📬 Inbox Dump #40

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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Inbox Dump!

Maison Martell launches its first NFT in collaboration with artist Jacky Tsai exclusively on SuperRare

February 7, 2022 - Maison Martell, the oldest of the great cognac houses, is releasing its first ever non-fungible token (NFT), featuring a unique, single-edition artwork by the London-based Chinese artist Jacky Tsai, via SuperRare, the pioneering destination for unique NFT artworks. The Voyage of the Swift by Jacky Tsai will be auctioned on SuperRare for one week starting 7 February 2022.

PrettyLittleThing Enters the Metaverse with First Virtual Model

Fashion is reaching new heights with the growing opportunities proposed by the Metaverse and Global fashion retailer, PrettyLittleThing has just made a big move, with their very first digital model.

The 200Bn Club to Address Gender Inequity in UK VC

In 2021, a mere 1.1% of European capital raised went to female-founded teams, with this number falling even lower among ethnic minorities. As NatWest CEO Alison Rose details, focusing on empowering women in business represents a £250bn opportunity for the UK economy. To address this gap, Dr. Amber Ghaddar and Bridget Greenwood are launching the The 200Bn Club to help female entrepreneurs navigate the process of pitching and raising funds for their business ventures.

Stronghold Digital Mining (NASD: SDIG) has responded to Senator Warren and her colleagues' inquiries about bitcoin mining.

Highlights include how they actually supply the grid, not take from it. And how bitcoin allows them to continue the clean-up of waste coal in Pennsylvania, a still overlooked environmental disaster in the US. They have invited Senator Warren and the others to go and see the problems caused by Waste Coal in the state.

After 450M Raise, Polygon loses Head of China to Syscoin

Charlie Hu, former Head of Polygon China, has joined Syscoin as an Ecosystem Advisor. People are our greatest assets, which is why we continually strive to build bridges as we grow our ecosystem. Mr. Hu is well-renowned for his experience within the blockchain industry and its peripherals including Web 3.0 and Dapps.

Stader Labs Launches Fantom Liquid Staking Pool for Simplified Staking Management

Crypto staking has grown into an $18B industry, primarily due to its ability to generate passive income for users regardless of turbulent markets. With the growing interest in staking, Stader built its crypto staking management platform to offer investors the most simplified, user-friendly staking experience to earn rewards. As a result, Stader is integrating popular layer 1, Fantom, to introduce a liquid staking pool for FTM users to delegate their holdings.

Theta Network Commemorates 50th Season of The Price Is Right on CBS by Launching First NFTs for Television’s Longest Running Game Show

Los Angeles (Tuesday 8th, 2022) –Theta Labs, developer of the leading media and Entertainment blockchain Theta Network in conjunction with Fremantle, the global TV production powerhouse behind hits like American Idol and America’s Got Talent, announced today the launch of the first NFTs based on TV’s longest-running game show, The Price Is Right.

Blockchain-Based Internet Provider, 3air, Leaves Cardano Due to Scalability & Reliability Issues

Blockchain-based Internet startup, 3air, has announced that they are leaving Cardano to build their Internet connectivity platform on the SKALE mainnet.

Australia’s largest online art gallery is bringing NFTs to the masses with curated collections of digital fine art by renowned artists.

Bluethumb Digital, a new curated NFT marketplace showcasing the cream of the crop of Australian digital artists, launches this month with their Genesis Drop (more on this below) featuring big name artists, like Marble Mannequin – who has a mind-blowing 4.2 million followers on TikTok – along with Bluethumb favourites branching out.

Crypto Exchange EQONEX expands suite of professional trading products with launch of Dated Futures

Singapore, February 9 2022: Cryptocurrency Exchange EQONEX, as part of EQONEX Limited (Nasdaq: EQOS), today announced the launch of BTC Dated Futures with physical settlement. This marks an important milestone in the company’s expanding product suite for experienced traders, enabling them to use commonly deployed derivatives trading strategies in cryptocurrency markets.

Quantum Art raises an A round of $7.5 Million led by True Ventures - Press Release

With backing from True Ventures, Quantum will scale its NFT collection platform to a community-led curation process alongside the successful, sold-out, weekly releases of A-list curated collections. Quantum Art raises an A round of $7.5 Million led by True Ventures to scale and expand its newly launched on-chain platform, focused on curating digital culture through NFT sets.

CRYPTO PLAY. Best Play to Earn

Crypto Games 2022. Ready to start playing blockchain games? The blockchain and cryptocurrency world is growing at the speed of light. With P2E games, the industry has found yet another way to expand. Here is our list of play-to-earn crypto games of 2022!

Replay launches web3 content payment and tracking protocol, secures funding from Theta Labs and integrates Theta decentralized video infrastructure

February 10, 2022 - Replay, the leading blockchain-based video tracking & payments platform for content owners, has today emerged from stealth with backing by the Theta Network to decentralize content creation.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis to Deliver Keynote at ETHDenver

Denver – Colorado Governor Jared Polis will deliver the keynote address at ETHDenver, the world’s largest annual Web3 Community Innovation and Blockchain Festival on February 18th, 2022 at the Denver Sports Castle. Governor Polis will discuss the state’s mission to further advance use cases of blockchain technology adoption to improve the lives of Coloradans and promote the public good.

Funding

Polygon raises $450 mln from Sequoia Capital India, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, others

Feb 7 (Reuters) - Polygon, a decentralized scaling platform for the ethereum blockchain, announced on Monday it has raised $450 million in its latest funding round led by Sequoia Capital India and including investments from SoftBank's (9984.T) Vision Fund 2.

WingRiders, a Cardano-based DEX, announces a $4.5 million seed round

WingRiders, the exchange platform that leverages the benefits of Cardano to correct the issues plaguing DEXs on Ethereum, secures $4.5M seed funding, in a round led by high-profile investors in its oversubscribed seed/private round. The first round of investors are cFund (lead), Spartan Group, Coti, and Longhash.

Investors Back One-Stop Defi Marketplace Aperture in $5.3m Funding Round

Cross-chain defi investment platform Aperture has closed a $5.3 million funding round, after several prominent VC firms threw their support behind the company. Led by ParaFi Capital, Arrington Capital, Costanoa Ventures and Divergence Ventures, the private seed and strategic round saw the Silicon Valley-based startup attract investment from a slew of hedge funds including Rarestone Capital, Krypital Group, PrimeBlock Ventures and Athena Ventures.

Aleo Blockchain Raises $200M for Privacy-Minded DeFi

Pledging to launch its private, programmable Aleo blockchain network “later this year,” crypto startup Aleo Systems raised $200 million in a recent funding round. SoftBank and Kora Management co-led the company’s Series B fundraising round, with venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Tiger Global, Samsung Ventures and others joining in.

Infinity Ventures Crypto Raises $70 Million Funding Seed to Empower web3 and DeFi Firms

Infinity Ventures Crypto, a Taipei-based Web 3 investor, announced on Tuesday that it has raised $70 million from investment firms, including Circle, Digital Currency Group (DCG) and Animoca Brands.

Alchemy Valuation Exceeds $10B After $200M Funding Round

Cryptocurrency startup Alchemy is now valued at $10.2 billion, the company said Tuesday (Feb. 8), after a $200 million fundraising round led by Lightspeed and Silver Lake and including earlier investors such as Andreessen Horowitz, Coatue and Pantera, according to a CNBC report.

Bridgesplit Announces $4.25 Million Seed Round

Bridgesplit, a decentralized financial stack for NFTs, has announced the closure of its seed fund round of $4.25 million on Dec. 16. The seed funding round was CoinFund and Jump Capital. Additional participants in the round were Coinbase Ventures, Solana Ventures, Not Boring Capital, Sfermon, Liquid2, a41 Ventures, and Rucker Park Capital. Amongst the several angel investors that participated in this round are:

OAK Network Raises a $5.5M Seed Round from Foundation Capital, Greylock, and Hypersphere Ventures

OAK Network, the Web 3.0 hub for Defi and payment automation, closed a $5.5M Seed round led by Foundation Capital, Greylock, and Hypersphere Ventures. Other notable participants in the funding round include Electric Capital, Monday Capital, GSR, Shima Capital, Blockwall Digital, and angel investors.

Cryptocurrency Wallet Phantom Marks $1.2 Billion Valuation Amid Recent Funding Round

Investments in cryptocurrency are incomplete without a crypto wallet to store your assets. A good crypto wallet will house your coins and provide adequate security that will be pretty difficult for external invasion. The wallet could be either online or offline storage.

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