The Good Tech Companies - Meet Torram, Winner of Startups of The Year 2024 in Toronto / Developer Tools

Episode Date: June 3, 2025

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/meet-torram-winner-of-startups-of-the-year-2024-in-toronto-developer-tools. Meet Torram, the Startup Transforming Bitcoin Beyond a Store of Value — Winner of HackerNoon's 2024 Startups of the Year (Toronto & Developer Tools). Check more stories related to startups at: https://hackernoon.com/c/startups. You can also check exclusive content about #startup-of-the-year, #bitcoin-ecosystem, #bitcoin-defi, #future-of-finance, #torram, #what-is-bitcoin-infrastructure, #smart-contracts, #good-company, and more. This story was written by: @torram. Learn more about this writer by checking @torram's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. Torram, awarded Startup of the Year in Toronto and for Developer Tools by HackerNoon, is building the first unified Bitcoin-native middleware stack. Their platform integrates decentralized oracles, structured data indexing, a smart contract layer, and a programmable token standard — all on Bitcoin Layer 1 without relying on L2s, bridges, or wrapped assets. Torram aims to unlock real-world asset tokenization, stablecoins, and collateralized lending natively on Bitcoin, transforming it from a mere store of value into a programmable financial ecosystem. Their rapid progress — launching a Testnet Alpha with 30 major validators and institutional interest — underscores their ability to execute. Torram’s mission is to align with Bitcoin’s ethos of decentralization, security, and trustlessness, propelling Bitcoin into the future of decentralized finance.

This audio is presented by Hacker Noon, where anyone can learn anything about any technology. Meet Toram, winner of Startups of the Year 2024 in Toronto, Developer Tools, by Toram Labs. Toram takes the number one spot in two categories. Startup of the Year, Toronto https://hackernoon.com, Startups, North America, North America Toronto Canada, Embeddable equals true startup of the year, Developer Tools, https://hackernoon.com, Startups, Industry, Developer Tools, Stup equals 671BC2B8680441F5B22D481C and Embeddable equals true, Tell US about you.

Torum is building the first unified complete middleware infrastructure stack for institutional use cases on the Bitcoin network. We do this by enabling data infrastructure, institutional grade applications and programmability on Bitcoin. We're unlocking Bitcoin's core strengths, finality, decentralization, and security, and adding the missing ingredients. Native oracles, structured data access, smart contracts and stablecoin rails. The result? A network that can finally support native RWA tokenization, collateralized lending, and Bitcoin native stablecoins. It's important to highlight here that Torum is the first and only complete infrastructure and middleware stack natively on Bitcoin that has the four primitive components for any

application. 1. A decentralized oracle network. 2. A decentralized indexer network. 3. A programmability layer. 4.

A programmable token standard. Torum not only finally makes Bitcoin more useful, but it allows applications to build on Bitcoin in a way that is easy and unfragmented. Read more on how Torum is using TSB tokens without compromising privacy, decentralization, or trustlessness. Tell us how your startup is changing the world. Bitcoin is the most secure and trusted blockchain in the world, but it's been limited to one use case. Store of value. Torum is changing all of this and making Bitcoin more useful. We're transforming Bitcoin into a platform that can power real-world finance, stablecoins, and asset tokenization in a way that is easy for builders.

With a unified infrastructure stack built natively on Bitcoin and our upcoming launch of our Torum Network Beta, we make it possible to build decentralized apps, tokenized treasuries, stablecoin ecosystems, and financial protocols without the infrastructure fragmentation that builders and institutions face today. Today most projects in the space focus on one thing, programmability layer here, an indexer there, a non-native oracle somewhere else, this results in various infrastructure risks. Torum solves that by building one complete stack that dApps can use to build on Bitcoin with all the components they need.

F-U-L-L-Y-D-E-C-E-N-T-R-A-L-I-Z-E-D. In short, we're turning Bitcoin from just a store of value to a programmable economy in a way that is unfragmented. Read more about how Torum is aligned with Bitcoin's core ethos. What sets you apart from the competition? Torum doesn't just scale Bitcoin. We extend its capabilities as natively as possible. There is a lot of noise in the space of mostly trend hunters.

Bitcoin-layered 2-Sare mostly EVM chains that actually have nothing to do with Bitcoin and have confused a lot of people in the space and many have yet to ship a product on main net or even get anchor applications to use them. In less than 6 months and with less than $750,000 in capital, our team has built the entire stack on testnet that will make many of these other projects irrelevant. We know how to execute and ship quickly, given our seasoned team and leaders. Also, while most solutions rely on L2s, centralized bridges, or wrapped assets, Torum brings a decentralized oracle network streaming market data to Bitcoin L1. Indexing and querying

of structured asset data from UTXOs. A decentralized validator network with institutional focus. A new Bitcoin-based Taproot asset called TSB. Smart contract and programmability. Data finality and security anchored to Bitcoin blocks. This is the first complete middleware stack purpose built for Bitcoin and designed for institutional use cases. Read more about this powerful advancement in the Bitcoin ecosystem here. What does it mean for you to win these titles? It means a whole lot to the team. Our engineers have been working around the clock to build Torum's tech from the ground up and we're seeing some significant progress. It's also a powerful signal that the world is ready for bitcoin to evolve. To win the start up of the year, Toronto and to take the number one spot in the developer

tools category validates what we've believed from day one, that there's a massive opportunity at the intersection of Bitcoin and real-world finance. We're proud to be building the infrastructure to help the Bitcoin ecosystem move forward and winning these titles is really just the beginning for Torum. What do you love about your team, and why are you the ones to set out for THISMISSION? Our team has worked on some of the most complex problems in defi and tradfi, and who still believe bitcoin is the best settlement layer we've got. From engineering to daily operations, the entire team brings together technical talent,

market intuition, and an obsession with seeing bitcoin succeed. More than anything, we are values aligned. We believe in bitcoin, in hard work, and in the mamba mentality. A mindset we carry daily as we work to make bitcoin the foundation of the future of finance. Looking back, what milestone was the biggest turning point for your startup? Launching our torum testnet alpha was a major turning point. It was also the moment our broader vision clicked for the community. This wasn't just theory or a white paper promise, it was live. Since then, we've onboarded top validator partners, seen strong demand frombuilders, and validated key use

cases around RWA tokenization, collateralized lending, and Bitcoin native stablecoins. What's one valuable lesson you learned this year that you'd pass on to OTHERSTARTUPES? Momentum and insane belief in what you're building is greater than perfection. Launching early, even if the feature set is narrow, helps you pressure test assumptions, grow community organically, and shape your roadmap around real needs. We've also learned the value of building in public. Sharing our progress, challenges, and testnet updates has helped us attract the right kinds of contributors

and collaborators. How do you envision your industry evolving in the coming years, and how W-I-L-L-Y-O-U-R startups stay ahead? Over the next 2-3 years, the crypto industry will move beyond L1 tribalism and focus more on credible settlement plus trustless utility. Bitcoin will remain the most secure base layer, but value will accrue to protocols that make it usable for lending, payments, tokenized assets, and programmable finance. Torum is positioned to lead that shift by staying Bitcoin-aligned and use-case-driven. We'll continue improving our middleware stack, expanding Oracle coverage, activating more validators, and supporting a new wave of Bitcoin native DApps.

How do you or your company intend to embrace the responsibility of this title in 2025? Winning startups of the year is not just a badge, it's a mandate to lead. Torum will use this recognition to further push Bitcoin into a programmable financial platform. This title amplifies our credibility with developers and global partners, and we'll leverage that to accelerate validator adoption, deepen oracle coverage, and roll out smart contract functionality through our middleware stack. Our goal is to demonstrate that decentralized infrastructure on Bitcoin L1 isn't just possible, it's superior. What goals are you looking forward to accomplishing in 2025? Our top priorities for 2025 are Mainnet Launch and Token Generation Event

TGE, activating our economic layer with validator incentives, decentralized governance, and protocol-level staking. Smart Contract VM Rollout, deploying a Bitcoin-anchored virtual machine that enables programmable logic for stablecoins, lending, and RWAs directly verifiable on L1. Institutional Integration. Partnering with asset managers, exchanges, and financial institutions to support Bitcoin-native stablecoins and tokenized products. Oracle and Indexer network expansion, increasing

the depth, speed, and coverage of our decentralized data feeds and query infrastructure. These milestones will move Bitcoin one step closer to serving as a complete baselayer for global finance. Read more about our Bitcoin native decentralized Oracle and indexer network here. 2024 has been crazy, with all the new techs and geopolitical fluctuations. What are the impacts of these to your startup, and to your industry as a whole? The geopolitical instability highlighted the fragility of centralized systems, and that urgency bled into crypto.

For Bitcoin, it renewed attention on its role as a neutral, censorship-resistant settlement layer. For Torum, it validated our thesis, the future of finance demands infrastructure that is trustless, verifiable, and global by design. We've eatable down on building middleware that doesn't depend on centralized bridges or off-chain trust. We would love your feedback on Hacker Noon has been great. It's one of the few platforms that balances technical depth and storytelling. The Startup of the Year series was especially valuable for us connecting emerging projects

with the broader builder community. We appreciate the editorial openness, the distribution, and the commitment to featuring future-defining ideas early. Any words of wisdom you'd like to share with US? Build what matters, and build it on solid ground. Ignore the hype cycles and short-term noise. Focus instead on foundational infrastructure, especially if you're building in crypto. Also talk to your users, pressure test assumptions early, and stay close to the real-world problems you're solving. Visionary Builders we want to hear from you, join us! Fill out this form and we'll be in touch!

To learn more about Torum, visit the links below. Website follow us on X Join our Builders Community Explore Torum Testnet Alpha Thank you for listening to this Hacker Noon story, read by Artificial Intelligence. Visit HackerNoon.com to read, write, learn and publish.