Thruster Finance, a decentralized exchange protocol operating on the Ethereum Layer 2 network called Blast, has successfully secured $7.5 million in a seed funding round.
The funding round was led by Pantera Capital, with participation from OKX Ventures, Mirana Ventures, ParaFi Capital, Manifold Ventures, and Arche Fund (formerly Coin98 Ventures), as announced by Thruster on Thursday.
Additionally, angel investors including Santiago Santos, Frax founder Sam Kazemian, Pendle founder TN Lee, Stacked founder Alex Lin, Renzo founder Kratik Lodha, and Axelar founder Georgios Vlachos, joined the round.
The fundraising initiative for the seed round commenced in late February, just before Blast’s mainnet launch on Feb. 29, and concluded swiftly last month, as revealed by 0xFri, a pseudonymous contributor to Thruster.
Structured as a simple agreement for future equity (SAFE) plus token warrants, the round elevated Thruster’s valuation to $70 million, as shared by 0xFri.
What is Thruster?
Thruster debuted in March as a yield-first decentralized exchange (DEX) on Blast. Within a short span, it has emerged as the second-largest DeFi protocol on the Ethereum Layer 2, boasting a total value locked (TVL) of $320 million, according to DeFiLlama data. Thruster claims to have garnered over 100,000 users who have collectively transacted nearly $2 billion in volume within less than two months since its launch.
0xFri highlighted the allure of Blast as an ecosystem to build on due to its yield and incentive-oriented model. In the realm of DeFi, yield and incentives are pivotal drivers of attention. Blast’s framework, facilitating greater and more sustainable yields, is anticipated to attract more users and builders compared to other chains.
Blast is distinguished as the first Ethereum Layer 2 network featuring native yield, derived from ether staking and real-world asset tokenization protocols. The yield generated is automatically distributed to Blast users. Notably, Blast offers default interest rates of 3.7% for ETH and 13% for stablecoins, as per Blast’s website. Currently, Blast boasts a TVL of $1.4 billion, as per DeFiLlama data.
Deep liquidity and differentiation
Thruster positions itself as a “deep liquidity” hub for the majority of Blast-native assets, with plans for more token additions as Blast protocols progressively introduce their tokens.
Compared to its closest competitor, Ambient, Thruster offers differentiation in various aspects, including asset diversity. 0xFri noted that Thruster boasts over 40 liquidity pools exceeding $100,000, while Ambient has less than five.
Furthermore, Thruster’s integration-first strategy, aimed at enhancing yield for liquidity providers and its native integration with Blast, sets it apart from Ambient, which operates across multiple blockchains.
Thruster’s team comprises developers and growth experts with prior contributions to several top 50 protocols, although specifics are withheld due to team pseudonymity.
Currently, approximately ten individuals are employed at Thruster, based in Singapore. 0xFri expressed intentions to significantly expand the engineering team to advance the platform’s roadmap.
Thruster’s roadmap encompasses forging additional partnerships and integrations, as well as enhancing the user interface and experience to rival centralized exchanges.
The recent fundraising will facilitate collaborations with leading builders to integrate Thruster products and liquidity into various top protocols across DeFi, NFTFi, and beyond, as stated by 0xFri.
