LayerZero’s ZRO Price Jumps 10% as VC Firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) Buys $55M Tokens

Interoperability protocol LayerZero’s native token (ZRO) surged Thursday on information that enterprise capital agency Andreessen Horowitz’s (a16z) crypto arm elevated its funding within the undertaking.

The firm acquired extra $55 million ZRO tokens committing to a 3-year lock-up interval, common companion Ali Yahya mentioned in an X submit. A16z has been an early backer of the protocol’s improvement agency LayerZero Labs, taking part within the group’s $135 million collection A fundraising spherical in 2022 and the next $120 million collection B spherical in 2023.

ZRO superior 10% to $2.56 following the announcement earlier than shedding a few of the positive factors. The token was not too long ago up round 5% in the course of the day, outperforming the broad-market CoinDesk 20 Index and bitcoin (BTC) positive factors.

LayerZero is a key piece of infrastructure that permits communication between remoted blockchains with cross-chain messages. The protocol underpins 125 blockchains, has facilitated over 145 million cross-chain messages and $75 billion in worth transfers. Its tech helps initiatives such as PayPal’s stablecoin, DeFi protocols Ethena and Pendle, and was chosen as an issuance companion for Wyoming’s stablecoin undertaking.

The funding will assist the protocol increase past interoperability to token issuance, knowledge administration, governance and bettering databases, in keeping with an e mail.