Fundraisings of the Week
Crypto Market Maker CyberX Gets $15M From Foresight Ventures
The Easy Company secures $14.2M funding for new crypto wallet with social features
Alkimiya Raises $7.2M Funding Round to Grow Cash Flow Hedging Protocol for Miners, Stakers
Cosmos-Based DeFi Protocol Quasar Raises $5.4M
Open Forest Protocol Raises USD 4.1M in Pre-Seed Funding
C14 launches fiat-to-crypto onramp with $2.5M in funding
Quantum Temple Raises $2 Million in Pre-Seed Funding to Leverage Web3 for Cultural Heritage Preservation
TerraCVita Raises Another $2 Million to Fund DeFi Project
Cryptiony Raises €500K in Pre-Seed Funding
DeFi
Weekly TVL
Gross: ⬆️$45.44B
Top 3 Apps: Lido ⬆️($7.82B), MakerDAO ⬆️($7.09B), AAVE ⬆️($4.6B)
Top 3 Chains: ETH ⬇️($27.28B), TRON ⬆️($4.76B), BSC ⬆️($4.75B)
Top 7D Change 📈: Native liquidity layer & AMM on BNB Chain — Thena (+2815%, $81.22m)
DeFi News
[Pangolin AVAX FTM Cross-chain Swap] Avalanche-based DEX Pangolin enables cross-chain swaps for native AVAX and FTM between Avalanche and Fantom.
[Flare L1 Live] L1 oracle network Flare launches its mainnet and the first token distribution. Flare has two core protocols State Connector and FTSO, allowing devs to build interoperable dApps using data from other chains.
[AWS x Avalanche] Avalanche partners with AWS to boost enterprise blockchain adoption through supporting Avalanche’s infrastructure and dApp ecosystem.
NFT
Top 10 Collections by Weekly Volume
NFT News of the Week
Jan. 13, Azuki announces phygital metaverse Hilumia. “Hilumia is an interactive virtual city that is shaped by the community and will expand over time, PBT will also play a part in how Azuki bridges digital and physical. For example, the owners of the physical golden skateboard, upon scanning the PBT, will be enshrined in the Ruins.” [Source: The Block]
Jan. 12, Yuga Labs announces skill-based game Dookey Dash. “On January 18, we kick off Dookey Dash, a skill-based minting experience through the BAYC sewer. To get in, you need a Sewer Pass. The free claim for Sewer Passes opens January 17. Only BAYC/MAYC holders can claim Sewer Passes, but anyone with a Sewer Pass can play.” [Source: BAYC Twitter]
Jan. 12, Tribeca Film Festival partners with OKX to sell VIP passes as NFTs. “In partnership with crypto exchange OKX, the passes will include special access to screenings, parties, and other perks. The NFTs cost $899 and are available for purchase directly through the Tribeca website using a credit card. More experienced NFT collectors can also pay for the passes in ETH through the OKX NFT marketplace.” [Source: CoinDesk]
Jan. 10, Edward Snowden auctions pentagon paper NFT live on PleasrDAO show. “Famed whistleblower Edward Snowden and political activist Daniel Ellsberg have collaborated on a piece of Ethereum NFT-based artwork, which will be auctioned to help fund their respective causes via a new livestreamed interactive show called PleasrHouse from Web3 collective PleasrDAO.” [Source: Decrypt]
Jan. 10, OpenSea launches the bulk NFT purchase function Sweep. “Buy up to 30 NFTs off the floor in a single gas-saving transaction! The “substitute items” option automatically replaces unavailable items with other NFTs under your specified price to catch fast-moving collections.” [Source: OpenSea Twitter]
GameFi & Metaverse
[Giga Fun Studios raises $2.4 million for casual games] Giga Fun Studios announced that they have raised $2.4 million in seed funding. Lumikai, India’s pioneering gaming and interactive media-focused VC fund, and the consumer specialists Fireside Ventures led the round. All In Capital, Kettleborough VC and Riverwalk Holdings also participated in this round.
[Ronin Network releases Mavis Hub 2] Ronin Network has announced the release of Mavis Hub 2. The Mavis Hub 2 is an upgrade on Mavis Hub 1. It will feature a much-improved user interface and a more detailed game section. One significant difference is that players will be able to connect their Ronin Wallets by simply scanning the QR Code. This process ensures a more efficient and secure login process.
[Yuga Labs announced skill-based NFT mint game Dookey Dash] Top NFT collection Bored Ape Yacht Club announces the skill-based mint gaming experience “Dookey Dash” where users attempt to go as far as possible as the game progresses in difficulty with the use of Sewer Passes. BAYC users with Sewer Passes that have a score of 0 in their wallets or did not take part in the Dookey Dash mint game are not eligible to transform.
[McDonald’s dives in the metaverse to celebrate the Chinese New Year] The Golden Arches is hopping into the Year of the Rabbit by partnering with viral digital content creator Karen X Cheng to launch an interactive Lunar New Year campaign meeting brand fans where they are — in culture, technology and even the metaverse. The collaboration includes creative designs by Cheng, an experiential AR filter, an immersive metaverse experience, and even a commercial of the future using AI technology.
[Digital Village welcomes $4 million in round backed by BOLD, the VC fund of L’Oréal]
Paris-founded 3D immersive virtual worlds builder Digital Village has taken on $4 million in its first equity funding round. The capital is to be used to further enhance the platform’s capabilities, adding new tools to power 3D world development, avatar customisation, and virtual store creation. The round which arrives via BOLD, L’Oréal’s venture capital fund.
[MultiMetaVerse announces letter of intent to acquire majority equity stake in Taomee] MultiMetaVerse, an animation and entertainment company for young consumers in China, announced that it has entered into a non-binding letter of intent with Orient TM Ruibo. MultiMetaVerse intends to acquire a 72.81% equity stake in Orient TM Parent. Taomee is a leading family interactive entertainment group, held by Orient TM Ruibo.
[Manchester City partners with Sony to build its own metaverse for fans] Manchester City with Sony has chosen to collaborate to build a metaverse for the team’s supporters. Sony announced at CES 2023 that its “Proof of Concept” would let spectators engage with a virtual replica of Etihad Stadium or participate in various online games. Sony posted an official video exhibiting the immersive experiences on its YouTube account.
[Gaming blockchain Oasys launches ecosystem fund to drive adoption] Gaming-optimized blockchain Oasys has announced the launch of an ecosystem fund to drive the mass adoption of Blockchain gaming. The initiative aims to enable newcomers in the blockchain gaming sphere to serve users’ needs better. The gaming ecosystem looks to incubate and invest in upcoming projects built on the Oasys network or supported blockchains. The Web3 gaming industry continues to experience rapid growth.
DAO
[Polygon will initiate hardfork on Jan.17 to reduce gas fee] Polygon officially confirmed the hard fork will take effect at block 38,189,056, all validators need to update their nodes prior to the indicated block. The hard fork will help reduce gas fee spikes and fix the chain reorganization problem.
[Nervos Community launch CKB Community Fund DAO] The DAO is aimed to help contribute the ecosystem of CKB, the initial treasury hold about 276M $CKB.
[Ethereum now has over 92M of Non-Zero Address] According to Glassnode, the Non-Zero Addresses just reached 92,432,392. Earlier last week, the foundation publish 2023 Q1 Roadmap, specify that a launchpad will be ready to help user retrieve their assets safely.
[PleasrDAO is hosting an Live Auctions with an NFT by Edward Snowden ] The NFT Auction Event is featured with the whistleblower Edward Snowden and Political activist Danie Ellsberg.
[ConsenSys plans to add Liquid Staking feature on Metamask] The new feature enables users to liquid stake via rocket pool or Lido, the product will be updated two months prior to Shanghai fork.
[ConsenSys launch their zkEVM testnet] The testnet now open to 100 whitelisted user for private testnet beta phrase.
Regulation & Adoption
- Jan 11 (🌍) First tweet about Bitcoin posted 14 years ago.
- Jan 11 (🇺🇸) Coinbase to lay off 20% of workers.
- Jan 11 (🌍) Binance lost 12bn USD in assets due to users withdrawals within last 2 months.
- Jan 11 (🇺🇸) Voyager approved 1bn USD Binance Deal.
- Jan 12 (🇰🇷) Samsung launches BTC FUtures ETF amid crypto market recovery.
- Jan 13 (🇸🇬) Crypto.com to lay off 20% of its staff amid “macro and market conditions”.
Macro
- Gold tops 1900 USD for the first time since May.
- US Inflation up 6.5% YoY.
- Freight costs tumble, global shipping prices are back to pre-covid levels.
- Goldman Sachs no longer expects recession in Europe.
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