Hemi Labs Unveils Mainnet

Modular blockchain Hemi Labs has unveiled its mainnet with $440 million in total value locked (TVL).

Founded by early Bitcoin developer Jeff Garzik, Hemi aims to unify Bitcoin and Ethereum, the two oldest and largest blockchains, into “a single supernetwork,” as stated in an emailed announcement.

Hemi is designed to leverage both Bitcoin’s security and Ethereum’s programmability. The project raised $15 million in a funding round led by Binance Labs in September.

Hemi is part of a movement seeking to reshape the blockchain landscape, especially in decentralized finance (DeFi), by combining Bitcoin and Ethereum due to Bitcoin’s significant value storage, which outweighs that of other digital assets.

However, Bitcoin’s coding lacks native support for essential DeFi functions such as smart contracts and zero-knowledge proofs, necessitating a bridge from Ethereum for these utilities.

The company has onboarded numerous protocols for deployment on Hemi, including the decentralized exchange (DEX) Sushi, the liquid staking token pumpBTC, and oracles RedStone and Pyth.