Back in February, two seasoned names from the world of quantitative finance quietly made a big move into crypto. Anit Chakraborty, who spent over 15 years as a software engineer at Hudson River Trading, teamed up with Annabelle Huang, previously a managing partner at Amber Group, to launch a blockchain startup called Altius Labs. The company secured $11 million in pre-seed funding, with backing from Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund and Pantera Capital.
The round used a SAFE (simple agreement for future equity) and included token warrants, giving early investors a piece of what the founders believe could change how blockchains operate. With privacy continuing to be a priority for many in the crypto space, tools like the best anonymous crypto wallets with no KYC requirements are gaining attention. These tools let users stay private while still taking part in new systems, and they’re often used alongside newer blockchain projects like the one Altius is building.
The company’s main idea is to create a blockchain layer that speeds up how transactions are handled. Right now, most blockchains bundle everything, including execution, verification, and storage, into one process, which can slow things down. Altius plans to break this apart and focus only on execution, which would free up blockchains to operate faster and more efficiently.
That’s key for any platform hoping to match or beat the performance of networks like Solana, which has become a go-to for high-traffic crypto apps and tokens. Solana has drawn attention thanks to its low fees and quick transaction speeds. It’s especially popular among memecoin creators, who often need a lot of activity for little cost.
But with so much action centered on one chain, problems like congestion are bound to happen. Altius wants to step in with a solution that gives developers more breathing room without making them switch platforms entirely. Investor interest in blockchain infrastructure has stayed strong.
Last year, Monad, founded by ex-Jump Trading employees, raised $225 million for its own high-speed blockchain project. Around the same time, Berachain pulled in $100 million and has since gone live. These projects, along with Altius, are part of a new wave in crypto focused less on hype and more on building tools that make the whole system run better.
Altius isn’t releasing its own coin just yet. Instead, the team is building the tech behind the scenes. Their platform is designed to work across different blockchain setups, including Ethereum and Solana.
That makes it flexible for developers who don’t want to start from scratch or leave their current ecosystem. Since the announcement in February, Altius has started testing in closed environments, and early feedback from developers has been promising. The crypto market has stayed volatile, but infrastructure projects like this are drawing attention for a different reason.
They promise long-term improvements instead of short-term gains. In April, Solana again showed signs of strain after another round of token launches pushed its limits. That kind of pressure highlights exactly why projects like Altius matter.
Speed and performance are now key to keeping users and developers from looking elsewhere, not just technical goals. The broader message here is simple: better tools build better systems. And while coins and tokens tend to grab the spotlight, the real shift might come from teams like Altius quietly fixing the way things work behind the scenes.
