Magic Eden has announced its acquisition of Slingshot, a mobile-first on-chain trading platform, marking a strategic expansion into broader token trading. This move positions Magic Eden to rival centralized exchanges by supporting trading across millions of tokens. Despite declining NFT transaction volumes, co-founder and CEO Jack Lu remains optimistic about the future of NFTs, emphasizing their potential for mainstream adoption. The acquisition signifies a shift towards a diversified asset class, potentially expanding Magic Eden's user base. Details of the acquisition remain undisclosed, but the deal is confirmed complete.
Goldfinch has announced a strategic partnership with Web3 Studio The Squad to revolutionize film production and financing. The collaboration aims to leverage The Squad's expertise in Web3, generative AI, and engagement technologies to create a creator-focused framework for film, TV, and immersive experiences. The Squad, known for its pioneering "Film3" concept, will operate independently under Goldfinch's umbrella, focusing on community-powered funding, AI-enhanced production workflows, and direct-to-audience distribution. This initiative marks a significant shift in the entertainment industry, emphasizing innovation and artist-centric models.
Ripple has announced the acquisition of crypto-friendly prime broker Hidden Road for $1.25 billion, structured as a combination of cash, XRP tokens, and stock. This strategic move aims to expand Ripple's services to attract large institutional clients. CEO Brad Garlinghouse emphasized the importance of having the necessary infrastructure to appeal to major financial institutions. The acquisition, pending regulatory approval, will inject billions into Hidden Road to enhance its prime brokerage capabilities. This development coincides with evolving U.S. crypto regulations, drawing attention from traditional investors.
Blackbird Labs, a blockchain-based restaurant payment app, has successfully raised $50 million in a Series B funding round led by Spark Capital, with notable participation from Coinbase Ventures, a16z crypto, Union Square Ventures, and Amex Ventures. This investment brings the total capital raised to $85 million. The app incentivizes users with its proprietary crypto token, $FLY, which can be utilized across a network of over 600 restaurants in major cities such as New York City, San Francisco, and Charleston. The funding aims to enhance the app's offerings and expand its loyalty program, promising exclusive benefits to frequent users.
Cap Labs has successfully raised $8 million in a funding round, supported by Franklin Templeton and Triton Capital, among others. This investment increases their total fundraising to $11 million, following a previous $3 million round. The funds will be directed towards the development of Cap's stablecoin engine, expected to launch later this year. Cap's platform aims to democratize yield generation by allowing users to earn passive interest from various tokens and additional yield through restaking protocols like EigenLayer. This initiative highlights the growing interest in stablecoin-focused Web3 solutions.
Avara, the Web3 company known for its non-custodial liquidity protocol Aave, has launched Lens Chain on Mainnet, aiming to revolutionize decentralized social media. Lens Chain, an Ethereum overlay, is developer-friendly, fast, and cost-effective, designed to challenge centralized platforms like Facebook and Musk's X. The layer-2 network has partnered with major DeFi and infrastructure projects such as Uniswap and Chainlink. Lens Chain uses mathematical proofs for transaction verification and features its own stablecoin, $GHO, for network fees, alongside decentralized storage solutions.
Dragonfly Capital has led a $15.8 million seed round for Codex, a blockchain developer focused on stablecoins. The round, which included participation from Coinbase Ventures, Circle Ventures, and others, was structured as equity with warrants for Codex's future token. Dragonfly contributed $14 million, according to partner Rob Hadick.
Codex plans to utilize the funds to develop a layer-2 blockchain on Optimism, specifically optimized for stablecoins. This strategic move aligns with the growing interest in stablecoins within the crypto industry. Co-founder Haonan Li emphasizes that their blockchain aims to offer stable fees and enhanced transaction confidentiality, setting it apart in the competitive market.
WisdomTree has announced the launch of 13 tokenised funds through its chain-agnostic Connect platform, now available on Arbitrum, Base, Avalanche, Ethereum, and Optimism blockchains. This expansion allows users to access multiple chains without leaving their original networks, catering to growing institutional interest in tokenised assets.
Historically limited to Ethereum, WisdomTree Connect's expansion signifies a strategic move to enhance availability and meet client demand. The platform supports custom on-chain fund creation, featuring index, fixed income, and asset allocation funds, alongside its money market fund, WTGXX.
Ultra, a gaming platform, has secured $12 million in a funding round led by NOIA Capital. The investment aims to redefine game play, publication, and monetization, focusing on returning value to gamers, developers, and publishers. Ultra plans to integrate traditional gaming with digital assets, challenging outdated industry models, particularly in Europe. CEO Gus van Rijckevorsel emphasizes the need for innovation, likening Ultra's potential impact to Netflix's transformation of media consumption. The platform leverages its proprietary Ultra Blockchain to support Web3 gaming experiences, positioning itself as a disruptor in the gaming sector.
Jupiter, a prominent decentralized exchange on Solana, has acquired the NFT platform DRiP Haus, marking a strategic expansion into the NFT sector. The acquisition aligns with Jupiter's vision to develop a Solana-based "Super App," integrating NFT tools into its existing platform. This move comes shortly after X2Y2's decision to pivot from NFTs to crypto AI, suggesting differing perspectives on the NFT market's future. Despite skepticism, Jupiter's Kash Dhanda remains optimistic, asserting that NFTs have enduring potential. DRiP Haus will continue to operate independently, with its team partially integrating into Jupiter.
NFT Marketplace X2Y2, once a major player in the NFT space, is shutting down its marketplace operations. Launched in early 2022, X2Y2 quickly rose to prominence, achieving a monthly trading volume of $209 million in May of the same year. However, over the past 365 days, trading volume has plummeted to $53.6 million, prompting the decision to cease marketplace activities. Despite this, X2Y2 is not disappearing entirely; the project is pivoting towards developing a decentralized AI platform. This strategic shift aims to leverage AI for creating long-term value in the crypto ecosystem.
Bpifrance, a state-owned French bank, has announced the creation of a €25 million fund aimed at directly investing in cryptocurrencies, as reported by Reuters. This initiative is part of the bank's strategy to bolster France's crypto businesses by targeting newly created tokens from French projects at the pre-listing stage. Unlike traditional investments in major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, this fund will focus on smaller, lesser-known tokens. Arnaud Caudoux, deputy CEO of Bpifrance, emphasized the importance of maintaining a strong European crypto ecosystem amidst increasing U.S. competition.
Maven 11, a crypto venture capital firm, has successfully closed its third fund at $107 million, surpassing the initial target of $100 million. Despite challenging market conditions, the fund attracted new institutional backers from Europe and Asia. The fund, slightly smaller than its predecessor, will be deployed over the next 3-4 years, focusing on pre-seed, seed, Series A, and follow-on investments. Maven 11 has already allocated 15% of the fund to projects like Spire Labs and JokeRace, emphasizing consumer applications and infrastructure at the intersection of blockchain and AI.
Taproot Wizards, a project under the Bitcoin Ordinals initiative, has successfully sold 95% of its 1,750 Taproot Wizard NFTs during the whitelist phase. The sale generated between 166 and 332 bitcoins, equating to approximately $14 million to $28 million. The remaining 90 NFTs are set for public auction on Thursday, March 27, at 11:00 AM ET. Participants can bid using SOL through their Phantom wallets. This follows last year's sale of 3,000 "Quantum Cats" NFTs, which raised $13 million. Additionally, the project secured $30 million in ecosystem funding last month to support OP_CAT development.
Taproot Wizards, part of the Bitcoin Ordinals project, has successfully sold 95% of its 1,750 Taproot Wizard NFTs during the whitelist phase. The NFTs were sold at prices ranging from 0.1 BTC to 0.2 BTC, raising between 166 and 332 bitcoins, approximately $14 million to $28 million.
The remaining 90 Taproot Wizards will be available for public auction on Thursday, March 27, at 11:00 AM ET. Buyers can place bids using SOL via their Phantom wallets. The full distribution of the 1,750 Wizards is scheduled for Friday.
This follows the project's previous sale of 3,000 "Quantum Cats" NFTs, which raised $13 million to support Bitcoin's OP_CAT proposal.
Crypto security firms PeckShield, CertiK, and SlowMist have identified a significant exploit on the DeFi platform Abracadabra, resulting in a $13 million loss. The attack, which was publicized on the X platform, targeted the platform's smart contracts to extract 6,262 ETH from liquidity pools.
According to researcher Weilin (William) Li, the exploit involved a complex seven-step process during the liquidation of Abracadabra's cauldrons integrated with GMX V2's GM pools. This incident follows a previous hack in January 2024, which led to a $6.49 million loss and a depegging of the Magic Internet Money stablecoin.
GMX has confirmed that its contracts remain unaffected and is actively investigating the breach with security experts.
BlackRock has expanded its tokenised money market fund, the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Fund (BUIDL), to the Solana blockchain. This strategic move is facilitated in collaboration with BlackRock’s blockchain partner, Securitize. The BUIDL fund, currently holding $1.7 billion in cash and treasury bills, is expected to exceed $2 billion by April. This expansion follows BUIDL's selection to tokenise half of Spark’s $1 billion real-world asset fund. The initiative highlights the growing interest in leveraging on-chain assets for enhanced accessibility, with other financial giants like Franklin Templeton also exploring similar avenues.
Rain, a blockchain-based card issuer, has announced a strategic partnership with Visa to offer debit and credit cards that facilitate transactions using stablecoins and other cryptocurrencies. This initiative follows Rain's collaboration with Avalanche, enabling payments via the AVAX token and stablecoins.
The company aims to broaden global access to digital dollar services by utilizing the $24.5 million raised in a funding round led by Norwest Venture Partners. This capital will support team expansion, technology development, and regulatory compliance. Rain's infrastructure allows it to offer digital dollar services globally, catering to the increasing demand for cross-border payments.
TON Foundation has announced that venture capital firms have invested over $400 million in its native token, Toncoin (TON). Notable investors include Sequoia Capital, Ribbit, Benchmark, and Kingsway. This investment is provided in Toncoin rather than traditional equity or cash, signaling strong confidence in the blockchain's future. The TON blockchain, a layer-1 network linked with Telegram, has seen rapid growth with over 42 million active users and 2.4 billion transactions. The integration of Telegram-based mini-apps has significantly contributed to this expansion.
Walrus Foundation has successfully raised $140 million in a token sale led by Standard Crypto, with participation from notable investors including a16z crypto, Electric Capital, and Franklin Templeton Digital Assets. The funds will be utilized for the expansion and maintenance of its decentralized data storage protocol and application development platform. This announcement precedes the mainnet launch of the Walrus Protocol on March 27. Developed by Mysten Labs on the Sui blockchain, the protocol enables applications to manage large data files on-chain and off-chain. This investment aims to enhance the adoption of programmable storage solutions.