June 27: Immunefi, an on-chain crowd-sourced security platform, released its "Crypto Losses in Q2 2024 report," showing a loss of $572 million to hacks and rug pulls in Q2 2024, a 112% increase compared to the same period in 2023. According to the team: "This brings the total losses to over $920 million year-to-date, with May 2024 witnessing the highest monthly losses at $358 million. CeFi was the main target of successful exploits at 70%, compared to DeFi at 30% of the total losses in Q2."
REDACTED, Building Web3 'Entertainment Datasphere,' Raises $10M
June 27: REDACTED, building an ecosystem of products to form an "entertainment datasphere," has raised $10 million in funding, co-led by Spartan Group with Saison Capital, Animoca Brands, Polygon Ventures Web3 founders, VCs, angel investors and whales like Dingaling and Grail, according to the team: "REDACTED's data protocol enhances entertainment and gamification products, offering better, more targeted experiences."
Rebar Labs Raises $2.9M to Build "MEV-Aware Infrastructure" for Bitcoin
June 27: Rebar Labs, building "MEV-aware infrastructure, products and research" for Bitcoin, has raised $2.9 million in seed funding, according to the team: "Led by 6th Man Ventures, with participation from ParaFi Capital, Arca, Moonrock Capital and UTXO Management, the company aims to address MEV challenges in Bitcoin's expanding ecosystem. As new protocols like BRC-20s, Runes, L2s and rollups emerge, MEV strategies similar to early Ethereum DeFi are appearing on Bitcoin. Rebar Labs is developing solutions to ensure fair value distribution, enable efficient markets and improve user and miner experiences in the Bitcoin ecosystem."
Validator Infrastructure Provider SSV Extends Incentivized Mainnet Program Through December
June 27: Validator infrastructure provider SSV Network has revised its incentivized mainnet program (IMP) after a successful decentralized governance vote, according to the team: "Key updates include extending the program to December 2024, restructuring reward tiers and excluding SAFE multisig wallets from eligibility. The new tiered rewards system offers significant APR boosts to early validators, enhancing incentives for participation. The revisions aim to maximize rewards, encourage validator engagement, and address previous program limitations."
Cobo Launches 'Portal' for Businesses, Featuring 'All-in-One Wallet Platform'
June 27: Cobo, a crypto custody and wallet infrastructure provider, launched "Cobo Portal, a one-stop platform that streamlines the process for businesses to build on a highly scalable wallet infrastructure and manage their digital assets seamlessly," according to the team. Features include: "1. All-in-One Wallet platform with Custodial Wallets, MPC Wallets, Smart Contract Wallets, Exchange Wallets. 2. Advanced Risk control–customizable user roles, on-chain and off-chain transaction policies, governance rules, approval workflows. 3. Seamless Development Environment- documentation & support across all popular programming languages, blockchain developers can quickly integrate Cobo’s WaaS (APIs & SDKs)."
Dfinity Foundation Launches 'UTOPIA' for 'Sensitive Sectors' Like Defense With 'On-Chain Serverless Clouds'
June 27: DFINITY Foundation, a major contributor to the Internet Computer Protocol (ICP) while also working on decentralized AI, has announced the launch of "UTOPIA, aimed at tackling the $10 trillion global cybersecurity problem, through on-chain serverless clouds that offer unprecedented operational resilience and security," according to the team: "This tech is crucial for high-risk, sensitive sectors such as defense, utilities and financial services, ensuring unbreakable security and 100% digital sovereignty."
Cardano-Focused Interoperability Project Wanchain Launches Token Bridge to Polkadot Relay Chain
June 27: Wanchain, a layer-1 proof-of-stake blockchain focused on interoperability, has launched a token bridge between the Polkadot Relay Chain and the Cardano blockchain network, according to the team: "Despite clamor over the need for a bridge circulating in both communities, Wanchain is the first to successfully connect Polkadot and Cardano, accessible from the Wanchain Bridge Web Portal. Temujin Louie, CEO of Wanchain, said: 'Wanchain believes in the need for interoperability between all networks, not just EVMs. We anticipate that this initial implementation will lead to further developments, such as cross-chain function calls between two non-EVM networks.'" (ADA) (DOT)
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. Also please check out our weekly The Protocol podcast.
Edited by Bradley Keoun.