China-based blockchain infrastructure startup Rangers Protocol, which has just rebranded from Rocket Protocol, has raised a funding round that values the company at $63 million.
Investors include Pantera Capital, Framework Ventures, Huobi Ventures Blockchain Fund, Alameda Research, Hashkey Capital, SevenX Ventures, Spark Digital Capital, Incuba Alpha Holdings, Consensus Lab, Morningstar Ventures, Yuanyuzhou Ventures, and AU21Capital, among others.
Rangers Protocol said in a statement that Polkastarter, a cross-chain decentralised exchange, has also conducted in-depth cooperation with the company as a strategic partner.
The Rangers Protocol platform integrates cross-chain protocol, nonfungible token (NFT) protocol, and Ethereum virtual machine (EVM) protocol. The company claims to allow developers to freely try content and applications in the Rangers Protocol ecosystem without permission.
Rocket Protocol, the first version of Rangers Protocol, was “built based on the founding team’s estimation that the NFT market will explode”.
“They believed the dependence of complex decentralised applications on the underlying facilities was about to grow stronger,” the firm said.
The rebranding of the company will include upgrades to new NFT and EVM platforms, it added.
Rangers Protocol will also establish community organisations, such as the Ecosystem Governance Foundation, Developer Community, and Pioneer Investment Alliance, to “create a fair and open environment for pioneer developers”.
Blockchain investors have laid their eyes on Asia, a region where the total deal value and count in the sector are on track to meet or surpass 2020’s figures.
Just recently, Hong Kong-listed BC Technology Group, the parent firm of regulated digital asset platform OSL, raised about $70 million from Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC.
In Southeast Asia, Singapore dominated deal flows, recording 28 of 35 crypto and blockchain transactions this year, showed Pitchbook data.
Coinomo, the company that runs the Southeast Asia-focused cryptocurrency exchange OMO, has recently secured an undisclosed amount in a financing round led by Vertex Ventures.
Other deals in the region include Indonesian crypto exchange startup Pintu raising $6 million in a Series A round led by Pantera Capital, and global cryptocurrency exchange Luno exploring a partnership with Indonesian conglomerate Lippo Group to set up a joint venture in the country, or Binance-backed local operator Tokocrypto looking at a public market debut.
Ranger Protocol’s funding comes even as China has been trying to rein in cryptocurrencies.
In May, China banned financial institutions and payment companies from providing services related to cryptocurrency transactions and warned investors against speculative crypto trading. China accounts for over half of global bitcoin production, but some miners have been considering moving elsewhere following the clampdown on bitcoin mining and trading last month.