DARMA Capital Bets $3M on Scalable DeFi Exchange With Settlement Finality

Nahmii, not Polygon, is where DARMA is placing its bet on layer 2 scaling solutions.

AccessTimeIconMay 11, 2021 at 1:00 p.m. UTC
Updated May 9, 2023 at 3:19 a.m. UTC
10 Years of Decentralizing the Future
May 29-31, 2024 - Austin, TexasThe biggest and most established global hub for everything crypto, blockchain and Web3.Register Now

Ethereum scaling solution Nahmii is being backed by DARMA Capital, the U.S.-registered investment fund launched by former ConsenSys veterans Andrew Keys and James Slazas. 

Announced Tuesday, DARMA is leading a $3 million seed round in NiiFi, a decentralized exchange (DEX) being built on Nahmii – a layer two system for boosting Ethereum’s transaction capacity. Also included in the round are A195 Capital, AU21 Capital, Blocksync Ventures, Lotus Capital, Matterblock, Moonwhale Ventures, Protocol Ventures and Three M Capital. 

  • DeFi Market Rebounds to $50B as Speculators Hunt for Yield
    01:11
    DeFi Market Rebounds to $50B as Speculators Hunt for Yield
  • How Spool Is Aiming to Help Institutions Enter DeFi
    11:05
    How Spool Is Aiming to Help Institutions Enter DeFi
  • How a New Tax Proposal From the IRS Could Impact DeFi
    00:46
    How a New Tax Proposal From the IRS Could Impact DeFi
  • Injective Survey Suggests Many Traders Use Both Centralized and Decentralized Exchanges
    08:17
    Injective Survey Suggests Many Traders Use Both Centralized and Decentralized Exchanges
  • The NiiFi DEX promises institution-friendly features like instant settlement finality and know-your-customer (KYC) capabilities, DARMA Capital said.

    “Nahmii is where DARMA is placing its layer two scaling-solution bet,” Keys said in an interview. “We are concerned with commercial viability, and one of the most important considerations when employing blockchains is finality. NiFii uses Nahmii’s scaling capabilities to build a commercially viable DEX with instant, immediate finality, and we think that will be a huge differentiating point.”

    Ethereum scaling solutions that run tangentially to the main Ethereum chain are hot property right now, with the likes of Polygon making a splash and Optimism, another popular option, soon to go live in full.

    Generally speaking, blockchains achieve what’s known as probabilistic finality; it takes a period of time for a bitcoin transaction to settle in the blockchain, for instance (though some might argue that for any financial system, finality is always probabilistic). 

    Scaling solutions like Optimism, known collectively as rollups, gather an off-chain aggregation of transactions inside an Ethereum smart contract that will settle to the main chain at some future point. In the case of Optimism, settlement finality is going to be seven days, said DARMA’s Keys.

    “We have basically built a system from the ground up with our own IP, which is actually currently patent-pending,” said Nahmii developer Jacobo Toll-Messia in an interview.

    The current raise is particularly around building out NiiFi’s low latency DEX with instant finality and anti-money laundering and KYC for DeFi, said Keys, with some more fundraising to follow shortly.

    “We plan to announce a larger capital raise for Nahmii layer 2 in a month or two,” he said.

    Disclosure

    Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information has been updated.

    CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. In November 2023, CoinDesk was acquired by the Bullish group, owner of Bullish, a regulated, digital assets exchange. The Bullish group is majority-owned by Block.one; both companies have interests in a variety of blockchain and digital asset businesses and significant holdings of digital assets, including bitcoin. CoinDesk operates as an independent subsidiary with an editorial committee to protect journalistic independence. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive options in the Bullish group as part of their compensation.


    Learn more about Consensus 2024, CoinDesk's longest-running and most influential event that brings together all sides of crypto, blockchain and Web3. Head to consensus.coindesk.com to register and buy your pass now.