are almost a rite of passage in the sector, and any system that sets out to connect networks is only as secure as the weakest link in the protocols on either side.

Router Protocol’s precaution is to connect only major, well-established blockchains. It has also completed “five or six audits” on its code.