Raise Announcement
Templar Protocol Secures $4M Pre-Seed Funding to Build Cypher Lending for Bitcoin
With participation from Robot Ventures, DACM, Blackdragon VC, Proximity Labs, and NEAR Foundation, this round will fuel product development and hiring, accelerating Templar’s mission to allow anyone to borrow Dollars against your Bitcoin without trusting centralized institutions…
The Network – March 13, 2025 – Templar Protocol, a startup developing a cypher lending platform for Bitcoin and other digital assets, today announced it has raised $4 million in a pre-seed funding round. The round was backed by leading blockchain investors including Robot Ventures, Digital Asset Capital Management (DACM), and NEAR Foundation with additional participation by Blackdragon VC, Proximity Labs, and strategic angels including Zaki Manian, Will Price, Loi Luu, Yessin Schiegg, Sam Kazemian, and more.
Templar’s goal is to allow anyone to borrow Bitcoin, or any asset, without trusting centralized institutions. Current BTC lending solutions require users to surrender their Bitcoin to a centralized custodian, like Coinbase, creating risks of seizure, censorship, and counterparty failure, like what happened with BlockFi and Celsius. Templar’s Cypher Lending Protocol solves this by using multi-party computation (MPC) networks and open-source smart contracts built on NEAR, ensuring that borrowers retain full control of their collateral without the need for trusted third parties (TTPs). This solution was originally proposed by Cypherpunk legend and inventor of term smart contracts, Nick Szabo, in his writing Trusted Third Parties are Security Holes.
With Templar, borrowers can access dollar liquidity without sacrificing privacy, ease of use, or incurring a taxable event in most western jurisdictions like the US. Templar will not require a smart contract wallet, like MetaMask, to use. Users simply send their Bitcoin collateral to the deposit address and paste a stablecoin address to receive their loan. Today, securing a loan against Bitcoin typically involves slow, trusted, centralized intermediaries with KYC or risky workarounds which still require centralized custody, like wrapped assets. Using MPC networks, Templar Protocol offers a permissionless, decentralized alternative that guarantees users never need to entrust their Bitcoin to banks, exchanges, or any centralized institutions. By replacing gatekeepers with networks using strong cryptography and autonomous smart contracts, Templar is rekindling the cypherpunk vision allowing anyone to Be Your Own (Swiss) Bank.
“Templar is building this product to solve problems we’ve personally faced as Bitcoin holders with trust issues and for our friends who don’t want to use a MetaMask wallet as casual Bitcoin holders,” said Royal Fool, the pseudonymous Co-Founder and CEO of Templar Labs. “I don’t trust Coinbase and I didn’t trust BlockFi or Celsius either. I shouldn’t have to KYC or trust a third party to borrow Dollars against Bitcoin. Many of my friends don’t want to use a MetaMask wallet, let alone wrapping or bridging, to borrow against their Bitcoin either. Templar is building a product that meets all those requirements using open source smart contracts and new MPC tech from NEAR.”
“We’re building the first Cypher Lending Protocol at a time when the main narrative is institutional adoption, which implies centralized custody,” continues Royal Fool. “Cypher Lending means permissionless borrowing of any asset on any chain that respects the user’s privacy, prioritizes UX, open sources all code, and does not rely on any TTPs instead using networks and advanced cryptography, like MPC. We’re excited about making this a reality. It’s time to return to our roots and Make Bitcoin Cypherpunk Again.”
“One of the most untapped opportunities in DeFi is the ability to lend native Bitcoin—without wrapping or third-party custodial risk,” said Richard Galvin, Co-Founder and CEO of DACM. “Templar is building this solution for Bitcoin and other crypto assets, and DACM is excited to support their journey as an investor."
"Offering native multichain lending for Bitcoin and other cryptoassets is a major unlock for DeFi and Web3. Templar Protocol is leveraging the best of NEAR tech to bring a permissionless, decentralized solution that preserves user ownership and control," said Illia Polosukhin, Co-Founder, NEAR Protocol and CEO of the NEAR Foundation.
This capital will accelerate Templar’s development roadmap and product launch. The team plans to go live with the protocol in Q2 2025. In the future, Templar will expand support for additional assets and expand privacy features, including differential privacy and Zero Knowledge Proofs. Templar will aim to drive broader adoption of its protocol among Bitcoin holders and the wider crypto community. Ultimately, the team seeks to prove that individuals can access liquidity and lending services without ever compromising their freedom, privacy, or ease of use.
About Templar Protocol
Templar is the first Cypher Lending Protocol that enables permissionless and private lending for Bitcoin and other digital assets. Founded on cypherpunk principles, Templar leverages advanced cryptography—specifically multi-party computation and non-custodial smart contracts—to eliminate the need for trusted third parties in lending. The company’s long term mission is to allow anyone to borrow Dollars against Bitcoin, or any digital asset, without trusting centralized institutions. For more information, visit https://www.templarfi.org/.
