NFTgators

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World claims that more than 26 million people participate in the World Network and more than 12.5 million people have an Orb-verified World ID.

The company plans to use the capital to meet the increasing demand for Orb-verified World IDs and support its expansion in the U.S. and beyond.

World Network believes its technology will become even more necessary to help distinguish humans from machines in the age of AGI.

World Network has raised $135 million in a token sale to Andreessen Horowitz and Bain Capital Crypto at the [prevailing market price. The decentralised ID protocol plans to use the fresh capital to “meet the increasing demand for Orb-verified World IDs and support its expansion in the U.S. and beyond.”

The company claims that already more than 26 million people in over 160 countries participate in the World Network and more than 12.5 million people have an Orb-verified World ID. Its latest push into the U.S. market comes following the regulatory shift in the country spearheaded by Trump and his “crypto-centric” team.

World Network, which also boasts backing from the likes of Selini Capital, Mirana Ventures, and Arctic Digital from previous funding rounds, believes its tools will become even more necessary to help distinguish humans from machines in the age of AGI.

“This funding opportunity is in service to the long-term mission of World and is backed by the builders who believed in World from the beginning. It is anticipated that World Network will become one of the first self-sustaining protocols,” the company said in a blog post on its website.

The token sale increases the WLD token’s circulating supply. The WLD token price momentarily spiked to $1.25, before pulling back to $1.15 according to CoinMarketCap data, after the announcement.

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Quick take:

Three of the company’s top executives including CEO and Board Chairman Alex Konanykhin were also charged.

Union and its executives allegedly used false and misleading statements to convince more than 5,000 investors to purchase the rights certificates.

They allegedly conducted an ‘aggressive’ marketing campaign that portrayed them as “investments in safe, stable, and profitable “next generation” crypto assets.”

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged Unicoin and three of its top executives, with a $100 million fraud amid allegations the New York-based crypto company offered fraudulent rights certificates of its native token and shares. 

The three executives charged alongside the company include CEO and Board Chairman Alex Konanykhin; Silvina Moschini, former president, former board chairwoman, and current board member; and former Chief Investment Officer Alex Dominguez.

“We allege that Unicoin and its executives exploited thousands of investors with fictitious promises that its tokens, when issued, would be backed by real-world assets including an international portfolio of valuable real estate holdings,” said Mark Cave, Associate Director in the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. “But as we allege, the real estate assets were worth a mere fraction of what the company claimed, and the majority of the company’s sales of rights certificates were illusory. Unicoin’s most senior executives are alleged to have perpetuated the fraud, and today’s action seeks accountability for their conduct.”

According to a press release by the securities regulator, Unicoin allegedly claimed the rights certificates were “asset-backed” by billions of dollars of real estate and equity interests in pre-IPO companies, including saying it had sold more than $3 billion in rights certificates when it raised no more than $110 million.

The company also allegedly claimed that the rights certificates and Unicoin tokens were “SEC-registered” or “U.S. registered” when they were not.

These “false and misleading statements” were allegedly used to convince more than 5,000 investors to purchase the rights certificates.

Konanykhin allegedly offered and sold over 37.9 million of his rights certificates, with all three executives charged with violations of the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws.

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The fund focuses on specialist managers who can outperform generalist investors in the earliest funding rounds.

Tether has previously invested in crypto-native VC firms including Polychain Capital and CoinFund.

Founded in 2001 and boasting about $1.2 billion in assets under management, the company switched focus to digital assets in 2018.

Theta Capital Management has launched the Blockchain Ventures Fund IV with $175 million in funding. The fund will be funnelled through specialised crypto-native VCs with a track record of backing blockchain projects.

Founded in 2001 and boasting about $1.2 billion in assets under management, the company switched focus to digital assets in 2018.

Rather than directly investing in crypto startups, Theta Capital prefers to invest through other crypto-native VCs. The company previously invested through Polychain Capital and CoinFund. The new fund focuses on specialist managers who can outperform generalist investors in the earliest funding rounds.

Commenting on the announcement, Theta’s managing partner and chief investment officer Ruud Smets told Bloomberg: “We’ve always been looking for areas where specialization and active management provide a sustainable edge,” adding that the experience and positioning of dedicated crypto VCs “has compounded over time,” thus making it more difficult for less focused investors trying to enter the space.

The announcement comes amid the return of a bullish crypto market, as demonstrated by the Bitcoin price’s recent rise toward new all-time highs.

Venture capital funding has also returned to the industry with Web3 startups securing more than $4.5 billion in the first quarter of 2025.

The industry is also experiencing increased consolidation and cross-market M&As involving native crypto companies and traditional fintechs.

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The post Theta Capital Closes $175M Blockchain Ventures Fund IV to Invest in Early-Stage Crypto Startups appeared first on NFTgators .

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The community-driven gaming studio plans to use the capital to accelerate the development of Craft World its first crypto game.

VOYA Games said Craft World boasts amassed over 240,000 registered players during its testnet phase.

The company is building a network of games and experiences connected through player ownership.

Crypto gaming studio VOYA Games has raised $5 million in a funding round led by 1kx and Makers Fund, with participation from RockawayX and angels Jeff ‘Jihoz’ Zirlin, Co-Founder of Sky Mavis and Sébastien Borget, Co-Founder & COO of The Sandbox, according to a press release shared with NFTgators.

The company plans to use the funds to accelerate the development of its debut crypto game, Craft World, which amassed more than 240,000 registered players during its testnet phase.

VOYA Games is building a network of games and experiences connected through player ownership.

Founded in 2023 by Florian Dreschner, Dino Erdmann and CEO Oliver Löffler, VOYA Games will use the capital to scale its user experiences, expand its user base, and grow its ecosystem, laying the groundwork for the launch of Craft Games.

CEO Löffler is renowned for creating Kolibri Games and the hit title “Idle Miner Tycoon”, which surpassed 100 million downloads, leading to a nine-figure acquisition by Ubisoft.

“Our goal is to build a token ecosystem where games are connected through a shared player economy and culture,” said Oliver Löffler, CEO and founder of VOYA Games.

According to Löffler Craft World, is already attracting 50,000 monthly active users whilst in the testing phase.

“With this funding, we’ll scale our experiences, expand our user base, and grow our ecosystem, laying the groundwork for a network of interconnected games built on participation and long-term trust,” he said.

Craft World is a casual resource management game built on a post-apocalyptic world, where players work with friendly dinosaurs to rebuild civilization after a meteor wipes out humanity. The game is currently available on iOS, Android and web, and is free to play whilst in testnet. It is scheduled to launch out of testing this summer.

Peter Pan of 1kx commented: “[VOYA Games] is building a Web3 gaming ecosystem that prioritizes openness and ownership, treating the game world more like a public good than a closed economy. Under Oliver Löffler’s leadership, the team brings a rare combination of technical know-how and mass-market experience, and we’re proud to support their mission to create interconnected games and experiences unified by player ownership.”

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Quick take:

The company offers a DeFi trading platform focused on stablecoin-native execution.

The Series A round brings the total raised to $20 million according to a press release on Tuesday.

True Markets’ main aim is to build a non-custodial mobile-first platform that delivers a fast, simple and transparent trading experience to retail users.

True Markets, a mobile-first decentralised finance (DeFi)  trading app, has launched with an $11 million Series A round co-led by Accomplice and PRE Ventures. The fundraising also attracted participation from Reciprocal Ventures, Variant Fund and PayPal Ventures.

The fundraising brings the total raised to $20 million. True Markets said in the press release on Tuesday that seed investors Paxos Ventures and the Solana Foundation, continue to support the company.

Built on the Solana blockchain by Coinbase (COIN) and Circle veterans Vishal Gupta and Patrick McCreary, True Markets offers a DeFi trading platform focused on stablecoin-native execution.

The company aims to build a non-custodial mobile-first platform that delivers a fast, simple and transparent trading experience to retail users.

“We built True Markets to evolve beyond the current state of both traditional and crypto finance,” said Vishal Gupta, Co-Founder and CEO of True Markets. “Retail traders have been stuck with clunky workflows, unclear pricing, and fragmented liquidity. Our goal is to deliver a fairer and more transparent experience that makes asset discovery simple, shows real-time market momentum, and feels as intuitive as the best apps on your phone.”

Gupta argues that True Markets’ stablecoin-native settlement system gives users more options on how they onramp and trade, whilst guaranteeing that users maintain custody of their assets at all times.

“[This creates] a safer, more trustworthy system. It’s about giving users more control, more access, and less risk,” he said.

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The post Mobile-First DeFi Trading App True Markets Launches on Solana with $11M Series A Round appeared first on NFTgators .

Quick take:

Dao5 closed its first fund in 2022 with $125 million in funding and has since invested in over 50 crypto projects including Bittensor, Story Protocol, and EigenLayer.

The firm has already deployed the entirety of its first fund and the vast majority of commitments to its limited partners.

The latest fund brings the total assets under management to approximately $550 million.

Dao5 a venture capital firm focused on advancing the mainstream adoption of digital assets has closed its second fund with $220 million in funding. The multi-strategy fund is aimed at “stewarding institutional evolution of crypto,” the company said in a press release seen by NFTgators.

Commenting on the announcement, crypto veteran and Dao5 founder, Tekin Salimi said in a statement: “Crypto is entering its adolescence phase. The industry’s dependency on pure speculation as the driver of growth is no longer as effective as it once was. Future success will be determined by the real integration of blockchain technology into global financial, governmental, and private sector systems.”

The new fund brings Dao5’s total assets under management to approximately $550 million. Since closing its first fund at $125 million in 2022, the company has invested in over 50 crypto projects, including BitTensor, Berachain, EigenLayer, and Story, with some of the investments done during the bear market from 2022-2023.

According to the announcement, the firm has already deployed the entirety of its first fund and the vast majority of commitments to its limited partners.

“Success in this space often comes from an ability to go where others can’t,” said Salimi about the success of the projects that the company has backed over the years. “When we invested in Berachain, most funds were unable to underwrite the risk of investing in entirely pseudonymous founders. But we were willing to go a step further in our diligence on the founders.”

Smokey the Bera, co-founder of Berachain commented: “As our first lead investor, they proved to be highly strategic at every step since their investment, and we believe their model for involving and incentivizing portfolio founders like myself in the future economics of the fund is novel and promising.”

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Quick take:

The Series A round also attracted participation from VanEck Ventures, F-Prime and the Avalanche Fund.

The company plans to use the fresh capital to enhance regulation compliance in the countries it operates in.

Dinari’s blockchain-based platform allows non-U.S. investors to buy shares in U.S. companies.

Dinari, a tokenisation startup that allows non-U.S. investors to buy shares of U.S. companies has raised $12.7 million in a Series A round led by Hack VC and Blockchange Ventures.

The fundraising also attracted participation from VanEck Ventures, F-Prime and the Avalanche Fund, according to a report by Fortune. It brings the total raised by the Web3 startup to $22.65 million.

Dinari said it plans to use the fresh capital to enhance regulation compliance in the jurisdictions it operates. 

According to Gabriel Otte, co-founder and CEO of Dinari, his company makes investing in U.S. stocks a more viable option for people living outside of the U.S. “We’re allowing people to have access to it in an efficient way that they didn’t have before,” he told Fortune. “It can’t really be just about tokenizing one-off stocks. It has to be tokenizing every stock, eventually, and every asset.”

Dinari offers an API integration that allows Financial platforms including fintechs and digital banks to enable investing in U.S. stocks. Once integrated, users can buy shares of U.S. companies like Apple and Google, with the buyers receiving a blockchain-based token that represents ownership of the shares.

Dinari then buys an equivalent amount of the stock in the respective U.S. company to hold it, thus guaranteeing a 100% backing.

According to Otte, a majority of Dinari customers come from Latin America, especially Brazil and Argentina. The company has also been building a user base in Southeast Asia and Africa.

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Quick take:

The product will initially launch across six countries in Latin America, including Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Chile.

It allows merchants to get paid in their local currencies.

Cardholders will be able to make purchases using stablecoins “at any merchant location that accepts Visa.”

Visa has unveiled its next steps for the advancement of global payments. The company introduced new features and products on Wednesday including an AI-powered consumer shopping experience and payment products Visa Pay and Visa Accept.

However, its stablecoin-backed credit and debit cards were perhaps the highlights for the crypto-natives.

Visa said it partnered with Stripe’s Bridge to launch a product that allows developers to offer stablecoin-backed Visa cards.

According to the announcement, the product will initially launch across six countries in Latin America, including Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Chile.

It allows cardholders to make purchases using stablecoins “at any merchant location that accepts Visa,” while merchants get paid in their local currencies.

Commenting on the announcement, Jack Forestell, Visa’s chief product and strategy officer, said in a statement: “We’re focused on integrating stablecoins into Visa’s existing network and products in a frictionless and secure way. Partnering with Bridge represents a significant move in helping to make stablecoins usable in everyday life, giving consumers more choice in how they manage and spend their money.”

Bridge CEO Zach Abrams also holds similar views about integrating stablecoins with traditional finance, stating that integrating stablecoins with Visa’s global payment network is a “massive unlock” for developers looking to build convenient crypto products.

“Everyone already knows how to use cards for payments, and now everyone will be able to use stablecoins with just a tap of their card,” he said.

One of the companies that were first to launch such a product is the digital payments company Baanx, which introduced USDC stablecoin cards with Visa.

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The post Visa Taps Bridge to Launch Stablecoin-Linked Visa Cards in Latin America appeared first on NFTgators .

Quick take:

The product will initially launch across six countries in Latin America, including Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Chile.

It allows merchants to get paid in their local currencies.

Cardholders will be able to make purchases using stablecoins “at any merchant location that accepts Visa.”

Visa has unveiled its next steps for the advancement of global payments. The company introduced new features and products on Wednesday including an AI-powered consumer shopping experience and payment products Visa Pay and Visa Accept.

However, its stablecoin-backed credit and debit cards were perhaps the highlights for the crypto-natives.

Visa said it partnered with Stripe’s Bridge to launch a product that allows developers to offer stablecoin-backed Visa cards.

According to the announcement, the product will initially launch across six countries in Latin America, including Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Chile.

It allows cardholders to make purchases using stablecoins “at any merchant location that accepts Visa,” while merchants get paid in their local currencies.

Commenting on the announcement, Jack Forestell, Visa’s chief product and strategy officer, said in a statement: “We’re focused on integrating stablecoins into Visa’s existing network and products in a frictionless and secure way. Partnering with Bridge represents a significant move in helping to make stablecoins usable in everyday life, giving consumers more choice in how they manage and spend their money.”

Bridge CEO Zach Abrams also holds similar views about integrating stablecoins with traditional finance, stating that integrating stablecoins with Visa’s global payment network is a “massive unlock” for developers looking to build convenient crypto products.

“Everyone already knows how to use cards for payments, and now everyone will be able to use stablecoins with just a tap of their card,” he said.

One of the companies that were first to launch such a product is the digital payments company Baanx, which introduced USDC stablecoin cards with Visa.

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The post Visa Taps Bridge to Launch Stablecoin-Backed Credit Cards in Latin America appeared first on NFTgators .

Quick take:

Re7 Capital said the fund targets teams with high conviction and focus, with additional capital reserved for follow-on support.

The fund is anchored by Re7 Capital with further support coming from Lens, Farcaster Founder Dan Romero, and existing Re7 Capital limited partners.

Luc de Leyritz, general partner of SocialFi at Re7 Capital starting with a small fund size “keeps incentives on carry, not fees, forces discipline.”

Re7 Capital has launched a $10 million new fund to invest in early-stage SocialFi startups. SocialFi is a segment of dApps that focuses on blending web3 elements with social media. The sector has failed to keep up with other segments of the industry like real-world asset tokenisation and stablecoins in terms of adoption.

However, Luc de Leyritz believes things are about to change stating that “the timing is right: infrastructure, talent, and user behaviour are finally aligned,” The Block reported.

According to the announcement, Re7 Capital plans to cut checks of about $100,000 to $300,000 to support 25-30 early-stage SocialFi startups. The company is targeting teams with high conviction and focus, with additional capital reserved for follow-on support.

Re7 Capital anchored the fund with further support coming from Lens, Farcaster Founder Dan Romero, and existing Re7 Capital limited partners. Both Lens and Farcaster are SocialFu platforms.

Explaining why the firm chose to start with a relatively small fund, Leyritz said it “keeps incentives on carry, not fees, forces discipline.” “This venture sleeve is a high-conviction scout vehicle, not an AUM vanity play. If the thesis proves out, we’ll scale the next vintage.”

Despite the relatively slow penetration compared to other crypto categories, Leyritz believes that SocialFi is “the most important category” in crypto investing right now, whilst acknowledging not everyone sees the sector the same way.

Although the full $10 million has not yet been raised, the fund has already booked 60% in commitments, mainly from Re7 Capital and its partners. Leyritz expects it to close by the end of summer, also adding the top ceiling may be stretched slightly.

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The post Re7 Capital Launches $10M New Fund to Invest in Early-Stage SocialFi Startups appeared first on NFTgators .

Quick take:

The fundraising also attracted participation from Coinbase Ventures and the co-founders of the Solana blockchain.

Founded by Brandon Timinsky, Zar has already registered over 100,000 customer signups while over 7000 vendors have expressed interest.

Vendors will be able to make money from the service by choosing their own exchange rates and adding a profit margin.

Brandon Timinsky, former CEO of a Pakistani payments company has raised $7 million for Zar, his newest project that seeks to bring stablecoin for fiat exchanges to the local mobile money store.

The funding round was led by Dragonfly Capital, A16z Crypto and Vaneck Ventures, with participation from Coinbase Ventures and the co-founders of the Solana blockchain, Fortune reported.

The company plans to use the capital to build a platform that leverages the existing physical network of mobile money service providers where users can exchange stablecoins for fiat. Some of the capital will also go towards expanding the team and adding an office space.

“Zar is tapping into that infrastructure to create a cash for stablecoin exchange in the physical world,” Timinsky told Fortune. “Like Coinbase is an exchange online, Zar is an exchange that exists in the physical world.”

According to Timinsky, Zar has already registered over 100,000 customer signups while over 7000 vendors have expressed interest.

Zar is looking to tap into the 28 million network of mobile payment agents who facilitate more than $1.5 trillion worth of financial services annually. The app’s interest spans 20 countries, according to Tsiminsky, including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nigeria, Lebanon, and Argentina.

The announcement comes amid the growing interest in stablecoins. Plasma, which recently raised $24 million is building a blockchain focused on stablecoins, while Rain secured $24.5 million for its crypto card service.

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The post Dragonfly, A16z Crypto and Vaneck Ventures Lead $7M Funding for Stablecoin Startup Zar appeared first on NFTgators .

Quick take:

Libre now wants to tokenise $500 million worth of Telegram debt on the TON network.

The Teleram Bond Fund offers accredited investors exposure to the $2.35 billion of outstanding bonds issued by Telegram.

Investors also gain access to institutional-grade yield products that can be used as collateral for on-chain borrowing and product development on TON.

Libre, the on-chain tokenisation firm plans to tokenise $500 million of Telegram debt on the TON Network. This is not Libre’s first tokenised fund, with the firm having worked with the likes of BlackRock, Brevan Howard, Hamilton Lane and Laser Digital to tokenise more than $200 million in assets offered across multiple networks including Injective, NEAR, Solana and Ethereum.

The Telegram Bond Fund (TBF) offers investors exposure to about $2.4 billion of outstanding bonds issued by Telegram. The fund also offers access to institutional-grade yield products that can be used as collateral for on-chain borrowing and product development on TON.

Commenting on the announcement, Libre CEO Avtar Sehra said in an interview: “What we’ve created is like a fixed income fund that acquires the bonds and then we tokenize the fund. When you purchase units in the fund these are on the TON chain, giving you access to the returns of the underlying bonds themselves. This opens up opportunities to use the bonds for collateral, ease of transfers, etc, to ultimately create utility with these financial instruments.”

The announcement comes amid the growing interest in real-world asset tokenisation with the value of tokenised assets surpassing $18.9 billion, up from about $10 billion last April, according to data from the tokenised RWA tracking platform RWA.xyz.

Max Crown, TON Foundation CEO and MoonPay co-founder commented: “The launch of the Telegram Bond Fund marks a major step forward in bringing regulated real-world assets to TON’s ecosystem.”

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The post Libre to Tokenise $500M of the Blockchain-Based Telegram Bond Fund on the TON Network appeared first on NFTgators .

Quick take:

The global asset manager is issuing new digital shares for its $150 billion Treasury Trust fund.

BNY Mellon is the fund’s exclusive distributor, according to an SEC filing, which is subject to approval.

Institutional buyers of the digital ledger technology (DLT) shares will be required to invest at least $3 million, with no limit on subsequent purchases.

BlackRock is introducing a new class of shares for its $150 billion tokenised Treasury Trust fund. The company is using BNY Mellon to issue digital ledger technology (DLT) shares that will not hold cryptocurrency but will use blockchain technology to reflect share ownership records.

BNY Mellon is the Fund’s exclusive distributor of the fund, according to an SEC filing, which is subject to approval. Institutional buyers of the DLT shares will be required to invest at least $3 million, with no limit on subsequent purchases.

This type of share ownership record management demonstrates the multiple use cases in blockchain technology can be integrated into traditional finance through tokenisation.

BlackRock has been one the leading early adopters of crypto from traditional finance. The company’s tokenised USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) issued in partnership with Securitize has grown to become the biggest tokenised money market fund with over $2.5 billion, following its expansion to Solana, according to Dune.

The global investment and asset management company was also among the first companies to launch a Spot Bitcoin ETF, approved in January 2024. The BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF now boasts a market cap of $142.7 billion.

Last week, BlackRock-backed tokenisation platform Securitize launched a new crypto index fund with $400 million backing from Mantle.

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The post BlackRock Taps BNY Mellon to Offer DLT Shares of Its $150B Tokenised Treasury Trust Fund appeared first on NFTgators .

Quick take:

The global asset manager is issuing new digital shares for its $150 billion Treasury Trust fund.

BNY Mellon is the fund’s exclusive distributor, according to an SEC filing, which is subject to approval.

Institutional buyers of the digital ledger technology (DLT) shares will be required to invest at least $3 million, with no limit on subsequent purchases.

BlackRock is introducing a new class of shares for its $150 billion tokenised Treasury Trust fund. The company is using BNY Mellon to issue digital ledger technology (DLT) shares that will not hold cryptocurrency but will use blockchain technology to reflect share ownership records.

BNY Mellon is the Fund’s exclusive distributor of the fund, according to an SEC filing, which is subject to approval. Institutional buyers of the DLT shares will be required to invest at least $3 million, with no limit on subsequent purchases.

This type of share ownership record management demonstrates the multiple use cases in blockchain technology can be integrated into traditional finance through tokenisation.

BlackRock has been one the leading early adopters of crypto from traditional finance. The company’s tokenised USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) issued in partnership with Securitize has grown to become the biggest tokenised money market fund with over $2.5 billion, following its expansion to Solana, according to Dune.

The global investment and asset management company was also among the first companies to launch a Spot Bitcoin ETF, approved in January 2024. The BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF now boasts a market cap of $142.7 billion.

Last week, BlackRock-backed tokenisation platform Securitize launched a new crypto index fund with $400 million backing from Mantle.

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The post BlackRock Taps BNY Mellon for New $150B Tokenised Treasury Trust Fund appeared first on NFTgators .

Quick take:

The fundraising also attracted participation from Finality Capital Partners, Symbolic Capital, P2 Ventures, Delta Fund, and MH Ventures.

Miden leverages zero-knowledge technology to provide the confidentiality that large institutions require when executing large payment batches.

Miden was incubated in Polygon in 2021 and plans to launch its main network by the end of the year.

Miden, a privacy-focused institutional grade protocol has secured $25 million in seed funding led by A16z crypto, 1kx and Hack VC. The fundraising also attracted participation from Finality Capital Partners, Symbolic Capital, P2 Ventures, Delta Fund, and MH Ventures.

The company plans to use the fresh capital to accelerate its roadmap including expanding its ecosystem and building more developer tools.

Miden leverages zero-knowledge technology to provide the confidentiality that large institutions require when executing large payment batches. The company was incubated in Polygon in 2021 and plans to launch its main network by the end of the year.

According to the Miden co-founder Azeem Khan large institutions and investors are telling the Miden team that they need a kind of privacy solution that complies with regulatory requirements without compromising on performance and decentralisation.

Miden’s privacy solution allows institutions and applications to choose whether to execute transactions in a public or private fashion at scale.

Bobbin Threadbare, another co-founder of Miden told CoinDesk: “It’s very different from most other blockchains on a technical level, and it had to be different because of the type of use cases and functionality we want to enable. I don’t think something like this is possible to build on top of Ethereum or Solana.”

Sandeep Nailwal, the founder of Polygon Labs described Miden in a press release as “what the future of blockchains looks like.”

“With edge execution at its core, it’s not just an upgrade — it’s the blueprint for the final form of blockchain architecture.”

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The post Miden Spins Out from Polygon With $25M Funding Led by A16z Crypto, 1kx and Hack VC appeared first on NFTgators .

Quick take:

The fundraising attracted participation from crypto VCs Framework Ventures and Electric Capital.

The company will use the funds to hire more employees as it seeks to double the size of its staff from five to ten.

By leveraging RSIC-V, Heeger says the new virtual machine will make the Thru blockchain more accessible to non-crypto native developers.

Unto Labs has announced a $14.4 million funding round backed by leading crypto-focused venture firms, Framework Ventures and Electric Capital. 

Developed by Liam Heeger, a former engineer at Ethereum and Solana, Unto Labs is building a new virtual machine, ThruVM, that seeks to address one of the biggest drawbacks of network-specific virtual machines by using the popular computing system RISC-V to build Thru blockchain.

“Crypto-specific tools, bespoke crypto VMs, and domain‑specific programming languages pigeon‑hole blockchain development and prevent mainstream industry adoption,” Unto Labs said in a statement.

The company plans to use ThruVM to make its upcoming layer-1 blockchain, Thru more accessible to non-crypto native developers.

RISC-V is widely used outside of the crypto world and Heeger thinks its ability to allow software to interact with hardware will promote more innovation in the crypto space.

“RISC-V maps better to conventional hardware that you would find in a server or in a laptop,” Heeger said. “There are performance benefits, there are developer benefits, there’s more tooling.”

Heeger’s new layer-1 blockchain is built to compete with leading dApp-focused blockchains Ethereum and Solana. Thru will let users make transactions, interact with existing crypto applications, and build blockchain-based finance tools, Fortune reported.

Heeger said the company plans to use the fresh capital to expand its team of five to ten by the end of the year.

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The post Unto Labs Raises $14.4 Million for New Layer-1 Blockchain Thru appeared first on NFTgators .

Quick take:

The fundraising also attracted participation from Finality Capital Partners, Symbolic Capital, P2 Ventures, Delta Fund, and MH Ventures.

Miden leverages zero-knowledge technology to provide the confidentiality that large institutions require when executing large payment batches.

Miden was incubated in Polygon in 2021 and plans to launch its main network by the end of the year.

Miden, a privacy-focused institutional grade protocol has secured $25 million in seed funding led by A16z crypto, 1kx and Hack VC. The fundraising also attracted participation from Finality Capital Partners, Symbolic Capital, P2 Ventures, Delta Fund, and MH Ventures.

The company plans to use the fresh capital to accelerate its roadmap including expanding its ecosystem and building more developer tools.

Miden leverages zero-knowledge technology to provide the confidentiality that large institutions require when executing large payment batches. The company was incubated in Polygon in 2021 and plans to launch its main network by the end of the year.

According to the Miden co-founder Azeem Khan large institutions and investors are telling the Miden team that they need a kind of privacy solution that complies with regulatory requirements without compromising on performance and decentralisation.

Miden’s privacy solution allows institutions and applications to choose whether to execute transactions in a public or private fashion at scale.

Bobbin Threadbare, another co-founder of Miden told CoinDesk: “It’s very different from most other blockchains on a technical level, and it had to be different because of the type of use cases and functionality we want to enable. I don’t think something like this is possible to build on top of Ethereum or Solana.”

Sandeep Nailwal, the founder of Polygon Labs described Miden in a press release as “what the future of blockchains looks like.”

“With edge execution at its core, it’s not just an upgrade — it’s the blueprint for the final form of blockchain architecture.”

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The post Miden Spins Out from Polygon With $25M Funding Led by A16z Crypto,1kx and Hack VC appeared first on NFTgators .

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The company will use the fresh capital to scale its privacy-focused layer-1 network.

Camp Network allows users to register and tokenize their IP on-chain and train and deploy AI agents.

The company has now raised $30 million in total, according to a press release seen by NFTgators.

Camp Network has secured $30 million in total funding, following a $25 million Series A round announced on Tuesday. 1kx and Blockchain Capital co-led the latest funding, with participation from dao5, Lattice, TrueBridge, Maven 11, Hypersphere, OKX, Paper Ventures, Protagonist and others.

The company is building a privacy-focused layer-1 blockchain that allows users to register and tokenize their IP on-chain, and train and deploy AI agents, the company said in a press release seen by NFTgators.

Camp Network is trying to address concerns about user data and intellectual property rights in a digital economy that is rapidly being redefined by AI.

“Camp Network exists to solve the missing link between IP and AI,” said James Chi, Co-Founder of Camp Network. “In a world where AI will generate the majority of content, provenance is no longer a feature — it’s the necessary foundation for making ownership and value enforceable by design.”

The company’s “purpose-built” layer-1 blockchain is based on an architecture that prioritises gasless IP registration and royalty distribution and supports isolated execution environments tailored for agent-based workflows and automated licensing.

The platform allows developers to launch dedicated app chains with isolated blockspace and compute, which provides the flexibility and scalability needed for high-performance workloads.

Peter Pan, Partner at 1kx commented: “Despite being an undercapitalized challenger to other incumbent L1 ecosystems, they’ve already proven highly competitive in attracting integrations from founders building at the intersection of entertainment and crypto.”

Aleks Larsen, General Partner at Blockchain Capital added: “As more content is created by or with AI, Camp Network ensures provenance, ownership, and compensation are embedded in the system from the start.”

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The post Camp Network Secures $25M Series A Round Co-Led by 1kx and Blockchain Capital appeared first on NFTgators .

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The two companies have partnered to bring Lombard’s liquid-staked bitcoin LBTC to the EigenLayer ecosystem, for restaking.

Lombard and Eigen Foundations also plan to bolster BTC restaking security and slashing design in the coming months.

The partnership will contribute to Lombard’s long-term plan of expanding Bitcoin utility through more use cases.

Bitcoin liquid staking platform Lombard has partnered with Eigen Foundation to bring BTC restaking to the EigenLayer ecosystem. The partnership allows Bitcoin holders to to earn yield by staking BTC on the Babylon protocol and further rewards through restaking on Eigenlayer.

EigenLayer is the leading crypto restaking protocol on Ethereum. The platform allows stakers to restake their staked tokens to earn more rewards. The restaked assets secure actively validated services (AVSs) including bridges, oracles, Layers 2s and side chains, and data availability networks.

Lombard’s liquid staking platform allows BTC holders to earn base yield by staking their tokens on Babylon.

Lombard and Eigen Foundation plan to bolster BTC restaking security and slashing design in the coming months. The partnership is also part of Lombard’s goal of expanding Bitcoin beyond being a mere store of value by adding utility through more use cases.

Commenting on the announcement, Lombard Finance co-founder Jacob Phillips told The Block: “Partnering with EigenLayer creates a landmark moment for Bitcoin, bringing LBTC as the first BTC asset into the restaking ecosystem. This collaboration unlocks new rewards opportunities for Bitcoin holders while strengthening decentralized infrastructure across the ecosystem.”

Luke Hajdukiewicz, Eigen Lab’s head of AVS business development commented: “Lombard is an incredible addition to the ecosystem, their impressive experience in the BTC ecosystem will be a welcome force to provide additional and diverse security to AVSs.”

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The company previously raised $20 million from investors including Distributed Global, North Island Ventures, and Delphi Digital.

Nous Research is using the Solana blockchain to train its open-source AI models.

A big percentage of the new funding will go to compute power and expanding its research capabilities.

Nous Research, a decentralised AI startup has raised $50 million in a Series A round almost entirely funded by crypto-focused venture firm Paradigm. The fundraising closed at a token valuation of $1 billion, a source who asked for anonymity told Fortune. 

The fundraising follows the company’s $20 million funding in seed rounds backed by the likes of Distributed Global, North Island Ventures, and Delphi Digital.

Nous is building decentralised AI training for open-source AI models on Solana with a view of taking on the centralised AI giants like DeepSeek and OpenAI. 

The company was founded by developers who did not originally opt to use blockchain technology but later chose it for its coordination and incentive capabilities, which allow it to leverage the power of a decentralised GPU network. 

Unlike in centralised systems where AI models are trained in a central data centre, Nous plans to train its models in a completely distributed way, harnessing spare computing capacity from people around the world, Fortune reported.

“We very much came from a mentality that we want to create and serve the world’s best AI,” said cofounder Karan Malhotra. 

According to Malhotra, Nous is leveraging blockchain technology to drive participation. “We think of the incentive mechanism behind crypto to push people to actually utilize their idle compute less as a donation but more as a transaction.”

Malhotra also believes that using blockchain technology to train AI models de-incentivises bad actors in a distributed training approach, making sure that the process is not poisoned by users who send inappropriate data.

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The post Paradigm Anchors $50M Series A for Decentralised AI Startup Nous Research appeared first on NFTgators .