The cryptocurrency industry is attracting an increasing number of institutional players. This is evidenced by new investments in infrastructure, and the increasing attention that companies are paying to bitcoin as an asset class. The most important events of recent weeks are in the ForkLog review.
Polymarket prediction platform raised $70 million
The Polymarket prediction platform has closed two rounds of financing totaling $70 million. This is reported by Bloomberg.
As part of the Series A funding round, the platform received $25 million. It was headed by General Catalyst.
Another $45 million in the Series B funding round was provided by venture capital firms DragonFly Capital, ParaFi Capital, 1confirmation, as well as billionaire Peter Thiel's Founders Fund and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.
Polymarket allows you to make forecasts for various events using cryptocurrencies. According to the platform, users have bet more than $128 million on the upcoming US presidential election. Donald Trump leads with 52% against Joe Biden's 42%.
Humanity Protocol raised $30 million at a valuation of $1 billion
Blockchain startup Humanity Protocol has closed a $30 million investment round at a valuation of $1 billion led by Kingsway Capital with the participation of Animoca Brands, Blockchain.com and Shima Capital.
🚀Big news alert! 🚀Our founder Terence just took the spotlight in Bloomberg @business, unveiling our latest round of funding! 🌟
We’ve become crypto’s new digital identity unicorn! 🦄
Check out the full story on our $30M raise at a $1B valuation: https://t.co/soy6PqZoFB…
The funds raised will be used to expand the team. Currently, Humanity Protocol employs 20 people.
The project is developing a blockchain based on the Proof-of-Humanity concept with transaction confirmation without the need to disclose users' personal data, but with a high level of security.
According to the founder of the startup, Terence Kwok, the launch of the testnet is scheduled for the second quarter of 2024. There are already 500,000 users on the waiting list.
The startup intends to release an application for palm scanning and infrared cameras for veins on the arm.
Trading firm Arbelos Markets raised $28 million
Crypto trading company Arbelos Markets has closed a $28 million investment round led by Dragonfly Capital. This is reported by CoinDesk.
Funds were also provided by Room40 Ventures, Selini Capital, Breed VC, FalconX, Circle Ventures, Paxos, P2 Ventures, Deribit, Chorus One, StarkWare, Immutable and private investors.
Arbelos Markets co-founder Joshua Lim said that the company provides liquidity and hedging to experienced investors using cryptocurrencies.
According to him, the lack of transparency was the key reason for the latest crisis in the crypto industry. Arbelos Markets intends to increase confidence in the industry by offering access to a "transparent mechanism". It allows clients to check the risk profile of the firm and its counterparties.
The funds raised will be used to expand the team, expand into new markets and offer more structured products.
Lava Foundation startup raised $11 million
The Lava Foundation, a non-profit organization behind the development of the modular Lava Network blockchain, has closed an investment round worth $11 million.
The floor is Lava 🌋
Lava Foundation has raised $11m to fund ecosystem growth and protocol development.
We're excited to move closer to mainnet and support more blockchains with critical RPC infrastructure. pic.twitter.com/J1TEjiW9rX
The investment was provided by Animoca Brands, Gate.io Ventures, CoinGecko Ventures and others. The funds raised will be used for the development of the ecosystem and the development of the protocol.
The head of The Lava Foundation, Amir Aaronson, told The Block that the project received funds under SAFT. He declined to disclose the startup's valuation.
The developers plan to launch the main network in the first half of 2024. At about the same time, the LAVA token will appear, Aaronson added.
Galaxis Web3 platform raised $10 million
Singapore-based Web3 platform Galaxis has closed an investment round worth $10 million. This is reported by CoinDesk.
Investments were provided by Rarestone Capital, Taisu Ventures, Chainlink, Ethereum Name Services and others.
Galaxis helps celebrities and brands launch their own NFT collections. Among the platform's clients are DJ Steve Aoki, actor Val Kilmer and professional basketball player LaMelo Ball.
According to a press release, over the past couple of years, Galaxis has sold more than 225,000 NFTs, earning more than 32,000 ETH (almost $100 million at the exchange rate at the time of writing) on secondary sales.
Andras Kristof, co—founder and CEO of the platform, said that the next step in the development of the startup is its own GALAXIS token, which will complement the ecosystem. The launch is scheduled for May 2024.
Gaming startup Param Labs has raised $7 million from Animoca Brands
The Param Labs gaming platform has raised $7 million from the operator of blockchain games Animoca Brands, venture capital firms Delphi Ventures, Mechanism Capital, Merit Circle and other investors. This is reported by The Block.
Param Labs is developing a gaming ecosystem with the governance token PARAM, which has not yet been launched. The company's first game will be the Kiraverse multiplayer shooter.
Based in the UAE, the startup has a large online community. According to the press release, the platform has more than 2.5 million subscribers on all profiles in X and about 500,000 users in Discord.
Also on ForkLog:
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