BitGo to sue Galaxy Digital. Nike generates $185M with NFTs. Beijing announces metaverse plan
Recap of the Week
BitGo to sue Galaxy Digital for $100M over dropped acquisition
Ethereum will transition to Proof-of-Stake between Sept. 10-20
Bank of Finland says digital euro could facilitate pan-European services to consumers
Coinbase introduces wrapped staked ETH asset ahead of the Merge
Beijing announces two-year metaverse innovation and development plan
Nike’s NFT-related projects have generated $185M this year
SIX Digital Exchange launches Ethereum staking for institutions
China begins next phase of CBDC testing with e-CNY for public transport
Telegram founder is thinking about auctioning usernames and addresses as NFTs
Celsius countersues KeyFi, claiming incompetence leading to tens of millions in losses
Uniswap blocks 253 addresses linked to Tornado Cash case
FTX's revenue went from $89 million to $1.02 billion in 2021
South Korea plans to tax up to 50% on crypto airdrops
Alameda Research Co-CEO Sam Trabucco steps down to 'pursue happiness'
VMware Blockchain unveils enterprise version of Ethereum
Mastercard works with Binance to enable purchases with crypto in 90 million stores
Latest Funding Rounds in Crypto
Thirdweb raises $24M at a $160M valuation · Founded in 2021 · UK
Thirdweb has created a development toolkit to make it easier to build and launch web3 products such as apps, NFTs, marketplaces, DAOs and more.
They offer a pre-built audited smart contracts that serve as a quick-start guide for developers who want to create and safely deploy applications.
Thirdweb’s toolkit will be made available to Shopify customers that want to introduce web3 products.
The firm will use the funds towards product development and for hiring teams.
Round led by Haun Ventures.
BITLEVEX raises $50M · Founded in 2019 · Estonia
BITLEVEX is an investment platform currently focused on cryptocurrency options trading.
Funds will be used to scale its promotional strategies, hire qualified talent, and build a diversified product selection.
The company has around 50,000 users.
Round led by GEM Digital Limited.
Lumachain raises $19.5M in Series A · Founded in 2018 · Australia
Lumachain is a provider of an end-to-end solution for food supply chains. The platform tracks and traces the origin, location and condition of individual items in a supply chain, in real time.
It allows enterprises to reduce waste, increase efficiency, and grow revenues, allowing consumers to know the provenance, condition and quality of what they buy.
The funds will be used to accelerate its platform globally and scale up its team in the US.
Round led by Bessemer Venture Partners.
Ready Player Me raises $56M in Series B · Founded in 2014 · Estonia
Ready Player Me is a platform to build dynamic cross-game avatars for virtual worlds.
The company today handles about 5M avatars from across 3,000 partners.
The funds will be utilized to continue hiring, to expand the platform with more developer tools, build more services for creators, and creating single avatars and identities, that are interoperable and can be used across multiple virtual environments.
Round led by Andreessen Horowitz.
Acquisitions
Ovenue acquires Irident
Terms were undisclosed
Ovenue’s blockchain-enabled platform provides asset owners and businesses with an end-to-end solution to value, tokenize, and monetize their real-world assets.
Irident provides an AI-enabled portfolio management engine and asset analytics platform.
This acquisition will assist Ovenue’s plans to enhance the fidelity of the real-world asset valuation and tokenization experience.