by Across

Hack VC, Placeholder, and Blockchain Capital have invested $10MM in Across Protocol at a $200MM valuation using a Success Tokens design.

The three leading venture capital firms that specialize in web3 technology purchased 50MM Across Success Tokens from Risk Labs (the foundation that supports Across Protocol).

Each success token matures on June 30, 2025 and returns 1 ACX (Across Protocol’s native token) along with the value of 1 call option on ACX struck at $0.50. As long-term strategic partners, Hack VC, Placeholder and Blockchain Capital will use their experience and network to provide advice and resources to help the Across protocol succeed.

Across combines a 1-of-N security model with a super efficient capital management system to deliver secure, scalable, low slippage cross chain bridging. After backing Hart and his talented team nearly 5 years ago to build UMA, we couldn’t be more excited to support them again as they leverage their expertise and experience towards solving crypto’s cross chain UX.

— Aleks, Blockchain Capital

Success tokens were pioneered by UMA protocol as a structure to better align the incentives of investors with the protocol and its community. Each Across Success Token combines 1 ACX token with 1 call option struck at $0.50 on the price of ACX. At maturity, the investor receives 1 ACX token in addition to the value of the ACX call option, paid in ACX. This structure allows a venture investor to gain leveraged upside to ACX while allowing the Across DAO to avoid selling tokens at an excessive discount on day one.

Token sales to venture firms have typically been done at significant valuation discounts which is costly for the project and not well received by its community. Instead of offering this discount, success tokens offer the investor a call option alongside their token purchase. Investors pay the fair market price of the token for this package. The option portion is only valuable if the project token rallies, which better aligns incentives. Instead of paying the venture firm a “bonus” upfront (in the form of a discount), the firm gets its “bonus” if the project performs well, which of course benefits the whole community.

Across Success Token parameters:

The strategic partnerships with Hack VC, Placeholder and Blockchain Capital will further Across Protocol’s mission of being the most used cross-chain bridge in web3. The funds from the investment will fuel the development of the cross-chain bridge to add more destinations, further increase capital efficiency, and expand the permissionless relayer network. Across will leverage the experience and resources of the strategic partners to hire talent, acquire more users, secure integrations with other projects and build the Across brand. The Across Success Token transaction is a strong show of confidence in Across Protocol and ensures long-term incentives alignment between Risk Labs, $ACX tokenholders, and the strategic investors.

Be sure to attend the $ACX token launch event on November 28.