Fundraisings of the Week
Blockchain provider SIMBA Chain awarded $30M by US Air Force STRATFI program
Crypto Miner Pow.re Raises $9.2M Series A at $150M Valuation
BlockJoy raises $12M to help cut operating costs for businesses running blockchain nodes
Crypto security startup Hypernative raises $9M to help prevent web3 cyber attacks
Addressable raises $7.5M to match crypto wallets to Twitter accounts. But how?
Haun Ventures leads Sovereign Labs’ $7.4M seed round to help scale blockchains
Fungify raises $6M to build new NFT lending primitive
Oh Baby Games Launches Out of Stealth with the Closing of a $6M in Seed Round
Venom Ventures Fund commits $5M strategic investment in the Everscale blockchain
Archimedes Closes $4.9M Seed Funding Round
DeFi
[Weekly TVL] Gross: ⬆️$48.46B
Top 3 Apps: Lido ⬆️($8.41B), MakerDAO ⬆️($7.26B), Curve ⬆️($4.88B)
Top 3 Chains: ETH ⬆️($28.8B), TRON ⬇️($5.03B), BSC ⬆️($5B)
Top 7D Change 📈: BSC Farms & Swap — BabyDogeSwap (+35.96%, $54.62m)
DeFi News
[Connext Amarok Live] Bridging protocol Connext launches Amarok. This upgrade enables developers to build crossrollup apps that directly rely on the security of Ethereum. Users can now access the bridge UI, passively LP for the ecosysteum by depositing USDC & ETH, or actively by running a router.
[Optimism Bedrock Coming] Optimism Foundation proposed Bedrock, the next upgrade to Optimism that will bring improvements to the network including transaction costs, throughput characteristics, and sync speeds.
[Cardano Stablecoin Live] The Djed stablecoin was released on Cardano. Djed tracks the US dollar and is backed by a surplus of Cardano’s ADA tokens. Djed was developed by blockchain firm Coti in collaboration with Cardano’s core developer Input Output.
NFT
Top 10 Collections by Weekly Volume
NFT News
Feb. 2, eBay is hiring web3 roles for its newly acquired NFT marketplace KnownOrigin. “According to the LinkedIn job posting, the Crypto Counsel role will primarily serve KnownOrigin and focus on advising the company’s blueprint as it expands into NFTs and other blockchain technology. Working with colleagues in taxes, intellectual-property (IP) and security, the lawyer hired will provide regulatory guidance as the company delves deeper into Web3.” [Source: CoinDesk]
Feb. 2, Mastercard’s product lead for NFTs Satvik Sethi resigns. “At Mastercard, I was a victim of harassment & emotional distress caused by a series of mismanaged processes, miscommunication, internal inefficiency. There were months at a time when I wouldn’t receive my salary until I begged across the hierarchy for it, among many other issues.” [Source: Satvik Sethi Twitter]
Feb. 2, OpenSea releases next phase of new tools for NFT drops. “In the next phase of our roll-out, success means giving creators the tools to do all of this themselves: deploying smart contracts across all supported EVM chains, configuring drop mechanics, personalizing landing pages using self-serve WYSIWYG editing tools, and more.” [Source: OpenSea Twitter]
Feb. 2, OpenSea launches a “3-hour hold period” mechanism. “To mitigate theft-related risk, sellers will be prevented from accepting offers on certain items for 3 hours after some transfers and sales. But don’t worry–with Delegate Cash, hot<>cold wallet transfers won’t be affected.” [Source: OpenSea Twitter]
Feb. 2, Taproot Wizard NFT mints on Bitcoin. “Last night, we made history. The gatekeepers tried to censor us, but we mined the largest block and largest transaction in Bitcoin’s history. Special thanks to bitcoin full node operators for supporting our efforts and hosting our 4MB NFT for all eternity! gm Taproot Wizards.” [Source: Udi Wertheimer Twitter]
Feb. 1, Coinbase NFT suspends new collection releases. “We recently shared that we are pausing creator Drops on the NFT marketplace to focus on other features and tools that creators have asked for. To be clear: We are not shutting down the Coinbase NFT marketplace.” [Source: Coinbase NFT Twitter]
Jan. 30, Premier League signs deal with NFT trading card platform Sorare. “The deal between the English soccer league and the NFT-based fantasy sports game allows NFT purchasers to build their own teams and compete in a fantasy version of the competition. The deal will last for four years and is worth a total of 120 million British pounds ($150 million).” [Source: CoinDesk]
Jan. 30, Coinbase Wallet introduces NFT transaction previews. “Coinbase Wallet has added transaction previews for its users to include a visual representation of what actions they are taking when signing transactions, in the company’s latest move to help prevent common NFT scams.” [Source: The Block]
Jan. 30, NFT marketplace Sudoswap airdrops SUDO tokens. “SUDO governance will be launched later today, along with the lockdrop and airdrop. SUDO is initially non-transferable. Transferability can be enabled by a standard governance vote.” [Source: Sudoswap Twitter]
GameFi & Metaverse
[Nefta will facilitate Web3 systems for Mystic Games] Mystic Games creates Web3-integrated mobile games with free-to-own NFTs earned through gameplay. With an aim to make blockchain gaming accessible, the company completed a funding round of $1.3 million, led by Shima Capital. In Mystic Games MMO game, all NFTs will be free and found by players through gameplay.
[Polemix to facilitate discussion on hot-button issues] The Be Kind Tech Fund will support Polemix in its goal to build and scale the first Web3-based platform facilitating discussion of important causes. Be Kind Tech Fund has invested $1 million in Polemix, the first platform to introduce Web3 technology to the world of ideas and opinions. The startup’s mission is to upgrade how people support and oppose opinion leaders.
[YGG Japan accomplished private placement for $2.95M] Blockchain-based gaming forum YGG Japan has collaborated with ForN to accomplish a private fundraising round of nearly $2.95 million. With the funding round, the platform has collected a total of $5.75 million. The gaming platform targets to lead the game consumers of Japan to the “Play to Earn” sector.
[Brave Group announces its alliance with Animoca Brands] The Brave Group has made its mark in several verticals in the metaverse, such as IP business, which happens to handle RIOT MUSIC and Vspo. The group declared to make funding of 300 million yen with the formation of its alliance with Animoca Brands Japan. This will go towards their overall expansion plans and work on global development in the virtual space.
[Forma Vision receives investment from Accenture Ventures] Forma Vision, a provider of live-streamed, volumetric video technology that enables 3D holographic images of people, objects and environments to be beamed into the metaverse, received an investment from Accenture Ventures. The amount of the deal was not disclosed. The company intends to use the funds to consolidate its position, accelerate growth and expand operations.
[StoryCo raises $6M to decentralize storytelling] The platform StoryCo released its first story universe, a token-gated experience that encourages community members to build out its narrative while decentralizing IP. The $6 million financing was led by crypto investment firms Collab + Currency and Patron, with participation from Blockchange Ventures, Flamingo DAO and executives at United Talent Agency and William Morris Endeavor.
[Emperia raises £10 million to expand metaverse] Emperia has raised over £10 million in growth capital. With the technology to create virtual stores, it aims to bring retailing into the metaverse. To date, the company has collaborated with Bloomingdales, Dior, Sunglass Hut and Lacoste. They created a platform that enables the production of immersive virtual experiences for companies across several retail sectors.
[MIR4 developer to build Web3 games in MetaGravity Metaverse] WEMADE is a pioneer in the Korean Web3 gaming space. It has bagged multi-deals from big tech companies and investors worldwide. WEMADE has announced a strategic alliance with metaverse engine developer MetaGravity. The MIR4 developer plans to contribute to the MetaGravity web3 gaming ecosystem.
DAO
[Scroll deployed a frontend of Uniswap V3 on testnet] So far the pre alpha testnet has produced over 1.3M blocks and 9M transactions, which interacted with over 790k wallet addresses.
[Starknet announced new open-sourced Starknet Sequencer in the works] The modules will take several months to be deployed, the open-sourced sequencer will mark Starknet’s road to decentralization.
[Protocol Labs is laying off 21% of its staff] CEO of protocol labs, Jon Benet announced in a blog that Protocol Labs is cutting down staff size and costs to survive the economic downturn. Meanwhile, Filecoin is about to kick off FVM in March and there are already over 100+ teams building the ecosystem.
[Zhejiang testnet is alive signals the upcoming Shanghai upgrade] Currently Zhejiang is supporting by over 61k validators. Developers are expected to activate Shanghai upgrade on Zhejiang on Febuary 7th.
[Lido is kicking off next round of DVT testing with Obol Network and SSV Network ] Lido is calling stakers to test out the decentralized validating technology.
[Rocketpool community start proposing to self limit on staking amount ] Rocketpool is pledging to act best for the healthiness of Ethereum, therefore it propose to avoid impose risk on the centalization of Ethereum by self limiting.
[TON released an reward program to increase TVL on the blockchain] The reward program will guarantee all the builders in the Defi space get access to $20M of unlock liquidity.
Regulation & Adoption
- Jan 31 (🇺🇸) Tesla recorded an impairment loss of $204 million on its Bitcoin holdings in 2022, according to regulatory filings.
- Jan 31 (🇺🇸) US Senate to develop bipartisan regulatory crypto framework.
- Feb 3 (🇷🇺)Russia’s Sberbank to launch its Ethereum-based DeFi platform by May.
- Feb 3 (🇷🇺🇪🇸) Russian crypto expert detained in Spain over alleged ties to $700M laundering scheme.
Macro
- FED raises interest rate by 25bps, reaching 4.75%
- Bank of England hikes rates by 50 bps to 4%
- Shell posts the highest-ever annual profit of $40 billion, marking a strong year for commodities last 2022.
- The US Economy added 517k jobs in January, beating expectations.
Follow us on Twitter:
