Protocol Village: Oracle Platform DIA Introduces 'Lumina,' HashKey Cloud Helps Decentralize Metis Sequencer

Wednesday, Sept. 11

DIA, Trustless Oracle Platform, Introduces 'Lumina'

DIA, a trustless cross-chain data and oracle platform, has introduced "Lumina," an advanced oracle architecture using the rollup-based Lasernet system to decentralize and secure data sourcing, verification and delivery. According to the team: "Designed to address centralization issues in Web3, Lumina leverages zero-knowledge technology for trustless verification and transparency. It also incentivizes node participation using the $DIA token."

HashKey Cloud Becomes First Client Besides Metis Foundation to Run a Node on Metis Decentralized Sequencer

HashKey Cloud, a Web3 infrastructure service provider including node validation, has onboarded onto the decentralized sequencers network and is now live on the Metis mainnet, becoming the layer 2's first external decentralized sequencer client, according to the team: "The launch marks a major milestone for Metis in their goal of creating a fully decentralized layer 2 that enables contributors to have a role in network ownership, governance and economic security through revenue sharing. The initial phase of the dSeq included three nodes ran by the Metis Foundation, and in this second round, Hashkey is the first external entity to pass the voting process and successfully operate a node."

Dune Integrates Parachains to Expand Coverage Over Entire Polkadot Ecosystem

Dune, a platform for on-chain analytics, announced the integration of more than 50 parachains from the Polkadot ecosystem. According to the team: "With this expansion, Dune solidifies its position as the most comprehensive data hub for Polkadot, offering unparalleled insights and analytics for developers, investors, and data enthusiasts alike. The platform expands coverage to include the entire Polkadot ecosystem." (DOT)

Osmosis Launches Cross-Chain Token Portal 'Polaris,' Expanding Beyond Cosmos Roots

Osmosis, the popular decentralized exchange (DEX) on Cosmos, announced the launch of Polaris, described as a "token portal" aimed at solving one of decentralized finance's biggest challenges: fragmented user experience. According to the team, the platform will allow users to trade tokens across multiple blockchains through a single interface, eliminating the need for multiple wallets, bridges, and gas tokens.

Crypto Exchange Fasset Announces Launch of Ethereum L2 'IOWN' focused on RWAs

Fasset, a crypto exchange, announced the launch of IOWN, an Ethereum layer-2 blockchain focused on Real World Asset (RWA) ownership. According to the team: "This follows the approval of Fasset’s Credit Token License from Labuan Financial Services Authority (Labuan FSA), regulator of the Labuan IBFC in Malaysia. IOWN, named as such to emphasize individual OWNership of assets, is the first Ethereum L2 chain backed by a government regulator, built for the creation, management and distribution of RWA."

Step Finance, 'Front Page of Solana,' Launches Solana Data API

Step Finance, describing itself as "the front page of Solana," has launched its Solana Data API, "providing real-time portfolio data for any Solana wallet across almost every onchain protocol," according to the team: "Unlike raw block explorers and limited mobile wallets, Step's API delivers human-readable insights into wallet transactions and offers the widest Solana coverage, including DeFi and NFT contracts. Built for scalability, it handles millions of requests via an in-house database, aiding institutions in compliance with SEC guidance on wallet transaction histories amidst fluctuating token prices."

Lukso, EVM-Compatible L1, Introduces 'Follower System' for 'Social Connections on Decentralized Platforms'

Lukso, a layer-1 blockchain compatible with Ethereum's EVM standard, introduced the Follower System to transform social connections on decentralized platforms. According to the team: "This smart contract solution offers a unified follower registry, enabling users to maintain connections across dApps within the LUKSO ecosystem. Features include secure on-chain data storage, follow notifications and customizable interactions. Built on the EVM-compatible Lukso blockchain and integrating with Universal Profiles based on ERC-725, this innovation empowers users with enhanced control over their digital identities and interactions on decentralized social platforms."

Protocol Village is a regular feature of The Protocol, our weekly newsletter exploring the tech behind crypto, one block at a time. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Wednesday. Project teams can submit updates here. For previous versions of Protocol Village, please go here.

Tuesday, Sept. 10

'Play and Trade' Game Developer Nytro Raises $8M, Launches Aptos-Based Game Castile in Beta

Nytro Lab, a "play and trade" game developer behind Web3 game Castile on the Aptos blockchain, said it has closed an $8 million funding round, bringing its total funding to $25 million. The round was led by SevenX Ventures with participation from OKX Ventures, Aptos Labs, Amber Group, Matr1x, Hashkey Capital and Leland Ventures. According to the team, the funding will propel Castile, which launched in beta today.

Fountain, Web3 Operating System for Enterprises, Raises $3.5M in Seed Round

PROTOCOL VILLAGE EXCLUSIVE: Fountain, a Web3 operating system serving enterprises and institutions, announced it has raised $3.5 million in a seed funding round. According to the team, the milestone follows Fountain's graduation from Alliance, a crypto incubator, and includes investments from Foundation Capital, Caladan, Primal Capital, Druid Ventures, United Overseas Bank (UOB), NGC Ventures, Marin Ventures, Blockchain Founders Fund and angel investors including Rene Reinsberg, co-founder and president of Celo, and Nathan McCauley, co-founder and CEO of Anchorage Digital. "As DeFi protocols grow in popularity, their susceptibility to market volatility and risk poses challenges, particularly for investors familiar with traditional finance. Fountain addresses these concerns by providing a smart contract multi-sig platform with a powerful no-code workflow builder. The platform enables companies to seamlessly manage and automate treasury, risk management, and trading operations."

Planned $3.3B Saudi Arabian Sports, Real Estate Complex to Include Digital ID Platform for Athletes

Blockchain Sports Ecosystem and Alpha Jossor Investments have signed a $3.3 billion memorandum of understanding to develop an innovative sports complex in Saudi Arabia, including a football academy and real estate infrastructure, along with a digital ID platform for athlete identities that utilizes blockchain technology to enable secure and transparent transactions. According to a press release: "An important part of the MoU is the digital ID Platform that will be created for athlete identities, allowing secure and transparent transactions within the sports industry. The partner academies from over 16 countries around the world will be connected to the platform to collect analytics and identify the best football players who will be given a chance to study at a high-quality academy in Saudi Arabia. The platform will be the first solution for storing data on athletes and will launch the global process of scouting players across the world. The integration solutions using blockchain technology will optimize the processes and data storage security."

Blocksense Raises $4M, Gets Support From A16z Accelerator

Blocksense, a decentralized oracle services innovator, announces a $4 million raise led by Permutation, with strong support from a16z Crypto Startup Accelerator and others. According to the team: "The investment will accelerate its ZK-rollup architecture and permissionless oracle feeds, addressing high costs and centralization in the oracle space." A press release stated: "Blocksense is leveraging a ZK-rollup architecture that reduces gas fees by up to 50x, making decentralized oracle feeds more cost-effective, transparent, and scalable. Innovative Technology: Their permissionless SDK and Schelling coin consensus mechanism aim to remove the barriers to creating real-world data feeds, promoting a more inclusive DeFi ecosystem."

Trugard Labs Introduces Xcalibur, an 'Adaptive Smart-Contract Source Code Threat Detection Suite'

PROTOCOL VILLAGE EXCLUSIVE: Trugard Labs, a blockchain security company established by former leaders from Cisco Systems, is introducing its adaptive smart-contract source code threat detection suite, Xcalibur. According to the team: "It supports seven EVM-compatible blockchains: Ethereum, Polygon, Binance Smart Chain, Base, Arbitrum, Fantom and Optimism. The detection suite offers 25 different types of blockchain risk detection properties and their variations. Users include AI and machine learning devs, smart contract creators, researchers, auditors, cybersecurity professionals, exchanges, blockchain protocols and more."

'Super Champs Chain' Launches as Gaming-Optimized Layer 3 Network on Base

The Super Champs Protocol Foundation is announcing the launch of the Super Champs Chain, a "cutting-edge gaming-optimized layer 3 that rolls up to the Base blockchain," according to the team: "This chain will power the growth of the Super Champs franchise with the Web3 community, empowering builders and to bring new experiences to an already successful gaming franchise and highly engaged community. Joyride Games has raised $30 million to date to execute on its vision of player-owned franchises and bringing Web3 experiences like Super Champs to the mainstream."

Polygon to Buy $5M of Servers With Computer Chips Devoted to Zero-Knowledge Cryptography

Polygon Labs, a major developer of Ethereum layer-2 networks, shared Tuesday it is unveiling a new type of computer chip that's optimized for zero-knowledge cryptography processing, built by hardware maker Fabric specifically for Polygon's interoperability solution, AggLayer. The news comes as Fabric announced last month a $33 million series A round, which Polygon Labs participated in, to create "verifiable processing units," or VPUs, a custom chip designed for cryptography and blockchains. The ZK team at Polygon has been working with Fabric to create VPUs for its prover libraries, Plonky2 and Plonky3. Provers are a key component of blockchain systems built around zero-knowledge cryptography, which emerged last year as one of the crypto industry's hottest design features, and a key focus for Polygon. (POL)

Tron, Tether and TRM Labs Start Financial Crime Fighting Force

Tron, the blockchain founded by Justin Sun, is working with TRM Labs and USDT issuer Tether in a task force created to fight financial crime. The task force, the T3 Financial Crime Unit (T3 FCU), will combat illicit activity involving USDT, the largest stablecoin, on Tron. Sun said in a press release: “By collaborating with TRM Labs and Tether, TRON is helping to ensure that blockchain technology is used to make our world a better place, and sends a clear message that illicit activity is not welcome in our industry.”

Nansen Buys StakeWithUs, Expanding Beyond Data Provision Into Crypto Investment

Blockchain data provider Nansen said it bought staking platform StakeWithUs as CEO Alex Svanevik looks to expand beyond data provision into offering investment services for institutions and retail traders. While the purchase price was not disclosed, a spokesperson for the company said it was a seven figure sum. StakeWithUs, which is backed by the Singapore government's innovation project SGinnovate, provides staking across multiple blockchains. Following its integration, Nansen will offer non-custodial staking for over 20 assets, including SOL, SUI, OSMO and ATOM, according to an emailed announcement on Tuesday.

Raiinmaker, Web3 and AI Tech Company, Launches 'AI Reputation' to Track Training Contributions

Raiinmaker, the Web3 and AI technology company, has launched AI Reputation, "a new feature that acts as a verified record of how an individual contributes to the development and training of AI," according to the team: "Raiinmaker’s AI Reputation carefully calculates a score for each individual’s on-chain contributions to training AI models, enabling those with stronger reputation scores to accrue greater corresponding value for their contributions. Launching as the first Mobile and DePIN project on Base, Raiinmaker aims to power a truly scalable, onchain, decentralized AI Reputation system."

PayPal, Venmo to Accept ENS's Human-Readable Blockchain Names

ENS Labs, the main developer firm behind the domain name protocol Ethereum Name Service (ENS), has integrated its solution into the giant payment platforms PayPal and Venmo, the company shared on Tuesday. The news could signal a renewed interest from traditional payment platforms in cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies. According to a press release shared with CoinDesk, users can now use their ENS names when transferring crypto on those platforms, allowing them to reduce the risk of transferring their assets to the wrong crypto addresses.

Telefónica Tech to Work With Privado ID on Verifiable Credentials Including Age, Diplomas, Course Attendance

Telefónica Tech has entered into a partnership with Privado ID to "drive adoption of private, compliant digital identities across the EU," according to the team. "The companies will further accelerate the adoption of verifiable credentials by leveraging TrustOS, the managed blockchain service developed by Telefónica Tech.... The collaboration includes developing various proofs-of-concept for various use cases in digital identity, one of the first being age verification, which aims to address the pressing need to provide reliable, secure and privacy-compliant mechanisms for secure access to adult content and gambling platforms. Telefónica Tech will also add the ability to issue certifications in a verifiable credential format to its content certification service. This will allow users to automatically issue their accreditations – such as training diplomas, academic qualifications, or attendance at seminars and courses – as verifiable credentials and load them into digital wallets. Other use cases include digital national identities, e-signature solutions, privacy-preserving loyalty programs."

Ammalgam, Decentralized Lending Exchange, Closes $2.5M Seed Round Co-Led by Lightspeed Faction, Framework

Ammalgam, a decentralized lending exchange (DLEX), announced the close of a $2.5 million seed round co-led by Lightspeed Faction and Framework Ventures with additional participation from Robot Ventures, Bodhi Ventures, NGC Ventures, DeWhales, Blockchain Founders Fund and angels including Kain Warwick, Anton Bukov, Spencer Noon, and Jordi Alexander. According to the team, "Ammalgam plans to utilize this investment towards the protocol’s growth and development by expanding on key talent and improving product development on current and future solutions."

Redstone, CoinDesk Indices Launch Composite Ether Staking Rate on Ethereum, First Time On-Chain

RedStone, a blockchain oracle project providing data on-demand rather than through a "push" method, and CoinDesk Indices have launched the Composite Ether Staking Rate (CESR), the first on-chain, standardized benchmark for Ethereum staking yields, according to the team: "CESR provides a daily rate reflecting the mean, annualized yield for Ethereum validators, including all rewards and fees. This benchmark enables developers and institutions to create products like staking derivatives and yield-based financial instruments."

Luganodes, Nonco to Offer 'Scalable Fixed Rate Staking Yield' for ETH Delegators Using CESR from CoinDesk, CoinFund

Luganodes, in collaboration with Nonco, announced that it's now offering scalable fixed-rate staking yield for ETH delegators using CESR (Composite Ether Staking Rate), a benchmark from CoinDesk Indices and CoinFund. According to the team: "This innovative fixed-rate swap product provides institutional investors with a financial-risk mitigation opportunity by offering a shield against Ethereum APR fluctuation with a guaranteed rate."

Snapshot, Popular DAO Voting Platform, Finally Moves On-Chain, Atop Starknet

Snapshot Labs, developer of an off-chain voting platform used by 96% of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) including those overseeing leading DeFi projects Lido and Aave, is adding a blockchain-based option, built on the Ethereum layer-2 network Starknet. Snapshot X, the new governance protocol, makes use of storage proofs – a cryptographic feature that StarkWare, the primary developer of Starknet, has helped to innovate. The technology allows users to prove that assets exist on one blockchain, without needing to use a third party to move them to another.

Ether.Fi to Launch Visa 'Cash' Card on Scroll Network

Ether.fi, best known for its liquid restaking service, announced on Monday a plan to work with Scroll, a layer-2 network on Ethereum, on a new blockchain-based credit card, Ether.fi Cash. The new card would enable users to spend fiat while using their crypto assets as collateral, allowing people to hold onto crypto and earn yield while making everyday purchases. The card is currently in use internally at Ether.fi and will start shipping out to pre-order customers on Sept. 16. "If you put 10 ETH into Aave and you use this credit card, then for you it's going to be the cheapest credit card in the world that you can find," Sandy Peng, Scroll's co-founder, said in an interview with CoinDesk.

BitcoinOS to 'Transform Merlin Chain Into a True Bitcoin Rollup'

BitcoinOS (BOS), describing itself as a "smart contract operating system for Bitcoin," said in a message that it "will transform Merlin Chain into a true Bitcoin rollup, providing fully secured scaling and security as a partner and through the deployment of the BOS Grail bridge." According to the team: "The bridge will be deployed on the Merlin Chain testnet (targeted Q4 2024). With over $2.5 billion in assets on-chain, Merlin Chain will be able to scale and support millions more users while increasing asset and chain security. Users are able to leverage trustless bridging of Bitcoin assets and data, without dependencies on centralized protocols (multisig and MPC)."

Paxos, Stablecoin Issuer and Tokenization Infrastructure, Integrates With Ethereum L2 Arbitrum

Paxos, provider of a regulated stablecoin-issuance and tokenization infrastructure, is integrating with Arbitrum, the leading Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution. According to the team: "This partnership aims to bring real-world assets on-chain, leveraging Arbitrum's network and DeFi ecosystem. Paxos will enable stablecoin issuance and tokenization on Arbitrum, combining regulatory compliance with scalability. This collaboration is expected to drive adoption of digital assets across industries, with plans to bring assets to the protocol soon." (ARB)

Swarm Expands Gold NFTs to Ethereum, After Launching on Polygon in June

Swarm, a provider of compliant DeFi infrastructure for token issuance and trading, announced that its gold NFTs are now available via Ethereum, following their launch on Polygon in June. According to the team: "Ethereum has a different value proposition to that of Polygon. It is more cost effective, but some will prefer the security of Ethereum. Since launch, demand has been strong, driven by retail investors. We have also had interest from high net-worth individuals looking for reliable, transparent access to gold. The recent surge in demand for tokenized gold products has been driven by both increase in price and need for high-quality collateral on-chain."

Monday, Sept. 9

Fractal, Merge-Mined Bitcoin Scaling Solution, Launches Mainnet, Tips Hat to Satoshi

Fractal Bitcoin, describing itself as "the only Bitcoin native scaling solution that uses the Bitcoin Core code itself to recursively scale unlimited layers on top," launched its mainnet on Monday. According to the team: "Using recursive virtualization of Bitcoin core software, Fractal scales Bitcoin's capacity infinitely while maintaining complete network consensus. It supports Bitcoin-native protocols like BRC-20 and introduces the OP_CAT opcode for on-chain innovation. As a proof-of-work network with a unique hybrid mining model, Fractal enables secure and decentralized development. With over 80 projects launching on/around mainnet, Fractal is ready to drive a new wave of innovation on Bitcoin." The team confirmed to Protocol Village that the network had gone live on Monday and added that more than 1,000 blocks have already been mined "by the top mining pools like Antpool, F2pool, Spiderpool, Maxipool etc. The merge mining hashrates for Fractal is at 20% of Bitcoin hashrates." As part of the project, a new blockchain explorer, mempool.fractalbitcoin.io, was created from the open-source software that Bitcoin explorer Mempool.space uses. The first Fractal Bitcoin block, known as the genesis block, referenced the same "Chancellor on the brink" message that was embedded by Satoshi Nakamoto into the original Bitcoin block in 2009. (See below.)

DRiP, Creator Engagement Platform on Solana, Raises $8M

DRiP, a creator engagement platform on Solana, has raised $8 million in seed funding led by NFX, with participation from Progression (founded by ex-TikTok exec) and Coinbase Ventures. The funding will support mobile app development, creator tools and user growth, according to the team: "On DRiP, creators airdrop content to followers, who can thank them with micropayments called droplets. Over two years, 550+ creators have sent 170M+ collectibles to 2M+ wallets. DRiP aims to challenge traditional social media gatekeepers by offering fairer monetization and tools for creators to connect directly with their communities."

Friend.Tech Sends Ownership of Smart Contracts to Null Address

Friend.Tech, the Web3 social network that turned head as a crypto sensation when it launched last year on Coinbase's Ethereum layer-2 network, Base, shared on Sept. 8 that it was transferring the ownership of its smart contracts to an Ethereum null address, permanently removing developers' control over them. According to a post on X, "Admin and ownership parameters have been set to 0x000...000 to prevent any changes to their fees or functionality in the future." Ethereum’s null address essentially is a burn address, making those smart contracts lost. The price of its native token $FRIEND is down 31% down over the past seven days, according to CoinGecko. According to the post on X, the change "does not affect the separate web client operated at http://friend.tech, which will continue to function as is. No fees from either smart contracts or http://friend.tech currently go to the http://friend.tech dev team multisig."

A16z Crypto Startup Accelerator Reveals Fall 2024 Cohort in New York With 21 Startups

Jason Rosenthal, operating partner at a16z Crypto and head of the venture capital firm's Crypto Startup Accelerator (CSX), published a blog post revealing the 21 startups selected to join the program's Fall 2024 cohort in New York. According to Rosenthal: "Over the next eight weeks, they’ll get firsthand lessons from top crypto founders, receive guidance and support from a16z crypto’s investing and operating teams and build connections with each other and the broader a16z network. The CSX Fall 2024 companies are coming to NYC from 11 countries: Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Germany, Japan, Poland, Portugal, United Arab Emirates, UK and U.S. (including Puerto Rico). They’re building on every level of the crypto stack, including AI, DeFi, infrastructure and consumer applications such as photo sharing and mapping." Full list is here. (Please see related items below, on Cork Protocol and PIN AI.)

Cork, Protocol for Risk Pricing, Raises $2.15M, Joins A16z CSX Fall 2024 Cohort

PROTOCOL VILLAGE EXCLUSIVE: Cork Protocol, describing itself as a "risk-pricing protocol accelerating on-chain credit," has raised $2.15 million from investors including a16z CSX, OrangeDAO, Ideo, Outliers Fund, Unbounded Capital and Steakhouse Financial. According to the team, the proceeds will help "to fund its Depeg Swaps platform for managing risk in on-chain credit markets. Along with the fundraise, Cork has joined the a16z Crypto CSX Fall 2024 cohort to accelerate its go-to-market strategy. Cork will also launch a Testnet Trading Competition on Sept. 17, inviting the DeFi community to help refine the platform ahead of its mainnet launch."

PIN AI, Web3-Enabled Alternative to Apple Intelligence, Raises $10M, Joins A16z CSX Cohort

PIN AI, offering a platform that it describes as an "open-source, Web3-enabled alternative to the newly announced Apple Intelligence," has secured $10 million in pre-seed funding from a group of notable investors. They include: A16z CSX, Hack VC, Illia Polosukhin (NEAR Protocol Co-Founder and Transformer paper author), Anagram/Lily Liu (president, Solana Foundation), Symbolic Capital (Polygon Co-Founder), Evan Cheng (CEO, Mysten Labs/SUI), dcbuilder (Worldcoin), Foresight Ventures, Tim Shi (Co-Founder of AI unicorn Cresta.ai), Ben Fish (Espresso CEO), Scott Moore (Co-Founder, Gitcoin), Blockchain Builders Fund (Stanford Blockchain Accelerator), Dispersion Capital (ex-Director of Samsung Next), and Alumni Ventures. "PIN AI's platform transforms smartphones into privacy-focused AI personal assistants.... Leveraging personal, contextual data and advanced cryptography, the platform deploys cutting-edge AI models on-device to manage tasks across apps – such as shopping, ordering food, wealth management and interacting with centralized exchanges, DeFi and prediction markets."

Libre Launches Web3 Protocol for Issuance and Distribution of On-Chain Funds on Aptos

Libre, a joint venture between WebN Group and Nomura’s Laser Digital, has launched a new Web3 protocol for the issuance and distribution of funds on the Aptos network. According to the team: "This partnership enables eligible Aptos users access to a number of on-chain funds, including the Brevan Howard Master Fund, Hamilton Lane (Nasdaq: HLNE) Senior Credit Opportunities Fund (“SCOPE”), and Blackrock ICS Money Market Fund. Libre will make moves to enable an expanded offering of services to be made available to users on Aptos through the Libre Gateway, which will be rolled out over the remainder of 2024." (APT)

Hacken, Blockchain Security Auditor, Announces New 'DualDefense and DD Flash Pools'

Hacken, a blockchain security auditor, announced a new service and a DeFi tool: DualDefense and DD Flash Pools. According to the team: "This two-in-one solution is set to benefit projects focused on security, whitehats, and users. Here's what it covers: 1) Comprehensive code audits. 2) A 30-day crowd-sourced review by HackenProof’s whitehat community. 3) A staking pool with rewards distributed either to whitehats for critical bug discoveries or to the Hacken community if no critical bugs are found."

Lyvely, SocialFi Platform, Says Crypto Exchange M2 Joins $12.5M Fundraising Round

SocialFi platform Lyvely announced that crypto exchange M2 is taking part in a $12.5 million fundraising round, joining existing investors ADX-listed Phoenix Group and Cypher Capital, a Web3 VC fund. According to the team: "Lyvely will deploy previously secured investment into product development and growth, and M2’s recent investment into on-chain innovation. This includes offering creators and users a suite of DeFi tools, as well as driving strategic partnerships and listings. Lyvely’s whitelist airdrop was launched recently, with its utility token built on Base. Lyvely is founded by tech entrepreneurs Farah Zafar and Dave Catudal."

Friday, Sept. 6

Skale Partners With Atari Co-Founder's Video Tournament Platform, Moxy

Skale, the "gas-free invisible blockchain network," announced a partnership with Moxy, a pioneering video game tournament and gamification platform co-founded by Nolan Bushnell, a founding father of the video game industry and the co-founder of Atari. Acccording to the team: "In the 1970s, Bushnell created the groundbreaking first computerized video game, 'Pong.' Bushnell is embracing and advancing SKALE’s gasless invisible blockchain technology, signaling a major shift in the gaming industry's evolution."

Cookie3, 'MarketingFi and AI Data' Project, Launches Cookie3 Venture Labs

Cookie3, describing itself as a "MarketingFi and AI Data Layer," has launched Cookie3 Venture Labs "to support cutting-edge Web3 startups," according to the team: "We’re not just offering funds, but also full access to our data-driven technology suite, which can save years of development costs. The first two projects, NOKS (AI trading) and SAYGM (Telegram mini-app), are already part of the cohort, and we’re looking to onboard more startups ready to make a real impact in Web3."

Sonic SVM, Gaming Project on Solana Blockchain, Plans $12.8M Node Sale

Sonic SVM, a project to scale the Solana blockchain to gaming-quality speed and throughput, plans to sell as much as $12.8 million worth of validator nodes in its HyperGrid, a decentralized framework designed to support new application-specific networks. The sale, scheduled for the week of Sept. 16, will be the first in the Solana blockchain ecosystem and will include 50,000 "Hyperfuse nodes" in 20 pricing tiers, according to the team. Proceeds will go into the project's treasury for general purposes, including supporting the development team and grants, CEO and co-founder Chris Zhu said in an interview.

Thursday, Sept. 5

Livepeer, Decentralized Video-Streaming Project, Powered Burning Man Webcast

Livepeer, a decentralized video-streaming project, powered a livestream for the Burning Man webcast team at the recently concluded event in the Nevada desert. According to the team, the project offered "a more reliable and cost-effective solution than traditional cloud providers. By using Livepeer Studio’s decentralized video infrastructure, they were able to deliver seamless coverage of the event to a global audience. This decision not only reduced streaming costs but also ensured that viewers experienced the iconic festival with no interruptions." Matthew Reyes, who first ran the webcam in 2013, conducted a fundraiser to collect $8,000 to pay for the new stream, asking Instagram followers to chip in via Venmo or Cash App, SFGate reported. Livepeer co-founder Eric Tang posted about it on X:

Euler, Victim of $200M+ Exploit in 2023, Returns With 'V2'

Euler, a DeFi lending protocol that suffered a $200 million-plus exploit in 2023, says it has reemerged with the launch of Euler v2, "a meta-lending protocol that enables unlimited use cases for on-chain credit." According to the team, "the protocol will allow builders to create highly customizable borrowing and lending vaults that can be permissioned or permissionless. As decentralized finance continues to gain traction and more users seek out secure and efficient ways to manage credit on-chain, Euler v2 will play a pivotal role in scaling the crypto lending market, pushing it towards becoming a core component of the global financial system." As reported by CoinDesk in February, the project held a code audit competition earlier this year to vet the new version.

Celestia's New Roadmap Calls for Scaling to 1 GB Blocks

Celestia, the modular data availability project, introduced its new roadmap. According to the team: "After several years of development, Celestia Mainnet Beta went live last year. Since then, an early ecosystem has taken form, with developers deploying the first 20 rollups and publishing nearly 75 GB of data. The core devs are preparing the first major upgrades, starting with Lemongrass, and now present a technical roadmap with contributions from multiple teams. The community’s roadmap has a core objective: relentlessly scale to 1 GB blocks." (TIA)

Citi Ventures-Backed Xalts Partners With Tezos Foundation on RWA Tokenization

Xalts, a provider of blockchain infrastructure for financial services and backed by Citi Ventures, has partnered with the Tezos Foundation to accelerate the tokenization of real-world assets (RWA). According to the team: "Xalts’ RWA Cloud now integrates with Tezos' Etherlink, a non-custodial layer-2 blockchain, offering fast, low-cost solutions for developers building on Tezos. This collaboration enables financial services, governments and enterprises to adopt blockchain for tokenizing funds, securities, and digital assets. The partnership aims to simplify blockchain deployment and drive faster adoption of tokenization worldwide." (XTZ)

Flow's Crescendo Upgrade, Enabling EVM Equivalence, Goes Live on Mainnet

Layer-1 blockchain Flow's Crescendo upgrade is now live on mainnet, "enabling Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) equivalence for seamless, multi-chain interoperability to power a wide variety of next-generation applications," according to the team: "Crescendo drives forward network scalability, security, and decentralization, while also enabling full interoperability with Ethereum by embedding a fully equivalent EVM environment inside the Flow-native Cadence environment. This allows EVM-only apps to work with Flow like any other EVM chain while allowing Cadence devs to use the code and tokens in the EVM seamlessly and directly."

COTI, Ethereum Confidentiality Layer With 'Garbled Circuits,' to Get New DEX, PriveX

COTI, a leading provider of confidentiality layer on Ethereum, announced a strategic partnership with PriveX, the first intent-based perpetuals DEX to launch on it, "to ensure secure and confidential transactions with safe and fair trading experience," according to the team: "By leveraging COTI’s advanced cryptographic protocol, Garbled Circuits, PriveX can offer its users the freedoms of DeFi with the efficiencies of CeFi, and will be able to execute strategies without exposing sensitive data, such as stop-loss positions or trade amounts, thereby protecting their tactics from market manipulation."

DeFi.Gold Raises $2.22M to Create 'All-in-One Bitcoin DeFi Hub'

DeFi.Gold says it has secured $2.22 million from industry leaders including Brian Rose, Walid Benothman, Mario Nawfal, Shalini Wood, Cypher Capital and Adrian Baschuk, to launch what the project says will be "the world’s first non-custodial DEX, LBP launchpad and NFT marketplace on the Bitcoin blockchain, creating the first-ever all-in-one Bitcoin DeFi hub. The platform enables seamless trading of assets like Taproot, RGB, Ordinals and more, leveraging Bitcoin’s layer 1 and Lightning Network."

Cordial Systems, Self-Custody Software Provider, Rolls Out Institutional-Grade Staking Support

Cordial Systems, a provider of institutional-grade self-custody software using a Zero Trust security model, will announce the rollout of enhanced, institutional-grade staking support in partnership with leading staking providers Figment, Kiln, Bridgetower Capital and Twinstake. According to the team: "The rollout features clear-signing-only transactions for security and offers co-hosting of Cordial's Treasury Software, providing increased operational resilience for institutional clients through diversified wallet infrastructure."

Vape-to-Earn Crypto Project PuffPaw Raises $6M For Blockchain Vapes

An upcoming vape-to-earn project wants to use token incentives and blockchain-enabled vapes to make nicotine addictions additions go up in smoke. Called Puffpaw, the project intends to sell specialty vapes that record their user's smoking habits on the blockchain. It will reward them in their tokens for gradually reducing their nicotine intake.

Stablecoin Standard, Industry Group, Appoints Haddock as Global Policy Lead

Stablecoin Standard, the industry body for stablecoin issuers globally, has appointed Beth Haddock as its Global Policy Lead. According to the team: "In her new role, Beth will lead global efforts to enhance trust and innovation in the expanding stablecoin market, with Stablecoin Standard currently representing 28 members of the industry across key jurisdictions. Haddock will spearhead an initiative to establish global standards, which will first be unveiled at Stablecoin Standard’s 2024 Annual Flagship Event in Singapore during the week of Token2049."

DWallet, Enabler of 'Zero Trust Protocols,' Rebrands to Pera

DWallet Network, a project to enable Web3 developers to build secure, cross-chain Zero Trust Protocols (ZTPs), has rebranded to Pera, according to the team: "The platform’s core focus remains securely managing digital assets across multiple blockchains through its foundational dWallet primitive. This cryptographic innovation allows ZTPs to function seamlessly across chains by enforcing logic on user-generated signatures. Powered by the novel 2PC-MPC scheme, Pera enables use cases like decentralized custody, multi-chain lending, and atomic swaps, while adhering to Zero Trust principles."

Cardano Engineering Compay IOHK, Hedera Join DeRec Alliance for Digital-Asset Recovery

Input Output (IOHK), the engineering company behind Cardano, and Hedera have joined Ripple, Algorand, Hashgraph, and XRPL, "on a mission to simplify one of the most critical issues in Web3 – the recovery and adoption of crypto and digital assets," according to the team: "Launched in January 2024, the DeRec Alliance introduces a new open-source, standardized protocol simplifying and securing digital asset recovery, absolving users of the risks associated with self-sovereignty. Also joining as alliance members today are the DLT Science Foundation, Hashpack, Oasis Protocol Foundation and Palisade."