Portal to Bitcoin just raised $25 million and wasted no time putting the capital to work. The company launched an atomic over-the-counter trading desk designed for large crosschain transactions, targeting institutions and high-volume traders who want speed without counterparty risk.
The funding round was led by digital asset lender JTSA Global and builds on earlier backing from Coinbase Ventures, OKX Ventures, and Arrington Capital. Portal’s new Atomic OTC desk promises instant settlement for block trades, without custodians and without requiring either side to trust the other.
At the core of the system are Hashed Timelock Contracts operating across multiple chains, combined with Bitcoin Taproot contracts. The setup allows native assets to be swapped directly. Either both sides complete the trade, or funds automatically revert if something goes wrong. No middlemen. No wrapped tokens.
Portal runs this infrastructure on BitScaler, a layer-3 system built on Bitcoin using Taproot and policy templates. It resembles the Lightning Network in structure, opening channels that follow a hub-and-spoke model. A validator federation acts as the hub, while liquidity providers function as the spokes, enabling efficient routing of large trades.
According to founder and CEO Chandra Duggirala, Portal’s goal is to make Bitcoin the settlement layer for global asset markets. The platform allows users to trade only native assets on their native chains, avoiding the risks associated with wrapped tokens or custodial bridges.
Duggirala contrasted Portal’s design with atomic swap platforms like THORChain and Chainflip. While those systems enable crosschain swaps, they rely on validator-controlled vaults. If a majority of validators turn malicious, user funds could be at risk. Portal removes that attack surface entirely.
PortalOS includes a Notary Chain built using Ethereum Virtual Machine compatibility on Cosmos. Validators, called Portal Guardians, do not control vaults or liquidity pools. Instead, they handle trade matching, maintain pricing and liquidity data, and manage crosschain contract logic.
The network currently runs with a permissioned validator set of known entities for operational stability. The long-term design supports at least 21 validator slots, with capacity recently expanded to 150. The smaller validator count is intentional, since guardians have no direct access to user funds.
Portal currently uses an order book model but plans to move toward an automated market maker system. While validators cannot freeze or seize assets, malicious behavior could still result in swap censorship or pricing manipulation. The protocol is designed to limit damage without compromising user custody.
The takeaway is simple. Portal is betting that trustless settlement, not wrapped liquidity, is the future of crosschain trading. And with fresh capital and a live OTC desk, it is positioning Bitcoin as more than just a store of value.
