Cryptoday 1.13 | NEAR Protocol completes $150 million funding round led by Three Arrows Capital
TechFlow Selected TechFlow Selected
Cryptoday 1.13 | NEAR Protocol completes $150 million funding round led by Three Arrows Capital
A thoroughbred horse can leap but fail to cover ten paces; an inferior horse achieves success through perseverance. Carve but abandon, and even rotten wood won't break; carve without giving up, and metal or stone can be engraved.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insights
Cryptoday is a daily newsletter by TechFlow, focusing not on "news," but on asset movements
A swift horse can't cover ten paces in one leap; an inferior horse can travel ten thousand miles through persistence. Carving without continuity cannot even break rotten wood; carving with persistence can engrave metal and stone.
——Xun Kuang
Funding Movements
Solana-based options protocol Friktion raises $5.5 million, with Jump Capital among investors
According to Block Works, Friktion Labs, the team behind Solana-based options protocol Friktion, has raised $5.5 million. The round was backed by Jump Capital, DeFiance Capital, Pillar, Libertus Capital, Delphi Ventures, Sino Global Capital, Tribe Capital, Castle Island Ventures, Dialetic, Petrock Capital, and Solana Capital. Friktion is an options protocol on Solana, currently securing over $100 million in total value locked (TVL), focused on portfolio management, structured products, and building an on-chain full-stack portfolio and risk management platform for individuals, institutional managers, and DAOs.
DeFi API startup Conduit raises $17 million, led by Portage Ventures
According to The Block, DeFi API startup Conduit has raised $17 million in a round led by Portage Ventures, with participation from FinVC, Gemini Frontier Fund, and Rex Salisbury, former partner at a16z. Conduit plans to use the funds to further develop its API and expand into Latin America and the U.S.
Web3 accelerator DeFi Alliance raises $50 million, with Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin participating
According to Block Works, Web3 startup accelerator DeFi Alliance has launched a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) called Alliance DAO and raised $50 million. Investors include Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin, Gemini co-founders and CEOs Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, Terra founder Do Kwon, OpenSea co-founder and CEO Devin Finzer, Aave founder Stani Kulechov, Circle co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire, and BlockFi founder Zac Prince. To date, DeFi Alliance has supported over 90 crypto startups and top DeFi projects including 0x, Alpha Finance, dYdX, Kyber, Olympus DAO, Paraswap, Ribbon Finance, Sushiswap, Synthetix, and Zerion.
NEAR Protocol completes $150 million funding round led by Three Arrows Capital
NEAR Protocol announced the completion of a $150 million funding round led by Three Arrows Capital, with participation from Mechanism Capital, Dragonfly Capital, a16z, Jump, Alameda, Zee Prime, Folius, Amber Group, 6th Man Ventures, Circle Ventures, and MetaWeb.vc (NEAR ecosystem fund). Angel investors include hedge fund magnate Alan Howard, Santiago Santos (former partner at ParaFi Capital), and Aave founder Stani Kulechov. The funds will be used for ecosystem grants, regional development, and enhancing brand awareness for NEAR and its ecosystem projects and global community among new audiences, accelerating mass adoption of Web3 technologies and helping billions of users learn about blockchain and decentralized systems. Prior to this round, NEAR had already raised $65.9 million from investors including DCG, Pantera Capital, Electric Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Blockchain.com, and Baidu Ventures.
Web3 platform Proof of Learn raises $15 million, led by New Enterprise Associates
According to CoinDesk, Web3 "Learn-to-Earn" platform Proof of Learn has raised $15 million in a round led by New Enterprise Associates, with participation from Animoca Brands, GoldenTree Asset Management, gumi Cryptos Capital, and Infinity Ventures Crypto. The funds will be used for project promotion. Proof of Learn rewards users with cryptocurrency or NFTs as they learn.
Blockchain infrastructure platform ChromaWay raises $10 million, led by True Global Ventures
According to AMBCrypto, blockchain infrastructure platform ChromaWay has raised $10 million, with True Global Ventures 4 Plus (TGV4 Plus) Fund leading a $5 million investment. ChromaWay is a blockchain infrastructure platform enabling user-friendly decentralized applications across industries such as DeFi, gaming, and music.
Cardano's first cross-chain bridge CBTC Bridge announces initial funding round
CBTC Bridge, the first cross-chain bridge project in the Cardano ecosystem, has announced the completion of its first funding round, with investments from ArkStream Capital, DCI, Shima Capital, and Lancer Capital. The funds will be used to expand the development team. CBTC Bridge has completed its first test phase and is currently undergoing second-round iteration testing, along with code audits. The live version will initially support cross-chain transfers of BTC, ETH, USDT, and USDC to Cardano. As the first cross-chain bridge in the Cardano ecosystem, CBTC Bridge aims to bring mainstream crypto assets into Cardano and eventually expand to multi-chain, multi-layer interoperability, offering both centralized and fully decentralized cross-chain services.
Decentralized community GCR DAO raises $1.2 million, with participation from 1kx
GCR DAO, a decentralized community, has announced a $1.2 million raise, with participation from IDEO CoLab Ventures, 1kx, Valhalla Capital, HanDAO, and GBIC. Other investors include Axie Infinity co-founder Jeff Zirlin, YGG co-founders Gabby Dizon and Beryl Li, Polygon CEO Jaynti Kanani, Flamingo DAO’s Adam Kornfield, Coinvise CEO Jenil Thakker, CoinGecko co-founder Bobby Ong, and Showtime CEO Alex Mesmaj. Founded in 2017, GCR DAO focuses on researching Web3 and investing in DAOs.
DeFi governance platform Bribe raises $4 million seed round led by Spartan Group
CoinDesk reports that DeFi governance platform Bribe has raised $4 million in a seed round led by Spartan Group, with participation from Dragonfly Capital and Rarestone Capital. The Bribe protocol aims to revolutionize decentralized governance by incentivizing participation—depositors earn yield by staking their governance tokens in Bribe pools, while bidders borrow voting power to support or oppose governance proposals. Bribe will integrate with Aave in January 2022. Due to Aave DAO’s unique structure, the Aave Bribe pool will take the form of an Ethereum staking contract and is currently being audited by Trail of Bits and Stela Labs. Bribe will later expand to Tokemak.
DeFi
DeFi asset management protocol Set Protocol launches on Optimism
DeFi asset management protocol Set Protocol has launched on Optimism. Users can now create and manage DeFi structured products on Optimism via TokenSets, Set Protocol’s native dApp.
DeFi derivatives exchange Zeta Markets to launch on Solana mainnet
Solana-based DeFi derivatives exchange Zeta Markets has announced it will launch on the Solana mainnet on January 17 at 9:00 AM EST (10:00 PM Beijing time). Zeta has partnered with crypto derivatives market makers LedgerPrime and Pattern Research to ensure liquidity on day one. Earlier, Zeta Markets announced an $8.5 million strategic round led by Jump Capital.
Decentralized exchange Clipper expands to Moonbeam network
DEX Clipper is expanding to Moonbeam, Polkadot’s Ethereum-compatible smart contract parachain, with integration expected next week. This means users will be able to trade DOT and GLMR via Clipper. Mark Lurie, CEO of Shipyard Software, Clipper’s development team, said: “We’re excited to bring Clipper to Polkadot. Listening to our community is important. Our goal is to serve retail crypto traders, not whales, and build a platform truly suited for them.”
NFT/GameFi
Canadian payment giant Nuvei integrates Flow blockchain
Globe Newswire reports that Canadian payment giant Nuvei Corporation (Nasdaq: NVEI, TSX: NVEI) has integrated with the NFT public blockchain Flow, providing frictionless payment experiences for Flow-based dApps powered by Nuvei. Flow’s next-generation blockchain enables developers to build NFTs and crypto-powered businesses, allowing users to create digital assets tradable on open markets. Nuvei supports payments using FUSD, Flow’s dollar-pegged stablecoin, offering a fast and innovative payment partner for those building on Flow.
NFT music platform Royal delays first NFT mint due to system outage
NFT music platform Royal has delayed its first NFT drop due to a system crash. An official tweet explained that the event, scheduled for 1:00 PM EST on January 11 and featuring rapper Nas’s music NFTs, crashed within a minute due to overwhelming server demand. Royal has rescheduled the mint for 1:00 PM EST on January 20, when a total of 760 tokens across three tiers will be available. Earlier, rapper Nas planned to sell two recent songs via Royal. His 2020 album King’s Disease track “Ultra Black” and 2021 album King’s Disease II track “Rare” will be sold as “Limited Digital Assets (LDAs).”
Others
Celer launches Celer Inter-chain Message framework to better support multi-chain applications
Celer Network has launched the Celer Inter-chain Message (Celer IM) framework, now live on testnet. Developers can now use cross-chain function calls to enable multi-chain composability for dApps. Celer IM also greatly simplifies user experience, allowing one-click access to multi-chain apps without switching connected blockchains. Celer has also released demo apps, documentation, smart contract frameworks, and sample application code based on Celer IM.
TechFlow is a community-driven deep content platform committed to delivering valuable information and thoughtful insights.
Community:
WeChat Official Account: TechFlow
Telegram: https://t.me/TechFlowPost
Twitter: TechFlowPost
Add WeChat group via assistant: TechFlow01
Join TechFlow official community to stay tuned
Telegram:https://t.me/TechFlowDaily
X (Twitter):https://x.com/TechFlowPost
X (Twitter) EN:https://x.com/BlockFlow_News
