Portal partners with Polygon to advance DeFi on Bitcoin

Decentralized exchange, or DEX, and self-custody wallet platform Portal has announced a strategic partnership agreement with layer-two blockchain network Polygon to advance Bitcoin functionality in the decentralized finance, or DeFi, market.

Portal currently offers fully decentralized on-chain spot and options trading, as well as peer-to-peer lending and borrowing. This partnership is expected to expand these user capabilities through the enablement of zero-knowledge swap functionalities for wBTC/BTC as well as POS/WBTC to BTC, in addition to Polygon operating a liquidity-supporting node on Portal DEX.

Portal’s primary objective is to cultivate a self-governing, anonymous and uncensored ecosystem for Bitcoin on DeFi. The platform’s utilization of Bitcoin’s hash time-locked contracts grants users robust security in their transaction activities, while its layer-three technology, Fabric, enables the deployment of typical smart contract functionalities such as staking and liquidity,

Executive chairman of Portal Dr. Chandra Duggirala commented on the potential for the enhanced usability of Bitcoin in the DeFi space.

“Given that Portal is a DeFi layer on Bitcoin, we are excited to partner with Polygon to enable WBTC/BTC and POS-WBTC to BTC swaps. We believe that having liquid markets and enabling price discovery will appropriately price wrapped Bitcoin based on risk and enables increased usability for Bitcoin.”

In late September, Portal benefitted from an $8.5 million funding raise with participation by a panoply of institutional powerhouses, including, but not limited to Coinbase Ventures, Arrington XRP Capital, OKEx, in addition to senior figures from Ethereum, Dfinity and Galaxy Digital, among others.

Founder of Portal George Burke shared a humorous entry from the firm’s monthly Memeathon, a light-hearted competition that invites community members to engage in the much-loved social sport of “meme-ing.” The winner of the October competition can be seen here.