Blockchain cross-chain protocol provider Multichain, formerly AnySwap, announced today it has raised $60 million in a seed funding to advance its mission of building “the ultimate router for Web 3.0” decentralized networks.

Binance Labs led the financing round. Also participating in the round were Sequoia China, IDG Capital, Three Arrows Capital, DeFiance Capital, Circle Ventures, Tron Foundation, Hypersphere Ventures, Primitive Ventures, Magic Ventures and HashKey.

Blockchain technology provides the foundation for what is known as Web 3.0, also called the semantic web, which permits the creation of decentralized applications that run on smart contracts. However, there are many different blockchains to choose from, each with its own unique services, tooling, ecosystems and developer communities.

Founded in July 2020 as AnySwap, the company provided a cross-chain decentralized exchange service for blockchain assets. The team then grew that groundwork into an interconnection protocol for multiple blockchain networks that allows for the exchange of value, data and control between them. Today its protocol is a robust, fast and secure for these networks to interoperate in a universal way.

“Multichain now is the cross-chain infrastructure that connects more public blockchains and crypto-assets than anyone else, with lower transaction fees, shorter bridging time and higher security levels,” said Zhaojun, the co-founder and chief executive of Multichain, who appears to go by only a single name.

As of today, the company provides interconnect for 25 mainstream public blockchains, including Ethereum, Fantom, Binance Smart Chain, Avalanche, Moonriver, Arbitrum, Polygon and Harmony. The number of users on these chains exceeds 300,000 and the total locked-in value of assets within the network is more than $5 billion, with more than 1,000 crypto assets circulating among the different mainnets, the term for independent blockchains running networks with their own technologies and protocols.

Using Multichain’s interoperability protocol, developers can shift a large number of different assets, which allows them to build decentralized finance dapps that can operate between different chains. The protocol also enables the use of nonfungible tokens or NFTs – digital assets that can represent virtual items such as artwork, documents and music — that can also be exchanged between chains.

“Aligning with our plan to improve Web3, Multichain will integrate NFT Cross-Chain Bridge and our new anyCall solution for arbitrary cross-chain contract calls, supporting innovative NFT and DeFi dapps in cross-chain ecosystems,” said Zhaojun.

The company said it would use the new financing to invest in growing its research and development team, especially aligned with crypto algorithms, the audit team that focuses on security and the service team to support more users and more blockchain ecosystems.

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