The investment was made through a direct purchase of ANVL, the native token of Anvil, a protocol that lets users put up crypto as collateral. Founders Fund, the venture firm co-founded by Peter Thiel, led the transaction. Pantera Capital and Bullish, which operates a crypto exchange, also participated.
Anvil said it is rolling out software designed to make its collateral protocol easier for businesses to integrate. The token buy comes as Anvil looks to expand beyond individual users and court institutional and corporate clients. The deal is structured as a token purchase rather than an equity investment, a route some crypto companies have taken to align backers with the protocol's token economy.