Layer 1 blockchain Aptos Labs, which is made up of former employees from Facebook parent Meta Platforms, raised $150 million in a Series A funding round that was led by FTX Ventures, the venture capital arm of crypto exchange FTX, and Jump Crypto, according to a press release. The round included investments from Andreessen Horowitz, Multicoin Capital and Circle Ventures among other crypto firms, the company said.

Metas crypto arm, Diem, officially shut down its stablecoin project in January amid intense regulatory scrutiny. In February, Aptos Labs announced plans to bring the Diem blockchain back to life with the goal of creating the “safest and most production-ready blockchain in the world. ”Aptos Labs has now raised $350 million this year as it looks to use its technology and programming language, Move.

"Weve known for a while that, due to issues like outages and downtime, current blockchains are not fit for purpose when it comes to mass Web3 adoption," Mo Shaikh, Aptos co-founder and CEO, said in the press release. "Thats why were building a blockchain to be the reliable foundation for Web3 that ushers in users from around the world to experience the benefits of decentralization. "Aptos will use the investment to support the development of the project.

"For blockchain technology to reach the next billion users, we need to prioritize scalability, safety and ease of use. Aptos does exactly this," said Ramnik Arora, an investment partner at FTX Ventures. .