ConsenSys raises $450M. HexTrust raises $88M. Aptos Labs raises $200M. Guantlet raises $24M
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Recap of the Week
EU’s crypto bill passes without Bitcoin ban
Ukraine legalizes crypto
Mark Zuckerberg confirms Meta's plans to bring NFTs to Instagram.
Former Disney CEO Bob Iger invests in metaverse company Genies
HSBC buys land in The Sandbox metaverse
ConsenSys founder Joe Lubin confirms that a MetaMask token is coming
El Salvador Bitcoin bonds could launch in a few days
Spotify plans to add NFT integration into streaming platform
The European Commission is looking to create a pan-European regulatory sandbox for blockchain
Bitcoin ATMs forced to shut down in the UK
Latest Funding Rounds in Crypto
🔹 ConsenSys raises $450M in Series D · Founded in 2014 · US
ConsenSys builds Ethereum blockchain infrastructure and applications ranging from developer tools to enterprise solutions.
The firm will use the funds to support the expansion of MetaMask, with a major redesign scheduled for release later in 2022 and the roll-out of a plug-in that will allow integration with a wide variety of blockchain protocols.
Round led by ParaFi Capital. The round was raised at a valuation of $7 billion.
🔹 Aptos Labs raises $200M · Founded in 2021 · US
Aptos is a web3 startup building a scalable Layer 1 blockchain.
The founders (ex-Facebook employees who only departed the company in December 2021) did not disclose the valuation, but said they were “well off into the unicorn territory
Aptos has formally launched its devnet, allowing programmers to experiment and build apps on the blockchain ahead. The team hopes that the mainnet will be launched sometime in Q3.
Round led by Andreessen Horowitz
🔹 HexTrust raises $88M in Series B · Founded in 2018 · Hong Kong
HexTrust offers crypto custody, staking, brokerage and financing services to institutional clients with its licenses in Hong Kong and Singapore
Funds will be used in the expansion to Europe and the Middle East, specifically to acquire licenses. Hex Trust is also looking to scale its current team of 100 people to around 160.
Round led by Animoca Brands and Liberty-City Ventures.
🔹 Gauntlet raises $23.8M in Series B · Founded in 2018 · US
Gauntlet is building a blockchain simulation and testing platform for financial systems.
The company's blockchain simulation runs a series of simulations to test the client's protocol or smart contract and gain intuition on how design choices affect behavior.
The funds will be used to grow the team and expand into new industry verticals, including gaming.
The company is valued at $1bn.
Round led by Ribbit Capital.
🔹 Optimism raises $150M in Series B · Founded in 2019 · US
Optimism develops optimistic rollups, which are scaling layers that aggregate transactions above the base Ethereum layer. By aggregating transactions, which are ultimately settled on the Ethereum blockchain, the cost of transacting can be reduced.
The round values the startup at $1.65bn.
Round led by Paradigm and Andreessen Horowitz.
Acquisitions
🔹 Yuga Labs acquires CryptoPunks and Meebits
Terms were undisclosed
Yuga has acquired the IP of the CryptoPunks and Meebits NFT collections from Larva Labs
Yuga Labs is one of the savviest marketers of NFT brands. It is the creator of Bored Ape Yacht Club, a collection of 10,000 Bored Ape NFTs
CryptoPunks is a NFT collection on Ethereum.
After the acquisition, Yuga Labs decided to give full commercial rights to NFT holders to enable developers and community creators to incorporate CryptoPunks and Meebits into their Web3 projects.
🔹 Elrond Network acquires Twispay
Terms were undisclosed
Elrond is a layer 1 blockchain for distributed apps, enterprise use cases and the new internet economy.
Twispay offers online banking and financial services. Twispay is licensed to issue electronic money by the Central Bank of Romania.
With the acquisition, Elrond Network is licensed to issue regulated e-money across Europe.