US fintech firm Portal raises $92m to expand bitcoin ecosystem

Portal to Bitcoin, a San Francisco-based protocol for cross-chain trading, has announced US$50 million in new funding commitments led by Paloma Investments, bringing its total raised to US$92 million as of August 28, 2025.

The latest round will support ecosystem development and product work on BitScaler, Portal’s adapter for scaling Bitcoin transactions.

Other investors in this round include several Web3-focused backers.

Portal to Bitcoin enables atomic swaps between Bitcoin and other blockchains without using wrapped tokens or custodial bridges.

The company said funds will also go toward expanding third-party development, onboarding institutional liquidity providers, and integrating with wallets and exchanges.

Previous investors in Portal to Bitcoin include Coinbase Ventures, OKX Ventures, Arrington Capital, and Republic Capital.

Portal plans to use the new capital to support mainnet launch preparations and bolster its developer and liquidity provider ecosystem.

🔗 Source: Portal

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ Bitcoin’s technical advantages drive institutional settlement infrastructure bets

Portal’s focus on making Bitcoin the settlement layer for global markets aligns with Bitcoin’s unique technical properties that make it superior for final settlement.

Bitcoin offers stronger settlement assurances than other cryptocurrencies because its proof-of-work mechanism requires substantial resources to validate transactions, making reversals extremely costly and impractical2.

This technical advantage explains why Portal specifically chose Bitcoin rather than faster or cheaper alternatives for their cross-chain trading protocol.

The $92 million in total funding from major institutions like Coinbase Ventures and OKX Ventures suggests sophisticated investors recognize that Bitcoin’s settlement properties, rather than just its price appreciation potential, create genuine infrastructure value1.

Portal’s BitScaler technology addresses the core challenge of accessing Bitcoin’s security without the typical trade-offs like wrapped tokens or custodial bridges that compromise the very settlement assurances that make Bitcoin valuable.