Tornado Cash developer detained. Huobi founder to sell stake. Galaxy Digital terminates $1.2bn acquisition of BitGo.
Recap of the Week
The 29yr-old developer behind the crypto-mixing program, Tornado Cash, has been detained, suspected of facilitating money laundering.
The founder of Huobi Global wants to sell his $1B stake in the company at a $2B to $3B valuation.
Galaxy Digital terminates $1.2bn acquisition of BitGo. BitGo now plans to seek a $100 million termination fee.
European Central Bank publishes criteria to assess licensing requests for crypto-related activities and services
Paris Hilton partners with The Sandbox as part of multi metaverse strategy
Russia to start digital ruble plans in 2023
The FED issues new instructions for banks engaging in crypto asset activities
Aussies can now buy fuel and chips with crypto across 175 fuel outlets
The SEC sues Dragonchain's founder for selling unregistered securities
Colombia to prevent tax evasion with national digital currency
NY approves Celsius’ request for running BTC mining operations as a means to reinstate financial stability
Meta launches the first drag show in the metaverse
Australian Football League’s limited edition of NFTs sells out in 12hrs
Solana-based wallet provider Phantom launches feature allowing users to remove spam NFTs sent by scammers
Latest Funding Rounds in Crypto
Fractional raises $20M in Series A · Founded in 2021 · US
Fractional lets people sell fractions of their NFTs. It reduces entry costs, increases access, and enables new communities.
The funds will be used to add employees to the company’s 24-person team.
Resources will also be used to double down on a new protocol that will transform the digital pieces of a person’s NFT into NFTs themselves, instead of ERC-20 digital tokens like USDT or USDC.
After the round, Fractional has rebranded to Tessera.
Round led by Paradigm.
MBD Financials raises $10M in Seed Round · Founded in 2022 · Singapore
MBD Financials is a decentralized district that empowers individuals to create their own financial ecosystem.
MBD aims to enable individuals with the opportunity to own and control their financial freedom via a new digital cross-chain metaverse experience.
The funds will be used to accelerate product roadmap, including the launch of its NFT marketplace, the MBD governance token, and digital identity services.
Round led by LDA Capital.
Rise-x raises $2.8M · Founded in 2017 · Australia
Rise-x has developed a software system that provides transparency and accessibility to transactions made from around the world.
The startup aims to change how goods and services are transacted using blockchain and the cloud.
“We use blockchain to bring customers, suppliers, financers, accountants and others onto a common platform. All parties can access a common truth to observe and manage transactions with immutable records created in real time”, states Rise-x founder Rowan Fenn.
Round led by Switzerland-based commodity and energy trader Mercuria
Unlockd raises $4.4M in Seed Round · Founded in 2022 ·
Unlockd is a protocol which allows users to borrow against their NFTs while still being able to use them.
The funding will be used for product and development, cross-chain expansion, an auditor to ensure protocol security and marketing.
Unlockd will support more than 25 NFT collections based on Ethereum. It will later expand to include Polygon NFTs over the coming months.
Round led by Blockchain Capital.
.bit raises $13M in Series A · Founded in 2021 · (U.S-China-Singapore)
.bit provides a globally unique account system with the .bit suffix, serving as the web3 identities for users across chains. The technical architecture of .bit allows both blockchain and non-blockchain users to use it without permission.
It has over 110k accounts and is integrated with 100+ wallets and dApps.
The funds will be used to build a cross-chain decentralized identity protocol for individual users and DAOs.
Round led by CMB International, HashKey Capital, QingSong Fund, GSR Ventures, GGV Capital, and SNZ.
Investment Funds
Shima Capital raises $200M Fund· Founded in 2021 · US
Shima Capital is an early-stage global venture firm focused on supporting cutting edge blockchain startups.
The Web3-focused firm is founded by Wall Street veteran Yida Gao.
The funding will focus on pre-seed and seed stage investments.
Round led by DragonFly, Animoca, Bill Ackman, OKX, Mirana Ventures, Republic Capital, CoinDesk parent Digital Currency Group and entrepreneur and former U.S. presidential candidate Andrew Yang, among others.
Acquisitions
Dragonfly Capital Partners acquires MetaStable Capital
Terms were undisclosed
Dragonfly Capital Partners brings together the leading participants in the decentralized economy. It is investing in opportunities in the cryptoasset space.
MetaStable Capital manages crypto asset hedge funds. Founded in 2014, Metastable capital is one of the oldest funds in crypto and has backed Ethereum, Avalanche, Cosmos, Starkware, NEAR and Algorand.