NFT Angels
A digital artist turned blockchain expert
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DTTM Operations LLC, managing trademarks for the Trump Organization, has filed a new trademark with the USPTO for "TRUMP," indicating plans for a virtual world. This metaverse platform will allow users to engage in activities such as purchasing TRUMP-branded clothing and participating in educational and professional development programs. The platform will also feature a marketplace for digital goods and cryptocurrencies, authenticated via NFTs. This move suggests a continued interest in digital assets, despite fluctuating interest in the metaverse concept.
Rings, a Collateralized Debt Position (CDP) project within the Sonic ecosystem, has emerged as a standout performer in the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector despite prevailing bearish market conditions. According to DefiLlama, Rings' total value locked (TVL) has surged fivefold over the past month, reaching a record $111 million.
Rings facilitates the minting of meta-stablecoins for USD and ETH, offering deep liquidity for Sonic. Users can deposit assets like USDC and ETH to generate scETH and scUSD, which are usable across Sonic dapps.
Sonic, a layer 1 blockchain, rebranded from Fantom and has rapidly expanded its DeFi ecosystem, achieving a TVL of $736 million.
Rings facilitates the minting of meta-stablecoins for USD and ETH, offering deep liquidity for Sonic. Users can deposit assets like USDC and ETH to generate scETH and scUSD, which are usable across Sonic dapps.
Sonic, a layer 1 blockchain, rebranded from Fantom and has rapidly expanded its DeFi ecosystem, achieving a TVL of $736 million.
Leading crypto firms, including Coinbase and NEAR, have announced the formation of the Open Agents Alliance (OAA), aimed at developing open AI services. This initiative seeks to establish an ecosystem that ensures secure, economical, and fair access to AI technologies. The OAA will provide a shared infrastructure for AI tool deployment, encompassing frameworks, cloud hosting, and integration with fiat and crypto systems. This development mirrors the Open Metaverse Alliance's efforts in 2022, highlighting a trend towards collaborative infrastructure in blockchain. The move comes amid growing interest in AI, driven by advancements in generative AI applications.
Gift card startup Raise has secured $63 million in a funding round led by Haun Ventures, with participation from Paper Ventures, Selini Capital, GSR, and Solana co-founder Raj Gokal. The company aims to leverage blockchain technology to address gift card theft, a significant issue affecting consumers.
Raise plans to introduce "Smart Cards" as part of its expansion into the crypto space. The company has also formed a new crypto-centric board, featuring former executives from Kraken and Polkadot developer Parity Technologies. This strategic move underscores Raise's commitment to integrating blockchain solutions into its product offerings.
Raise plans to introduce "Smart Cards" as part of its expansion into the crypto space. The company has also formed a new crypto-centric board, featuring former executives from Kraken and Polkadot developer Parity Technologies. This strategic move underscores Raise's commitment to integrating blockchain solutions into its product offerings.
Story Protocol, a blockchain focused on intellectual property, is gaining attention in the DeFi sector with its innovative dapps. Recently launched, the network's total value locked (TVL) reached $17 million, though it has seen a decline due to outflows from a lending protocol. Despite bearish market conditions, several dapps continue to attract liquidity.
Verio, the largest dapp, is a liquid staking platform for Story's IP token, achieving a TVL of $13.5 million. The token's price has surged over 600%, boosting Verio's growth.
Meta Pool, a staking service, supports Story, with a TVL of $8.5 million. PiperX and Story Hunt, both decentralized exchanges, have TVLs of $4.4 million and $3 million, respectively, driven by the IP token's performance.
Verio, the largest dapp, is a liquid staking platform for Story's IP token, achieving a TVL of $13.5 million. The token's price has surged over 600%, boosting Verio's growth.
Meta Pool, a staking service, supports Story, with a TVL of $8.5 million. PiperX and Story Hunt, both decentralized exchanges, have TVLs of $4.4 million and $3 million, respectively, driven by the IP token's performance.
Ligero, a zero-knowledge proofs-focused infrastructure platform, has successfully raised $4 million in a seed round co-led by Galaxy Ventures and 1kx, with participation from Franklin Templeton, Nascent, Anagram, Robot Ventures, and Digital Currency Group. The funding round, structured as a simple agreement for future equity with token warrants, values the Web3 startup at $20 million.
Wei Dai, a research partner at 1kx, will join Ligero’s board of directors. The company plans to utilize the funds to expand its engineering and business development teams. Ligero has also announced the launch of Ligetron, a zkVM platform capable of handling 1,000 transactions per second on a single NVIDIA L40S GPU, aiming to enhance scalable privacy in next-gen DeFi, gaming, and real-world asset tokenization applications.
Wei Dai, a research partner at 1kx, will join Ligero’s board of directors. The company plans to utilize the funds to expand its engineering and business development teams. Ligero has also announced the launch of Ligetron, a zkVM platform capable of handling 1,000 transactions per second on a single NVIDIA L40S GPU, aiming to enhance scalable privacy in next-gen DeFi, gaming, and real-world asset tokenization applications.
Alchemy has announced the launch of the "Everyone Onchain Fund," aimed at fostering mainstream and institutional adoption of Web3 technologies. This initiative comes in response to the growing demand for rollup adoption and smart wallet solutions. The fund will provide developers with up to $10,000 in gas credits and $20,000 in compute credits, along with enterprise-grade rollup infrastructure. Initially, it will support projects within the OP Stack and Arbitrum Orbit ecosystems. Alchemy's CEO, Nikil Viswanathan, emphasized the fund's role in addressing developers' needs for successful on-chain operations.
Aux Cayes Fintech, an affiliate of the crypto exchange OKX, has settled a Department of Justice investigation by acknowledging it operated as a money transmitter without a license. The company admitted that certain U.S. customers had previously traded on its global platform. As part of the settlement, Aux Cayes will pay an $84 million penalty and forfeit $421 million in fees, primarily from institutional clients. OKX has engaged a compliance consultant to address these issues and enhance its compliance program. The company aims to focus on global expansion while collaborating with regulators to benefit the crypto market.
Soneium, an Ethereum layer 2 chain developed by Sony Block Solutions Labs, is rapidly gaining momentum in the DeFi sector. According to DefiLlama, the total value locked (TVL) on Soneium’s decentralized applications surpassed $45 million, highlighting its growing influence since its January launch.
The network, a collaboration between Sony Group and Web3 provider Startale, has demonstrated robust performance, handling over 15 million users and 45 million transactions during its testing phase. Notably, on Sunday, Soneium's mainnet recorded usage by 258,000 wallets with over 2 million transactions.
Key decentralized exchanges on Soneium include Kyo Finance, Velodrome, and Sonex. Kyo Finance, a native DEX, achieved a TVL of $7.7 million, marking a 40% increase in the past week. Sonex saw its TVL double to $2.4 million, with SOLVBTC.BBN as a significant contributor. Meanwhile, Velodrome's TVL on Soneium reached $4.5 million, despite a decline across other chains.
The network, a collaboration between Sony Group and Web3 provider Startale, has demonstrated robust performance, handling over 15 million users and 45 million transactions during its testing phase. Notably, on Sunday, Soneium's mainnet recorded usage by 258,000 wallets with over 2 million transactions.
Key decentralized exchanges on Soneium include Kyo Finance, Velodrome, and Sonex. Kyo Finance, a native DEX, achieved a TVL of $7.7 million, marking a 40% increase in the past week. Sonex saw its TVL double to $2.4 million, with SOLVBTC.BBN as a significant contributor. Meanwhile, Velodrome's TVL on Soneium reached $4.5 million, despite a decline across other chains.
Ethena, a prominent player in the blockchain sector, has successfully raised $100 million through a private sale of its ENA tokens. The funding round saw participation from major asset management firms Franklin Templeton and F-Prime Capital, as well as Web3 venture capitalists Dragonfly Capital Partners, Polychain Capital LP, and Pantera Capital Management LP.
The company plans to leverage this capital to develop a new token similar to ENA, specifically targeting traditional financial institutions. This move aligns with Ethena's strategy to bridge the gap between decentralized finance and conventional financial systems.
Ethena's existing tokens, USDe and ENA, have already established significant market presence, with USDe's circulation exceeding $6 billion. The introduction of a new token for regulated financial entities marks a strategic expansion in Ethena's offerings, aiming to enhance interaction with traditional finance without direct exposure to crypto infrastructure.
The company plans to leverage this capital to develop a new token similar to ENA, specifically targeting traditional financial institutions. This move aligns with Ethena's strategy to bridge the gap between decentralized finance and conventional financial systems.
Ethena's existing tokens, USDe and ENA, have already established significant market presence, with USDe's circulation exceeding $6 billion. The introduction of a new token for regulated financial entities marks a strategic expansion in Ethena's offerings, aiming to enhance interaction with traditional finance without direct exposure to crypto infrastructure.
Sailor, a decentralized exchange on the Sei network, has achieved a significant milestone by reaching $10 million in total value locked (TVL) within just one month of its launch. This rapid growth positions Sailor as the fastest-growing decentralized application on the network.
Operating as a Uniswap v3 fork, Sailor is now the third-largest DEX on Sei, trailing behind Dragon Swap and Jellyverse. The platform functions as an automated market maker, featuring multiple token pair pools, with Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), USDC, and Wrapped SEI (WSEI) holding the largest TVL shares.
Sailor's trading volume has surged, recently hitting nearly $10 million, surpassing its competitors Dragon Swap and Jellyverse, and entering the top 50 DEXs by volume. Despite its success in TVL and trading volume, Sailor's daily active user count remains low at 25, though these users conduct over 5,000 transactions daily.
Operating as a Uniswap v3 fork, Sailor is now the third-largest DEX on Sei, trailing behind Dragon Swap and Jellyverse. The platform functions as an automated market maker, featuring multiple token pair pools, with Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), USDC, and Wrapped SEI (WSEI) holding the largest TVL shares.
Sailor's trading volume has surged, recently hitting nearly $10 million, surpassing its competitors Dragon Swap and Jellyverse, and entering the top 50 DEXs by volume. Despite its success in TVL and trading volume, Sailor's daily active user count remains low at 25, though these users conduct over 5,000 transactions daily.
Bybit, a prominent cryptocurrency exchange, has confirmed a significant security breach involving its Ethereum cold wallet, resulting in the loss of 514,723 ETH, valued at approximately $1.46 billion. The breach was initially reported by crypto researcher ZachXBT and later verified by Bybit's co-founder and CEO, Ben Zhou.
The attacker exploited a masked transaction to alter the smart contract logic of Bybit's ETH cold wallet, subsequently transferring the funds to the exchange's warm wallet. Despite the breach, Bybit assures that all withdrawals are functioning normally and that client assets are fully backed on a 1-to-1 basis.
Bybit is actively collaborating with blockchain forensic experts to trace the stolen funds and has invited external teams with relevant expertise to assist in the investigation. The exchange maintains that all other cold wallets remain secure and operations continue unaffected.
The attacker exploited a masked transaction to alter the smart contract logic of Bybit's ETH cold wallet, subsequently transferring the funds to the exchange's warm wallet. Despite the breach, Bybit assures that all withdrawals are functioning normally and that client assets are fully backed on a 1-to-1 basis.
Bybit is actively collaborating with blockchain forensic experts to trace the stolen funds and has invited external teams with relevant expertise to assist in the investigation. The exchange maintains that all other cold wallets remain secure and operations continue unaffected.
WalletConnect has successfully raised $10 million through a series of four private token sales, highlighting significant investor interest. The initial sale on Bitget's LaunchX platform reached its $4 million target in just two hours, with 40,000 investors pledging over $170 million. Similarly, the CoinList sale was oversubscribed, garnering $15.5 million against a $4 million target. A private token sale on Echo sold out in 11 seconds, raising $500,000. Additionally, the WalletConnect Foundation secured $1.5 million from long-term supporters. The funds will support ecosystem expansion and enhance on-chain connectivity.
Acre, a burgeoning liquidity layer aimed at enhancing Bitcoin scalability, has successfully secured $4 million in a recent token round. The funding, structured as a simple agreement for future equity (SAFE) with token warrants, was closed at a valuation of $90 million. Notable backers include Draper Dragon, Big Brain Holdings, and Orange DAO, alongside angel investors from prominent Web3 entities such as Lido and EigenLayer.
Acre enables Bitcoin holders to earn staking rewards through its stBTC, promoting a Bitcoin-first approach to DeFi. Since its mainnet launch last July, Acre has amassed over $100 million in BTC deposits, utilizing tBTC as a decentralized custodian for secure asset management.
Acre enables Bitcoin holders to earn staking rewards through its stBTC, promoting a Bitcoin-first approach to DeFi. Since its mainnet launch last July, Acre has amassed over $100 million in BTC deposits, utilizing tBTC as a decentralized custodian for secure asset management.
Sonic, formerly known as Fantom, is making significant strides in the DeFi sector following its rebranding. By early 2025, Sonic's total value locked (TVL) reached $27 million shortly after its launch, and it quickly surpassed the $600 million mark.
Euler, a multi-chain lending protocol, has integrated with Sonic, boosting its TVL to over $17 million, making it the seventh-largest app on the network. Stability, a liquidity management app, saw a 3,000% increase in TVL, reaching $13.4 million. Shadow, now the largest decentralized exchange on Sonic, hit the $100 million mark, outpacing competitors like SwapX and ICHI.
Euler, a multi-chain lending protocol, has integrated with Sonic, boosting its TVL to over $17 million, making it the seventh-largest app on the network. Stability, a liquidity management app, saw a 3,000% increase in TVL, reaching $13.4 million. Shadow, now the largest decentralized exchange on Sonic, hit the $100 million mark, outpacing competitors like SwapX and ICHI.
MANSA, a cross-border payments solutions provider, has successfully raised $10 million in a funding round aimed at expanding its operations in Latin America and Southeast Asia. The pre-seed round was co-led by Tether and Polymorphic Capital, with participation from Octerra Capital, Faculty Group, and Trive Digital. The company plans to utilize the funds to enhance its stablecoin-based liquidity infrastructure and forge strategic partnerships, addressing the complexities of cross-border payments. MANSA has already facilitated over $27 million in transactions, with $11 million in on-chain volume recorded in January.
Fluent Labs, an Ethereum Layer 2 developer, has successfully raised $8 million in seed and extended funding, led by Polychain Capital. The funding round also saw participation from Primitive, dao5, Symbolic Capital, and several angel investors. Fluent Labs is developing a unique L2 that integrates WebAssembly, EVM, and SVM, enabling developers to create applications across multiple blockchain ecosystems without compatibility issues. The funds will be used to accelerate the development of this extended execution network and expand the engineering team. This innovation aims to enhance cross-VM composability and improve user experience.
Yield Basis, a project led by Curve Finance founder Michael Egorov, has successfully raised $5 million to address impermanent loss in DeFi. The initiative aims to provide yield from tokenized Bitcoin and Ethereum holdings, mitigating risks for market makers. Yield Basis is selling 10% of its 1 billion YB token supply, valued at $50 million. The token distribution includes community incentives, team allocation, and project development. Currently in the test-in-production phase, the project anticipates a full launch with liquidity pools, though no specific timeline has been announced.
Yield Basis, a new project by Curve Finance founder Michael Egorov, has successfully raised $5 million in a funding round, valuing the tokenised Bitcoin and Ethereum yield-earning initiative at $50 million. The project is designed to address the issue of impermanent loss in DeFi, a situation where liquidity providers' returns fall short compared to simply holding their assets.
Yield Basis plans to sell 10% of its 1 billion YB token supply, with a vesting schedule that includes a six-month cliff followed by two years of linear vesting. The project allocates 30% of tokens for community incentives, 25% for the team, and 15% for development, with the remainder divided between Curve technology licensing and collaborations.
Yield Basis plans to sell 10% of its 1 billion YB token supply, with a vesting schedule that includes a six-month cliff followed by two years of linear vesting. The project allocates 30% of tokens for community incentives, 25% for the team, and 15% for development, with the remainder divided between Curve technology licensing and collaborations.
Web3 Security Firm Blockaid Raises $50M in Series B
Blockaid, an Israeli Web3 security company, has successfully raised $50 million in a Series B funding round led by Ribbit Capital. The round also saw participation from Google Ventures, Variant, and Cyberstarts. This latest investment brings Blockaid's total funding to $83 million, following a $6 million seed round and a $27 million Series A.
The company plans to utilize the new capital to expand its operations and research and development efforts. Blockaid's blockchain-based security services have reportedly secured over $101 billion in assets and prevented potential losses exceeding $5.3 billion.
Blockaid, an Israeli Web3 security company, has successfully raised $50 million in a Series B funding round led by Ribbit Capital. The round also saw participation from Google Ventures, Variant, and Cyberstarts. This latest investment brings Blockaid's total funding to $83 million, following a $6 million seed round and a $27 million Series A.
The company plans to utilize the new capital to expand its operations and research and development efforts. Blockaid's blockchain-based security services have reportedly secured over $101 billion in assets and prevented potential losses exceeding $5.3 billion.
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