Polygon-Backed Miden Locks $25M Funding to Build Privacy-First ’Edge Blockchain’—Because Your Data Shouldn’t Be an Open Ledger

Move over, surveillance chains—Miden’s fresh capital injection aims to solve crypto’s dirty little secret: privacy at scale is still a pipe dream for most networks.

The Polygon-incubated project promises zero-knowledge proofs without the usual performance trade-offs, targeting developers who’d rather not broadcast every transaction to the world.

Funny how ’edge’ now means both cutting-edge and edge-of-your-seat risk in crypto land. Just ask the VCs who wrote checks before the last privacy coin got delisted.

• Miden raised $25M led by a16z Crypto to build a privacy-first blockchain for institutions.
• Miden’s edge blockchain executes transactions on user devices for speed and confidentiality.
• A Q4 2025 mainnet launch and 10% token airdrop to POL holders are planned by Miden.

Miden, an independent blockchain protocol, has secured $25 million in seed funding to develop its zero-knowledge (ZK) infrastructure for privacy-centric, scalable transaction execution. The funding round received support from a16z Crypto, 1kx, and Hack VC, followed by investments from Finality Capital Partners, Symbolic Capital P2 Ventures, Delta Fund, and MH Ventures. RUNE Christensen from MakerDAO and Sreeram Kannan from EigenLayer participated as angel investors in the raise.

Incubated initially within Polygon Labs the protocol now operates independently and is positioning itself as a privacy-focused solution for institutions requiring confidential blockchain transactions. According to co-founder Bobbin Threadbare, formerly an engineer at Meta, the protocol enables transaction execution on users’ edge devices, improving privacy and scalability.

It was clear to me that this cannot be achieved with any of the existing protocols – and so, we had to design Miden from the ground up.

The CORE idea was to move as much of the state and execution to the edge (i.e., the client side) as possible, but not more (i.e., we still need…

Edge Blockchain Design Targets Institutional Use Cases

Miden achieves its core innovation through an “edge blockchain” operational model that relocates computation from central nodes to user-managed devices, including smartphones and laptops. Moreover, users can choose between processing transactions privately or publicly on an application tailored to meet institutional needs.

Through its design structure, the protocol provides large enterprises with an ideal platform to execute confidential operations. Miden co-founder Azeem Khan stated that the technology would help prevent market disruptions from public transaction visibility.  For example, if a large company like Apple were to process supplier payments on a public chain, it could lead to unintended market reactions.

Threadbare noted that current blockchain networks often compromise either scalability or privacy. He stated that the protocol aims to remove those trade-offs, creating a platform that simultaneously serves institutions needing performance, confidentiality, and decentralization.

Miden to Airdrop Native Tokens and Integrate With Agglayer

The newly independent Miden will distribute about 10% of its native token supply to holders and stakers of Polygon’s POL token. The airdrop aligns with it’s goal of supporting the Agglayer ecosystem, which includes Polygon’s scaling and cross-chain liquidity infrastructure.

After a successful incubation period, we’re thrilled to announce Miden has spun out of Polygon Labs with a $25M seed, led by @a16zcrypto, @1kxnetwork, and @hack_vc.

Miden will continue building their ZK-powered “edge” blockchain, where both state and execution happen on the… pic.twitter.com/UiWgCmMJZB

According to Polygon Labs founder Sandeep Nailwal, the protocol embodies the future of blockchain architecture. He described the edge-execution model as a necessary shift away from reliance on supernodes or centralized validators. Miden will remain part of Polygon’s Breakout Program, which encourages scaling-focused innovations.

Miden is in its alpha stage, onboarding early developers through a dedicated Pioneer program. The seed funding will be directed toward core protocol development, ecosystem expansion, and tools for builders.

Industry specialists are enthusiastic about blockchain systems with confidentiality features due to their appeal to institutional users. Moreover, technologies like zero-knowledge proofs and confidential computing are developing solutions to the privacy performance challenge.

Remi Gai, the founder of Inco, a confidential computing platform noted that overcoming blockchain privacy constraints could unlock up to $1 trillion in capital. The protocol’s combined execution model and institutional focus are recognized as a solution to long-standing blockchain challenges.