Last week, there were a total of 29 public financing events in the cryptocurrency market | Investment and Financing Weekly Report

According to incomplete statistics from ChainCatcher, between May 24 and May 30, there were a total of 29 public investment and financing events in the blockchain industry. Notably, aside from the DeFi and NFT sectors, the infrastructure sector's popularity continues to rise. Domestically, Pure White Matrix and the company under Cloud Elephant Blockchain both completed large-scale financing of over 100 million yuan, while Shuqin Technology also completed financing in the tens of millions. Internationally, USDC developer Circle completed $440 million in financing, making it the highest single financing amount of the week. In terms of investment institutions, Alameda Capital, OKEx Blockdream Ventures, and LD Capital were the most active.

1. DeFi

1. Cross-chain IDO platform KList raises seed round investment from Alphacoin Fund, Zonff Partners, and others

On May 24, cross-chain IDO platform KList secured seed round investment from institutions including Alphacoin Fund and Zonff Partners. Previously, its seed round had received investments from Advgrowth Fund, Blockway Ventures, Panda Capital, among others, with the financing amount yet to be disclosed.

KList is a decentralized cross-chain IDO platform, initially deployed on OKExChain, supporting multi-chain ecosystems such as Ethereum, BSC, Solana, Cardano, and Polkadot. It pioneered a margin system and offers diversified IDO issuance methods.

2. Decentralized volatility protocol Qilin Protocol completes $800,000 first round financing, led by Multicoin

On May 26, decentralized volatility protocol Qilin Protocol raised $800,000 in its first round of financing, led by Multicoin Capital. Additionally, Qilin Protocol will launch its V1 version on the mainnet within a week. Other investors in this round include Continue Capital, Fundamental Labs, MATH Foundation, and Metaverse Capital. The funds will be used for the development of Qilin V2, which will include core features such as creating permissionless liquidity pools, creating permissionless token reverse contract trading, and designing and pre-researching oracle based on Uniswap.

Qilin Protocol provides the capability to build reverse contract markets for long-tail crypto assets through innovative automatic risk adjustment mechanisms and dynamic liquidity supply mechanisms.

3. Decentralized financial service everFinance based on Arweave completes million-dollar seed round financing

On May 26, decentralized financial service everFinance based on Arweave announced the completion of a million-dollar seed round financing. This financing was co-led by HashKey and SevenX Ventures, with follow-up investments from Arweave official, Mask Network, DODO, OKEx Blockdream Ventures, Digital Renaissance Foundation, D1 Ventures, and others. Individual investors include DeBank CEO Hongbo Tang and DODO founder Lei Mingda.

everFinance is a decentralized financial service based on Arweave, with its trusted cross-chain payment settlement protocol everPay officially launched on May 21, allowing users to transfer Ethereum and ERC20 tokens for free. According to the team, everPay will support cross-chain transactions from Arweave to Ethereum.

4. Decentralized derivatives protocol Shield Protocol raises $2 million in private placement, led by A&T Capital and HashKey Capital

On May 28, decentralized derivatives protocol Shield Protocol raised $2 million, led by A&T Capital and HashKey Capital, with participation from SevenX Ventures, OKEx Blockdream Ventures, Bonfire Union, Moonwhale Ventures, and individual investor Sharlyn Wu. The funds will be used to expand Shield Protocol's global market, attract talent, and continue to deepen its focus on decentralized derivatives.

Shield is one of the on-chain trading derivatives DeFi projects, soon to release a perpetual options protocol and a risk-free perpetual contract protocol.

5. Cross-chain smart contract wallet Blocto completes $8 million private placement, with participation from Alameda Research and others

Cross-chain smart contract wallet Blocto has completed an $8 million private placement, with investors including Alameda Research, Quantstamp CEO Richard Ma, and community partners. Additionally, project advisors include Dapper Labs CEO Roham, SushiSwap CTO Joseph Delong, and Rally founder Kevin Chou.

It is reported that Blocto supports Binance Smart Chain (BSC), Ethereum, Flow, Solana, and Tron, embedding the cross-chain DEX Bloctoswap, and providing wallet SDK solutions for other DApps, aiming to become the entry point for users into digital currencies, DApps, and NFTs.

6. DeFi lending platform Rikkei Finance completes $5.6 million financing, with participation from LD Capital and others

On May 29, DeFi lending platform Rikkei Finance completed $5.6 million in financing, with participation from HyperChain Capital, Kyber Network, Signum Capital, PNYX, X21digital.com, LD Capital, YBB Foundation, ArkStream Capital, and Inclusion Capital.

Rikkei Finance is a Vietnamese DeFi startup building a blockchain lending platform that allows the use of digital assets such as NFTs as collateral.

7. DeFi asset management platform Set Labs completes $14 million Series A financing, led by 1kx and Hashed

On May 29, DeFi asset management platform Set Labs completed $14 million in Series A financing, led by 1kx and Hashed, with participation from Mechanism Capital, Defiance, Spartan Group, ParaFi, Coinbase Ventures, Craft Ventures, and Threshold Ventures.

Set Labs is an automated asset management protocol that provides ETPs through Index Coop, such as the DeFi Pulse Index, Metaverse Index, and ETH 2x Flexible Leverage Index, and offers asset management infrastructure for those looking to launch ETPs or delegated management solutions.

2. NFT & Chain Games

1. Multi-chain NFT marketplace HoDooi.com raises $4.3 million in strategic financing

On May 24, multi-chain NFT marketplace HoDooi.com raised $4.3 million in strategic financing, with investors including Morning Star Ventures, ZBS Capital, AU21 Capital, DuckDAO, and Master Ventures. The funds will be used to enhance user experience and develop a multi-chain marketplace.

HoDooi.com was founded by Matt Luczynski, co-founder of the crypto travel project Travala.com, and supports the creation, purchase, sale, and resale of NFTs, initially launched on Binance Smart Chain (BSC). Its native token HOD can be used for payments, participating in the platform's tiered membership program, staking, and mining. Recently, HoDooi.com will launch the first batch of NFTs from world boxing champion Tyson Fury.

2. NFT community CryptoC Labs completes $1.6 million financing and will launch the crypto art gallery "Feng Chao"

On May 24, NFT community CryptoC Labs announced the completion of $1.6 million in seed round financing, with a valuation of $15 million, led by Metaverse Capital, with follow-up investments from Rebase D. Ventures, Conflux Tech, and several angel investors including Mask Network founder Suji Yan.

CryptoC Labs aims to establish better economic relationships between content creators and fans, and will launch its crypto art gallery "Feng Chao" in June. The gallery will focus on Eastern themes, virtuality, and the new generation, organizing themed auctions and exhibitions regularly, and will use a Vickrey auction mechanism to find the true price of artworks.

3. Meme-themed NFT marketplace meme.com raises $5 million in financing

On May 27, meme-themed NFT marketplace meme.com raised $5 million in financing, with investors including Outlier Ventures, DFG, Morningstar, and Spark Digital Capital, and individual investors including Altitude Games CEO Gabby Dizon and Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal.

meme.com is a platform that combines meme tokens with meme-themed NFTs, allowing users to stake meme tokens and mint related themed NFTs.

4. Creative economy NFT business platform Uptick Network completes first round of financing

On May 28, creative economy NFT business platform Uptick Network announced the completion of its first round of financing, with the amount undisclosed. The round was led by Silicon Valley fund Draper Dragon's Partners Fund Dragon Roark Venture, with participation from Tendermint Venture, IRIS Foundation, PreAngel Fund, and several industry professionals.

Uptick aims to serve global internet users, creating a global creative economy ecosystem based on NFTs in the pan-entertainment and life services sectors. Uptick Network focuses on collectible, functional, and programmable NFTs, providing a complete decentralized business infrastructure around NFT-type digital assets. The Uptick NFT mobile app was launched on March 12, offering two NFT scenarios: digital collectible cards and electronic tickets, along with capabilities for NFT issuance, card wallet, primary and secondary trading, verification and redemption, collection and display, and social interaction.

5. Music NFT platform OneOf based on Tezos raises $63 million and will launch the platform next month

On May 28, music NFT platform OneOf based on Tezos raised $63 million and will launch the platform next month. Investors include environmentalist Bill Tai, Suna Said of Nima Capital, Sangha Capital, tech investor Jack Herrick, and Tezos Foundation. The funds will be used to expand the team, develop the platform, and support independent artists. OneOf will also launch the "Emerging Artist Spotlight Program," with the first batch of artists including Laura Mvula, Barbara Doza, and Erick The Architect.

OneOf stated that the first batch of music collectibles will feature works from Whitney Houston, Doja Cat, Quincy Jones, Jacob Collier, and G-Eazy.

6. Solana-based NFT social platform Only1 raises funding led by Liquefy Labs

On May 29, Solana-based NFT social platform Only1 announced it has received funding led by Liquefy Labs, an incubator of the investment firm Liquefy, which also became a project advisor for Only1. Alameda Research, Genesis Block Venture, NGC, PetRock Capital, DuckDAO, and others participated, but Only1 has not disclosed the specific amount of financing.

Only1 combines social media, NFT marketplace, scalable blockchain, and its native token LIKE, aiming to connect fans and creators, with features including minting Genesis NFTs and bidding for Star NFTs using LIKE.

3. Others

1. Crypto insurance company Breach completes $2.5 million seed round financing, led by Global Founders Capital

On May 24, insurance technology startup Breach, which provides insurance technology and products for the cryptocurrency market, announced the completion of $2.5 million in seed round financing, led by Global Founders Capital (GFC) and former Xapo executive Ted Rogers, with participation from Goodwater Capital and Thomas Bailey.

BREACH aims to prevent losses of crypto assets due to hacking by providing users with insurance, simplifying crypto ownership, and managing potential crypto risks.

2. Decentralized storage protocol Chia Network completes $61 million financing, with participation from a16z and others

On May 25, the cryptocurrency project Chia Network (XCH), founded by BitTorrent creator Bram Cohen, completed $61 million in financing, with investors including Richmond Global Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Breyer Capital, Slow Ventures, True Ventures, and others. According to insiders, the company is currently valued at $500 million. Gene Hoffman, President and COO of Chia Network, stated that the company may go public through a SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Company), but is seeking to conduct an IPO through traditional means this year.

Chia Network will adopt a mechanism that combines "proof of space" and "proof of time," attempting to provide a more environmentally friendly consensus solution than Bitcoin's proof of work.

3. Crypto market monitoring company Solidus Labs raises $20 million in Series A financing, with participation from former CFTC chairman and chief innovation officer

On May 25, crypto market monitoring startup Solidus Labs announced the completion of $20 million in Series A financing, led by Evolution Equity Partners, with other investors including Hanaco Ventures (which participated in the seed round), FTX, Fidelity Investments' parent company FMR LLC's venture fund Avon Venture, former CFTC chairman Christopher Giancarlo, former SEC commissioner Troy Paredes, former CFTC chief innovation officer Daniel Gorfine, StarCompliance founder Marc Epstein, ISE founder David Krell, and AngelList founder Naval Ravikant.

The funds will be used for the development of Solidus's "cross-market monitoring" tool to support regulators in monitoring price manipulation across multiple exchanges. Solidus Labs uses machine learning and monitoring algorithms to analyze acquired institutional internal data to detect potential price manipulation behaviors. Solidus Labs raised $3 million in seed round financing led by Hanaco Ventures in February 2019.

4. DeFi hacker attack mitigation tool Lossless completes $2.245 million private placement, led by DAO Maker

On May 26, Lossless announced the completion of a $2.245 million private placement, led by DAO Maker, with participation from Master Ventures, X21, Magnus Capital, Hacken, Chandler Song and Ryan Fang (founders of ANKR and Bounce), Poolz, and CyberFi.

It is reported that Lossless is the first DeFi hacker attack mitigation tool for token creators. Through various fraud detection methods, its protocol prevents forged transactions and automatically returns any stolen tokens to the original owners. Its reward system incentivizes the community to explore increasingly effective hacker detection mechanisms, with early discoverers receiving rewards.

5. Indonesian crypto exchange Pintu completes $6 million financing, with investments from Pantera Capital, Coinbase, and others

On May 26, TechinAsia reported that Indonesian cryptocurrency exchange Pintu completed $6 million in Series A financing, led by Pantera Capital, with participation from Blockchain Ventures, Coinbase, PT Gesit Perkasa, Intudo Ventures, and some angel investors.

In addition to providing cryptocurrency trading services, Pintu also introduces cryptocurrency investment to its users through the Pintu Academy platform. The company is registered with Indonesia's Ministry of Communication and Information and the Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency.

6. Blockchain development team Pure White Matrix completes nearly 100 million yuan Series A financing, with strategic investments from Ant Group and others

On May 26, blockchain development team Pure White Matrix announced the completion of a new round of financing of nearly 100 million yuan, with this Series A financing led by Ant Group, and followed by Yifang Keda and Nanjing Jiangbei New Area Science and Technology Investment Group. Founder Wu Xiao stated that after completing the Series A financing, Pure White Matrix will accelerate the construction of the blockchain developer ecosystem and innovate distributed application scenarios. Currently, ChainIDE has established technical communities and developer ecosystems in more than ten countries, including Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Canada. In the future, Pure White Matrix will help more blockchain applications through the technical accumulation of ChainIDE middleware and the developer ecosystem, continuing friendly technical exchanges and application landing in countries along the "Belt and Road," jointly building a global developer ecosystem.

Nanjing Pure White Matrix Technology Co., Ltd. was established in June 2018 and is a technology company focused on the research and development of blockchain middleware technology and the construction of a global developer ecosystem. ChainIDE, under Pure White Matrix, is the world's first cloud-based multi-chain blockchain integrated development environment, which has already assisted developers in over 160 countries. Since its launch in 2019, ChainIDE has provided over 5 million smart contract compilation services and 69 million blockchain middleware traffic.

7. Blockchain application building solution Reach raises $12 million at a $48 million valuation

On May 26, blockchain application building solution Reach raised $12 million at a $48 million valuation, with the investors undisclosed. The funds will primarily be used for cross-platform development and the establishment of product teams for DApp development.

Reach's DApp programming language allows developers to easily build secure DApps and deploy them across various blockchain networks.

8. Cloud Elephant Blockchain's affiliated company completes over 100 million yuan Series B financing, led by Fosun Fan Yi Fund

On May 27, blockchain infrastructure service provider Hangzhou Cloud Elephant Network Technology Co., Ltd. announced the completion of over 100 million yuan in Series B financing, led by Fosun Fan Yi Fund, with follow-up investments from existing shareholders Shenzhen Capital Group and Hangzhou Hongtu Growth Fund. This round of financing will primarily be used for business expansion, team expansion, further extending the technological landscape, and accelerating the digitalization strategy in finance.

Cloud Elephant is headquartered in Hangzhou and has core technology products such as the Cloud Elephant Blockchain platform, artificial intelligence platform YunAI, and distributed digital application framework YunDAP. Cloud Elephant has previously completed multiple rounds of financing, having completed several tens of millions in A++ round financing in December 2019, with a cumulative financing amount exceeding 200 million yuan at that time.

9. Bitcoin payment app Fold announces $13 million Series A financing and launches SATS-BACK debit card

On May 27, Bitcoin payment app Fold announced the completion of $13 million in Series A financing, led by Craft Ventures, with participation from M13, Slow Ventures, and Bessemer. The funds will be used to build its rewards platform, allowing any credit or debit card in the country to provide Bitcoin rewards to its users. It expects to offer Bitcoin rewards credit cards by the end of the year.

Fold aims to help users easily use Bitcoin in the real world. Since launching the Fold Kickbacks rewards program in July 2019, it has supported Bitcoin Lightning Network payments for purchasing gift cards, currently supporting brands such as Amazon, Starbucks, and Uber, and available in countries including the United States, Australia, Canada, Ireland, Mexico, and the United Kingdom.

10. Asset management platform Balancer Labs raises $24.25 million, with participation from Alameda Capital

On May 27, Balancer Labs announced the sale of $24.25 million worth of BAL tokens to investment institutions including Alameda Capital and Pantera Capital, becoming a major source of liquidity for DeFi. Additionally, Blockchain Capital, Fintech Collective, LongHash Ventures, Fenbushi Capital, Continue Capital, and Synthetix founder Kain Warwick also participated in this token sale.

Balancer is a non-custodial portfolio management platform designed to provide liquidity and sense market prices. It turns the concept of index funds into reality, allowing traders to rebalance users' portfolios by following arbitrage opportunities.

11. Digital asset institutional trading platform Talos completes $40 million Series A financing, led by a16z

On May 27, digital asset institutional trading platform Talos completed $40 million in Series A financing, led by a16z, with participation from PayPal Ventures, Fidelity Investments, and others.

Talos, established in 2018, is an institutional trading platform for digital assets and foreign exchange, aiming to provide tools for cryptocurrency institutions to support the entire trading cycle from price discovery to settlement.

12. Blockchain infrastructure QuickNode raises $5.3 million, led by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian's fund

On May 28, blockchain infrastructure QuickNode raised $5.3 million, led by Seven Seven Six, a fund under Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, with other investors including SoftBank's Opportunity Fund, Arrington XRP Capital, Crossbeam Venture Partners, and Morgan Creek Digital founder Anthony Pompliano. The funds will be used to expand product offerings, recruit talent, and more.

QuickNode is a Miami-based startup dedicated to building a Web 3 cloud platform to make it easier for developers to create blockchain applications.

13. Blockchain technology company Shuqin Technology completes tens of millions of yuan Series A financing

On May 28, blockchain technology company Shuqin Technology announced the completion of tens of millions of yuan in Series A financing, with this round of financing involving institutions such as Wanma Group and Yifang Keda, with ChainXing Capital serving as the financial advisor. Founder Gao Hang stated that this financing has provided necessary funding reserves for the company's development, and the company will continue to introduce strategic investors.

Shuqin Technology builds a blockchain middle platform called "Chuan Platform" based on a "hybrid chain + hybrid cloud" technology system, serving as the underlying infrastructure for blockchain and an integrated engineering product platform. It has successively released a one-stop data rights solution "Preservation Network" and a judicial alliance chain "Preservation Chain," as well as a trusted big data service platform "Data Integration Platform" based on blockchain smart contracts, achieving the transformation of data into evidence and assets. Over the past five years, Shuqin Technology has completed financing totaling hundreds of millions of yuan.

14. Trade finance protocol Polytrade completes $1.2 million financing, with participation from LD Capital, Axia8 Ventures, and others

On May 28, blockchain-based trade finance protocol Polytrade announced the completion of $1.2 million financing with 33 times oversubscription, with investors including LD Capital, Spark Digital Capital, Sandeep Nailwal (Polygon), AU21 Capital, Icetea Labs, and others.

Polytrade aims to bring secure and insured support for real-world assets to the crypto world. Real-world borrowers will be offered low-interest rates and quick financing opportunities to release critical operating capital from crypto lenders.

15. Decentralized cloud service network Sukhavati Network completes $8 million new round of financing

On May 28, Web 3.0 decentralized application management storage service network Sukhavati Network announced the completion of an $8 million new round of financing, with participating institutions including AU21, OKEx Blockdream Ventures, LD Capital, YBB Foundation, Hot Labs, CatcherVC, and 7 O'clock Capital.

Sukhavati stated that it will continue to explore the bridging of Web 2.0 applications with the Web 3.0 ecosystem, provide serverless cloud computing services similar to AWS Lambda, and support a wide range of applications such as 5G networks and edge computing, enriching the practical functionality of this key component of decentralized data storage infrastructure.

16. USDC issuer Circle completes $440 million financing and may go public via SPAC

On May 29, according to The Block citing sources, USDC issuer Circle announced the completion of $440 million in financing, and may go public via SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Company) after the financing, targeting a valuation of $4 billion. This financing included participation from Fidelity, FTX, Digital Currency Group, Marshall Wace, Valor Capital Group, Pillar VC, Intersection Fintech Ventures, Atlas Merchant Capital, and Willett Advisors.

Circle is a global financial technology company that enables businesses of all sizes to leverage the power of stablecoins and public blockchains for payments, commerce, and financial applications worldwide. Circle's platform has supported over 100 million transactions for more than 10 million retail customers and over 1,000 businesses. Circle is also the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, which now has a market capitalization of over $22 billion and has supported over $61.5 billion in transactions in the past year.