Several major crypto venture firms have rallied behind Seismic, a blockchain startup developing protocol-level encryption technology, with a16z crypto leading a $7 million seed funding round. The investment also secured participation from notable firms including Polychain, NGC Ventures, dao5, and 1kx. This marks the first fundraising effort for Seismic's founder, Lyron Co Ting Keh, who leads a seven-person team with expertise in cryptography, compilers, and distributed systems.
Seismic's core technology addresses a fundamental challenge in the blockchain space: the inherent transparency of Layer 1 blockchains that exposes user data. The startup's solution implements end-to-end encryption at the protocol level, protecting transaction data while maintaining blockchain functionality. This approach encrypts the global state, memory access, and data flow, creating a foundation for confidential transactions and private application interactions. The team's collective experience from companies like Wintermute strengthens their ability to develop innovative privacy solutions. The technology provides users with core-level encryption that ensures their data remains confidential by default. Unlike traditional DAOs where governance tokens provide voting rights and transparency through blockchain records, Seismic prioritizes privacy while maintaining essential blockchain capabilities.
Blockchain privacy reinvented through end-to-end encryption that shields transactions while preserving core functionality
The technical implementation utilizes a fork of the Solidity language with an added 'stype' feature, while the execution client builds upon established projects including reth, revm, and alloy. For consensus mechanisms, Seismic employs omni middleware with CometBFT as the consensus client. The entire project operates under the MIT License, maintaining an open-source approach despite its privacy-focused mission.
Industry observers note Seismic's ambitious development timeline, with a developer testnet planned for release within approximately one month and mainnet launch targeted for the end of 2025. The team has reportedly maintained a perfect record of meeting engineering deadlines, bolstering confidence in their roadmap projections.
The seed funding will primarily support Seismic's preparation for mainnet launch. Upon completion, the technology could find applications across various sectors where privacy concerns intersect with blockchain benefits, including finance and healthcare.
