Portal, a pioneering infrastructure project focused on Bitcoin, has successfully closed a $25 million funding round. Concurrently, the company has launched a novel over-the-counter (OTC) trading desk engineered to facilitate large-scale, cross-chain settlements without requiring trust between counterparties. The new platform leverages Hashed Timelock Contracts (HTLCs) to enable atomic swaps, ensuring that either both legs of a trade are executed simultaneously or the transaction does not proceed at all. This mechanism is designed to eliminate counterparty risk and the need for intermediaries in substantial OTC transactions, which are common among institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals. The launch signifies a major step toward creating a more secure and efficient framework for executing sizable trades directly between digital asset wallets across different blockchains, with a foundational emphasis on the Bitcoin ecosystem. The substantial capital infusion will be directed toward further development of Portal’s suite of decentralized finance tools and expanding its operational capabilities.
