Merkle Manufactory to Return $180M to Venture Backers After Neynar’s Farcaster Acquisition
Quick take:
Dan Romero, a former vice president at Coinbase, assured followers that Farcaster isn’t shutting down, and that Neynar plans to shift it in a more developer-focused direction.
According to Romero, Farcaster had 250,000 MAUs in December and boasts over 100,000 funded wallets.
On January 20, Aave transferred Lens Protocol stewardship to Mask Network, highlighting the ongoing consolidation in the crypto social segment of the blockchain industry.
Merkle Manufactory, the organization behind the Ethereum-based Web3 social media infrastructure platform Farcaster, has announced plans to return $180 million to venture capital backers.
The report came out late on Thursday after users raised concerns on social media platforms following Neynar’s acquisition of Farcaster. Dan Romero, a former vice president at Coinbase, assured followers that Farcaster isn’t shutting down, and that Neynar plans to shift it in a more developer-focused direction.
Founded in 2020 by former Coinbase executives Dan Romero and Varun Srinivasan, Farcaster grew to amass an MAU of 250,000 in December and over 100,000 funded wallets, according to Romero.
The platform’s latest move demonstrates the increasing consolidation in the crypto space, with Aave transferring Lens Protocol’s (another crypto social protocol) stewardship to Mask Network, according to an announcement on January 20.
According to Akshat Vaidya, co-founder and managing partner of Arthur Hayes’ family office Maelstrom, scaling DeFi social is brutal. “Tokens and on-chain ownership are nice features, but they don’t solve the chicken-egg problem: nobody posts daily where their audience isn’t already living,” Bloomberg reported.
Last May, Farcaster raised $150 million in a round led by Paradigm with participation from a16z crypto, Haun, USV, Variant, Standard Crypto, and others, valuing the crypto startup at $1 billion.
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Crypto Security Company Ledger Targets $4 Billion IPO in US Listing
Quick take:
People familiar with the matter cautioned that the plans could still change, according to the Financial Times.
Ledger offers cold wallet storage devices, enabling crypto users to store private keys off-chain.
Founded in 2014 in Paris, Ledger was valued at $1.5 billion in 2023 after raising funds from the likes of Singapore’s True Global Ventures and 10T Holdings.
Cryptocurrency security company Ledger, the developers of the popular cold storage crypto wallet by the same name, is reportedly going public in an IPO that could value it at more than $4 billion.
According to the report by the Financial Times, the French cryptocurrency company is reportedly already working with bankers from bankers at Goldman Sachs, Jefferies, and Barclays on the deal, which could happen as early as this year. However, people familiar with the matter have cautioned that the plans could still change.
Founded in 2014 in Paris, the company was valued at $1.5 billion in 2023 after raising funds from the likes of Singapore’s True Global Ventures and 10T Holdings.
Ledger is renowned for its cold wallet storage devices, which enable crypto users to store private keys (a set of unique, secret, alphanumeric codes, often represented as 12-24 word seed phrases) off-chain.
The report comes just a day after crypto custody services and infrastructure company BitGo raised $213 million in an IPO at a valuation of $2 billion.
Cryptocurrency companies have, over the past year, expanded their fundraising strategies to include public listing in US stock markets, with the success stories of the likes of eToro, Circle Internet Group, Gemini, and Figure Technology Solutions among those that made headlines last year.
However, activity slowed in the fourth quarter of 2025, amid a bearish crypto market, before BitGo’s 2026 curtain-raiser.
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World Liberty Financial and Spacecoin Partner to Build Solutions for Decentralized Satellite Inte...
Quick take:
The partnership is anchored by a strategic token swap between the two companies.
It follows Spacecoin’s launch of three satellites into orbit in November, as it continues to build a constellation over the past three years.
This new internet demands financial infrastructure purpose-built for global scale, and World Liberty Financial enables that capability, Spacecoin wrote.
Spacecoin, a decentralised satellite internet connectivity service provider, and World Liberty Financial, a technology conglomerate investing in digital assets, AI, and clean energy, have partnered to build solutions at the intersection of decentralized finance (DeFi) and satellite internet connectivity, anchored by a strategic token swap between the two companies.
Spacecoin believes it provides the financial infrastructure required to scale decentralized satellite internet connectivity.
Spacecoin has been building a constellation of satellites in orbit over the last three years as it seeks to achieve that goal. This announcement comes on the heels of its recent launch of three satellites in November.
The company believes that its partnership with World Liberty Financial marks the beginning of a journey to developing new solutions that converge the decentralized technology of finance and satellite internet connectivity.
Commenting on the announcement, Zak Folkman, Co-Founder of World Liberty Financial, said that Spacecoin is addressing a real infrastructure problem — expanding internet access by building connectivity from space.
“What stood out to us is the focus on execution and long-term utility. USD1 is intended to support payment and settlement activity in the real world, and partnerships like this are focused on exploring payments, settlement, and coordination in environments where traditional financial rails may be limited,” he said.
Tae Oh, Founder of Spacecoin, believes his company’s efforts so far have only been able to address half of the problem, stating that “True digital freedom also requires access to robust, fair, and open financial services.”
“Partnering with World Liberty Financial, a provider of compliant and trusted DeFi solutions, means when our users come online for the first time, they can have access to one of the most important internet capabilities: to financially transact,” he said.
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Chainlink Boosts Revenue for DeFi With the Acquisition of Atlas By FastLane
Quick take:
Atlas will now exclusively support Chainlink SVR, with a streamlined migration path set for existing Atlas users.
Users from the deprecated Atlas RedStone deployment will also migrate to the new expanded ecosystem.
Atlas enables DeFi protocols like Compound and Venus to recapture value by powering application-specific order flow auctions, such as for liquidations.
Chainlink, the decentralized oracle network that acts as a secure bridge, connecting blockchains and smart contracts with real-world data, both on-chain and off-chain, has announced the acquisition of Atlas by FastLane. Atlas is an EVM-compatible modular protocol built for execution abstraction to enable optimized transaction execution through decentralized auctions.
As part of the acquisition, key Atlas personnel are joining Chainlink from FastLane, bringing a market-tested order flow and value recapture solution under the Chainlink standard. Atlas enables DeFi protocols like Compound and Venus to recapture value by powering application-specific order flow auctions, such as for liquidations.
The modular protocol’s production-proven order flow technology has already been integrated into Chainlink SVR, as Chainlink seeks to increase revenue for the DeFi economy by expanding SVR to new blockchain ecosystems, including Arbitrum, Base, BNB Chain, Ethereum, and HyperEVM. The company plans to add more chains over time.
Commenting on the announcement, Johann Eid, Chief Business Officer at Chainlink Labs, said in a statement: “I’m thrilled to welcome Atlas into the Chainlink standard. Uniting Atlas’s proven order flow auction technology with Chainlink SVR creates the most effective value recapture system DeFi has ever had, increasing revenue for DeFi through SVR expansion to new ecosystems. We’re excited to deepen our collaboration with FastLane to bring SVR to more protocols, faster.”
Alex Watts, CEO of FastLane, commented: Bringing Atlas together with Chainlink creates the most credible path for DeFi protocols to recapture value on-chain at scale. Chainlink is best positioned to lead the OEV market and advance Atlas through its industry-leading SVR product. We’re excited to see Atlas thrive within the Chainlink ecosystem and to help protocols onboard to SVR with confidence.”
Atlas will now exclusively support Chainlink SVR, with a streamlined migration path set for existing Atlas users. Users from the deprecated Atlas RedStone deployment will also migrate to the new expanded ecosystem.
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BitGo Shares Spike 25% After Raising $213 Million in IPO
Quick take:
The IPO priced BitGo at a value of $2.08 billion, with the valuation rising to $2.59 billion after the price rose to $22.43 per share.
BitGo becomes the first crypto IPO of the year after a relatively slower period towards the end of last year.
It follows in the footsteps of the likes of eToro, Circle Internet Group, and Gemini, among leading crypto companies looking to tap into public markets amid the Trump-led crypto-friendly regulatory approach.
BitGo, the digital asset custodial services provider, went public on Thursday, pricing its initial public offering at $18 per share, slightly above its forecasted range of $15-$17. BitGo raisd $212.8 million from the IPO at a valuation of $2.08 billion.
Shares of the digital asset infrastructure and financial services provider popped 25% to trade at about $22.43 on Thursday, valuing the stock at $2.59 billion.
BitGo is now the first crypto company to go public in 2026, and opens the doors overall for several other IPOs planned marketwide, including from the likes of Kraken.
It follows in the footsteps of the likes of eToro, Circle Internet Group, and Gemini, among leading crypto companies looking to tap into public markets amid the Trump-led crypto-friendly regulatory approach.
It also comes amid a bearish crypto market sentiment, with the Bitcoin price shedding a significant fraction of its value from its all-time highs set in October.
Commenting on the timing of BitGo’s IPO, IPOX research associate Lukas Muehlbauer said: “BitGo’s IPO is the first major bellwether of the market’s appetite for crypto listings in 2026. While Gemini listed near the peak of the crypto market last year, BitGo is going public into the headwinds of the recent selloff.”
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Superstate Secures $82.5M Series B Led By Bain Capital Crypto and Distributed Global
Quick take:
The company plans to use the fresh capital to accelerate its ongoing projects as it seeks to bring WallStreet on-chain through tokenization.
Superstate said it has already tokenized over $1.2 billion in assets since its $14 million Series A raise in November 2023.
The company also built Opening Bell, a platform that enables public companies to tokenize their shares on Ethereum and Solana, as well as raise follow-on capital through Direct Issuance Programs.
Superstate, the real-world asset tokenization platform targeting publicly listed companies, has raised $82.5 million in a Series B round led by Bain Capital Crypto and Distributed Global.
The fundraising also attracted participation from Haun Ventures, Brevan Howard Digital, Galaxy Digital, Sentinel Global, Bullish, Hypersphere Capital, and Flowdesk, alongside our existing investors, Superstate wrote in an announcement on its website on Thursday.
According to the announcement, the company plans to use the fresh capital to accelerate its ongoing projects as it seeks to bring WallStreet on-chain through tokenization. Supetstate claims to have already tokenized over $1.2 billion in assets since its $14 million Series A announced in November 2023.
The company also built Opening Bell, a platform that enables public companies to tokenize their shares on Ethereum and Solana, as well as raise follow-on capital through Direct Issuance Programs.
“Tokenization is often discussed as a future concept,” the company wrote. “Our view is simpler: the technology now exists to operate capital markets more efficiently, transparently, and globally than today’s systems allow.”
Superstate believes that the next step now is execution, and that this can be achieved by building reliable infrastructure, working within regulatory frameworks, and earning trust over time.
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Nomura’s Laser Digital Launches Tokenized Bitcoin Yield-Bearing Fund
Quick take:
The fund is an upgrade of Laser’s 2023-launched Bitcoin Adoption Fund and targets 5% returns on top of Spot BTC performance.
It seeks to actively monetize carry-like investment opportunities across market-neutral arbitrages, lending, and options.
The fund requires a minimum subscription amount of $250,000 or BTC-equivalent, and is only eligible to certain accredited investors in eligible jurisdictions, outside of the U.S.
Nomura-Backed Laser Digital has launched the Laser Digital Bitcoin Diversified Yield Fund SP, the first tokenized Bitcoin yield-bearing fund through KAIO (formerly Libre Capital), with Komainu as custodian.
The fund is an upgrade of Laser’s 2023-launched Bitcoin Adoption Fund and targets 5% returns on top of Spot BTC performance over 12 months, recurring. According to the announcement on Thursday, the fund seeks to actively monetize carry-like investment opportunities across market-neutral arbitrages, lending, and options.
“Recent market volatility has shown that yield-bearing, market-neutral funds built on calculated DeFi strategies are the natural evolution of crypto asset management,” Jez Mohideen, co-founder and CEO of Laser Digital, said in a statement.
The fund targets long-term bitcoin holders with a minimum subscription amount of $250,000 or BTC-equivalent. It is only eligible to certain accredited investors in eligible jurisdictions, outside of the U.S.
Laser Digital is Nomura’s digital asset arm, offering institutional services in trading, asset management, and ventures, with emphasis on institutional-grade risk management and compliance.
According to a statement on the Laser Digital website, the Laser Digital Bitcoin Diversified Yield Fund dopts rigorous safeguarding arrangements through regulated custodians for off-exchange collateral custody as well as strict live risk management controls, and is offered in both traditional and tokenised formats.
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Ethereum Infrastructure Developer Neynar Buys Social Media Protocol Farcaster
Quick take:
Jack and part of the Clanker team will be joining Neynar, the Ethereum infrastructure developer, announced on Wednesday.
Neynar’s vision for Farcaster is to enable builders to go from idea to recurring revenue, supported by a builder-first network.
The company plans to create a unified platform for software generation and crypto native rails in a builder-focused ecosystem.
Ethereum infrastructure developer, Neynar, has announced the acquisition of social media protocol, Farcaster, from Merkle. As part of the acquisition, Neynar will now maintain the Farcaster protocol, run the Farcaster clients, and operate Clanker, the company said in a blog post on Wednesday. Jack and part of the Clanker team will be joining Neynar.
Neynar is the infrastructure platform for the Farcaster ecosystem, with a significant portion of Farcaster products also running on its infrastructure. Farcaster has been one of its primary focuses since its launch five years ago, and Neynar now sees the acquisition as the next step in the journey.
“Over the last 5+ years, Merkle has done incredible work. We are excited to take up the mantle from here,” the team said.
Neynat’s vision for Farcaster is to enable builders to go from idea to recurring revenue, supported by a builder-first network. The company plans to create a unified platform for software generation and crypto native rails in a builder-focused ecosystem.
“Farcaster, at its core, is a community of builders deliberately cultivated over many years – the ‘scenius.’ This community has consistently driven the network’s most meaningful moments – Frames, Degen, Warplets, and more,” Neynar wrote.
According to the announcement, products built on Fracaster will be usable everywhere, starting with the incorporation of global transactions, asset issuance, and on-chain ecosystems into native crypto rails.
The announcement coincides with Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin’s post on the X platform, detailing the layer-1 blockchain’s plan to decentralize social media in 2026.
Replying to Lens Protocol’s post on Wednesday, Buterin wrote: “If we want a better society, we need better mass communication tools. We need mass communication tools that surface the best information and arguments and help people find points of agreement. We need mass communication tools that serve the user’s long-term interest, not maximize short-term engagement.”
According to Buterin, more competition is key to addressing the current social media problems, and decentralization is the way to enable that, by allowing anyone to build their own client on a shared data layer.
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Ondo Finance Brings Over 200 Tokenized US Stocks and ETFs to Solana
Quick take:
The company’s Ondo Global Markets trading platform now expands to Solana, after being initially only available on Ethereum and BNB Chain.
Traders will be able to trade U.S. stocks across all sectors, ETFs, market indexes, and sector funds.
They will also be able to trade Gold, silver, oil, strategic metals, as well as Treasury and corporate bonds, and Leveraged and inverse ETFs, among others.
Ondo Finance has launched Ondo Global Markets on Solana. The launch expands the tokenized securities trading platform to three chains, including Ethereum and BNB Chain. The expansion allows Solana users to now access Wall Street-grade liquidity across more than assets, including token tracking.
According to the announcement on Ondo Finance’s X account, traders will be able to trade U.S. stocks across all sectors, ETFs, market indexes, and sector funds. They will also be able to trade Gold, silver, oil, strategic metals, as well as Treasury and corporate bonds, and Leveraged and inverse ETFs, among others.
“Hundreds of tokenized stocks & ETFs are now live on @solana, bringing the full TradFi portfolio to crypto’s largest trading ecosystem,” the company wrote in the announcement. “Ondo Global Markets is how trillions in value connect to internet capital markets.”
Real-world asset tokenization has been one of the fastest-growing segments of the crypto space, attracting traditional financial institutions, including private credit providers and investment management companies.
“We’ve seen early signs of demand for on-chain equities on Solana, but liquidity depth and asset selection from the current versions of tokenized stocks remain limited today,” Ian De Bode, president of Ondo Finance, told CoinDesk. “Ondo’s tokenized stocks are built to address that by bringing liquidity inherited from traditional exchange venues and a broad catalog of stocks and ETFs on-chain.”
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Solayer Launches $35M Ecosystem Fund for Real-Time DeFi, AI, and Tokenization Apps
Quick take:
The fund targets sustainable, revenue-generating projects in DeFi, payments, AI-driven systems, and tokenized real-world assets.
Solayer’s SVM-powered layer-1 blockchain boasts a throughput of over 330,000 transactions per second and settlement finality of approximately 400 milliseconds.
The company said projects focused on tokenized U.S. Treasuries and AI-powered trading products are already in development.
Solayer, the SVM-powered layer-1 blockchain, has launched a $35 million ecosystem fund backed by Solayer Labs and the Solayer Foundation. According to the announcement, the fund will be used to support blockchain applications built on its infiniSVM network.
Solayer’s SVM-powered layer-1 blockchain boasts a throughput of over 330,000 transactions per second and settlement finality of approximately 400 milliseconds. The ecosystem fund primarily targets sustainable, revenue-generating projects in DeFi, payments, AI-driven systems, and tokenized real-world assets. The company said projects focused on tokenized U.S. Treasuries and AI-powered trading products are already in development.
“We’re solving for real-time behavior, immediate, guaranteed settlement, and low latency,” Joshua Sum, Solayer’s chief product officer, told CoinDesk. “Most blockchains still batch transactions, like legacy financial systems. We want to replace that with actual real-time clearing.”
The company plans to carefully curate qualifying projects based on performance indicators like durability, protocol revenue, and transaction volume, among others.
The announcement comes barely a month after the company announced the launch of the InfiniSVM Mainnet Alpha on December 11. Dubbed the “most performant SVM chain in existence,” the layer-1 blockchain is designed to power the next frontier of blockchain apps, which the company says won’t be static. “They will be reactive.”
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AI-Powered Derivatives Platform Perpetuals Rolls Out Trading Platform to the Public
Quick take:
The founders said the platform’s AI model was trained on over 10 million trading histories across multiple crypto exchanges.
Following the collapse of FTX in 2022, the parent of FTX EU, which acquired Digital Assets in 2021, Gruhn and Matzke later acquired the remaining assets of FTX EU to form Perpetuals.
They leveraged FTX EU’s “extremely large dataset of retail trading activity” to train the firm’s AI and machine learning capabilities on.
Perpetuals.com (PDT), an AI-powered derivatives trading platform co-founded by Patrick Gruhn and Robin Matzke, the founders of the Switzerland-based Digital Asset, which they sold to FTX EU, has launched its trading platform to the public.
Following the collapse of FTX, the parent of FTX EU, Gruhn and Matzke, said they worked to acquire the remaining part of FTX EU, which helped make Perpetuals what it is today. According to the report by CoinDesk, the platform leveraged FTX EU’s “extremely large dataset of retail trading activity” to train the firm’s AI and machine learning capabilities.
The founders said the platform’s AI model was trained on over 10 million trading histories across multiple crypto exchanges.
“Prior to the new business combination, Perpetuals developed an AI system that was trained using one of the largest datasets of retail trading behavior ever assembled, analyzing over 10 million individual trading histories across multiple major cryptocurrency exchanges,” Gruhn told CoinDesk in an interview.
The public launch coincides with the Perpetual’s Nasdaq listing and trading, which began on Tuesday, following the acquisition of Perpetual Markets Ltd. by Earlyworks Co.
According to Gruhn, Perpetual aims to help product issuers “create innovative alternatives to the strictly regulated and often predatory Contract for Differences (CFD) and perpetual futures markets.”
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Miami Record for Crypto-Settled Real Estate Sale Broken By New $14M USDT Transaction
Quick take:
Payments for the commercial units worth nearly $14 million saw each transaction cleared in less than 60 seconds.
The transactions would have taken days to clear if done using traditional methods like wire transfers.
Miami has become a focal point of crypto-based real estate settlements because of its multinational nature and buyers willing to use alternative payment methods.
A new real estate transaction settled in USDT has set a new record for Miami. According to the report by CoinDesk, the transaction involving two property firms, Ciprés and Rilea Group, with support from tokenization specialist Propy, saw the Miami-based property development Mohawk in Wynwood, sell five commercial units for $13,920,063.
Each transaction was cleared in under 60 seconds, speeding up the process, which typically takes days when done through traditional methods like a wire transfer.
The transaction illustrates Miami’s growing narrative as a hub for huge crypto transactions, involving real-world assets like property. The Florida-based state has become a focal point of crypto-based real estate settlements because of its multinational nature and buyers willing to use alternative payment methods.
Announcing the news of the new sale via the X platform, Propy wrote: “We just smashed Miami’s crypto real estate record: $14M property settled entirely in USDT,” crediting stablecoins for unlocking faster, global deals. “We’re making on-chain closings the new standard: crypto settlements, AI title/escrow, closes in days.”
Propy to acquire mid-size property title firms across the U.S. worth $100 million, according to a report that came out late last year. The company is using blockchain and AI to streamline an industry that still relies heavily on manual processes.
“Bitcoin can now function as real estate capital,” said Natalia Karayaneva, CEO of Propy. “Digital assets are becoming a practical option for real estate buyers seeking flexibility and developers looking to access global demand.”
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Securities Tokenization Infrastructure Provider Alpaca Secures $150M Series D Led By Drive Capital
Quick take:
The Series D round was closed at a valuation of $1.15 billion, according to the press release seen by NFTgators.
Alpaca also secured a $40 million line of credit to further accelerate its global expansion.
Alpaca offers a brokerage infrastructure platform whose API’s are used by the likes of Kraken, SBI Securities, and Dime!.
Alpaca, the brokerage infrastructure platform whose APIs are used by leading brands like SBI Securities, Kraken, and Dime!, has raised $150 million in a Series D funding round led by Drive Capital.
The funding also attracted participation from Citadel Securities, Opera Tech Ventures, MUFG Innovation Partners, Flat Capital, DRW Venture Capital, Kraken, and Altered Capital, among others.
As part of his firm’s leading role in the round, Drive Capital’s Co-Founder and Partner, Chris Olsen, will join Alpaca’s Board of Directors. The Series D funding was closed at a valuation of $1.15 billion, according to the press release seen by NFTgators.
Alpaca also secured a $40 million line of credit to further accelerate its global expansion.
“Our mission is to open financial services to everyone on the planet,” said Yoshi Yokokawa, Co-Founder and CEO of Alpaca. “We are building the global standard for brokerage infrastructure so our partners can bring investing to more people. This raise gives us the fuel to deliver more faster to both our enterprise partners and active traders globally.”
Alpaca’s scalable APIs and self-clearing custody enable global access to stocks, ETFs, options, crypto, and fixed income products. The company claims to have partnered with over 300 organizations in more than 40 countries.
In a tokenization report published last year, Alpaca also said it had powered 94% of all tokenized U.S. equities and ETFs.
Olsen, Co-Founder and Partner of Drive Capital, commented: “Just as Stripe and Plaid rewired payments and financial data pipes, Alpaca is redefining how global investing infrastructure works. They’re building the foundational layer that modern financial institutions will depend on for the next decade.”
The company plans to use the fresh capital to further strengthen its global investment infrastructure, supporting sophisticated financial institutions and institutional clients worldwide.
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Attention Market Startup Noise Secures $7.1M Seed Round Led By Paradigm
Quick take:
The funding also attracted angel investors, including Jordi Hays, Jackson Dahl, Justin Blau, Yu Hu, Dan Romero, Gaby Goldberg, Kain Warwick, and others.
Noise’s attention market platform allows users to long and short contracts on trends, brands, and ideas – taking positions on where attention is headed.
Prices combine real-time social data with trading activity, producing an objective measure of cultural relevance that updates continuously.
Noise, the attention market trading platform, has raised $7.1 million in a seed round led by Paradigm, with participation from Figment Capital and Anagram, as well as strategic investments from GSR, JPEG Trading, and KaitoAI.
The funding also attracted angel investors, including Jordi Hays, Jackson Dahl, Justin Blau, Yu Hu, Dan Romero, Gaby Goldberg, Kain Warwick, and others.
Unlike prediction markets, which allow users to predict on real-world event outcomes, Noise’s attention market platform allows users to long and short contracts on trends, brands, and ideas – taking positions on where attention is headed. Prices combine real-time social data with trading activity, producing an objective measure of cultural relevance that updates continuously.
Launched in 2025, Noise debuted its testnet in May, attracting 1,300 users, who traded across 14 attention markets tracking crypto narratives and brands. The platform reported a retention rate of 62% of first-month users, with sessions averaging 17 minutes.
The company plans to launch its mainnet on Base in the coming months, opening the platform to the public and allowing real money trading.
“Prediction markets proved their value in 2025. Polymarket and Kalshi reached $45 billion in combined volume on roughly 3,500 event contracts,” the company wrote in an announcement on its website.
“Noise asks a different kind of question: not whether something will happen, but how relevant it is right now and where that relevance is going. The answer is inherently continuous. These are decisions people already make with diffused information. Noise makes the underlying relevance legible and tradeable.”
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Post-Quantum Security Startup Project Eleven Secures $20M Series a
Quick take:
The fundraising was closed at a valuation of $120 million and comes ahead of the product launch scheduled for early 2026.
It brings the total raised to $26 million, following a $6 million seed round announced in June 2025.
The company is building post-quantum computing tools to make complex, multi-year migrations practical for networks and institutions, including readiness assessments, migration test environments, and deployment sequencing.
Project Eleven, the post-quantum computing crypto security company building tools to market to secure migration processes for companies, has raised $20 million in a Series A round led by Castle Island Ventures.
The fundraising also attracted participation from Coinbase Ventures, Fin Capital, Variant, Quantonation, Nebular, Formation, Lattice Fund, Satstreet Ventures, Nascent Ventures, and Balaji Srinivasan, according to a press release seen by NFTgators.
The latest round follows Project 11’s $6 million seed round announced in June 2025, thus bringing the total raised to $26 million. According to reports, the funding was closed at a valuation of $120 million.
It also comes ahead of the post-quantum security firm’s product launch, scheduled for early 2026. The company is building post-quantum computing tools to make complex, multi-year migrations practical for networks and institutions, including readiness assessments, migration test environments, and deployment sequencing.
“As quantum capabilities advance, the stakes couldn’t be higher. We can’t afford to ignore this existential risk posed to the digital asset ecosystem,” said Alex Pruden, CEO and Co-Founder of Project Eleven. “Trillions in value depend on these cryptographic assumptions. Networks like Bitcoin take years to upgrade because they’re governed cautiously by design. We’re focused on making the transition practical now, so the industry can migrate deliberately instead of improvising under pressure.”
“Useful quantum computing is the biggest and most complex threat public blockchains have ever faced,” said Nic Carter, General Partner at Castle Island Ventures. “Project Eleven is building the practical bridge from research to real-world deployment.”
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Genius Trading will use the funds to build out a private, high-velocity on-chain trading terminal.
The investment aligns with YZi Labs’ strategy of backing infrastructure that delivers CEX-level speed, liquidity, and discretion while remaining fully user-owned.
As part of the investment, Binance founder and leader of YZi Labs, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), has joined Genius Trading as an advisor.
YZi Labs, an independent investment firm led by Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ), has invested an 8-figure amount in cross-chain trading terminal Genius Trading.
Genius Trading is designed to aggregate execution across blockchains and decentralized venues, which is how it differs from decentralized exchange platforms. The company plans to use the funds to accelerate the development of its private, high-velocity on-chain trading terminal.
According to YZi Labs’ announcement on the X platform, the investment aligns with the investment firm’s strategy of backing infrastructure that delivers CEX-level speed, liquidity, and discretion while remaining fully user-owned. As part of the investment, CZ has joined Genius Trading as an advisor.
Genius Trading plans to consolidate trading across BNB Chain, Solana, Ethereum, and six other networks into a single venue where privacy and execution speed are prioritized.
“With CZ as an advisor, Genius embodies the core of YZi Labs’ investment thesis: backing infrastructure that fuses the speed, liquidity, and privacy of centralized exchanges (CEXs) without compromising on user ownership or decentralization,” the firm wrote.
In October, YZi Labs launched a $1 billion builder fund to back projects building on the BNB Chain. Blockchain infrastructure was one of the main categories listed among key focus segments.
“The funding is about alignment more than anything else; aligning with YZi Labs means we have the industry’s most thorough and well-resourced backer taking a meaningful swing at creating an ‘on-chain’ Binance, while focusing on what makes CEXs better than DEXs right now: privacy,” said Armaan Kalsi, Co-founder & CEO of Genius.
“I first met Armaan at the NYC Builder Bunker during a BNB Chain MVB demo. He has the distinct energy of a founder who’s going to win: sharp, articulate, and relentless. Even as a student building complex trading infrastructure, he had already secured an angel round from high-profile investors. I pulled him aside after his demo — and I knew we had to be part of his journey,” said Ella Zhang, Head of YZi Labs.
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Polygon Labs Accelerates Crypto Payments Strategy With $250M Double Acquisition
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The structure of the deals was also not disclosed, raising the question of whether its an all-cash or all-equity deal, or a mixture of both.
Polygon said the acquisitions are meant to advance its stablecoin strategy, according to CEO Marc Boiron and Polygon Foundation founder Sandeep Nailwal.
Coinme, which holds a suite of money transmitter licenses in the U.S., specializes in converting cash into crypto and is known for its work with crypto ATMs, while Sequence builds crypto wallet infrastructure.
Polygon Labs, the developer of the enterprise-grade infrastructure for global blockchain-based payments, has acquired two crypto startups in a deal worth more than $250 million.
According to the announcement on Tuesday, Polygon closed deals to buy the crypto startups Coinme and Sequence as it looks to advance its stablecoin strategy. The company did not disclose the specific deal value for each startup or the structure of the deals.
Coinme, which holds a suite of money transmitter licenses in the U.S., specializes in converting cash into crypto and is known for its work with crypto ATMs, while Sequence builds crypto wallet infrastructure.
The announcement follows Polygon’s launch of the Open Money Stack last week. The company describes the Open Money Stack as an open and integrated stack of services and technologies to instantly and reliably move money anywhere, and put it to work.
This latest double-acquisition furthers the company’s strategy and positions it well to compete with the likes of Stripe.
Describing his company’s stablecoin push, Polygon Foundation founder Sandeep Nailwal called it “a reverse Stripe in a way”. Unlike Stripe, which first acquired a stablecoin startup before building its own blockchain, Polygon already has a robust network of blockchains, where it is bringing startups to build upon it.
“Polygon Labs is becoming a full-blown fintech company,” said Nailwal.
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The SPAC IPO is separate from Kraken’s own IPO announced in November.
KRAK Acquisition expands Kraken’s digital asset footprint in the public markets.
Spanish banking giant Santander is listed as the sole book runner.
KRAK Acquisition Corp, a special-purpose acquisition company backed by Kraken, has filed for an initial public offering to raise $250 million. Although KRAK Acquisition has yet to state its primary target industry, it is reportedly expected to focus on businesses in the cryptocurrency industry. This would further expand Kraken’s digital asset footprint in the public markets.
“We have not selected any business combination target, and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, initiated any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any business combination target. We may pursue an initial business combination target in any business or industry,” the company wrote in the filing.
The crypto exchange company already filed for its own IPO in November, thereby making KRAK Acquisition’s SPAC offering a separate venture. The company plans to offer 25 million units at $10 each on NASDAQ and will trade under the ticker name KRAQU.
Each unit of offering consists of one Class A ordinary share and one-fourth of one redeemable warrant. Each whole warrant holder can exercise their rights, which entitle them to purchase a class A ordinary share at $11.50. Each warrant must be excised in full, with no fractional conversions allowed.
According to the filing, Spanish banking giant Santander is listed as the sole book runner. The filing describes KRAK Acquisition as a blank check company incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted company for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization, or similar business combination.
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Standard Chartered Reportedly Planning a Prime Brokerage Service for Crypto Trading
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Standard Chartered is expanding its digital asset footprint after investing in crypto custodian Zodia Custody and institutional trading platform Zodia Markets.
The London-based lender also offers spot crypto trading for institutional clients, which it launched in July.
Standard Chartered is not the only traditional bank expanding into crypto trading services, with U.S.-based JPMorgan also launching a trading service for institutions last month.
Standard Chartered is expanding its digital asset strategy with plans to launch a prime brokerage service for crypto trading, Bloomberg reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter.
The new service will be set up within the company’s wholly owned venture capital unit, SC Ventures, which analysts believe is a strategy to get around the financial requirements for running a prime brokerage service within its main business.
This is not Standard Chartered’s first foray into crypto, with the company already a major backer of crypto custodian Zodia Custody and institutional trading platform Zodia Markets. The London-based lender also offers spot crypto trading for institutional clients, which it launched in July.
Standard Chartered is not the only traditional bank expanding into crypto trading services, with U.S.-based JPMorgan also launching a trading service for institutions last month.
They are joining a growing list of financial services companies from both the traditional financial markets and crypto that are expanding into prime brokerage and crypto trading services.
Ripple, the crypto infrastructure and settlement layer, acquired Hidden Road for $1.25 billion in April last year. The company has since gone on to launch its prime brokerage service, announced in November.
In June, crypto exchange platform Kraken also introduced a prime brokerage service for institutional investors.
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A16z Raises $15B Across Five Funds Including AI and Crypto to Help America Win Next 100 Years of ...
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A16z said the funds raised account for over 18% of all venture capital dollars allocated in the United States in 2025.
The firm believes that for America to win the next 100 years of technology, it begins with winning the key architectures of the future – AI and crypto.
It sees those technologies then being applied to the key areas that generate human flourishing: biology, health, defense, public safety, education, and entertainment.
Andreessen Horowitz (A16z), the Silicon Valley, CA-based venture capital firm, on Friday said it raised $15 billion in its latest funding secured across five funds.
According to a blog post published by Ben Horowitz on the A16z website, about $6.75 billion will go towards scaling startups, $1.7 billion has been allocated to infrastructure, $1.7 billion for various apps, $1.176 billion for American Dynamism (investing in national interests like defense, housing, and supply chain), and another $700 million for biotech and healthcare.
There is also an extra $3 billion set to go to “other venture strategies.”
According to Horowitz, this latest funding accounts for over 18% of all venture capital dollars allocated in the United States in 2025. The firm wants to power the next growth phase of the technology industry in the United States.
Highlighting the country’s role in leading the world across various industries over the last 250 years, Horowitz said that given the current technological opportunity, presented by AI and crypto, “technological opportunity, it is fundamentally important for humanity that America wins.”
“Our mission is ensuring that America wins the next 100 years of technology. That starts with winning the key architectures of the future – AI and crypto,” he wrote.
The country will then continue applying those technologies to the key areas that generate human flourishing, including biology, health, defense, public safety, education, and entertainment.
Horowitz also highlighted the key steps the United States has taken towards ensuring America wins the tech race for the next 100 years, adding that if the country fails to push its policies of the country in the right direction, it will likely lose its position as the global leader in technology. “We have already seen the beginnings of this in both AI and crypto.”
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