NFTgators

Quick take:

The fundraising also attracted participation from StepStone Group, Boldstart Ventures, Quantstamp and IBI Tech Fund.

Hyperactive claims its security services protect over 200 Web3 projects and over $100 billion in value.

The company leverages AI-powered detectors, transaction simulations, and deep on/off-chain analysis “to catch threats in flight.”

Hypernative, the Web3 security firm using AI-powered detectors, transaction simulators and deep on-chain/off-chain analysis to mitigate threats, has raised $40 million in a Series B round co-led by Ten Eleven and Ballistic Ventures. 

The fundraising also attracted participation from StepStone Group, Boldstart Ventures, Quantstamp and IBI Tech Fund. According to the announcement on Tuesday, Hypernative plans to use the fresh capital to grow its team and expand its AI-powered transaction monitoring and security services including fraud prevention and wallet-level transaction protection.

The company claims its security services protect over 200 Web3 projects and over $100 billion in value, according to a blog post on its website.

The fundraising comes at a time when Web3 security remains a serious concern amid the intersection of blockchain technology and artificial intelligence. “Security shouldn’t be the thing that holds Web3 back. We’re here to build trust at the infrastructure layer — for builders, users, institutions, and everyone in between. This is what real-time, preventive security looks like,” Hypenative wrote on X.

According to Hypernative, its security detection system detected over $2.2B of losses from hacks, exploits, phishing, and fraud, representing a 22% jump from the previous year, adding that the 41.4 billion Bybit hack in February has already set the industry on track for another record-breaking year of security failures.

Commenting on the announcement, Gal Sagie, Co-founder and CEO of Hypernative said in a statement: “Web3 is at an inflection point: clear regulation is finally emerging, and institutional adoption is accelerating led by stablecoins and tokenized assets. But security remains the biggest blocker to mass adoption—and Hypernative is on a mission to close that gap.”

Hypernative emerged from stealth in January 2023 with a $9 million seed round led by Boldstart Ventures with participation from Blockdaemon, Alchemy, Borderless, CMT Digital, and Nexo. Last September, it secured a $16 million Series A round from Quantstamp, Boldstart Ventures, IBI Tech Fund, CMT Digital, Bloccelerate, and Borderless Capital.

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Quick take:

The fundraising also attracted participation from Felix Capital and FJ Labs, with Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, former Unity CEO David Helgason, and former Adyen CTO Alexander Matthey joining as angel investors.

Noah plans to use the fresh capital to build its global stablecoin payment network.

Users will be able to convert between 50 currencies and transfer money between 70 countries.

Noah has announced a $22 million seed round led by LocalGlobe with participation from Felix Capital and FJ Labs. Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, former Unity CEO David Helgason, and former Adyen CTO Alexander Matthey joined as angel investors.

Thijn Lamers, a former executive at fintech giant Adyen, has also joined Noah as co-founder and president.

The company plans to use the fresh capital to build its global stablecoin payment network, enabling it to support conversions for over 50 currencies and transfers in over 70 countries.

The announcement comes amid the rising interest in stablecoin projects, with Plasma, the EVM-compatible sidechain built on bitcoin recently securing over $500 in an initial coin offering on Sonar.

Co-founded by Lammers and Shah Ramezani, Noah is among a growing number of crypto startups looking to advance global payments using stablecoins. The two founders believe building a network is the key to payments. “I would say the most important thing in payments, and that’s why a dropout from MIT [finds it] hard to compete, is the network,” Ramezani said.

Ramezani describes the startup’s name, Noah, as symbolic of the company’s goal to “save everyone from the mass currency inflation.”

Noah enables users to convert currencies and transfer money in real-time, significantly reducing the time compared to using bank wires. According to Ramezani, the company has processed more than $1 billion in transaction volumes.

Ramezani described his co-founder Lammers as “really a beast.” “This guy has so much energy, I’m, like, actually blown away,” he said.

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Quick take:

Individual deposits were capped at $50 million.

The Plasma stablecoin vault now contains $345 million in USDC, $146.1 million in USDT, $7.5 million in USDS, and $1.21 million in DAI, according to Arkham.

The stablecoin ICO follows Plasma’s $24 million funding round announced in February.

Plasma has raised $500 million in an initial coin offering of its XPL token. The fundraising took place on Jordan Fish’s (pseudonymously known as Cobie) ICO platform, Sonar, the Echo subsidiary launched last month.

According to the company’s website, by depositing stablecoin into the project’s vault, users earn the right to purchase Plasma’s XPL with individual deposits capped at $50 million.

The fundraising started at 9:00 AM ET and was completed at 9:48 AM ET, amid the rising interest in stablecoin investments.

The Plasma stablecoin vault now contains $345.2 million in USDC, $146.09 million in USDT, $7.5 million in USDS, and $1.21 million in DAI, according to Arkham.

The fundraising follows Plasma’s $24 million funding round announced in February, anchored by Framework Ventures with participation from Bitfinex, Peter Thiel and Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino.

Plasma is building an EVM-compatible sidechain on Bitcoin tailored to Tether’s USDT. Its goal is to eliminate the fees involved in transacting with the USDT stablecoin.

Speaking about his company’s decision to build a sidechain specifically focused on stablecoins in February, Plasma co-founder Paul Faecks said in a statement: “You’re just capable of making very different trade-offs if all you care about is how can we be the best product for stablecoins.”

This allows Plasma to eliminate various fees associated with supporting additional fancy services that blockchains use to enable NFT trading, meme coins, or token airdrops.

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Quick take:

Turnkey co-founders CEO Bryce Ferguson and Jack Kearney are alumni of U.S.-based crypto exchange company Coinbase.

The company offers an infrastructure for digital wallets where users store and manage their cryptocurrency.

Ferguson said Turnkey’s appeal lies in its ability to add and streamline advanced features to wallets.

Former Coinbase employees, Bryce Fergason and Jack Kearney have raised $30 million in a Series B funding round led by Bain Capital Crypto with participation from Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Faction, Galaxy Ventures,  Wintermute and Variant, Fortune reported.

The fundraising was structured as equity with token warrants of a yet-to-be-released cryptocurrency. However, the company has no plans to release its own token, viewing the token warrants’ inclusion as a common feature in most crypto deals.

Turnkey offers “low-level infrastructure” for crypto wallets, allowing users to store and manage digital assets. According to CEO Bryce Ferguson, the company’s appeal to users lies in its ability to add and streamline advanced features to wallets.

“We’re moving from this world of these slow, clunky systems that were designed for buying and holding crypto to very high throughput, machine-based transactions,” he said.

Turnkey’s APIs allow developers to plug into its software, enabling them to easily create and manage crypto wallets for their users. Its technology is already being used by some of the leading crypto companies including the prediction market platform Polymarket, the NFT marketplace Magic Eden, and stablecoin infrastructure service provider Bridge.

According to Ferguson, Turnkey plans to use the fresh capital to grow his staff of currently 35 employees, especially his engineering team.

“Most of the UX challenges that people have talked about over the past five years in crypto have been solved,” he said. “Ultimately, the building blocks are there.”

Although Turnkey is yet to turn a profit, the company’s revenue increased 200 times, according to Ferguson, who maintains his company does “have a clear path to profitability.”

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Quick take:

Shayne Coplan, the CEO of Polymarket, described the partnership as a union of two truth-seeking platforms.

The announcement comes amid Musk’s public fallout with President Trump whose media company owns Truth Social.

The partnership comes amid a growing string of M&As and partnerships in the crypto space.

Crypto-powered predictions market platform, Polymarket has announced a partnership with Elon Musk’s xAI, the parent organisation of the X platform and Musk’s AI startup.

According to the announcement published on the X platform, Polymarket will become the official prediction market partner of xAI and the X platform. 

Shayne Coplan, the CEO of Polymarket, described the partnership as a union of two truth-seeking platforms. “The two top truth-seeking apps on the internet are stronger together,” he added.

The announcement comes amid Musk’s public fallout with President Trump whose media company owns Truth Social. Musk and Trump over the last two days have engaged in a social media war of words amid the X Platform head’s criticism of U.S. government spending.

The partnership comes amid a growing string of M&As and partnerships in the crypto space. But not all have materialised as announced. Last month, Telegram announced a partnership with xAI, allowing the messenger app to integrate the xAI across its apps.

However, Musk played down the announcement hours later saying no such deal was in place.

Earlier in the month, Synthetic revealed it was acquisition options protocol Derive in a $27 million deal. The deal never materialised with two companies mutually agreeing to cancel the proposed acquisition later in the month.

xAI’s partnership with Polymarket also comes amid reports that X is one of the big techs looking to integrate stablecoins amid the push to build a crypto super app.

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Quick take:

An anonymous source told Fortune that the firms see crypto as a means of cutting transaction costs in their bid to optimize cross-border payments.

Meta is also reportedly leaning towards crypto despite abandoning its earlier plans due to regulatory challenges.

They join the likes of Uber, whose CEO Dara Khosrowshahi on Thursday told Bloomberg his company is in the “study” phase of using stablecoins for global transfers.

The tech industry’s biggest players are exploring options to integrate crypto according to sources cited by Fortune. The finance-focused publisher reported on Friday that Apple, X, Airbnb and Google are holding early conversations with crypto firms about integrating stablecoins.

The report comes amid growing optimism about the implementation of a clearer and crypto-friendly regulatory framework in the U.S. Meta, which previously tried to integrate crypto before facing regulatory hurdles is also looking to revisit the issue, the anonymous source told Fortune.

On the other hand, ride-sharing app Uber is already in the “study” phase of using stablecoins for global transfers, the firm’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told Bloomberg on Thursday, following Cicle Internet Group, Inc.’s (NYSE: CRCL) huge IPO on Wednesday. 

Stablecoin issuer’s post-listing stock price surge supports the recent shift in the crypto space that has seen stablecoin companies become major players in the perceived mainstreaming of the crypto industry. 

Mostly it has been traditional financial institutions and fintech companies leading the mainstream integration of crypto, but now, big tech seems to be about to join.

According to the report, the firms see crypto as a means of cutting transaction costs in their bid to optimize cross-border payments.

“It’s pretty clear that this is probably one of the biggest upgrades to payments since the SWIFT network,” Rich Widmann, head of Web3 strategy at Google Cloud, told Fortune, confirming that the tech giant is exploring stablecoin integrations.

An Airbnb spokesperson told the publisher: “While crypto payments aren’t something we’re focused on integrating into the platform in the near future, we’re always looking at all aspects of payments for ways to improve our community’s experience with it, including developments in digital assets and their use cases.”

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Quick take:

Circle offered 14,800,000 shares of Class A common stock with the selling stockholders offering 19,200,000 shares.

The company has also granted underwriters a 30-day option to purchase additional 5.1 million shares.

Circle stock started trading on the New York Stock Exchange on June 5 under the symbol CRLC, while the offering is expected to close on June 6 after satisfying customary closing conditions.

Circle Internet Group, Inc. (NYSE: CRLC) has raised $1.05 billion in an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange. The financial technology and stablecoin issuer offered 14,800,000 shares of Class A common stock with the selling stockholders offering 19,200,000 shares.

Overall, Circle offered 34 million shares of its common stock priced at $31 per share, valuing the company at $6.9 billion on shares outstanding. The New York-based company has also granted underwriters a 30-day option to purchase additional 5.1 million shares.

Circle stock started trading on the New York Stock Exchange on June 5 under the symbol CRLC, while the offering is expected to close on June 6 after satisfying customary closing conditions.

The pricing of the IPO shifted significantly from the initial target range of $24-$26 to $27-$28, before eventually listing at $31. The shares on offer also increased from 24 million to 32 million, with the eventual number reported to be 34 million.

J.P. Morgan, Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs acted as the joint lead book-runners, with Barclays, Deutsche Bank Securities and SOCIETE GENERALE acting as book-runners, while BNY Capital Markets, Canaccord Genuity, Needham & Company, Oppenheimer and Santander are acting as co-managers.

Circle’s NYSE debut follows a financial year that saw it report $156 million in net income from a revenue of $1.68 billion. This was a significant decline from the 2023 net income of $268 million.

Among the stablecoin company’s top backers is BlackRock was reported to be acquiring 10% of CRCL stock, according to Bloomberg, while ARK Invest wanted to buy up to $150 million worth of shares.

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Quick take:

The BitLicense authorises firms to conduct business in virtual currencies in New York.

The issuance of the BitLicense comes despite New York City Mayor Eric Adams recently speaking against it.

The new license enables MoonPay’s New York-based customers to access all services provided by the firm.

MoonPay has received New York’s BitLicense, allowing the crypto payments firm to conduct business in virtual currencies in the East Coast state. The company said it will now be able to “operate coast-to-coast in the United States without coverage gaps.”

The new license enables MoonPay’s New York-based customers to access all services provided by the firm.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams recently spoke at the Bitcoin 2025 event in Las Vegas asking to get rid of the license to allow the free flow of Bitcoin in the city. “I want you back in the city of New York, where you won’t be attacked and criminalized. Let’s get rid of the Bitcoin license and allow us to have the free flow of Bitcoin in our city.”

BitLicense allows businesses and individuals to receive or transmit virtual currencies — store, hold or maintain custody or control of virtual currency on behalf of others, as well as buy and sell virtual currency, offer crypto exchange services and control, administer or issue virtual currency.

Commenting on the issuance of the license, MoonPay co-founder and CEO Ivan Soto-Wright told Decrypt: “The New York BitLicense is a critical milestone for MoonPay, enabling us to directly service New York customers. New York is considered the gold standard in U.S. financial regulation, and we are thrilled to join the small group of companies that have passed this rigorous process.”

The BitLicense paves the way for MoonPay to roll out crypto payment services across all 50 U.S. states. The company also holds registrations in the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada, among other jurisdictions.

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Quick take:

The company also announced a partnership with Samara Alpha as its exclusive delegated manager of digital assets.

It follows Webus’ announcement last week to establish a framework that provides it with institutional-grade infrastructure and expertise for potential future digital asset treasury operations, specifically focused on XRP management.

The agreement takes a phased approach with the asset management mandate becoming effective only after Webus’s actual transfer of digital assets to designated custody wallets.

Webus International Limited (Nasdaq: WETO) has advanced its plans to establish an XRP-focused digital asset treasury in partnership with Samara Alpha. The Chinese automotive and hospitality firm on Tuesday filed form 6-K with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to legally notify U.S. investors of its plans, as announced on May 29.

According to the announcement, the Nasdaq-listed company has formed an agreement with Samara Alpha, a digital asset management company based in New York to be Webus’s exclusive delegated manager of digital assets.

Last week, the company announced plans to raise up to $300 million to establish a framework that provides it with institutional-grade infrastructure and expertise for potential future digital asset treasury operations, specifically focused on XRP management.

The agreement takes a phased implementation approach with the asset management mandate becoming effective only after Webus’s actual transfer of digital assets to designated custody wallets.

Commenting on the announcement, Mr. Nan Zheng, CEO of Webus, said the agreement defines the company’s clear structure for trusted digital asset management in the future. 

“As we continue to evaluate innovative approaches to treasury management, establishing this framework with a regulated, institutional-grade partner provides us with strategic optionality while maintaining prudent controls,” he said. “Samara Alpha brings institutional-grade discipline, and we look forward to activating the mandate when operational needs and funding align.”

Mr. Adil Adbulali, Chief Investment Officer at Samara Alpha, commented: “Our institutional approach to digital asset management combines rigorous risk management with specialised expertise in this evolving asset class. Upon activation, we will deliver secure, regulated infrastructure for responsible crypto asset management, leveraging our experience to provide Webus with professional oversight of their potential future digital asset operations.”

The Webus stock price spiked 12% on Wednesday following Tuesday’s filing.

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Quick take:

The website is offering early adopters to join a waitlist by registering via email with options to link an X account and mobile phone.

The website also claims to offer $1 million in Official Trump tokens (TRUMP) via an airdrop.

The wallet will initially support trading for Bitcoin, Solana, Ethereum, Magic Eden Token and the Official Trump token, among others, according to the website.

A new Website calling itself “TrumpWallet” has launched with $1 million in Official Trump tokens (TRUMP) on offer for early adopters. The Website is already welcoming interested users to join a waitlist by registering their emails. It also provides users with the option to add their X handle and mobile phone number.

The wallet is reportedly being built by the team behind President Donald Trump’s memecoin and Magic Eden. It will initially support trading for Bitcoin, Solana, Ethereum, Magic Eden Token and the Official Trump token, among others, according to the website.

According to a statement on the website, it claims to be the Official Trump Wallet, adding that Magic Eden partnered with GetTrumpMemes.com to create the first and only $TRUMP Wallet.

However, a representative of the Trump organisation has since distanced the group from the new crypto wallet app, saying they know nothing about the “$TRUMP Wallet” launch.

This is not the first time Trump’s crypto team has denied knowledge of some media reports about the organisation. 

Last week, after FT claimed Trump Media was raising $3 billion to invest in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, CEO Devin Nunes downplayed those reports, calling the authors of the article “dumb writers” only for the company to announce a $2.5 billion fundraising the following day, bringing the total digital asset portfolio to $3 billion.

The organisation has launched multiple ventures over the past several months, including DeFi platform Truth.fi, as well as, the stablecoin USD1, among others.

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Quick take:

MetaMask users will be able to create and recover wallets using Web3Auth’s user-friendly Web2 login methods.

This removes the need to back up seed phrases manually, thus reducing the risk of losing funds.

Consensys also plans to leverage Web3Auth’s infrastructure to speed up MetaMask support for non-EVM chains like Solana and Bitcoin.

Consensys has announced the acquisition of wallet infrastructure provider Web3Auth in an undisclosed deal. The acquisition comes amid a period in the crypto space that is characterised by industry-wide consolidations. 

Consensys, which develops blockchain software is renowned for its EVM-based self-custody wallet solution, MetaMask. 

According to the announcement on Monday, the company plans to leverage Web3Auth’s wallet infrastructure technology to improve seed phrase management. Web3Auth is renowned for its wallet management solution that allows users to easily create and recover their wallets using social media platforms and device-based authentication.

By integrating Web3Auth’s wallet infrastructure into MetaMask, MetaMask users will be able to create and recover wallets using Web3Auth’s user-friendly Web2 login methods. Consensys also said the acquisition enables it to speed up MetaMask support for non-EVM chains like Solana and Bitcoin.

The announcement comes hot on the heels of MetaMask’s launch of a Web-based browser extension for Solana last week. The company also plans to roll out full Bitcoin support in Q3.

Overall, Consensys expects the integration to create a smoother onboarding process for buildings when embedding wallet SDKs, which in turn accelerates the mass adoption of users to Web3.

“Integrating Web3Auth’s cutting-edge authentication technology aligns with our mission to make web3 universally accessible,” Consensys co-founder and CEO Joseph Lubin said in the statement. “This integration enhances MetaMask’s capabilities significantly, embodying our belief that the best web3 wallets will seamlessly integrate an infrastructure that supports a wide range of empowering features. These include frictionless onboarding, customizable interfaces, extensive ecosystem connectivity reminiscent of a mycelium network, configurable security for varying needs, and maximal protections in high-security contexts.”

Consensys plans to use a phased rollout, integrating Web3Auth’s authentication technology in stages, starting with developer tools. The entire process is expected to be completed over the next few weeks.

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Quick take:

Shiliang Tang the CEO and managing director of Monarq previously worked at Bank of America Merril Lynch and UBA as a volatility trader before pivoting to crypto in 2017.

This investment follows FalconX CEO Raghu Yarlagadda’s comments in October predicting a wave of consolidation in the crypto space.

He said his company would be hunting for acquisition targets, which it fulfilled by acquiring derivative startup Arbelos Markets in January.

Digital prime brokerage platform FalconX has announced the acquisition of a majority stake in the parent company of multi-strategy hedge fund Monarq Asset Management. Terms of the transactions were not disclosed, but FalconX sees it as part of a border strategy of expanding its asset management services.

According to Austin Reid, global head of revenue and business at FalconX, his company wants to seize the opportunity to expand its institutional client base beyond hedge funds, proprietary trading firms and asset managers.

“Those include endowments, pensions, more family offices, people that are basically looking for more of an asset management-like solution to manage their assets within crypto,” Bloomberg reported, pointing to an interview statement by Reid.

Formerly known as MNNC Group, Monarq was founded by a group behind LedgerPrime, a quantitative digital asset investment firm based in Miami, Florida. Shiliang Tang its CEO and managing director previously worked at Bank of America Merril Lynch and UBA as a volatility trader before pivoting to crypto in 2017.

“With FalconX’s strategic support, we are well positioned to scale our proprietary quantitative models, grow our team of portfolio managers and technologists, and bring institutional-grade asset management to a broader set of investors,” Tang said.

This is not FalconX’s first major move in the space. I January, the San Marcos California-based company acquired derivatives startup Arbelos Markets, in line with a statement FalconX CEO Raghu Yarlagadda, had made in October.

“Our perspective is that we are going to go through a period of consolidation in this space and especially in private markets in digital assets,” Reid said, adding that FlaconX is actively engaged with potential acquisition targets, as it looks to bring more companies into FalconX.

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Bluefin, a decentralized trading hub on the Sui blockchain, experienced a rapid increase in its total value locked (TVL), nearly doubling within a week, according to DefiLlama. The spot and derivatives exchange platform is at a record $198.2 million, becoming the third-largest protocol on Sui.

The increase in liquidity inflow may be partially caused by the dramatic collapse of Cetus, which suffered a major hack over a week ago, leading to a 75% decline in TVL. Cetus was one of the largest decentralized exchanges (DEXs) on Sui and is now left with about $62 million in TVL.

Bluefin offers three main products: Bluefin Spot, Bluefin Perps, and AlphaLend, a non-custodial lending protocol that enables investors to earn interest by depositing SUI, USDC, ETH, and USDT, among others.

The lending product was launched at the beginning of May and is the main driver behind Bluefin’s rapid growth lately. It currently has a record $80 million in TVL, with stSUI (AlphaFi staked SUI), SUI, and USDC accounting for the largest share.

Elsewhere, the flagship Bluefin Spot DEX has $95.4 million in TVL, the highest level since mid-January. The spot platform reached a record $109 million at the start of the year and is now nearing that peak again.

The DEX saw record inflows on May 27, when nearly $25 million worth of crypto was transferred to its pools, with USDC, USDT, and SUI accounting for the lion’s share.

Meanwhile, trading volume is at a record high as of May 30, breaking above the $400 million mark. DEX Tools data shows that BLUE/USDC and BLUE/SUI are the most traded pairs.

As for the derivatives trading platform, its TVL has been hovering above $20 million in May, although trading volume has been consistently declining since the beginning of the year.

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Quick take:

The company said in an X post its mission is for crypto executions to be completed by agents.

Its agentic algorithms combine wallets, DEXs and networks in one unified agentic interface.

Donut plans to use the capital to build an agentic crypto browser on Solana.

Donut, an agentic crypto project building on Solana, has raised $7 million in a pre-seed funding round co-led by Hongshan (formerly Sequoia China), Bitkraft Ventures, Hack VC and several angel investors.

The company plans to use the capital to accelerate the development of its agentic crypto browser that enables crypto executions to be completed by agents. 

Comparing its AI algorithm to the ones deployed by the likes of OpenAI and ManusAI via an X post, Donut said the two examples are built for information retrieval, focusing on general productivity like searching faster, summarising better and completing tasks for users. 

However, the company emphasises that when it comes to crypto, the stakes are higher, because ‘you are dealing with money.’ 

That’s why Donut is building an agentic AI that not only helps people search but also helps them execute transactions and trade, on-chain and in real-time. 

“While others automate clicks, we automate capital. Our vision is for crypto executions to be completed by agents,” Donut wrote in an X post. “To do that, we are building the best in-domain model and a swarm of browser agents across complex environments.”

The company’s agentic algorithms combine wallets, DEXs and networks in one unified agentic interface.

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Quick take:

The filing allows the company to make offerings of common shares, warrants, subscription receipts, units, and debt securities of up to $1 billion as per the prospectus.

SOL Strategies said the filing also enables it to increase its financial flexibility going forward.

The company plans to use the funds to expand its investments in Solana.

SOL Strategies, a publicly listed company in Canada, has filed a preliminary short-form base shelf prospectus with securities regulators in each of the provinces and territories of Canada.

In a Tuesday press release, the company said the filing and receipt of a final base-shelf prospectus allows it to offer common shares (including through “at-the-market” offerings), warrants, subscription receipts, units and debt for up to a maximum amount prescribed in the final base shelf prospectus.

The announcement follows the company’s $18 million investment in Solana tokens earlier in May. In April, it raised $500 million via a convertible note offering to buy and stake Solana tokens.

“The filing of a base shelf prospectus supports our growth strategy by providing us with the flexibility to access capital as future opportunities arise in the rapidly evolving Solana ecosystem,” said Leah Wald, CEO of SOL Strategies. “This strategic move enhances our ability to act decisively when compelling investment opportunities present themselves.”

SOL Strategies is one of the few publicly traded companies not building their digital asset strategy around Bitcoin. Another company SharpLink, earlier this week raised $425 billion to establish an Ethereum treasury as part of its digital asset strategy.

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Alphaping, an Ethereum-based risk curator and yield protocol, saw its total value locked (TVL) cross the $10 million mark on Wednesday, May 28, as per DefiLlama. The platform’s deposit value has nearly tripled over the past month and more than doubled in the past week alone. As of this writing, its TVL is at a record $13 million.

 The protocol surpassed $10 million within less than three months since its launch.

Alphaping positions itself as an on-chain vault curator and liquidity allocator, enabling users to earn passive income by lending crypto assets, such as USDC, USDF, and Wrapped Ethereum (WETH). As a Swiss company, it also supports deposits in ZCHF, the biggest stablecoin tied to the Swiss franc.

The protocol is part of Morpho’s DeFi ecosystem, actively managing two vaults on Morpho: ALPHA USDC and ALPHA WETH.

The stablecoin vault offers an APY that ranges between 4% and 14.5%, with the yield being driven by lending on Morpho. The interest is paid in USDC, with extra rewards in Morpho tokens. The WETH vault pays up to 11.5% APY.

USDC accounts for the biggest share of deposits on Alphaping, with over $10 million in TVL.

On Thursday, May 29, the platform experienced record inflows, as nearly $6 million worth of crypto was deposited in its vaults.

In DeFi, risk curator protocols aggregate, assess, and manage on-chain risk exposure, typically across lending, yield farming, and collateralized assets.

DefiLlama classifies risk curator protocols as a sub-sector, which currently has a record $3.3 billion in TVL, led by Euler DAO, Steakhouse Financial, and Gauntlet.

The Alphaping protocol is managed by Alphaping GmbH, a Swiss-based firm founded in 2017, which specializes in DeFi vaults, liquidity allocation, and staking solutions.

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The post Risk Curator Alphaping Hits Record $13M in TVL appeared first on NFTgators .

Quick take:

The company plans to use some of the proceeds from the new 5-year notes to service $955 million of debt due in 2026.

Investors in the new notes can redeem them at 80% of the price of any IPO if Telegram decides to go public before the notes mature.

The new convertible notes were priced with a coupon of 9%, 200 basis points more than the $2.35 billion bond issued in 2021, Bloomberg reported.

Telegram has raised a $1.7 billion convertible bond as part of the restructuring strategy of its existing debt. The messaging platform plans to utile the funds to repay its existing debt and extend the maturity of its debt. 

According to the report by Bloomberg, some of the proceeds from the newly issued 5-year convertible notes will be used to service $955 million of debt due in 2026, with the transaction also raising $745 million for new funds. Investors in the new notes can redeem them at 80% of the price of any IPO if Telegram decides to go public before the notes mature.

The new notes were priced with a coupon of 9%, 200 basis points more than the $2.35 billion bond issued in 2021. The tender closed on May 28, with the settlement expected on June 5.

On Wednesday, reports emerged that Telegram was looking to raise up to $1.5 billion in a new convertible bond offering, backed by BlackRock and Citadel.

Telegram founder Pavel Durov also revealed via an X post that his company had partnered with Elon Musk’s xAI to integrate Grok into its platform. The one-year deal reportedly comprised a $300 million investment from xAI in cash and equity, plus 50% revenue share. This sparked a more than 20% spike in TON price, the native token of TON Network, the blockchain platform powering Telegram’s crypto mini apps and other Web3 activities.

However, Musk played down those reports later in the day claiming there was no such deal in place. TON price pulled back 10% before mounting a slight rebound in the morning hours on Thursday, ET.

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The post Telegram Secures $1.7B Convertible Bond to Restructure Existing Debt appeared first on NFTgators .

Quick take:

A one-year partnership deal will see xAI integrated across all Telegram Apps, founder Pavel Durov wrote in an X post.

He also said the xAI app will only access data that Telegram users share with Grok through direct interactions.

The deal provides xAI with data that it can use to train and develop its AI models.

Telegram has announced a partnership with Elon Musk’s xAI to bring Grok to its platform. As part of the deal, Telegram will receive $300 million in cash and equity, whilst also retaining a 50% interest in subscription revenue received through the social media app. 

Commenting on the one-year partnership via an X post, Telegram founder Pavel Durov wrote: “This summer, Telegram users will gain access to the best AI technology on the market. [Elon Musk] and I have agreed to a 1-year partnership to bring xAI’s [Grok] to our billion+ users and integrate it across all Telegram apps.”

“This also strengthens Telegram’s financial position: we will receive $300M in cash and equity from xAI, plus 50% of the revenue from xAI subscriptions sold via Telegram.”

According to Durov, the xAI app will only access data that Telegram users share with Grok through direct interactions.

TON Network’s native token TON price spiked more than 20% on Wednesday after the announcement. TON has become a major part of Telegram’s burgeoning Web3 community, with the two companies teaming up to launch the in-app self-custody crypto wallet TON Space.

They have also collaborated to power NFT-gaming mini-apps on the platform, as well as, a peer-to-peer crypto trading ecosystem, allowing users to buy cryptocurrencies using fiat currencies.

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Quick take:

The latest funding brings the total raised to $53 million, according to the announcement on Wednesday.

Conduit aims to make cross-border payments faster, cheaper and more reliable for businesses worldwide.

The platform also helps its clients exchange local currencies for stablecoins and vice versa.

Conduit, a stablecoin payments platform, has raised $36 million in a Series A round co-led by Dragonfly and Altose Venture. The Fundraising also attracted participation from Sound Ventures, DCG, and Commerce Ventures. The fundraising brings the total raised to $53 million, according to the announcement on Wednesday.

Conduit already supports 14 different fiat currencies and operates in nine countries including the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Nigeria, and Kenya. The company aims to make cross-border payments faster, cheaper and more reliable for businesses worldwide. The platform also helps its clients exchange local currencies for stablecoins and vice versa.

“Essentially, our service is the one-stop-shop for going in and out of local currencies and stablecoins,” said founder and CEO Kirill Gertman. “We have a network of over 20 banks across nine countries that we work with very closely that gives us the best access to local rails.”

The company’s payments platform can be downloaded as an app or integrated with various fintech platforms. 

Launched in 2023, Gertman said Conduit already processes more than $10 billion worth of transactions annually, adding that over 5,000 merchants globally use the platform and over 100 fintech platforms have integrated Conduit into their interfaces.

The company plans to use the fresh capital to expand its business into Asia, whilst also targeting new types of businesses for a more diverse client base.

As part of the investment, Dragonfly Capital’s Rob Hadick will join the Conduit board. With billions of annual transaction volume already flowing through Conduit’s platform, it has proven there’s a better way to move money globally and that stablecoins are the future of cross-border payments,” Hadick stated.

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The post Dragonfly Co-Anchors $36M Series A Round for Stablecoin Company Conduit appeared first on NFTgators .

Quick take:

GameStop revealed via an X post on Wednesday that it purchased 4,710 Bitcoin about $512 million at the time of writing.

The company did not provide details on when the BTC was purchased or the average price.

Shares of GameStop spiked 4% pre-market after the news.

GameStop has acquired 4,710 bitcoins, approximately $512 million at the time of writing, according to an announcement on Wednesday.

The purchase follows the video game retailer’s announcement in March that it was offering a $1.5 billion convertible note to be used to establish a Bitcoin treasury. The company did not disclose the exact day the bitcoins were acquired or the average purchase price.

GameStop shares spiked more than 4% pre-market before plummeting more than 10% in the early hours of trading on Wednesday.

The company is following a growing trend of mainstream companies purchasing Bitcoin to establish a Bitcoin treasury.

On Tuesday, asset management company Strive raised $750 million to establish its Bitcoin treasury. Earlier this month, healthcare company KIndlyMD teamed up with David Bailey’s crypto company Nakamoto, to create a Bitcoin Treasury, while Trump Media and Technology Group recently announced a $2.5 billion funding earmarked for its Bitcoin treasury.

One company that took a slightly different approach is SharpLink, which raised $425 million to establish an ETH treasury, which it said is core to its crypto strategy.

This is not GameStop’s first foray into crypto. In January 2024, the company announced it was shutting down its NFT marketplace, about three years after making its foray. The company later revealed plans to establish a Bitcoin treasury, which were approved by the board in March.

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The post GameStop Kicks Off Bitcoin Treasury Strategy with $512M BTC Purchase appeared first on NFTgators .