Miden, the Edge Blockchain, Receives $25M Seed Funding to Deliver Privacy-Focused ZK-STARK-Based Virtual Machine

Privacy in blockchains have been developing as a strong point of contestation and deliberations. It's most famous proponent have been Ethereum

Crypto venture capital (VC) fundings for startups are trying to make a rebound this year. So far, crypto startups in the US have raised about $861 million in Q1 of 2025.

Majority of these fundings are going towards stablecoin and crypto*AI projects.

In the latest instance on Tuesday, two new blockchain projects became the centre of million dollar VC fundings in web3.

This includes two new blockchains, Miden – Polygon’s offshoot and IP-focused Camp Network. Miden, the Edge Blockchain, received $25 million seed funding round on Tuesday.

On the same day, Camp Network also raised $30M to build the autonomous IP Layer1 blockchain.

These fundings are being seen as a bet by leading crypto ventures on Layer-1s showing technical differentiation beyond just standard EVM-compatible chains.

Polygon’s Layer-1 Blockchain Miden Receives $25 M Funding

Privacy in blockchains have been developing as a strong point of contestation and deliberations. It’s most famous proponent have been Ethereum Founder Vitalik Buterin.

He has asked for ensuring blockchain privacy and suggested Zero knowledge roll-ups as the solution.

In a move towards it, Miden – the Edge Blockchain is being built by Polygon Team and Azeem Khan, co-founder of the blockchain, as a privacy-focused blockchain.

It was originally incubated by the Polygon Labs team but now Miden has spun out as an independent project with this funding.

Privacy Using ZKVMs: What is it

To ensure privacy, it uses ZK-STARK-based virtual machine (VM) or Zero-Knowledge Scalable Transparent ARguments of Knowledge.

ZK-Vms are a type of cryptographic proof system that allows a blockchain to verify the correctness of a transaction or computation without revealing the underlying data. They are post-quantum and execute transactions on smart contracts.

It is this vision of Miden that saw its funding round receiving $25M in its seed funding round co-led by the crypto arm of Andreessen Horowitz along with Hack VC and 1kx.

Other investors included Finality Capital Partners, Symbolic Capital and angel investors like Avery Ching, the cofounder of the Aptos blockchain.

Miden is building the “Edge Blockchain”, a new zk-powered system where execution happens on the client side, unlocking a new design space for applications that demand performance and privacy.Edge execution is the blueprint for blockchain’s final form.

— Miden (@0xMiden) April 29, 2025

Researcher and Developer at Polygon, Brian Seong, in a recent X post, stated, “From its roots as an early-stage zkVM, Miden has evolved into a privacy-first, parallelized, UTXO-based blockchain that’s not just innovative—it’s a pioneer.”

He added that the blockchain is designed for mass adoption and is aimed at tackling use cases that could redefine how we think about privacy and scalability in Web3.

Maiden is a standalone Layer-1 blockchain. This means that it would operate independently of Ethereum or any other base chain. This stands in contrast to many zk-rollups which would help the blockchain in avoiding the limitations and congestion risks.

Camp Funding: Blockchain in the Age of AI & IP

Camp Network, in another new Layer-1 blockchain funding update on Tuesday secured $30 million in a Series A funding round. It was led by Paradigm with additional investments coming from various Web3-native developer platforms and node operators.

Camp is a purpose-built Layer 1 blockchain building for the future of AI and IP. It enables users to register and tokenize their IP onchain – giving them copyright royalties using blockchain.

It also allows developers to train and deploy AI agents, and then participate in distributions for the use cases of these AI agents. The agents are set to be trained on their IP for transparent, and enforcable way.

AI is rewriting the rules of creativity, putting all creators at risk

As models train on content without consent and agents replace direct interaction, real value will shift from commoditized models to unique, user-owned IP and vertical AI agents fine-tuned on it

— Camp Network ⛺️ (@campnetworkxyz) April 29, 2025

Signalling Shift in VCs’ Focus?

The combined $55 million blockchain funding raised by Camp and Miden reflects a growing shift — venture capital firms are increasingly focusing on highly specialized Layer-1 chains.

In contrast to the hype-driven fundraising of 2021–2022, investors in 2025 appear more focused on blockchains showing

Thus, as crypto VC funding rebounds in 2025, Layer-1 innovation is regaining center stage. This is particularly for