Top VC Heavyweights Back $28 Million Endorsement, All You Need to Know About Former Solana Foundation Core Member's New Project Double Zero

By: blockbeats|2025/03/11 06:15:03
Share
copy

The market has recently experienced significant volatility, with sentiment plunging into extreme fear. However, just a few days ago, the DoubleZero Foundation announced that it had secured a $28 million investment led by Dragonfly and Multicoin Capital. This news quickly caught the attention of many. What makes DoubleZero unique and able to attract capital in the current bleak market environment?

Top VC Heavyweights Back 8 Million Endorsement, All You Need to Know About Former Solana Foundation Core Member's New Project Double Zero

Just yesterday, DoubleZero's founder, Austin Federa, appeared on a live TV show at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to discuss how DoubleZero is innovating internet infrastructure. Interestingly, Twitter went down during the live broadcast.

In a tweet, he joked that it was like the universe's "perfect product demo" for them. This tweet carried a hint of sarcasm, implying that the current internet infrastructure does have bottlenecks, and DoubleZero might be the solution.

DoubleZero: The Dark Horse of DePIN

DoubleZero is a project based on the DePIN track, allowing anyone to contribute independently licensed fiber optic links. It's like laying down an "information superhighway" for the Web3 world. The project's key highlight is its hardware-driven nature, focusing directly on the infrastructure layer. DoubleZero's goal is simple: to enhance bandwidth and reduce latency for all high-performance blockchains.

The project quickly attracted industry attention with its unique technical vision and the highly reputable background of its team, seen as a significant narrative within the Solana ecosystem and the DePIN space.

Solana's "Veteran" Austin Federa Leads the Way, Bringing DoubleZero's Halo Effect

For a project to stand out from the crowd, it needs not only technical prowess but also a core figure who can mobilize resources and drive the narrative. One reason DoubleZero immediately captured the market's attention upon its debut is its CEO and founder—Austin Federa.

Those familiar with the Solana ecosystem will undoubtedly recognize him. He previously served as the Head of Strategy at the Solana Foundation, playing a crucial role in the early rise of the Solana ecosystem. With deep ties to the Solana core team (including Anatoly Yakovenko and Raj Gokal), this relationship allowed DoubleZero to obtain early support and market recognition within the Solana ecosystem.

During his time at the Solana Foundation, he was not only responsible for global market strategy, but also directly involved in the implementation of several key projects, such as driving the integration of USDC and USDT on Solana, and even deeply involved in the FTX era ecosystem partnership. In other words, as Solana was able to grow from an emerging public chain to an industry giant, Austin played a key role.

And now, with his experience, connections, and deep understanding of blockchain, Austin has stepped out of Solana to personally lead Double Zero. This not only positioned Double Zero at a higher starting point from the beginning, but also instantly raised market expectations for this project.

From a technological vision perspective, Double Zero and Solana also share a lineage, with some even considering Double Zero as an important piece of the Solana DePIN narrative. Rather than seeing Double Zero as an independent DePIN project, it is more like Solana's "field upgrade" in the DePIN area.

Rising Star in the Capital Market

If you are familiar with the investment landscape of the crypto community, you will know the significant influence of Dragonfly and Multicoin. They are not only long-term supporters of the Solana ecosystem, but have also played key roles in several projects (for example, Multicoin's early bet on Solana, Dragonfly's involvement in Serum).

In addition to top VCs, the internal funding power within the Solana ecosystem also played a core role in this round of financing. Solana Ventures and Solana Labs co-founders Anatoly Yakovenko and Raj Gokal also participated as angel investors, what does this mean?

Solana officially stepped in to show support, and Austin is not fighting alone, but entering with the entire pool of Solana's resources, a comprehensive tilt of funds, technology, and market resources. For the entire DePIN track, this is undoubtedly an important signal: the Solana ecosystem is actively laying out the physical infrastructure network, and Double Zero may be the "vanguard" leading the charge.

Technical Highlight: Is Double-Ring Architecture a Super Accelerator?

The DoubleZero Network has optimized the blockchain system through two key enhancements: first, it pre-filters incoming spam and duplicate transactions using dedicated hardware, reducing the burden on validators and allowing the blockchain to share filtering resources without each validator having to provide them individually. Second, it has improved communication efficiency through explicit message routing, tracking, and priority management.

The Outer Ring connects to the public internet, using hardware (such as FPGA) for attack protection, signature verification, and transaction filtering; the Inner Ring, on the other hand, processes this filtered traffic through dedicated bandwidth lines and performs consensus building.

The core technical highlight of Double Zero lies in its unique Double-Ring Architecture. The Outer Ring connects to the public internet and uses hardware (such as FPGA) for attack protection, signature verification, and transaction filtering, while the Inner Ring processes this filtered traffic through dedicated bandwidth lines and performs consensus building.

The Outer Ring acts as the first line of defense, primarily responsible for filtering out spam transactions, DDoS attacks, and malicious contract invocations, among other invalid traffic. Through an adaptive traffic filtering mechanism, it utilizes machine learning and heuristic rules to analyze transaction patterns in real-time, accurately identify and intercept malicious traffic, ensuring that only valid transactions can enter the blockchain mainnet.

Additionally, the Outer Ring relies on decentralized zero-permission fiber contributions, where independent contributors from the network provide physical infrastructure, further ensuring the authenticity and priority of data packets. All transactions must undergo basic validity checks by the Outer Ring before entering the Inner Ring, reducing the entry of invalid transactions into the core network and enhancing overall processing efficiency.

Transactions entering the Inner Ring have undergone strict screening, allowing it to focus on efficient transaction processing. The Inner Ring adopts a high-performance architecture similar to Solana, supporting ultrahigh TPS (transactions per second) to ensure extremely short transaction confirmation times, capable of meeting the demands of a large number of transactions.

To further enhance network smoothness, Double Zero also employs a stateless validation model. This lightweight transaction processing method, compared to the traditional blockchain state storage model, enables the entire network to operate more smoothly and efficiently.

Advantages Compared to Traditional Layer 1 and Rollup Solutions

Compared to traditional Layer 1 and Rollup solutions, Double Zero has demonstrated significant advantages. First, through the Outer Ring's front-running filtering, Double Zero effectively reduces the impact of spam transactions, lowers the risk of block congestion, and avoids the inefficient Mempool queuing method seen in public chains like Ethereum. Unlike the Rollup approach, Double Zero independently optimizes the network layer, eliminating the need for batch processing wait times, significantly speeding up transaction confirmation times, and avoiding unnecessary delays.

As Kyle Samani, Managing Partner at Multicoin Capital, puts it: "Due to public internet bandwidth limitations and non-deterministic routing, without addressing the latency issue among validators, achieving a smooth Web2-like experience is not possible." This is precisely the mission of Double Zero.

You may also like

a16z Leads $18M Seed Round for Catena Labs, Crypto Industry Bets on Stablecoin AI Payment

Traditional finance is still stuck in a "human-to-human" model, while Catena aims to achieve "AI-to-AI" interaction.

Never Underestimate the Significance of the US Stablecoin 'Infrastructure Bill'

Original Title: "Never Underestimate the Significance of the US Stablecoin 'Genius Act'"Original Author: 0xTodd, Partner at Nothing Research


If the US stablecoin bill, the "GENIUS Act," passes smoothly this time, its significance will be tremendous. I even think it's significant enough to enter the top five in Crypto history.



Although abbreviated as the GENIUS Act, which translates directly to the Genius Act, it is actually the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins, which translates to "Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Dollar Stablecoins."


The proposal is lengthy, with several key points summarized for everyone:


· Mandatory 1:1 Full Asset Backing: Assets include cash, demand deposits, and short-term US Treasuries. At the same time, misappropriation and rehypothecation are strictly prohibited.


· High-Frequency Disclosure: Reserve reports must be published at least monthly, introducing external audits.


· Licensing Requirement: Once the circulating market cap of the issuer's stablecoin exceeds $100 billion, it must transition into the federal regulatory system within a specified timeframe, adopting banking-grade regulation.


· Introduction of Custody: The custodian of the stablecoin and its reserve assets must be a regulated qualified financial institution.


· Clear Definition as a Payment Medium: The bill explicitly defines stablecoin as a new type of payment medium, primarily regulated by the banking regulatory system, rather than restricted by the securities or commodities regulatory system.


· Embracing Existing Stablecoins: A maximum 18-month grace period after the bill's enactment, aimed at encouraging existing stablecoin issuers (such as USDT, USDC, etc.) to promptly obtain licenses or become compliant.


After finishing the main content, let's talk about the significance of this matter with an excited heart.


Over the years, when others asked, "After working in the Crypto industry for 16 years, what application have you created?"


In the future, you can confidently tell others—Stablecoins.


First, Clearing Concerns is a Prerequisite


Some people have held opposing views. In the past, people's impression of stablecoins was that they were an opaque black box. Every few months, there would be FUD — whether Tether's assets were frozen or Circle had a significant black hole deficit.


In fact, if you think about it, Tether easily rakes in billions of dollars a year just from the interest on those underlying government bonds. Circle, slightly less, also made a $1.7 billion profit last year.


They basically made money while standing there. From a motivational standpoint, they have no malicious intentions. In fact, they are the most eager for compliance.


Now, this opaque black box will become a transparent white box.


In the past, the only complaint was that Tether's funds might have been frozen by the United States. Now, they will be directly placed into U.S. compliant custodial institutions, with high-frequency disclosures, so you can rest assured.


【No need to worry about a rug pull】 is such a huge advantage—I think especially all Crypto people understand this.


Second, Mastering the Standard is Very Important


Stablecoins were once almost on the verge of being overtaken by CBDCs. In any country, if a central bank digital currency really exists, it is highly likely not built on a blockchain, at most it is built on some internal central bank consortium chain, which to be honest, is meaningless.


When CBDCs were at their peak, that was the most dangerous time for stablecoins.


If CBDCs had become a reality back then, stablecoins today would have been relentlessly suppressed into a dark corner, and blockchain would only be able to play a minimal role.


The remaining half-dead stablecoins would even have to learn the standards of central bank digital currencies, completely relinquishing their standard-setting power.


And now, stablecoins have won (or are about to).


Instead, everyone should learn the 【Blockchain + Token】 standard.


Nowadays, many blockchains actually have no meaningful applications on top, only stablecoin transfers. For example, with Aptos, the only scenario I use Aptos for is transfers between Binance and OKX.


And now, stablecoins will be legislated, what does that mean?


That's right, blockchain will become the only standard.


In the future, every stablecoin user will be the first to learn how to use a wallet.


As an aside, I actually think Ethereum's concerted push for EIP-7702 is quite forward-thinking. While other chains are all about memes, thank you Ethereum for sticking to account abstraction.



EIP-7702 is about Account Abstraction, which can support, for example:


· Social Account Registration Wallet

· Paying GAS with Native Coin

· And more


This paves the way for future new users to heavily use stablecoins, solving the last-mile problem.


Third, Deposit Enters a New Era


Furthermore, once stablecoins receive legislative support, deposits and withdrawals will become even easier.


Let's imagine a scenario: previously, hindered by the gray nature of stablecoins, but after the bill passes, many traditional brokerages can support stablecoins themselves. The money from a US stock investor can be converted into stablecoins in minutes and instantly deposited into Coinbase. Believe it or not.



Let's imagine another scenario: if the brilliant bill smoothly passes through the House of Representatives, next, you will see:


Due to the extremely lucrative nature of this trading, existing stablecoin leaders and newly entering traditional giants will crazily start promoting their stablecoin products.


And an outsider, due to these promotions, will start using stablecoins. And then one day, after finding out that the wallet account has been created, will explore Bitcoin inside. Is mining Bitcoin difficult?


Stablecoins are a huge Trojan horse. The moment you start using stablecoins, you unwittingly step half a foot into the Crypto world.


Fourth, Conclusion


As a large reservoir for digesting US debt, although stablecoins cannot directly absorb debt, they at least provide ammunition for the US debt secondary market. These functions are quite important, and slowly, stablecoins are becoming a part of the US debt market's body. Therefore, once the US legislation is passed and experiences the benefits, there is no turning back.


And, we are also confident that stablecoins are indeed one of the great innovations in our industry. People who have used stablecoins will find it hard to return to the traditional cash-banking system.


Once the bill is passed, users can't go back. In the future, concerns are about to be resolved, standards will be mastered, and the era of large deposits seems to be on the horizon.


Original Article Link

After CEX and Wallet, OKX enters the payment game

「Road to the Next Billion Users」. — OKX CEO Star

Why Are Crypto Projects Rushing to Issue Credit Cards? A Battle Between Web3 and the Real World

This article will dissect the driving forces, competitive landscape, and hidden risks behind the recent surge in cryptocurrency payments, shedding light on this industry upheaval.

Launch on Binance Alpha, how much is your HAEDAL airdrop worth?

The pre-market price is not reliable.

Taking Stock of the Top 10 Emerging Launchpad Platforms: Who Will Succeed in Disrupting Pump.fun?

From MEME, AI Agent to SocialFi Track, Solana is on a "Public Launchpad"

Popular coins

Latest Crypto News

Read more