Bitcoin startup JAN3, founded by Samson Mow, raises $21m in seed funding at a $100m valuation

Bitcoin startup JAN3, founded by Samson Mow, has raised $21 million in seed funding at a $100 million valuation. This was announced by the former Blockstream head of strategic development at the Bitcoin 2022 conference, according to CoinDesk.

“JAN3 will focus on advancing Bitcoin and second‑layer solutions such as Liquid and Lightning, which are central to the mass adoption of cryptocurrency and to building a circular economy. The company will also support my initiatives to implement Bitcoin at the national level and contribute expert input to infrastructure development projects,” Mow said.

Investors in the project include Chun Wang, co-founder of F2Pool, as well as El Zonte Capital, the investment firm founded by Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert.

JAN3 will manage the AQUA and Green wallets from Blockstream, as well as the NFT marketplace Raretoshi. The startup signed a memorandum of understanding with the Salvadoran government; it will become one of the providers of the country’s cryptocurrency infrastructure.

In March 2022, Mow announced his departure from Blockstream, saying he had decided to focus on national‑level Bitcoin adoption.

Blockstream will continue to be a critical part of #Bitcoin infrastructure development & Layer 2 scaling tech like @Liquid_BTC & Lightning. I’m grateful to have had a hand in bringing so many products/services to market, and though I’m leaving, I’ll still be a #BlockstreamSpy. 🕵🏻‍♂️

— Samson Mow (@Excellion) March 1, 2022

Earlier, Mow worked on the architecture of Bitcoin bonds of El Salvador, which the country launched in partnership with Blockstream and iFinex (the parent company of Bitfinex and Tether).