CryptoFunding

April’s biggest crypto VC move just turned the spotlight on AI x Blockchain

“Where AI meets Crypto, the next revolution begins.”
In a world racing toward intelligent systems and decentralized economies, one startup just captured the attention—and the wallet—of Silicon Valley’s most elite venture funds.
Codex, a next-gen AI + blockchain startup, has secured $15.8 million in a seed round that might redefine the future of decentralized intelligence.

Who’s Backing the Code?
Dragonfly Capital didn’t just invest—they led the round with a bold $14 million check, a clear signal of long-term faith in Codex’s vision.
But they weren’t alone. Giants like Coinbase, Circle, Wintermute, Cumberland, and Selini Capital joined forces in this high-profile round.
Why? Because Codex isn't building just another blockchain product. It's crafting the operating system for intelligent finance.

What Makes Codex So Special?
Codex is creating a layer where AI-powered agents can interact with smart contracts, financial markets, and real-time data—all autonomously.
Here’s what Codex brings to the table:
✨ AI-driven DeFi orchestration
⚙️ Secure, on-chain analytics infrastructure
⚡ Real-time decision-making tools for decentralized apps
🔐 Built-in risk assessments using machine learning
Imagine an AI that doesn’t just trade crypto—it understands macro trends, interprets sentiment, audits smart contracts, and prevents fraud before it happens.
That’s the Codex promise.

The Funding Wave: AI x Blockchain Dominates VC Bets
Codex isn’t alone. This week has seen a flood of venture capital pouring into futuristic projects sitting right at the crossroads of AI, fintech, and decentralization.

Ambient — Raised $7.2M
A project combining Solana’s lightning speed with Bitcoin-style PoW for secure AI services. Think low-cost smart services that can scale instantly.

Cambrian Network — Raised $5.9M
A decentralized financial brain that feeds AI agents with on-chain + off-chain data—prices, history, social buzz, even user behavior.

Mahojin — Raised $5M
Focused on open-source bridges between AI tools and blockchain infrastructure. Its mission? Make it seamless for developers to build AI-powered dApps.

The9 Limited — Raised $8M
An ambitious player bringing traditional investment frameworks into crypto using custom-locked Class A shares.

Momentum — Raised $5M
This one’s rethinking team collaboration using AI—especially for sales and operations teams across fintech and blockchain startups.

Smaller Rounds, Big Ideas (< $5M)
Don’t sleep on the underdogs. This week also featured high-potential rounds like:
Fragmetric: Token sale aiming for $4M with strong early traction
Collecto: Luxury investment meets blockchain with €2.8M raised
Hana Network: $1.75M for gamified, hyper-casual finance
Bloctopus: $1M to reinvent multi-chain infrastructure
StakeStone & BAI Fund: $1M each to enhance omnichain staking and trusted on-chain agents
These might seem small now—but remember, Solana and Avalanche started with similar numbers.

Why 2025 Is the Year of Decentralized Intelligence
VCs are no longer just betting on coins or hype cycles. They’re betting on infrastructure that thinks.
Here’s what excites them:
AI agents that adapt in real-time
Blockchains that audit themselves
Apps that don’t need humans to scale
On-chain economies driven by logic, not luck
This isn’t sci-fi anymore. It’s the new blueprint for Web4.

Final Thoughts: Codex Signals a Shift
The $15.8M raised by Codex is more than just a number—
…it’s a signal flare for what’s coming.
Startups that combine AI and blockchain are now the darlings of venture capital. The days of speculative tokens are fading fast. What’s rising is automated, intelligent, trustless finance—built by code, audited by data, and powered by AI.
If Codex delivers, it won’t just be a unicorn.
It’ll be the brain of decentralized finance.

#CryptoFunding #BlockchainNews #AIinCrypto #DragonflyCapital #DiversifyYourAssets

Polygon is leveling up — again. This time, it's not just about scalability or low fees. It's about going deep into institutional-grade infrastructure, and the latest move? Miden, a Polygon spin-off, has secured $25 million in funding to turbocharge speed, privacy, and zk-powered smart contracts.

🧠 What Is Miden?

Miden is a zero-knowledge (ZK) rollup, built specifically for high-throughput and privacy-first applications. It's not just another side project — it's Polygon’s bet on the future of enterprise adoption.

At its core:

It uses ZK-STARKs, enabling trustless computation without revealing sensitive data.

Focused on executing complex smart contracts privately and offloading work from Ethereum mainnet.

Spearheaded by Polygon’s chief ZK researcher Bobbin Threadbare, a heavyweight in the cryptography world.

💰 The Funding Round: Institutional Backing Goes Deep

The $25M round was led by prominent VCs:

🔹 Dragonfly

🔹 Maven 11

🔹 OKX Ventures

🔹 NGC Ventures

🔹 Hashkey Capital

This shows serious institutional appetite for privacy-enhanced Layer 2 solutions. These aren't degens backing a meme — these are funds betting on infrastructure that powers finance 2.0.

🏦 Why It Matters

Institutions want in on crypto — but they demand speed, privacy, and compliance. Miden is aiming to check all the boxes:

✅ Scalable smart contract execution

✅ Enhanced on-chain privacy

✅ Customizable environments for enterprise use cases

Polygon isn’t just fighting Ethereum’s scalability wars anymore. It’s building the rails for private DeFi, CBDCs, and tokenized real-world assets.

🚀 TL;DR: Miden = Polygon’s Institutional Power Move

With this funding, Polygon is signaling loud and clear: we’re not just playing in the L2 space — we’re owning it.

Keep your eyes on Miden. It might just become the Ethereum for institutions.

🟢 #Polygon #Miden #zkrollups #CryptoFunding #EthereumLayer2

Notable Fundraising Rounds
PlaysOut - $7M Seed Round - A global open platform for mini-games.EPHYRA (formerly GameBeast) - $10.5M Series A , a multi-dimensional virtual entertainment center integrating AI, gaming, and interaction.Domin Network - Strategic Round Developing solutions for aggregating and validating consumer data.Plume Network - Funding Round , Layer 1 blockchain platform integrating real-world assets into the blockchain.Slingshot - $16M Funding Round , A web app leveraging AI to facilitate game voting, funding, and launches within the Roblox ecosystem.Exactly Protocol - $2M Funding Round , A decentralized, non-custodial protocol for an autonomous interest rate market.Odin.fun - Strategic Round , A Bitcoin-based platform for creating and trading meme tokens.Kamigotchi - $1.3M Seed Round, A fully on-chain RPG developed by Asphodel Studio.Opinion Labs - $5M Seed Round (led by YZi Labs) , Developing dynamic prediction markets to measure and value opinions in social networks.ORO Labs - $1.5M Pre-Seed Round , A tokenized gold platform redefining gold ownership in digital markets.Halliday - $20M Series A (led by a16z) , A commerce automation network for modular chains.Crossmint - $23.6M Series A , Providing APIs for wallets, payments, tokenization, and more.Yeet - $7.75M Seed Round , An online gambling platform.VIA - $28M Series B , Helping energy companies unlock data value through AI and blockchain.Utila - $18M Series A , Building a self-custody wallet platform and API for secure digital asset management.Privy - $15M Funding Round , Simplifying crypto onboarding with developer libraries for Web3 apps.Pluralis Research - $7.6M Seed Round , Developing decentralized, collaborative AI model training.Hibachi - $5M Seed Round , A decentralized trading protocol tailored for professional traders.Daisy - $3.9M Seed Round , Connecting content creators to enhance visibility on TikTok and Instagram.NeuronX - $1M Pre-Seed Round , A decentralized lending protocol.
Mergers & Acquisitions
Kraken acquires NinjaTrader for $1.5B , A trading platform and futures broker with over a million users globally.LTP acquires Turing Capital , Turing Capital is a quantitative asset management firm acquired by LiquidityTech (LTP) to enhance institutional trading strategies.
Other Major Transactions
MoonPay secures a $200M credit line from Galaxy , A fintech company building payment infrastructure for crypto.Walrus raises $140M in a private token sale , A decentralized storage and data availability protocol.Uranium Digital - $6.1M Seed Round , An institutional-grade spot uranium trading platform powered by Solana.Manifest Finance - $2.5M Pre-Seed Round , Leveraging blockchain to provide investors with access to private equity real estate investments.AegisAI - Pre-Seed Round , A modular Layer 1 blockchain enabling AI applications on EVM/SVM.Stoffel - $1.6M Pre-Seed Round , A platform empowering developers to build privacy-first applications using MPC technology.

#CryptoFunding