Portal leverages BitScaler, a layer-3 system resembling Lightning Network built on top of Bitcoin using Taproot and policy templates.
Bitcoin News
Portal to Bitcoin has secured $25 million in funding while launching an atomic over-the-counter trading desk designed for large crosschain transactions. Digital asset lender JTSA Global led the investment round announced Thursday.
The fundraise follows previous backing from Coinbase Ventures, OKX Ventures and Arrington Capital. Portal's newly deployed Atomic OTC desk promises instant settlement of sizable block trades without requiring trust between counterparties.
The service uses Hashed Timelock Contracts across multiple chains and Bitcoin Taproot contracts to swap native assets in a non-custodial manner. HTLCs ensure that both parties either complete exchanges or recover original assets if transactions fail.
Portal leverages BitScaler, a layer-3 system resembling Lightning Network built on top of Bitcoin using Taproot and policy templates. The infrastructure opens channels similar to Lightning channels, introducing a hub-and-spoke structure where validator federation serves as the hub and liquidity providers function as spokes.
"Portal provides the infrastructure to make Bitcoin the settlement layer for global asset markets, without bridges, custodians, or wrapped assets," said Chandra Duggirala, founder and CEO. The platform enables users to deal only with native assets on their native chains rather than trusting wrapped tokens with federations.
Duggirala explained that while atomic swaps exist through platforms like THORChain and Chainflip, those systems rely on vaults taking custody of funds controlled by validators. A majority of rogue validators could potentially steal vault-controlled funds under such setups, he noted.
PortalOS includes a Notary Chain built on Ethereum Virtual Machine on Cosmos, with validators called Portal Guardians. The network currently operates with a permissioned validator set of known entities for node software management purposes, though the system targets at least 21 validator slots with 42 available positions—recently increased to 150, according to Duggirala.
Validators do not control vaults or liquidity pools but handle trade matching, maintain the notary chain state, including pricing and liquidity pool accounting, and manage crosschain contracts for the protocol's token. According to documentation, the low validator count was chosen intentionally since guardians lack control over fund flows.
The platform currently uses an order book model with plans to transition toward an automated market maker system. While validators cannot directly seize or freeze user assets, they could potentially censor swaps, misprice markets, or disrupt system functioning if acting maliciously.
This article contains links to third-party websites or other content for information purposes only (“Third-Party Sites”). The Third-Party Sites are not under the control of CoinMarketCap, and CoinMarketCap is not responsible for the content of any Third-Party Site, including without limitation any link contained in a Third-Party Site, or any changes or updates to a Third-Party Site. CoinMarketCap is providing these links to you only as a convenience, and the inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement, approval or recommendation by CoinMarketCap of the site or any association with its operators. This article is intended to be used and must be used for informational purposes only. It is important to do your own research and analysis before making any material decisions related to any of the products or services described. This article is not intended as, and shall not be construed as, financial advice. The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s [company’s] own and do not necessarily reflect those of CoinMarketCap.
