Acre Raises $4M to Expand Its Bitcoin Staking and Liquidity Layer

Acre, a new liquidity layer for bitcoin scaling has raised $4 million in a token round backed by Draper Dragon, Big Brain Holdings and Orange DAO.

Acre, a new liquidity layer for scaling bitcoin, has raised $4 million in a token round led by Draper Dragon, Big Brain Holdings and Orange DAO.

The fundraising also saw angel participation from several prominent Web3 companies, including Lido, EigenLayer, Wormhole, Thesis and Quantstamp. Acre will use the funds to grow its team, integrate additional protocols and further its collaboration with new wallet partners.

The fundraising was structured as a simple agreement for future equity (SAFE) with token warrants and closed at a token valuation of $90 million, Acre co-founder and CEO Laura Wallendal told The Block.

Acre is designed to enable bitcoin holders to earn more bitcoin by staking BTC in exchange for stBTC, which the firm describes as “compounding.”

“Acre provides bitcoin liquidity to decentralized networks, helping them grow while also enabling lending and other DeFi integrations beyond staking,” Wallendal told The Block. “Unlike traditional staking models, Acre is bitcoin-first, allowing BTC holders to participate in DeFi without needing to interact with new chains, manage multiple tokens, or compromise control over their assets.”

The firm says it has already attracted over $100 million in BTC deposits since launching its mainnet last July.

Acre is using tBTC as its decentralized custodian to secure deposited BTC, with the deposited bitcoin held in a 51-of-100 multi-sig operated by decentralized nodes.

“The trade-off here is between speed and decentralized custody. Acre prioritizes security over instant transactions,” said Wallendal. “Deposits take about three hours to complete, but they remain fully decentralized throughout the process.”