Crypto VCs Turn Back to ‘Professor Coins’ as Funding Rebounds
- EigenLayer, Babylon restaking efforts spurs investor interest
- Both projects seek to generate yield from cryptocurrencies
A cryptocurrency exchange bureau in Istanbul.
Photographer: David Lombeida/BloombergVenture capitalists are turning back to crypto startups founded by professors as funding for the digital asset industry takes off again.
Companies like Sahara, CheckSig and NEBRA were all launched by academics and raised fresh capital in the past two months, but two startups have stood out in a category that the industry has nicknamed “professor coins.” EigenLayer, founded by Sreeram Kannan, a former associate professor at the University of Washington, raised $100 million from Andreessen Horowitz in February, while Babylon, started by Stanford University Professor David Tse, secured $18 million in December. Both projects are focused on a growing area of crypto called “restaking,” which allows new projects and blockchains to get a head start by borrowing Ethereum or Bitcoin’s security infrastructure and resources.