📬 Inbox Dump #100

Sometimes announcements here didn’t meet the bar to become a news story, sometimes they may have slipped through the cracks, or they came late and we haven’t had a chance to cover.

At The Defiant we cover the most important DeFi-related news and developments but we know many of you are hunting for projects before they are fully developed and before they are newsworthy. Our goal with this installment of the newsletter is to help you find them. Look at this as the starting point to DYOR.

We also include a compilation of DeFi and crypto funding rounds in the past week so you have these in one handy place.

Keep in mind these have been unedited. With that—here we go!

[This post is exclusive to subscribers]

Inbox Dump!

LENS PROTOCOL LAUNCHES MOMOKA –
A NEW HYPER SCALABILITY SOLUTION

April 26, – Aave Companies announced today that Lens Protocol, the social layer for web3, has launched the beta version of Momoka – a new, optimistic L3 data hyperscaling solution for web3 social applications. The new solution significantly increases data throughput and reduces costs without sacrificing user sovereignty – the hallmark of decentralized social.

NEAR Foundation Launches On-Chain Accelerator open to all Founders

April 26th, Austin: The NEAR Foundation announced NEAR Horizon, an accelerator revolutionizing how founders are supported in Web3. NEAR Horizon will enable founding teams to scale their project with the support they need, increasing the number of founding teams building great products with real-world value, on the NEAR Protocol.

Cronos Labs Collaborates with Amazon Web Services to Boost Web3 Start-Up Growth

Cronos Labs announced it will leverage AWS Activate, an Amazon Web Services program designed to help startups and early-stage entrepreneurs to succeed in the cloud, to support the Web3 startups to scale and grow through the Cronos Accelerator Program.

LBank Lists Memecoin $GENSLR on Its Global Exchange

Road Town, BVI, April 26th — LBank, the global cryptocurrency exchange, has announced the listing of memecoin $GENSLR (Good Gary Gensler). The coin symbolizes the power of the crypto community to overcome fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD). $GENSLR is now available for trading on LBank paired against USDT.

The fall of FTX and rebirth of NuGenesis. The untold tale of Nugenesis and BitBoy

NuGenesis has proven the power of Artificial Intelligence by uncovering what is believed to be the greatest crypto scam in history. The company’s unwavering focus on innovation and customer satisfaction has led to the development of AI tools that have been instrumental in exposing fraudulent activities committed by Alameda Research and FTX Japan.

Brave Sponsors 3XP Web3 Gaming Expo Esports Arena with BAT Token Tournament Rewards

California, April 27 – Brave, the innovative privacy-focused Web browser, has announced its partnership with 3XP Web3 Gaming Expo, sponsoring the Esports Arena at 3XP June 8-9, which will feature $BAT token rewards for tournament winners.

Talos and Coinbase Institutional Establish Integration to Expand Clients’ Access to Digital Assets Liquidity and the Crypto Ecosystem

Talos, the premier provider of institutional digital asset trading technology, today announced an integration with Coinbase Prime, a comprehensive institutional platform for secure custody, advanced trading, and prime services, to expand access to the digital asset ecosystem for both firms’ clients.

Bitget becomes the first to support Liquid Staking Derivatives as collateral for futures

Seychelles, April 26th — Bitget has announced the addition of Liquid Staking Derivatives (LSDs) as a margin option for Bitget Coin-margined Futures, making it the first centralized exchange to provide such products on the market. This new feature will allow traders to continue earning staking rewards while also utilizing their staked assets for trading purposes.

Steve Aoki and 3LAU Supergroup PUNX Announce First Single Concentrate

Inspired by their Crypto Punk NFTs, the DJ duo explore a deeper techno sound and invite fans to own a percentage of streaming royalties.

OKX and Manchester City Launch Interactive Avatar Campaign To Inspire Fans to “Play For the City”

OKX, a world-leading Web3 technology company and Training Kit Partner of Manchester City, have today kicked off a new interactive metaverse avatar campaign with the Club.

BitClout 2.0 announced as next stock market for people

BitClout 2.0 is expected to launch with a sophisticated airdrop after the DeSo blockchain’s transition to its new Revolution proof-of-stake consensus mechanism is complete. The white paper for BitClout 2.0 can be accessed online now, and the password can be obtained by sending a DM to BitClout on any DeSo app like Diamond or DeSo Chat Protocol.

AmazeWallet pre-launch mining skyrockets 3,293% in 1 month

London, April 28, AmazeWallet has seen a significant increase in the number of miners using their mobile phones to validate transactions on AmazeChain, the app’s proprietary Layer 1 blockchain. The number of users running light nodes to decentralize and secure the network has shot up to over 11,000 during the past week.

Seedify exclusively launches Shockwaves: The ultimate platform for AI-powered NFT gaming

Shockwaves is the latest project to be fully incubated by Seedify AI Labs, following the overwhelming support for expansion into AI. This time around, Seedify brings an AI-powered project with a small initial market cap (less than $50,000 excluding liquidity) and a lot of room for growth and instant adoption, which should most likely lead to a successful launch in terms of ROI.

Dymension Launches IBC-Enabled EVM Rollup on Testnet to Enhance Cosmos Ecosystem

Blockchain scaling startup – Dymension – announced the launch of the world’s first IBC-enabled EVM rollup on testnet in collaboration with Evmos Core Teams and Celestia. The latest offering is part of Dymension’s roadmap to establish and bootstrap a new ecosystem of IBC-enabled rollups. The collaboration, on the other hand, will bring “superior” EVM blockchain access to the Cosmos ecosystem.

Neo Deploys Alchemy Pay’s Fiat-Crypto Ramp Solution

SINGAPORE, April 24 — Neo, the leading open-source community-driven blockchain platform, has teamed up with Alchemy Pay for easy on- and off-ramping to the Neo ecosystem. Neo users from all over the globe can now purchase cryptocurrencies using their preferred local fiat currencies.

Ojamu Launches AI-Powered “Alphie” Bot For Blockchain Industry With ChatGPT Integration

Ojamu, the AI & Blockchain-powered intelligence platform geared towards providing insights into the blockchain & Web3 economy, announced its latest product today, with the launch of its ChatGPT integrated bot “Alphie”, available in both mobile and desktop versions.

Yield App offers full fiat service with Fiat Republic

LONDON, 25 APRIL – Yield App has partnered with Fiat Republic to introduce virtual fiat IBANs to customers, enabling seamless fiat deposits and withdrawals for EUR and GBP via SEPA Instant and UK FPS local payment rails. Partnership ushers in a new era of crypto-fiat payments with virtual fiat IBANs

UK Has the Fastest-Growing Crypto Industry Among the Top Five Markets; Revenue to Surge by 125% YoY to $1.9B in 2023

The global crypto market is expected to gross $37.8bn in revenue this year, 105% more than in 2022, and almost half of that value will come from the United States, the world’s largest crypto market. Although the US market accounts for the largest share of global crypto revenues, one other crypto market is expected to witness much more significant growth.

Funding

StanChart’s London-Based Crypto Custody Arm Raises $36 Million in New Funds

After leading Zodia’s series A funding round, the Japanese financial conglomerate SBI Holdings became its second-largest shareholder.

iZUMi Finance closes $22 million financing round to launch on zkSync Era

Unicode Digital, NextGen Digital Venture, Bella Protocol, Incuba Alpha, and other investors contributed to this funding round, which is the biggest piece of financing news in the zkSync Era ecosystem.

DeFi Protocol Thetanuts Finance Raises $17M for Expansion, New Partnerships

Thetanuts Finance, a multi-chain structured products protocol, has closed a $17 million funding round led by Polychain Capital, Hyperchain Capital and Magnus Capital.

Animoca’s edtech app TinyTap raises $8.5M to build on Web3

Edtech startup TinyTap, owned by Animoca Brands, raised $8.5 million in the latest funding round, according to Business Insider. Investors participating in the fundraise include Sequoia China, Polygon, Shima Capital, Liberty City Ventures, Kingsway Capital and Gamefy Ventures.

Crypto Wallet Giddy Raises $6.9M in Funding to Further Self-Custody Adoption

Investors in this round included Pelion Venture Partners, Peak Capital Partners, Clarke Capital and others, including a strategic investment from Fortnite co-creator Geremy Mustard, the company said in a press release. Pelion led Giddy’s $8 million funding round in 2022.

S&P Global, Coinbase Back $6M Fundraise for Crypto Firm Credora

The strategic funding round included S&P Global and Coinbase Ventures as investors. Other participants included Spartan, Amber Group, CMT Digital, Hashkey, GSR, KuCoin Ventures, liquidity provider Paradigm.co, Pirata Capital, Breed VC, and WAGMI Ventures.

Cata Labs Raises $4.2M in Seed Funding

The round was led by Spartan Group with participation from Robot Ventures, Maven11, Alchemy Ventures, HashKey Capital, Circle Ventures, Superscrypt, and angel investors include Calvin Liu, Aditi Sriram, and David Phelps.

Teahouse Finance Raises $5 Million To Solve Centralized Liquidity Problem

Teahouse Finance, a decentralized asset management and strategy platform provider, raised $5 million in funding, most recently with the close of a $2 million financing round led by AppWorks, one of the leading VC firms and accelerator in Southeast Asia. The raise also saw participation from Pantera Capital, NGC Ventures, Perpetual Protocol, and more.