Four Pillars Secures Series A Led by Pantera Capital to Expand as a 'Web3 Solution Company'

• Secures KRW 30 Billion (USD 20 Million) Valuation with Pantera Capital as Lead and Further Ventures as Anchor Investor
  
  
• Transitioning from Research to a Comprehensive Solutions Partner across Research, Institution, and Validated Units
  
  
• Strengthening Infrastructure to Bridge Structural Gaps Between Asia-Global and TradFi-Web3 Markets

SEOUL, South Korea, April 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Four Pillars, a blockchain research and technology company co-founded by Namwoong Kim, Jaehwan Jung, Heechang Kang, and Jinsol Bok, announced today at a press conference held in Gangnam, Seoul, that it has secured a Series A investment led by global investment firm Pantera Capital, with Further Ventures participating as the anchor investor.

Pantera Capital, the world's first institutional asset manager focused on digital assets, led the round, while Further Ventures — backed by Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADQ — joined as the anchor investor. Through this round, Four Pillars achieved an official post-money valuation of approximately KRW 30 billion (USD 20 million), demonstrating strong validation of its growth potential from leading global institutional investors.

"This investment represents more than capital; it reflects the data-driven trust we have built in the global market over the past three years," said Namwoong Kim, CEO of Four Pillars. "It is especially meaningful to announce this milestone at Episode Gangnam — the symbolic location where our founding team first envisioned the company — as we take a significant step toward becoming a comprehensive Web3 solution partner."

A representative from Pantera Capital commented, "Four Pillars is a well-balanced team of four co-founders, each bringing deep expertise across research, technology, strategy, and operations. Their multilingual research has already set a benchmark for technical credibility in the global market while helping reduce regional information asymmetry. The infrastructure they are building on top of this foundation has the potential to become a key driver of on-chain ecosystem expansion."

Rebranding: Transition to a Web3 Solutions Company

Following the investment, Four Pillars is officially rebranding as a "Web3 Solutions Company," marking a strategic shift from a research-focused organization to a full-stack infrastructure and solutions partner. The transition reflects the company's view that the blockchain industry has entered a phase where real-world value creation is becoming more important than early-stage experimentation, and where structural inefficiencies continue to limit market development. To address these issues, the company has defined three strategic approaches: connecting Asia with global markets by acting as a trust-based interface (Bridge), bridging the gap between traditional finance and Web3 through specialized collaboration models (Translate), and scaling beyond research into a provider of tangible infrastructure and product execution (Expand).

Three Integrated Business Pillars: Research, Institution, and Validated

Moving forward, the company will center its operations around three core business pillars: Research, Institution, and Validated. The Research unit will continue to deliver global-standard technical analysis, while the Institution unit provides advisory services and seminars tailored for enterprises and institutional investors. The Validated unit, representing the company's infrastructure arm, operates institutional-grade validator services led by veteran engineers with prior experience at leading blockchain organizations such as A41 and Lambda256.

In particular, as regulatory developments accelerate in areas such as KRW-based stablecoins and tokenization of traditional assets (including real estate, bonds, and funds), Four Pillars aims to strengthen its role as an infrastructure partner. The company seeks to enable institutions to integrate Web3 infrastructure into real-world financial services, facilitating meaningful collaboration between traditional finance and the decentralized ecosystem. Jaehwan Jung, Head of Validator at Four Pillars, emphasized that research has always served as a means of proving capability rather than an end in itself. He stated that as the crypto market enters a phase where execution defines success, the company will grow by organically connecting research, institutions, and infrastructure to deliver real value in the global market. 

Founded in 2023, Four Pillars currently holds a team of 10+ world-class researchers and over 600 research reports. Its infrastructure arm, Validated, consists of five veteran engineers with node operation experience at firms such as A41 and Lambda256, managing operations within SOC 2 and ISO-certified environments to ensure the highest standards of reliability.

About Four Pillars

Four Pillars is a Seoul-based blockchain research and technology company providing multi-lingual research, protocol strategy consulting, institutional networking, and validator infrastructure services. Over the past three years, the company has built a reputation as a trusted partner connecting Asia and the global blockchain ecosystem through over 100 collaborations and more than 600 research publications.

About Pantera Capital

Founded in San Francisco in 2013, Pantera Capital is the first institutional asset manager focused exclusively on digital assets. It operates a broad investment portfolio across the blockchain ecosystem and is widely recognized as a leading global Web3 venture capital firm.

About Further Ventures

Founded in Abu Dhabi in 2021, Further Ventures is a global venture capital firm backed by the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADQ. The firm focuses on building institutional-grade digital asset infrastructure through strategic investments at the intersection of fintech and Web3.

SOURCE Four Pillars