PANews reported on April 22 that according to The Block, the Shiba Inu team raised $12 million by selling unissued TREAT tokens to non-U.S. venture capital investors to develop its new privacy-focused Layer 3 blockchain. These investors include Polygon Ventures, Mechanism Capital, Big Brain Holdings, Shima Capital, Animoca Brands, Morningstar Ventures, Woodstock Fund, DWF Ventures, Stake Capital and Comma 3 Ventures. However, some investors, such as Mechanism Capital and Shima Capital, appear to be based in the United States. When asked about this, Shytoshi Kusama, the lead developer of Shiba In, stated that none of the investors are from the United States, although the full entity names may not be disclosed.
Shiba Inu began raising funds several months ago and closed earlier this month, Kusama said. He declined to comment on the valuation, but a source with direct knowledge of the matter said it was a staged round, with each stage valued at $75 million, $100 million and $200 million. . Kusama said this round of token issuance includes pre-seed and seed round financing.
According to Shiba Inu, the TREAT token is a “utility and governance token” for its new privacy-focused Layer 3 blockchain, which is built on Shibarium, the Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain. Kusama stated that TREAT will be the last non-stable token in the Shiba Inu ecosystem, adding that the ecosystem will launch a new token called Shi later this year. The new blockchain is designed to comply with regulatory requirements. "It is critical to maintain programs that are compliant with international law while protecting data privacy and personal security," Kusama said. "By allowing people to both maintain privacy and obtain credentials to verify their identity, our entire system simultaneously improves security and compliance." "Kusama declined to reveal the name of the third layer blockchain to "ensure there are no scammers like fake TREAT tokens." According to Kusama, the new blockchain plans to launch a testnet in the third quarter of this year and release the mainnet “after thorough testing.”