Binance Labs Doubles Down on Aptos Bet Ahead of Blockchain Launch

Binance’s venture capital wing said Thursday it is increasing its investment in upstart blockchain platform Aptos Labs.

In a blog post, Binance Labs said the investment expands its “commitment to infrastructure building.” Binance had previously joined Aptos Labs’ $150 million funding round earlier this year. It was not clear how large Binance’s latest investment is; Binance did not immediately respond to CoinDesk.

Bloomberg reported that Aptos Labs’ valuation is now up to $4 billion.

Aptos, staffed by former Facebook employees, is building a layer 1 blockchain using parts of the tech built for Facebook’s defunct Diem stablecoin project. It is approaching a mainnet launch expected for later this year and wooing decentralized finance (DeFi) builders in the run-up.