Paradigm, one of the most influential venture capital firms in crypto, has led a $7.1 million seed funding round for Noise, a New York–based startup developing a new kind of information platform centered on attention markets. The investment comes as Noise prepares for a public launch on Base, Coinbase’s Ethereum Layer 2 network, later this year.
The seed round builds on earlier, previously undisclosed pre-seed funding from Figment Capital and Anagram, along with strategic backing from GSR, JPEG Trading, and KaitoAI. Gabriel Perez Carafa, CEO and co-founder of Noise, said the funding will help the team scale development and expand beyond its initial crypto-focused use cases.
At its core, Noise aims to offer an alternative and complement to traditional prediction markets. Instead of asking users to bet on specific outcomes by a set date, Noise allows participants to wager on which topics, brands, and narratives will remain relevant over time. The idea blends elements of Google Trends with market-based incentives, using financial stakes to surface collective insight into cultural relevance.
The platform positions itself as a way to filter signal from online chaos. By requiring users to put money behind their views, Noise seeks to reduce bias and surface more objective indicators of what truly holds attention. This approach mirrors the broader appeal of prediction markets, which have grown rapidly as platforms like Polymarket move from niche experiments to mainstream adoption.
Noise launched an invite-only beta testnet in May last year. Over five months, more than 1,300 users placed wagers across 14 attention markets focused on crypto topics, using social media data supplied by Kaito. According to Carafa, the team was surprised by the level of interest and the pace of engagement, which pushed the platform’s early infrastructure to its limits.
Insights from the testnet highlighted how attention can interact with financial markets in unexpected ways. For example, Noise observed a complex relationship between interest in Pump.fun and price movements of a related pre-ICO perpetual contract on Hyperliquid. Attention appeared to both lead and follow price action, but neither consistently predicted the other, underscoring the nuanced role attention plays in market behavior.
One key distinction between Noise and established prediction platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket is its continuous market design. Rather than settling on a simple yes-or-no outcome, Noise tracks how interest evolves over time. Carafa describes it as a stock market for trends, where prices reflect changing relevance rather than single events.
The upcoming launch on Base will mark Noise’s first exposure to a wider public and real capital, a step Carafa sees as essential for testing the platform’s economic assumptions and broader social value. The new funding will also support growing data demands as Noise looks to expand beyond crypto into other industries.
Noise’s backers include a mix of crypto builders, investors, and creators. Angels range from media figures Jordi Hays and Jackson Dahl to musician Justin “3lau” Blau, Kaito founder Yu Hu, and Jokerace co-founder David Phelps. Phelps said he sees Noise as part of a broader movement to reward meaningful attention, rather than a direct competitor to existing sentiment platforms.
While the Noise team set out to create a new category, Carafa believes competition will ultimately validate the concept. If no rivals emerge within months of a full launch, he says, it would be a sign something is wrong.
As attention becomes an increasingly valuable currency online, Noise is betting that markets can offer a clearer picture of what truly matters. With fresh funding and a public launch ahead, the experiment is about to face its most important test yet.
