Five Bells, founded by a former NYDIG executive, has completed a seed funding round and is building a "native Bitcoin DvP settlement layer."

PANews, March 3rd — According to Forbes, Five Bells, co-founded by former NYDIG and Two Sigma executives, has completed its seed round of financing, led by Ego Death Capital, with participation from Epoch VC, Timechain, and Fulgur Ventures.

Five Bells is building what it calls the "first native Bitcoin DvP settlement layer," aiming to address counterparty risk in large-scale institutional Bitcoin transactions. Its solution allows both parties to pre-lock settlement terms on-chain, locking BTC in a custody-like mechanism, and automatically completing delivery upon confirmation of fiat wire or stablecoin payment, thereby eliminating operational friction and settlement costs. The solution is based on Taproot FROST contracts, leveraging the Bitcoin network as a neutral and shared trust anchor. The company plans to officially launch this service to clients after final testing and audits are completed.