CasperLabs Raises $14M From Launch-Day Node Runners

Oct 21, 2020 at 16:00 UTC.Blockchain startup CasperLabs has banked $14 million from investors who pledged to secure its proof-of-stake Casper network at launch.

CasperLabs CEO Mrinal Manohar confirmed the private CLX token presale to CoinDesk and further revealed that Digital Strategies had led the investment, with headline participation from HashKey Capital and Blockchange Ventures, as well as 52 others.

Nearly half of subscribers already held CasperLabs equity, he said.

Casper's future node runners lend an early security force to the Swiss-based company's upcoming blockchain.

"Everyone is mandated to be a validator," said Manohar, adding the sale will "Create the initial security of the network" that CasperLabs has no interest in raising alone.

CasperLabs is among the many lesser-known blockchain projects hoping to steal even just a sliver of crypto's decentralized finance scene from Ethereum.

CasperLabs understands Ethereum's scaling woes perhaps better than most.

He'd left the project by March 2020, when CasperLabs said it was pivoting away from Ethereum.

Excitement for Casper's mainnet launch is running high if the CLX round's numbers are any indication.

Next year's public CLX sale, which CasperLabs has previously said would take the form of an "Exchange Validator Offering" on Singapore's BitMax exchange, will give the public a shot at staging nodes as well.