Hemi Labs, a Bitcoin programmability network founded by early Bitcoin developer Jeff Garzik, has secured $15 million in a growth funding round. The investment was led by YZi Labs (formerly Binance Labs), Republic Digital, HyperChain Capital, and Crypto.com, with participation from Breyer Capital, Big Brain Holdings, and others. This brings Hemi's total funding to $30 million.
The funds will accelerate development of Hemi's ecosystem, particularly its Hemi Virtual Machine (hVM), which embeds a Bitcoin node inside an Ethereum Virtual Machine. This architecture allows developers to build DeFi applications—including borrowing, lending, and trading—directly on Bitcoin using familiar Ethereum tools without compromising security or decentralization.
Garzik emphasized: "Bitcoin doesn’t need to be reinvented; it just needs the right tools around it. Hemi provides DeFi protocols with a familiar way to build on Bitcoin, without requiring new skills, compromising on security, or sacrificing decentralization."
Hemi has demonstrated significant traction with over 100,000 verified users and 400,000 community members. Its ecosystem includes 70+ partners such as Sushi, LayerZero, MetaMask, and Redstone. Total Value Locked (TVL) has reached $1.2 billion, making it the largest Bitcoin programmability layer by this metric.
The funding will support developer tools, education, and expanded partnerships ahead of Hemi's upcoming token generation event for the HEMI token. The token will serve security, governance, and cross-chain functionality roles with a total supply of 10 billion tokens.
Hemi's growth reflects a broader trend of Bitcoin DeFi projects aiming to mobilize Bitcoin's $2.3 trillion market cap. Competitors like Lombard (with LBTC) and BOB are also developing infrastructure to transform Bitcoin into an active DeFi component.
