Cetus, a decentralized exchange (DEX) for Sui and Aptos blockchains, has achieved a new milestone with its total value locked (TVL) surpassing $183 million on October 2. Launched at the end of 2022, Cetus initially peaked at nearly $155 million in June but experienced a significant drop, losing over 50% of its liquidity within a month.

Since early August, the DEX has shown remarkable recovery, with its TVL increasing by over 154%, including a 90% surge in the past month alone, according to DefiLlama. Notably, Sui accounts for 99.9% of Cetus's TVL, making it the largest DEX on the Sui blockchain, which itself has reached a record $1.29 billion in TVL.

Sui's rapid growth has positioned it as the ninth-largest blockchain by TVL, surpassing notable networks such as Polygon and Aptos. Other significant contributors to Sui's growth include Navi Protocol, Scallop, and Suilend, all achieving record TVL figures.

Cetus has solidified its status as the largest DEX on Sui and the fourth-largest dapp on the network. The platform's daily trading volume hit a record $119 million on September 1, and daily fees reached an all-time high of over $288,000 on October 2.

Franklin Templeton, a $1.6 trillion asset management firm, has announced the expansion of its OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (FOBXX) to the Aptos blockchain. This move signifies a notable advancement in the tokenized real-world asset money fund, which will now be accessible on non-EVM blockchain environments. This follows FOBXX's recent integration with the Avalanche blockchain.

Launched in 2021, the FOBXX fund manages $420 million in assets, with each share represented by a BENJI token. Institutional investors can allocate funds using their crypto wallets on the Benji Investments platform and may now hold their wallets on the Aptos blockchain.

FOBXX is the first U.S.-registered fund to utilize a public blockchain for transaction processing and share ownership recording. Bashar Lazaar of Aptos Foundation praised Franklin Templeton's innovative approach, emphasizing the importance of connecting TradFi and DeFi worlds, as well as EVM and non-EVM networks.

Roger Bayston, Head of Digital Assets at Franklin Templeton, highlighted the Aptos Network's unique characteristics that align with their suitability standards. This development marks a significant milestone in leveraging blockchain technology for new asset management capabilities.

Robinhood Crypto and Matrixport Expand Services in Europe

Robinhood Crypto and Matrixport have announced significant expansions into the European market. Robinhood Crypto, a unit of Robinhood Markets, launched cryptocurrency transfer services in the EU, allowing users to deposit and withdraw over 20 digital currencies, including Bitcoin and Ethereum. Johann Kerbrat, VP and GM of Robinhood Crypto, emphasized the move's aim to simplify self-custody and DeFi access.

Simultaneously, Matrixport acquired Crypto Finance, a Swiss crypto assets manager, renaming it Matrixport Asset Management AG. This acquisition will provide institutional-grade crypto investment solutions. These expansions follow the European Parliament's adoption of the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, aimed at establishing a harmonized regulatory framework for crypto-assets in the EU.

Kin Capital, a digital asset manager with $25 million in assets under management, has announced the launch of a $100 million tokenised real-estate debt fund on the Chintai network. This layer-1 blockchain is dedicated to the tokenisation of real-world assets (RWAs). The fund, accessible to investors with a minimum investment of $50,000, aims for an annual return of 14%-15% with quarterly distributions.

The real-world asset tokenisation market is projected to reach a valuation of $10 trillion by 2030, driven by the need for greater efficiency, lower costs, and faster settlements. Kin Capital's initiative reflects the growing trend of integrating traditional finance with blockchain technology, offering accredited investors unique opportunities in the digital asset space.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has reached a $700,000 settlement with Mango DAO and Blockworks Foundation over alleged securities violations. The charges pertain to the sale of over $70 million in unregistered MNGO tokens on the Mango Markets platform, beginning in August 2021. Both entities were also accused of acting as unregistered brokers by soliciting and facilitating securities transactions.

Jorge G. Tenreiro, Acting Chief of the SEC's Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit, emphasized that the label "DAO" does not exempt entities from registration requirements. The settlement includes the destruction of MNGO tokens and a ban on their trading.

Mawari Network Secures $10.8M Funding for Spatial Computing DePIN on Solana

Mawari Network has successfully raised $10.8 million in a funding round led by Anfield Ltd, Borderless Capital, and 1kx, with additional participation from Accord Ventures, Animoca Brands Japan, Blockchange Ventures, Draper Dragon, and Samsung Next. This funding round was structured as a simple agreement for future equity (SAFE) with token warrants.

Notably, Helium co-founder and Borderless Capital partner Sean Carey will join Mawari's board of directors. The company aims to build a decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN) focused on scaling spatial computing, blending physical and digital worlds through extended reality (XR), augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR) devices.

Mawari's CEO, Luis Oscar Ramirez, highlighted the company's mission to address challenges in creating real-time, immersive content, emphasizing the platform's ability to handle intensive computing tasks globally. The mainnet launch on Solana is scheduled for Q1 2025.

Guggenheim Partners has partnered with blockchain platform Zeconomy to issue $20 million in tokenised commercial paper on the Ethereum blockchain. This move signifies a strategic expansion into the burgeoning real-world asset (RWA) tokenisation sector, which has seen significant growth, now boasting over $12 billion in tokenised assets, including $2 billion in U.S. treasuries, according to RWA.XYZ.

Guggenheim, managing $300 billion in assets, previously had 10% of its portfolio in Bitcoin via the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, which converted to a Spot Bitcoin ETF in January. This latest initiative aligns with the industry's upward trajectory, attracting major players like BlackRock and Franklin Templeton.

Zeconomy’s CEO, Giacinto Cosenza, highlighted the partnership's potential to meet the growing demand for secure blockchain solutions. Moody’s Investors Services rated the commercial paper P-1, the highest mark for short-term credit products.

PayPal Introduces Crypto Functions for U.S. Business Accounts

PayPal has unveiled new features for U.S. business clients, enabling them to buy, hold, and sell cryptocurrencies. Announced on Wednesday, the global online payments company stated that these services will initially exclude New York State residents.

Additionally, PayPal is allowing U.S. merchants to transfer cryptocurrency on-chain to third-party eligible wallets. This means business account holders can now send and receive supported crypto tokens to and from external blockchain addresses.

These enhancements are part of PayPal’s broader strategy to increase crypto utility for its U.S. clients, reflecting the growing demand from business owners for similar capabilities available to consumers.

Visa Advances Web3 Strategy with Institutional Grade Platform for Testing Tokenised Assets

Visa has launched a new platform aimed at helping banks test tokenised assets, allowing financial institutions to issue fiat-backed tokens and explore their use cases. Spain-based BBVA is one of the early adopters of this platform, which is part of Visa’s broader initiative to streamline global standards for blockchain-based products.

This move follows Visa’s pilot program with HSBC and Hang Seng Bank in Hong Kong’s Digital Hong Kong Dollar initiative. The tokenisation of real-world assets is gaining traction, with central banks and asset managers like BlackRock leading the way. Visa’s platform aims to offer similar opportunities to banks, enabling them to create regulated, fiat-backed tokens for corporate and customer use.

Initia, a Web3 startup focusing on a layer-1 blockchain and an interconnected system of layer-2s, has successfully raised $14 million in a Series A round led by Theory Ventures, with participation from Delphi Ventures and Hack VC. Angel investors such as Keone Hon of Monad Labs, Bryan Pellegrino of LayerZero, and Michael Egorov of Curve Finance also joined the round.

The fundraising was structured as a simple agreement for future equity with token warrants, valuing the tokens at $350 million. This brings Initia's total funding to $22.5 million, following a $7.5 million seed round and pre-seed funding.

Initia recently concluded its testnet phase, which saw over 125 million transactions and nearly 3 million unique wallets. The mainnet is expected to launch within the next two months. The company plans to use part of the capital to expand its marketing, business development, and developer relations teams.

Initia's rollups are built using the Cosmos SDK and are compatible with Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), Move Virtual Machine (MoveVM), and CosmWasm’s WebAssembly Virtual Machine (WasmVM), offering developers customizable transaction processing.

Co-founder Ezaan “Zon” Mangalji stated, “We are holistically building a new multi-chain world across the architecture, product, and economic stacks using the Initia L1 and an interwoven system of L2s.”

Daylight, an integrated on-chain API supporting multiple crypto wallets, has raised $6 million in a seed round co-led by Union Square Ventures and 1kx, with additional participation from Framework Ventures and Chapter One. This brings the total funding to $9 million, following a $3 million pre-seed round in November 2022.

The platform, which facilitates transactions for 6 million monthly active addresses, aims to scale this number to tens of millions. Supported wallets include MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, Zerion, and OKX Wallet. Daylight plans to expand its team and add more transaction categories, enhancing user participation in on-chain activities like airdrop claims and NFT mints.

TrueCoin and TrustToken Settle with SEC Over TrueUSD Allegations

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged TrueCoin and TrustToken with defrauding investors through investment contracts involving TrueUSD (TUSD), an alleged stablecoin. The SEC's filing in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California claims that TrustToken developed and operated TrueFi, a lending protocol, while TrueCoin issued TUSD.

The alleged fraudulent activities occurred from November 2020 to April 2023. The SEC asserts that the companies falsely marketed TUSD as fully backed by U.S. dollars, despite investing significant reserves in a speculative fund. Both companies have agreed to settle without admitting or denying the allegations, with each paying civil penalties and additional financial penalties for TrueCoin.

Celestia Foundation has announced a $100 million fundraising round led by Big Brain Capital, with participation from Syncracy Capital, 1kx, Robot Ventures, Placeholder, and others. This brings the total funds raised to $155 million, following a $55 million round in October 2022. The announcement comes nearly a year after Celestia Network launched its mainnet in October 2023.

Celestia offers a specialized modular consensus and data network designed to scale permissionless blockchains. Developers have deployed the first 20 rollup chains, and Celestia data blobs now constitute more than half of the total data published by rollups. The foundation claims its modular network overcomes execution layer overheads, allowing developers to deploy high-throughput applications using any VM, whether for existing ecosystems like Ethereum or as sovereign networks.

Portal, the fifth-largest bridge solution by token deposits, has surpassed the $3 billion mark in total value locked (TVL) for the first time since May 2022, according to DefiLlama. Portal, a Wormhole-based bridge, supports 24 chains including Ethereum, Solana, and BNB Smart Chain. Despite its growth, bridges remain vulnerable in DeFi, with nearly 70% of all crypto thefts in 2022 linked to them, as per Chainalysis. Portal itself suffered a $320 million hack in February 2022. Ethereum accounts for 90% of Portal's TVL, while Solana's share has declined to $122 million.

**Starknet Lending Protocol Vesu Reaches $10M TVL Milestone**

Vesu, a decentralized lending protocol on Starknet, has achieved a significant milestone by reaching a total value locked (TVL) of $10 million as of September 19. According to DefiLlama, the platform's TVL currently stands at $10.8 million.

Launched in mid-July, Vesu has rapidly ascended to become the fourth-largest DeFi application on Starknet. It has seen a remarkable growth of over 90% in the past month, outperforming other top dapps on the network.

The protocol's primary markets include Ethereum (ETH), Starknet (STRK), and USDC, with Ethereum accounting for over two-thirds of total deposits. STRK and USDC follow with 25% and 5% shares, respectively.

On August 30, Vesu experienced record daily inflows, with nearly $2 million worth of tokens deposited. Lenders targeting Ethereum and Starknet can expect an annual percentage yield (APY) of 9%, while USDC holders may see returns exceeding 11%.

USDC is the most borrowed token on the platform, representing over 80% of total borrows with $2.3 million. The total borrowed funds have reached a record $2.75 million.

Vesu's growth has contributed to Starknet's overall recovery, with the total value of tokens deposited in Starknet-based DeFi apps reaching $256 million, the highest in over a month. Starknet, an Ethereum layer 2 scaling solution using zero-knowledge rollups, saw a surge in DeFi activity earlier this year following the Dencun upgrade.

Drift Labs, a decentralized exchange platform built on Solana, has successfully raised $25 million in a Series B funding round led by Multicoin Capital. Other participants include Blockchain Capital, Primitive Ventures, and Folius Ventures. The funds were raised through a private token sale.

Drift Labs aims to become the "Robinhood of Crypto," offering services such as spot and derivatives trading, and a predictions market. The platform operates via a permissionless structure and is governed by a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) using the DRIFT token.

Since its V1 launch in November 2021, Drift has attracted 200,000 users and achieved over $50 billion in cumulative volume. The new funding will be used to double its staff from 25 to 50 within the next year.

Commerzbank and Crypto Finance Team Up to Offer Digital Assets Trading Services

Commerzbank, Germany's largest bank by the number of branches, has announced a partnership with Crypto Finance, a subsidiary of Germany’s biggest stock exchange, to offer digital asset trading services. This collaboration will initially provide Bitcoin and Ether trading to Commerzbank's corporate clients in Germany.

Commerzbank, which received a crypto custody license in Germany last year, will handle custody services, while Crypto Finance will facilitate digital asset trading. This initiative aligns with Commerzbank's strategy to create a secure, regulatory-compliant platform for institutional clients.

The announcement follows a similar agreement between Crypto Finance and Zürcher Kantonalbank in Switzerland two weeks ago. Gernot Kleckner, head of capital markets for corporate clients at Commerzbank, emphasized the high security standards of the joint solution. Stijn Vander Straeten, CEO of Crypto Finance, highlighted the commitment to secure digital asset solutions across Europe and the growing demand for institutional crypto services in Germany and the EU.

Jellyverse, a decentralized exchange (DEX) on the Sei blockchain, has experienced significant growth over the past month, with its total value locked (TVL) tripling to a record $13.2 million. This surge positions Jellyverse as the second-largest DEX on Sei, trailing only Dragon Swap, which has a TVL exceeding $20 million.

Launched in mid-June, Jellyverse is a Sei-focused DEX platform forked from Balancer V2, offering staking and synthetics protocols. The DEX features pools containing two or three tokens, including USD stablecoins and Ethereum, with annual percentage rates (APR) ranging from 9.7% to over 16%.

Standard pools on Jellyverse include pairs with its native JLY token, wrapped FRAX, SEI (WSEI), USDC, wrapped Ethereum (WETH), and USDT, boasting APR figures from 13% to over 137%. Daily trading volume reached a record high of $802,300 on September 18, with total cumulative volume nearing $25 million.

The Sei blockchain, a high-speed Cosmos-based layer 1 blockchain focused on DeFi and trading, continues to expand its presence. It recently surpassed the $150 million TVL mark, establishing itself as the best monthly performer among the top 90 blockchains by TVL.

Flare blockchain's presence in decentralized finance (DeFi) is consolidating. Last week, the total value locked (TVL) on the network surpassed the $15 million milestone. DefiLlama shows a record $16.3 million in TVL as of this writing, up 100% since the beginning of August. Meanwhile, the weekly transaction count nearly hit the 2 million mark last week.

Flare is a layer 1 blockchain focusing on interoperability. It is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and enables the use of smart contracts on Ripple (XRP). The network’s presence in DeFi became noticeable at the end of 2023. Today, it hosts seven dapps with over $1 million in TVL.

The largest dapp is Clearpool, a lending platform aimed at institutional investors, with over $16 million in TVL. The second-largest dapp is Sceptre Liquid, a liquid staking protocol for Flare’s native coin, FLR, with $13 million in deposits. Kinetic, a native lending dapp, has surged from zero to over $6 million in TVL within a month. Other major contributors include SparkDEX and BlazeSwap, two rapidly growing decentralized exchanges (DEXs).

Privado ID, formerly known as Polygon ID, has announced its merger with Disco, a leader in multichain verifiable data and reputation management. This strategic move aims to create a unified, chain-agnostic digital identity infrastructure that bridges Web2 and Web3. The newly formed entity will expand its services to multiple chains, including Optimism, Base, and Arbitrum, and is in discussions to integrate their combined identity solutions into DeFi platforms, enterprise ecosystems, and governance structures.

The unified digital ID solutions will enable users to manage their identities across various platforms, enhancing verifiability and trust. This merger also aims to facilitate the automatic delivery of benefits and opportunities to the right parties in a connected world. By leveraging Disco’s Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) and Verifiable Credentials (VCs), Privado ID enhances cross-chain compatibility, expanding its services across multiple EVM-compatible chains.