Executive Summary
Blockchain Capital co-led a $20 million financing round for OneBalance, a platform focused on streamlining cross-chain transactions through a 'one-click' user experience and its proprietary 'Resource Locks' technology. This funding positions OneBalance to enhance Ethereum interoperability and broaden the utility of assets like Bitcoin within decentralized finance.
The Event in Detail
OneBalance concluded a $20 million Series A funding round, co-led by Blockchain Capital and cyber•Fund, with additional participation from Bybit's Mirana Ventures and L2IV. This investment, following a prior $5 million angel and community round, brings the company’s total funding to $25 million. The capital will primarily support the development and deployment of OneBalance's Toolkit and its Resource Locks technology, which aims to eliminate the inherent complexities of cross-chain transactions.
The core of OneBalance's innovation lies in its Resource Locks, introduced in May 2024. This technology addresses the inefficiency of traditional multi-step cross-chain processes by parallelizing transaction steps instead of executing them sequentially. Users lock funds in a OneBalance account and sign a transaction indicating intent. Solvers can then release funds on the destination chain immediately upon seeing this signature, as Resource Locks guarantee eventual payment, circumventing the double-spend problem that typically necessitates waiting for finality on the source chain. This mechanism facilitates instant, reliable, and secure cross-chain transactions.
Financial Mechanics and Strategic Investment
The $20 million Series A round underscores investor confidence in OneBalance's approach to solving critical Web3 user experience (UX) challenges. The investment leadership by Blockchain Capital, a notable venture firm in the crypto space, alongside cyber•Fund, signals strategic alignment with OneBalance's mission to build foundational infrastructure for a more connected blockchain ecosystem. The total $25 million raised reflects a substantial commitment to developing solutions that reduce friction in multi-chain environments.
Business Strategy and Market Positioning
OneBalance's strategy centers on its Toolkit, a set of APIs designed to work with wallet-as-a-service providers such as Privy and Turnkey. This approach enables developers to create unified cross-chain experiences without building complex infrastructure. The company's leadership team includes Stephane Gosselin as CEO, Daniel Worsley as COO, and Ankit Chiplunkar as Head of Research, bringing expertise from organizations like Flashbots and Coinbase. This strategic focus positions OneBalance to simplify application development and abstract away underlying network complexities for end-users. The Toolkit has demonstrated functionality for instant native Bitcoin to EVM swaps, with plans for Solana and other network integrations in the near future. OneBalance aims to expand its chain coverage, grow its developer base through SDKs, and integrate into mainstream fintech services, making cross-chain operations invisible to users.
Broader Market Implications
This development holds significant implications for the broader Web3 ecosystem. By solving the fragmented UX challenge, OneBalance can accelerate the mainstream adoption of decentralized applications (dApps) and Web3 technologies. The ability to facilitate 40% faster execution compared to traditional cross-chain routes, guarantee execution without reverts, and reduce costs by eliminating front-running and price impact directly benefits both users and developers. For developers, simplified multichain coordination leads to faster development cycles and reduced operational costs. The adoption of Resource Locks as a core milestone in the Ethereum interoperability roadmap, with active development from entities like Circle, Uniswap, and LiFi, underscores its potential to unlock greater liquidity and utility across different blockchain networks. This innovation contributes to the growth of Bitcoin Finance (BTCFi), a sector that witnessed a 2,767% surge in total value locked (TVL) between 2024 and 2025, enabling native BTC to participate in DeFi without centralized custody or wrapping.
Expert Commentary
Spencer Bogart, General Partner at Blockchain Capital, commented on the significance of OneBalance's technology:
In our years investing in crypto, only a few companies have had the potential to transform how the industry works. OneBalance is one of them. The team has a track record of turning technical depth into breakthrough products, with Resource Locks representing the most complete expression of their approach to date. Through Resource Locks, distributed via the OneBalance Toolkit, OneBalance is abstracting away technical barriers, enabling onchain apps to offer simple, one-click experiences. For the first time, the infrastructure gap that has long held back mainstream onchain adoption no longer exists.
Stephane Gosselin, CEO of OneBalance, highlighted the user-centric approach:
Stablecoins are quickly replacing bank accounts and bringing millions of users onchain. They expect delightful experiences, not a maze of chains, wallets, bridges to navigate through to complete the most basic actions. OneBalance fixes this by offering simple one-click experiences for any chain, any action and any token with unmatched speed, reliability, and cost.
Enhancing Interoperability
OneBalance's Resource Locks directly address a key challenge in blockchain interoperability: secure and efficient cross-chain communication. Traditional methods often grapple with the double-spending problem and the need for synchronized transaction verification across disparate chains. By guaranteeing eventual payment without waiting for source chain finality, Resource Locks provide a novel solution to these security and performance bottlenecks. This advancement enhances the connectivity between networks like Ethereum, Solana, and the Bitcoin ecosystem, fostering a more integrated and accessible Web3 environment where assets and data can flow seamlessly.