The DoubleZero Foundation, an ambitious startup focused on revolutionizing blockchain performance, recently secured $28 million in funding at a commendable valuation of $400 million. Sources close to the company indicate that DoubleZero is now seeking strategic partners willing to invest at a valuation of $600 million.
The initial funding round, led by prominent venture capital firms Dragonfly and Multicoin Capital, has garnered significant interest, with other firms competing aggressively for a stake in this innovative project. Although the subsequent strategic funding round remains open, the enthusiasm surrounding DoubleZero’s vision is palpable.
Remarkably, achieving such a high valuation at this early stage is uncommon, yet not unprecedented in the world of cryptocurrency startups proposing transformative solutions. DoubleZero aims to develop a global network of private fiber optic cables designed to facilitate blockchain data transmission with greater efficiency than what current public internet options can offer.
The foundation’s catchy motto, “Increase Bandwidth, Reduce Latency” (IBRL), has resonated within the Solana community well before the official debut of its white paper in December. Observers view this endeavor as a crucial enabling technology for Solana’s ambitious target of processing one million transactions per second.
In an exciting development, DoubleZero is set to open its permissioned testnet to Solana validators and remote procedure calls (RPCs), with plans to extend compatibility to other blockchain systems in the future. The network taps into private lines managed by notable entities such as Jump Crypto, RockawayX, Distributed Global, Latitude, and Terraswitch, while also welcoming additional contributors to enhance its extensive infrastructure.
During Solana’s Breakpoint conference in September, Jump Crypto’s Firedancer team showcased their exceptionally fast Solana client. Unbeknownst to the audience at the time, the participating validators operated on DoubleZero’s foundational infrastructure, highlighting the project’s speed and capability.
Leading DoubleZero is Austin Federa, the former head of strategy at the Solana Foundation, alongside co-founders Andrew McConnell and Mateo Ward, who direct the project’s core contributor company, Malbec Labs. In addition, Jump Crypto plays a pivotal role as a core contributor, supplying essential bandwidth to the network.
Federa humorously dubbed DoubleZero as “crypto’s first infrastructure project,” emphasizing its reliance on tangible hardware: fiber optic cables spanning land and sea. Rather than incurring the heavy costs of building these resources from the ground up, DoubleZero intends to partner with independent communications businesses ready to monetize their underutilized infrastructure.
This innovative approach draws parallels to Wall Street’s ongoing speed race, where trading firms invest heavily in specialized fiber optic lines to minimize order execution time. An explainer blog from the infrastructure company Helius compared DoubleZero’s proprietary data transmission capabilities to a private car service versus the more generalized Uber option of the open internet. Both may lead to the same destination, but the private service guarantees a faster and more reliable journey.
In a recent X Spaces discussion, Federa emphasized that the Solana community has expressed a strong desire to surpass what is achievable via the public internet. However, he reiterated that DoubleZero remains “completely compatible” with any blockchain, positioning itself as an inclusive solution. He likened the system to the dedicated fiber lines employed by high-frequency trading firms, stating, “We’re just getting to the point where blockchains are fast enough to make use of that.”
