The DoubleZero Foundation, an organization dedicated to maintaining the DoubleZero Network aimed at expanding a “global fiber network” for high-performance distributed systems and blockchains, today announced it has raised $28 million in a token round co-led by Multicoin Capital and Dragonfly Capital.

“We’ve reached a point where the bottleneck for blockchain is actually on the network and data transport layer, not the compute,” said DoubleZero co-founder Austin Federa. “So, we’ve essentially designed DoubleZero to become the new physical infrastructure backbone for high-performance blockchains. It’s the last frontier to scale performance.”

Blockchain technology is a system that records transactions, particularly those made with cryptocurrencies. It operates across peer-to-peer networks using cryptographically secured distributed, decentralized public ledgers. However, according to DoubleZero, blockchains face limitations using to the public internet, where transactions must compete for bandwidth with various applications, resulting in degraded performance.

Centralized companies address this issue by creating private networks, but decentralized and distributed systems lack the necessary infrastructure for such solutions. DoubleZero aims to offer an alternative to the public internet by inviting private fiber-optic operators to contribute their underutilized bandwidth to a dedicated network specifically designed for decentralized systems like blockchains.

“The current ambition for crypto is still too small,” said Federa. “We see a near future that’s fully underpinned by distributed systems, and our vision is to provide a new fiber infrastructure network that can securely power that at mass scale.”

In addition to securing funding, DoubleZero has launched its testnet, a beta phase for the network to optimize transaction throughput and validator connectivity. During this phase, Solana blockchain validators and remote procedure call capabilities will be available for the first time.

The testnet is live in seven cities globally including Singapore, Tokyo, Los Angeles, New York, London, Amsterdam and Frankfurt, with additional cities coming to the general launch of the mainnet later this year. The initial fiber contributors include Jump Crypto, Distributed Global, RockawayX and bare metal infrastructure providers Teraswitch and Latitude.sh.

The foundation said it will use the proceeds from the raise to hire for key positions such as marketing, developer relations and business development. It’s also intended also help build toward the launch of the public mainnet during the second half of 2025.

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