📬 Inbox Dump #32

Hello Defiers! Welcome to Inbox Dump where we include the updates and announcements that flood our DMs each week and didn’t make it to The Defiant’s content platforms. 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!

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• Sorare: Experience true football connection in The Global Fantasy Football Game! Trade & collect, play with football NFTs #OwnYourGame

Inbox Dump!

✉️ RocketFuel and ACI Worldwide Partner to Enable Cryptocurrency Acceptance with Zero Merchant Fees

San Francisco, Nov. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- RocketFuel Blockchain, Inc. (OTC QB: RKFL), a global provider of payment solutions via Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies and ACI Worldwide, a leading global provider of real-time digital payment software and solutions, recently announced a partnership that will enable ACI Secure eCommerce to offer RocketFuel’s solution via a single integration, enabling ACI’s more than 80,000 merchants to accept cryptocurrency payments with zero processing fees—an industry first.

✉️ TrueUSD Launches Fountain Incentive Plan Of $1 Billion to Support the Development of DeFi Ecosystems

TrueUSD, the first independently-verified stablecoin redeemable 1-for-1 for US Dollars and early participant in DeFi, has officially announced the launch of its Fountain Incentive Plan. This plan will serve as an incubator for projects with potential by introducing $1 billion worth of TrueUSD and other digital assets to DeFi ecosystems to further empower their growth.

✉️ BEQUANT appoints new General Counsel

Thursday 11 November (London) - BEQUANT®, the digital asset prime brokerage and exchange, has hired Huong Hauduc as General Counsel. Huong will be helping BEQUANT to expedite the growth of the business across new jurisdictions and products.

✉️ Presearch Partners with OpenSea to Launch NFT Search Functionality

THE METAVERSE -- November 11, 2021 -- Private, decentralized search engine Presearch today announced a new feature: NFT search functionality powered by OpenSea, the world’s largest NFT marketplace. With this first-of-its-kind feature, users can find millions of NFTs on the OpenSea marketplace directly through a decentralized, community-powered search engine. Presearch is available on the web, App Store, Android, and with a Chrome extension.

✉️ Zebec Protocol Launches on Solana Mainnet to Redefine Finance

SAN FRANCISCO, November 10, 2021 — Zebec Protocol launches today on Solana mainnet to redefine finance. As the first programmable cash flow protocol on Solana, Zebec enables real-time and continuous streams of payments and financial transactions for payroll, investments and more.

✉️ MEW's first NFT project allows users to own an Ethereum block

Los Angeles, November 11, 2021 - MEW (MyEtherWallet) the leading platform to access the Ethereum ecosystem, today announced the launch of ETH Blocks, a unique collection of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), each of which is a digital representation of a particular Ethereum block. Users will be able to mint any ETH Block of their choice that marks a milestone in Ethereum's history or has personal significance, such as a block of a specific transaction or a memorable event at MyEtherWallet.com. The first 100 ETH Blocks will be minted at a cost of 0.01 ETH each for the launch, the next 500 will be at 0.03 ETH, and all following ETH Blocks will be minted at 0.05 ETH for each.

✉️ Public Mint is Offering a Lucrative Alternative to Savings Accounts with the Beta Launch of its EARN Program

DOVER, Del., – November 8, 2021 — Public Mint, the first fiat-native public blockchain and frictionless money system, today announced the official beta launch of its EARN program. Through the click of a button, users will be able to transfer their funds from the Public Mint Wallet into EARN, and begin earning between six and eight percent* Annual Percentage Yield (APY) off of their US dollars.

✉️ Over 350K Web3 Developers Now Use Blockchain Development Platform Infura

• Infura has tripled the number of developers using its platform in less than a year, solidifying its leading role to support developers with the best tools to build on Ethereum and other blockchain networks.
• Infura was built for developers by developers, and continues to invest extensively in R&D to support the growth of the ecosystem and advance open source technology.
• Thousands of developers and companies like Uniswap, MetaMask, and MakerDAO have built their applications and businesses using Infura, starting with the free plan.

✉️ MEXC Pioneer Launches with $100m Growth Fund to Back Expansive Vision

Since October 2020, the total value locked in decentralized finance projects has skyrocketed around 380% to $98bn. To mark the platform’s arrival, MEXC Pioneer is launching a $100m growth fund to support blockchain technology and infrastructure projects, especially those focused on building cross-chain infrastructures, NFTs, gaming, and decentralized finance systems.

✉️ HBAR Foundation launches first DeFi project on the Hedera Network

On Thursday, the HBAR Foundation will be announcing that it is partnering with Akt.io for the launch of the first DeFi project on the Hedera network. As part of the partnership, Akt.io has been awarded a grant and will receive organization support from the HBAR Foundation to fuel its launch and growth on the carbon-negative Hedera Network.

✉️ Crypto Payment Ecosystem Wyre adds ACH buy option to Checkout Widget

Wyre, a leading fiat-to-crypto and payment infrastructure company, has officially implemented an ACH buy option to its Checkout widget. ACH (Automated Clearing House) is a network used for electronically moving money between bank accounts across the United States.The feature will appear automatically for partners utilizing the Checkout widget.

✉️ Nansen Brings Market Intelligence Support to Solana’s Growing Ecosystem

Nansen, the industry-leading blockchain data analytics platform, has announced today an upcoming integration with Solana, a high-performance blockchain supporting builders around the world creating crypto apps that scale. Set to launch in Q1, the new Solana dashboards on Nansen will give users the ability to explore the top-performing DeFi protocols, Smart Money movements, NFT launches on Solana, and gain insights into the Solana blockchain ecosystem as a whole.

✉️ TrustToken takes on Trad-Fi, with Wall Street and Silicon Valley veterans

TrustToken, the team behind TrueFi, the leading unsecured lending protocol, and popular stablecoins including TrueUSD, announces the addition of Wall Street and Silicon Valley veterans to its C-suite. By adding veteran Silicon Valley and Wall Street leaders, the company is building a team that merges a time-tested understanding of the banking world with technological expertise, working to more deeply integrate TrustToken’s synthetic assets and DeFi protocol into the traditional finance ecosystem.

✉️ INNOVATIVE WINE PRODUCER INVIVO ISSUES FIRST CELEBRITY WINE NFTS

New Zealand wine and spirits producer Invivo Wines enters the crypto market for their celebrity brands Graham Norton Wines and Invivo X, Sarah Jessica Parker. First released, in what will be a continuing series of auctions, will be ten Graham Norton NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) that combines the best of both the digital and real worlds.

✉️ ‘Truly Decentralized’ xx network launches Privacy-Protecting, Quantum-Ready Platform

George Town, Cayman Islands – November 11, 2021- While existing commercial platforms continue to undermine user trust by commoditizing personal data, xx network (https://xx.network) offers not just encryption of content but also new privacy-protecting technology that protects user metadata. Controlled by decentralized nodes on 5 continents, the platform’s breakthrough consensus design is quantum-ready, employing a new hash-based signature scheme to allow small groups of nodes to efficiently reach consensus. The network is capable of supporting secure messaging, payments, and decentralized application (dApp) data transfer.

✉️ HBAR Foundation Supports Akt.io to Launch First DeFi Project On the Hedera Network

London, UK, November 11, 2021 -- Akt.io, the innovative platform bridging DeFi, wealth management and payment services, announced today its partnership with the HBAR Foundation to support their launch of the first DeFi app on the carbon-negative Hedera Network, the most used, sustainable and enterprise-grade public network for the decentralised economy.

✉️ Known As “The Internet’s Picasso,” Chris Will Debut the chris (simpsons artist) x DeadHappy “Classic Collection” on the WAX Blockchain on November 18

(Los Angeles, CA) - November 11, 2021 - The Worldwide Asset eXchange (WAX) is partnering with the cartoonist known as chris (simpsons artist) to release his very first NFT collection on the WAX Blockchain. Available on Thursday, November 18 at 10AM PST / 1PM PST, the chris (simpsons artist) x DeadHappy - “Classic Collection” will feature a bespoke collection of chris’ viral work.

✉️ ZELUS PARTNERS WITH SMU AND ERIC DICKERSON FOR NFT COLLECTION

Dallas, TX, November 11th, 2021 - NFL Hall of Fame Running Back and 2020 College Football Hall of Fame inductee Eric Dickerson has partnered with his alma mater, SMU, and Zelus, a company at the intersection of creativity, culture, and technology, on his first NFT offering. The Dickerson “Legendary” collection is a set of 50 NFTs that combine artistic rarity and VIP experiential benefits to maximize appeal and value.

✉️ UNIKAT, an NFT collection house of original video games concept art is announced and teases its first drop.

Perth, Australia. 11th of November - Video games have always been an art form in themselves. An art form that’s now the biggest source of entertainment worldwide. However, behind each game, there are artists that draw the initial game ideas, locations, characters, and atmosphere either on a tablet or on a piece of paper. Every video game starts with a pen, and UNIKAT wants to offer these production concept art pieces as one-of-a-kind strictly limited NFT’s.

✉️ Cryptio Launches New Version of Crypto Accounting Software Platform

PARIS, LONDON, November 12, 2021 | Cryptio, a leading crypto accounting software provider, has today launched Ionic – the enterprise grade update to its crypto accounting software platform, empowering businesses and institutions in crypto to merge complex on-chain activity with their general ledger. Financial service providers – such as accountants, auditors, and fund administrators – are seeking clarity on the tax treatment of crypto assets under increasing regulatory pressure, but they are also facing a huge technical challenge of importing, indexing and categorising crypto transactions into their current accounting systems.

Funding

💰 NFT, MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY CHEEZE, INC. SUCCESSFULLY CLOSES SEED CAPITAL ROUND AND AIMS TO OWN THE PHOTO NFT SPACE

NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 9, 2021 – Cheeze, Inc., a photography-focused NFT media and entertainment company operated by world-class entrepreneurs and entertainment veterans, today announced that it had closed a seed round of funding, in advance of an upcoming Series A raise in Q1 2022.

💰 Neon Labs Completes $40 Million Funding Led by Jump Capital

George Town, CYM — November 9, 2021 — Neon Labs (https://neon-labs.org/), the company building Neon EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine), announced today that it has raised $40 million in fresh funding. The round was led by Jump Capital, with additional investments from Three Arrows Capital, Solana Capital, Rockaway Blockchain Fund, Ethereal Ventures, IDEO CoLab Ventures, and more.

💰 Saddle Raises $7.5 Million in Funding Round From Polychain and Electric Capital to Expand Automated Market Maker Capabilities

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 11, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Saddle, the first open-source automated market maker (AMM) optimized for trading between pegged value crypto assets, announces the close of a $7.5 million funding round led by Polychain and Electric Capital, with participation from eGirl Capital, Nascent, and more. To date, Saddle has fundraised a total of $11.8 million.

💰 DeFi liquidity provider WOO Network raises $30 million in Series A round

The decentralized finance (DeFi) deep liquidity provider WOO Network announced Tuesday that it raised $30 million in Series A. Three Arrows Capital, PSP, Soteria Ventures, Gate Ventures, QCP Capital, and Crypto.com Capital participated in the round, which drew additional funding from AscendEX, AntAlpha, MEXC Global, LBank, Fenbushi Capital, BitMart, 3Commas Capital, TokenInsight Research, AVATAR and ViaBTC Capital.

💰 Sequoia Invests in $1M+ Token Fundraising Round for Parallel DeFi Project

Sequoia Capital has invested in a $1 million-plus token fundraising round for decentralized finance (DeFi) lending project Parallel that puts the Polkadot-based protocol’s value at $250 million, CoinDesk reported Monday (Nov. 8).

💰 Jet Protocol Secures $6.8M in Seed Funding to Expand Its Ecosystem

Decentralized borrowing and lending protocol built on Solana blockchain, Jet Protocol today announced it has raised $6.8 million in its latest funding round. According to the announcement, the latest funding round saw participation from existing partners and several other new venture capital firms.

💰 StackSwap Raises $1.3 Million in Funding Round to Build DEX on Bitcoin Network

PRESS RELEASE. Prague, Czech Republic, 5 Nov 2021, StackSwap, the first complete DEX and Launchpad on the Bitcoin Network has announced the completion of its private round. According to the official press release, the blockchain platform was able to raise $1.3 million during the funding round.

💰 Ardana, Cardano’s DeFi and Stablecoin Hub, Participates in Two Successful Funding Rounds

A busy time for Ardana, a unique all-in-one stablecoin ecosystem that set to launch on Cardano, after it successfully raised $1.5 million over two successful public sales. Ardana is something of an exception in a realm where new apps and protocols are popping up all the time. That’s because it merges the best of decentralization, including security, anonymity and speed, while drawing from the benefits of the stablecoins.

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