📬 Inbox Dump #63

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!

[This post is exclusive to subscribers]

🙏 Together with:

• Matcha: Matcha makes sure you’re getting the best possible price by routing orders across all the various DeFi exchanges, now with an integrated fiat on-ramp. Start trading at matcha.xyz/defiant

Inbox Dump!

✉️ FUNKO AND HASBRO LAUNCH POWER RANGERS DIGITAL POP! SERIES

Funko, in partnership with Hasbro, will release a series of Digital Pop! NFTs based on “Power Rangers,” including Green Ranger, The Pumpkin Rapper, Zordon and more, on Droppp!, an NFT platform, on Aug. 23.

✉️ 60 million NFTs could be minted in a single transaction — StarkWare co-founder

Zero-knowledge- (zk)-Rollup tech company StarkWare co-founder Eli Ben-Sasson says its new Recursive validity proofs could theoretically roll up as many as 60 million transactions into one on the Ethereum blockchain.

✉️ Guild evolves: platformless memberships

Guild.xyz started as a simple tool to connect Ethereum with Discord for “token gating”. Working with hundreds of online communities we’ve witnessed how painful transition costs from and between web2 walled gardens kept them from their true potential.

✉️ CRIPCO's first 'WADE F&F NFT' to be unveiled on the leading Solana NFT marketplace Magic Eden

San Francisco - August 11 - Magic Eden announced a partnership with digital intellectual property (IP) entertainment company IPX (formerly known as LINE FRIENDS) and global blockchain-NFT company CRIPCO.

✉️ Carbon12 To Help Churches Transition From TradFi to DeFi

United States, August 11, Forum12, a group of faith-based futurists has partnered with Gravity Jack, Inc. to announce the development of Carbon12, a cryptocurrency token built by Christians, for Christians.

✉️ 1inch plugs into KuCoin Wallet to improve token swaps

August 11 - Cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin will introduce native token swap functionality to its in-house wallet after integrating decentralized finance (DeFi) market maker 1inch’s application programming interface.

✉️ Tony Stewart, Leah Pruett and Tony Stewart Racing Team Up with Orange Comet to Kick Start the Next Generation of Fan Experiences Through NFTs

LOS ANGELES - Aug 9 — Orange Comet, Inc., a premium NFT creative media and Web3 experience company, today announced an exclusive partnership with American motorsports legends Tony Stewart and Leah Pruett, alongside Tony Stewart Racing.

✉️ ABS-CBN’s Idol Philippines Partners With Theta Labs To Create NFT-based Tickets To Live Televised Shows Powered by Theta Mainnet 4.0 Metachain

August 10, Manila – To celebrate the second season of the Philippines’ biggest singing competition from Fremantle and 19 Entertainment, ABS-CBN’s “Idol Philippines” will be launching a range of digital trading cards as NFTs in addition to ticket NFTs for the live shows.

✉️ Ledger and BRICK Announce Debut NFT Drop with Trailers Featuring Ty Dolla $ign, Bobby Hundreds, Blake Anderson, and More

August 9th -Ledger, the world's leading and most secure platform for crypto and Web3, today announced the limited edition [ Ledger ] Market x BRICK NFT.

✉️ Theta partners Samsung to launch an offline NFT utility campaign

South Korea, August 8 - New Galaxy Community takes the lead in expanding online & offline usage for NFT holders. Theta Labs, the next generation blockchain for video and entertainment, announced on the 8th that leading retail partners have signed a MOU.

✉️ THORWallet DEX Integrates Rango Exchange to Expand DeFi Swapping Possibilities

Switzerland, 8 August – THORWallet DEX has partnered with an established multi-chain DEX, Rango Exchange, to bring the entire domain of decentralized finance (DeFi) into cohesion. Users can now seamlessly swap from Ethereum tokens to any THORChain-supported Layer 1 tokens.

Funding

💰Injective Raises $40M in Funding

New York-based smart contract platform Injective raised a $40 million funding round led by Jump Crypto, with participation from BH Digital, the crypto arm of famed hedge fund manager Alan Howard.

💰Cross-Chain Bridge Nomad Reveals Crypto Heavyweight Backers for $22.4M Funding Round

The newly announced backers included Coinbase, OpenSea, Crypto.com Capital, Wintermute, Gnosis and the Polygon blockchain. The round was led by crypto investment firm Polychain.

💰CreatorDAO raises $20 million in funding round

Reportedly, the firm received about $20 million. The funding round was led by a16z Crypto and Initialized Capital.

💰Blockchain-Based Gaming Platform Lysto Raises $12 Mn In Pre-Series A Round

The funding round saw participation from angel investors such as Balaji Srinivasan (ex-chief tech officer, Coinbase), Paul Veradittakit (partner, Pantera Capital), and others.

💰Cosmos-Based Liquid Staking Protocol Stride Raises $6.7M

Ahead of its mainnet launch early this month, Stride – a liquid staking protocol for the Cosmos blockchain ecosystem – raised $6.7 million in a seed funding round led by North Island VC, Distributed Global and Pantera Capital.

💰MetaverseGo Completes $4.2 Million Funding Round to Simplify Onboarding for Blockchain-Based Games

Led by Galaxy Interactive, a division of Galaxy Digital. Delphi Digital, Dragonfly Capital, Mechanism Capital, Infinity Ventures Crypto, Shima Capital, and others.

💰SignalPlus Closes Series-A Funding Round

Backers included HashKey Capital (Series A lead), GBV Capital (Seed round lead), Stratified Capital (advisor), Incuba Alpha, Chiron Partners, Paradigm Co, SNZ Holding, and Baboon.VC, with over $12M raised in aggregate.