CasperLabs readies blockchain platform for 2021 mainnet launch with $14M private sale

CasperLabs has raised $14 million in a private validator token sale, with over a dozen investors participating in a round led by Digital Strategies. The company expects to launch its public mainnet in the first quarter of 2021, followed by a public token offering which will exclude U.S. investors. 

In 2018, CasperLabs raised $14.5 million in an equity Series A round led by Terren Piezer. The original plan provisioned for an Exchange Validator Offering on the BitMax exchange, but the recent announcement makes no mention of the exchange.

Casper started out as a scaling solution for Ethereum (ETH), but eventually, the decision was taken to pivot toward building its own proof-of-stake blockchain platform with Turing-complete smart contracts. Thus what started out as a complementary project to Ethereum may soon prove to be one of the dominant smart contract network's main competitors. 

Casper prides itself on providing a user-friendly blockchain for enterprise users. Its consensus protocol, called Correct By Construction (CBC), was designed by former Ethereum Foundation researcher Vlad Zamfir. Like many Ethereum competitors, it postulates a solution to the well-known blockchain trilemma: Scalability, Security, Decentralization; the assumption being that you can have only two out of three.

CasperLabs suggests that the Casper Delta testnet going live this month will be their final testnet before the launch next year.

There has been a recent revival of compliance-focused token offerings in the blockchain space, although nothing resembling the ICO frenzy of 2017 and 2018. For instance, Emin Gün Sirer’s Avalanche raised $42 million back in July.