The Bitcoin Ordinals explorer, Ord.io, secured $2 million in pre-seed funding in a round co-led by Bitcoin Frontier Fund and Sora Ventures in anticipation of the Runes Protocol launch.

Other participants in the funding round included Longhash Ventures, Daxos Capital, Portal Ventures, UTXO Management, Rubik Ventures, VitalTao Capital, Antalpha Ventures, Kommune Fund, Edessa Capital, PetRock Capital, PG Capital, Shake and Bake Productions, Re7 Capital, Balaji Fund, and various angel investors.

With the impending launch of the Runes Protocol, Ord.io plans to expand its focus beyond Ordinals exploration, introducing new features and products. The Runes Protocol, a new fungible token standard for Bitcoin, is expected to debut on the day of the halving, potentially reshaping Bitcoin's ecosystem akin to the BRC-20 standard launch last year.

Leonadis, the project's co-founder, stressed the importance of being prepared for the opportunities presented by the Runes launch, foreseeing its potential to broaden Bitcoin's appeal to a broader audience. He highlighted the platform's commitment to serving the evolving needs of Bitcoin users, who may be interested in collecting digital assets beyond BTC itself.

The new funding will enable Ord.io to enhance existing features, introduce new services and financial tools, and expand its development team. Leonadis emphasized the importance of maintaining Bitcoin's core values while innovating, aiming to create a distinctive offering rather than replicating existing solutions from Ethereum or Solana.