ARPA Network Secures $6M Strategic Investment Led by Nomura’s Laser Digital and DeFiance Capital to Expand Product Offerings in Fully On-Chain Gaming and Cryptographic AI

ARPA Network, a pioneer in decentralized secure computation, proudly announces a $6M strategic investment to support product expansion in fully on-chain gaming, Autonomous Worlds (AW), and cryptographic AI. Lead investors include Nomura’s Laser Digital and DeFiance Capital, with additional funding from Animoca Ventures, Metrics Ventures, ArkStream Capital, and Trinito. ARPA Network is previously backed by Binance Labs, Arrington Capital, and DWF Labs.

Founded in 2018, ARPA innovates cryptographic systems to enable more blockchain use cases. ARPA Threshold BLS Network, launched in mid-2023, serves as the infrastructure for verifiable Random Number Generators (RNGs), secure wallets, cross-chain bridges, and decentralized custody across multiple blockchains.

“This infusion of capital from industry leaders marks a milestone for ARPA,” said Felix Xu, co-founder of ARPA Network. “We have exciting product launches in the next months, including DEAR, an elegantly designed mobile fully on-chain game, and integration of ARPA Randcast as Eigenlayer AVS. Together with leading AI institutions, we will publish research and conduct PoC on cryptographic AI for facial recognition using zero-knowledge machine learning (ZKML).”

As ARPA’s first foray into fully on-chain game, DEAR is a smart-contract-based creature living on-chain. It challenges players to nurture, influence, and ultimately shape the digital lifeform through interactions. The game’s mechanics, crafted directly from blockchain capabilities, explore the composability and extensibility of smart contracts as well as the intricate relationships between individuals in the community. DEAR launched on the Redstone Chain on May 15.

At the same time, researchers at ARPA are exploring the crossover of cryptography and AI to expand blockchain capabilities and lower the barrier to mass adoption. The team is building proof of concept for on-chain privacy-preserving biometric technologies that grant users smooth and secure access to the blockchain. ARPA also looks to co-author research in ZKML with other leading researchers.

Jez Mohideen, CEO of Laser Digital, commented, “ARPA’s initiatives in on-chain gaming and cryptographic AI are poised to transform the blockchain landscape, making these technologies more accessible and impactful across various industries. This investment underlines our dedication to enhancing the digital landscape and supporting technologies that offer significant market potential and align with our values of responsible innovation.”

Arthur Cheong, Founder & CIO of DeFiance Capital, added, “We are pleased to back ARPA Network in their industry-leading efforts in decentralized secure computation, which are crucial for the integrity and security of blockchain ecosystems. This technology is vital not only for fully on-chain games but also for enhancing the reliability and privacy of applications across the entire blockchain space.”

Part of this investment will be used to expand the customer base for ARPA Randcast — a verifiable random number generator that offers unprecedented security and efficiency for diverse applications, including gaming, lotteries, NFT minting, and key generation. Serving more than 15 dapp customers, Randcast is live on Ethereum, Redstone, Optimism, Base, Loot Chain, and Taiko, and will integrate as an Eigenlayer AVS. Fully on-chain game developers can also easily integrate Randcast using the popular MUD Framework.

Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands, said: “ARPA Network’s focus on enhancing blockchain functionality through innovative cryptographic technologies makes it a compelling addition to the portfolio of Animoca Ventures. We are particularly enthusiastic about DEAR, which exemplifies the transformative potential of fully on-chain gaming to offer high levels of engagement and fairness, aligning seamlessly with our vision of fostering a more accessible and ownership-driven gaming ecosystem.”

About Laser Digital

Laser Digital is a crypto business redefining the frontier of digital finance. Backed by Nomura, Laser Digital delivers scalable, robust opportunities across trading, solutions, asset management, and ventures. The team works at higher risk management standards, compliance, and commercial viability, all driven by a belief in more responsible crypto innovation. With an open and dynamic culture, Laser Digital has the freedom to adapt to market needs, to move swiftly to capitalisation, and to share learnings with clients and partners –bringing greater confidence to the institutional market for the benefit of all.

For more information, please visit: https://www.laserdigital.com.

About DeFiance Capital

DeFiance Capital is a leading crypto investment firm with a global footprint founded by Arthur Cheong (Arthur0x) and focuses on liquid tokens with venture-scale upside. They invest in crypto with a thesis-driven and fundamental-focused strategy.

About ARPA

ARPA Network (ARPA) is a decentralized secure computation network built to improve the fairness, security, and privacy of blockchains. ARPA threshold BLS signature network serves as the infrastructure of verifiable Random Number Generator (RNG), secure wallet, cross-chain bridge, and decentralized custody across multiple blockchains.

ARPA was previously known as ARPA Chain, a privacy-preserving Multi-party Computation (MPC) network founded in 2018. ARPA Mainnet has completed over 224,000 computation tasks in the past years. Our experience in MPC and other cryptography laid the foundation for our innovative threshold BLS signature schemes (TSS-BLS) system design and led us to today’s ARPA Network.

Randcast, a verifiable Random Number Generator (RNG), is the first application that leverages ARPA as infrastructure. Randcast offers a cryptographically generated random source with superior security and low cost compared to other solutions. Metaverse, game, lottery, NFT minting and whitelisting, key generation, and blockchain validator task distribution can benefit from Randcast’s tamper-proof randomness.