As privacy protection takes center stage in the cryptocurrency market, privacy-focused blockchain project Seismic has announced the completion of a new $10 million funding round.
This marks the second time this year that renowned venture capital firm a16z crypto has led an investment in Seismic. The project is dedicated to delivering privacy solutions for fintech applications and has now secured a total of $17 million in funding through two rounds.
01 Project Positioning: The Privacy Guardian for Fintech
Seismic is a privacy-centric blockchain purpose-built for fintech scenarios.
With privacy coins like ZEC experiencing a recent surge in prices, the privacy sector has once again captured market attention.
a16z crypto recently highlighted on social media, "As cryptocurrencies reach more mainstream users, the demand for privacy is more urgent than ever."
Against this backdrop, Seismic has emerged to address this rapidly growing market need.
Built on the EVM, Seismic enables developers to use familiar Solidity programming, requiring only additional syntax to control privacy settings.
This approach significantly lowers the learning curve for developers while delivering essential privacy protection capabilities.
02 Funding Journey: a16z Leads Two Consecutive Rounds
Seismic’s funding history reflects strong market confidence in its technology and future prospects.
In March 2025, Seismic announced a $7 million seed round led by a16z crypto, with participation from Polychain, 1kx, and other institutions.
On November 12, the project secured another $10 million, again led by a16z crypto, with new investors such as Amber Group joining the round.
With total funding now at $17 million, the capital will primarily support technology development and ecosystem expansion.
As the privacy sector in crypto experiences a resurgence, this fundraising performance has firmly positioned Seismic as a focal point in the market.
03 Technical Highlights: The Perfect Blend of TEE and Shielded Data
Seismic’s core technical strengths are evident in three key areas.
By leveraging protocol-level encryption and secure hardware, Seismic offers default privacy protection settings.
Unlike other privacy projects, Seismic utilizes Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) technology instead of zero-knowledge proofs.
All nodes are required to operate within a TEE to ensure data security.
The system introduces shielded data types, including shielded integers, booleans, and addresses, making it easier for developers to handle private data.
Additionally, Seismic Reth, its native execution client, further enhances privacy features: supporting private storage, encrypted transactions, and integrating six new precompiled contracts.
These contracts include AES-GCM encryption, ECDH key exchange, and more, allowing developers to quickly access privacy functionalities. The client was open-sourced in October 2024 to lower the barrier for developer adoption.
04 Team Background: Led by Seasoned Experts
Seismic was founded by Lyron Co Ting Keh, who holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Mathematics from Stanford University.
Lyron previously founded an edtech company, developed a Ruby on Rails training platform, and contributed to privacy tool development for projects such as Zcash and Aztec.
Lead engineer Peter He previously spearheaded the development of an Ethereum application-specific blockchain framework. He is an expert in distributed systems and privacy technologies and currently oversees Seismic’s technical implementation.
Business development lead Terence focuses on forging fintech partnerships, aiming to bring Seismic’s privacy capabilities to a broader range of financial scenarios.
While the full team has yet to be publicly revealed, available profiles show members hail from top institutions such as Wintermute, Google X, and Apple R&D, bringing deep technical expertise and industry experience.
05 Brookwell: The First Financial Application on Seismic
In September, Brookwell—the first application built on Seismic—made its official debut.
Developed by entrepreneurs Ravi and Rohan, this fintech product allows users to earn DeFi yields while using traditional payment channels.
Brookwell chose Seismic for its robust privacy protection.
The app handles sensitive personal financial transactions such as rent payments and payroll, data that should not be publicly visible on a public blockchain.
Leveraging Seismic’s privacy technology, Brookwell connects cryptocurrency with traditional financial systems while safeguarding user privacy.
Currently, Brookwell’s official website has opened its waitlist, drawing significant user interest.
06 The Privacy Sector and Market Outlook
As cryptocurrency continues to evolve, privacy protection has become an essential core requirement.
a16z crypto asserts that as digital assets reach more mainstream users, privacy is more critical than ever.
Seismic’s fintech-focused positioning sets it apart from traditional privacy coin projects.
By adopting TEE technology instead of zero-knowledge proofs, Seismic balances privacy, developer usability, and system performance.
From a market perspective, the privacy sector is entering a new phase of opportunity.
With regulatory clarity improving and user awareness of privacy growing, targeted solutions like Seismic are poised to capture greater market share.
Future Outlook
As governments and financial institutions tighten data privacy requirements, Seismic’s protocol-level encryption and secure hardware support are well aligned with market needs.
Its use of Trusted Execution Environment technology delivers enterprise-grade privacy protection for fintech applications.
Looking ahead, as more applications like Brookwell are built on Seismic, a financial ecosystem that harmonizes convenience and privacy is quietly taking shape.
