Daylight raised $75 million in funding, a16z bets on the revolution of power transforming on-chain assets.

Decentralized energy company Daylight has secured $75 million in funding to expand its Blockchain-based network. This round of financing includes a $15 million equity investment led by Framework Ventures, along with $60 million in project financing provided by Turtle Hill Capital, with participation from a16z crypto.

Daylight completes $75 million funding to build a Decentralization power grid

(Source: Daylight)

Daylight announced the completion of a $75 million financing on platform X, marking an important milestone in the integration of the cryptocurrency sector with traditional energy infrastructure. The structure of this round of financing is highly strategic, divided into two main parts: a $15 million equity investment and a $60 million project financing. This combination ensures that Daylight has both the funds available for technological development and team expansion, as well as sufficient capital for the actual construction of energy infrastructure.

Framework Ventures, as the leading investor, has demonstrated the continued optimism of top crypto investment institutions towards the RWA (Real World Assets) sector. Framework is known for investing in infrastructure and protocol layer projects, with previous successful cases including Chainlink and Synthetix. Its bet on Daylight indicates that this decentralized energy company has long-term development potential.

The $60 million project financing provided by Turtle Hill Capital is another highlight of this round. Turtle Hill focuses on renewable energy and infrastructure investments, and its participation signifies that Daylight has passed the rigorous due diligence of traditional energy sector professional investors. This cross-border financing model is extremely rare in the crypto space, indicating that what Daylight is building is not merely a pure crypto project, but a true infrastructure that connects real-world energy assets.

a16z crypto's participation further strengthens market confidence in Daylight. As one of the most active crypto investment firms globally, a16z crypto's portfolio covers various sectors from DeFi, NFTs to infrastructure, and its investment in Daylight suggests that decentralized energy may become the next explosive Web3 application scenario. The participation of institutions like M13, EV3 Ventures, and Lerer Hippeau brings multidimensional support to Daylight in areas such as consumer technology, energy transition, and media resources.

DayFi Protocol Turns Electricity into Investable On-Chain Assets

The core innovation of Daylight is the DayFi protocol, which is a DeFi protocol that allows investors to invest in electricity as an asset class. This concept disrupts the traditional energy investment model, transforming electricity into what the company calls “a new type of digital commodity.”

In the traditional model, ordinary investors who want to participate in energy production typically need to invest in energy company stocks, infrastructure funds, or REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts). These methods not only have high thresholds, poor liquidity, but also often involve multiple layers of separation between returns and actual energy production. The DayFi protocol aims to eliminate these intermediaries, allowing investors to directly invest in power generation assets and receive returns from electricity sales.

The operational logic of this model is similar to liquidity mining in DeFi, but the underlying asset has changed from digital tokens to real electricity production. Investors can provide funding to specific power generation facilities through the DayFi protocol, which may include solar panels, wind turbines, or other renewable energy devices. When these facilities generate electricity and sell it, investors receive proportional returns. The entire process is executed automatically through smart contracts, ensuring transparency and instant settlement.

Daylight emphasizes its vision of building an energy infrastructure that expands “through the community”, allowing users to contribute to and profit from the decentralized on-chain power grid. This community-driven model stands in stark contrast to the centralized monopolies of the traditional energy sector and has the potential to reshape the power dynamics of energy investment and production.

Decentralization of the Power Grid: Technical Architecture and Real-World Challenges

This financing will accelerate the development of the Daylight network, which aims to achieve a decentralized power grid by directly connecting capital to power generation, thereby enhancing the affordability and reliability of electricity. Although this goal is ambitious, the path to realization is clear: utilize the transparency and automation capabilities of Blockchain to reduce transaction costs and trust barriers in energy investments.

The technical architecture of Daylight may include the following levels. First is the asset tokenization layer, which transforms physical power generation facilities into on-chain tradable tokens, with each token representing a certain proportion of power generation rights. Second is the smart contract settlement layer, which automatically handles the distribution of electricity sales revenue, ensuring that investors receive returns in proportion. The third is the data oracle layer, which brings real-world power generation data (such as output and electricity prices) on-chain, providing a reliable data source for smart contracts.

However, the challenges facing Daylight cannot be ignored. First is the regulatory compliance issue; the energy sector is subject to strict regulations in most countries, and Daylight needs to obtain the necessary licenses and approvals in various jurisdictions. Second is the challenge of technological integration; connecting traditional grid infrastructure with Blockchain systems is not an easy task and requires significant hardware modifications and software development. Third is the market education cost; convincing traditional energy investors and consumers to accept the Decentralization model requires time and resources.

Decentralization Energy Market Potential and Future Outlook

If Daylight's model is successful, it could open up a whole new market. According to data from the International Energy Agency (IEA), global energy investments exceed $2 trillion annually, with the share of renewable energy investments continuously rising. If Daylight can attract even 1% of energy investments to its platform, it will create a market size of billions of dollars.

Three Major Advantages of Daylight Mode:

Lower Investment Threshold: Traditional energy investments often require start-ups of millions of dollars, but the DayFi protocol may allow small investors to participate.

Increase Transparency: Blockchain records all transactions and profit distributions, eliminating information asymmetry.

Enhanced Liquidity: Tokenized energy assets can be traded on the secondary market, allowing investors not to be locked in for years.

From a more macro perspective, Daylight represents an important direction in the RWA track. In the past few years, the cryptocurrency field has seen attempts at tokenization of assets such as real estate, artworks, and bonds, but the tokenization potential of energy, as one of the most fundamental physical assets, has yet to be fully explored. If Daylight can prove the feasibility of decentralized energy networks, it could spark a new wave of RWA innovation.

For investors, Daylight offers a unique value proposition: the ability to participate in the global trend of clean energy transition while potentially gaining high returns through DeFi mechanisms. For energy consumers, a decentralized grid may bring lower electricity prices and more reliable supply. For the entire cryptocurrency industry, the success of Daylight will prove that Blockchain technology can not only change finance but also transform the infrastructure of the real economy.