Ark Labs, a Bitcoin infrastructure startup with backing from Tim Draper, has raised $5.2 million in seed funding. The investment will be used to develop a programmable financial infrastructure on the Bitcoin network.
The funding round included participation from Tether, Ego Death Capital, Epoch VC, Lion26, Sats Ventures, and Contribution Capital. Anchorage Digital and former PayPal finance executive Ralph Ho also joined the investment.
With this latest capital infusion, Ark Labs has now secured a total of $7.7 million in institutional funding. This builds upon a pre-seed round led by Draper Associates.
The company plans to utilize the funds to expand its team, onboard ecosystem partners, and enhance developer tools for its Arkade platform. Arkade, slated for release in October 2025, is designed as an execution layer built on the Ark protocol to enable financial applications on Bitcoin, offering instant transactions and self-custodial settlement.
Tether's investment highlights a strategic focus on Bitcoin-native infrastructure by the leading stablecoin operator. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino stated, "Ark Labs is building infrastructure that makes it easier to issue, move, and settle stablecoins directly on Bitcoin." The company aims to improve access to USDT on Bitcoin, supporting financial inclusion and efficient cross-border payments.
Ark Labs also announced the introduction of stablecoin and digital asset support on Arkade, enabling partners to issue and settle tokenized assets directly on Bitcoin using virtualized transaction outputs (VTXOs).