Puffer, a prominent liquid restaking protocol, has secured $18 million in a Series A funding round, signaling strong investor confidence in the project's potential. The financing was led by Brevan Howard Digital and Electric Capital, with participation from key players including Coinbase Ventures, Kraken Ventures, and Lemniscap, among others.

This influx of capital is earmarked for the imminent launch of Puffer's mainnet, marking a significant milestone in the protocol's development. Prior to this round, Puffer had raised $5.5 million in a funding round co-led by Lemniscap and Lightspeed Faction.

As the second-largest liquid restaking protocol behind Ether.Fi, Puffer occupies a pivotal position within the burgeoning restaking landscape of the Ethereum ecosystem. These protocols, exemplified by EigenLayer and others, have garnered substantial attention and user deposits, with EigenLayer alone amassing $12.7 billion, according to DeFiLlama.

Operating on EigenLayer, Puffer enables Ethereum stakers to earn yield by participating in actively validated services (AVS). Through its mechanism, Puffer issues pufETH tokens to users, representing their deposits, thereby facilitating trading and other activities.

Despite its mainnet launch pending, Puffer has already witnessed significant traction, surpassing $1 billion in deposits in March. Amir Amir Forouzani, CEO of Puffer Finance, expressed optimism about the protocol's potential impact on Ethereum's decentralization and the broader restaking ecosystem.

"With our upcoming mainnet launch, we aim to significantly reduce the barriers for home validators to participate, while delivering the most advanced liquid restaking protocol," said Forouzani. "This is a major step forward for Ethereum’s decentralization and the wider restaking ecosystem."