Daily Report | Binance Labs announces strategic investment in AltLayer; L1 Digital has raised $152 million for its second venture capital fund

"What Important Events Happened in the Last 24 Hours"

1. Circle Launches Programmable Web3 Wallet Platform to Provide Digital Asset Payment Services for Businesses

According to CoinDesk, Circle has launched a programmable Web3 wallet platform aimed at providing businesses with a more convenient way to accept cryptocurrency payments, helping them offer digital asset payment services to customers.

Developers and merchants can integrate Circle's programmable wallet into their applications and build services on it, allowing consumers to send, receive, and store cryptocurrencies, including USDC and NFTs. The platform is currently launched on Ethereum, Avalanche, and Polygon, with plans to expand to other chains later this year. (Source Link)

2. LSD Protocol Puffer Finance Completes $5.5 Million Seed Round Financing, Led by Lemniscap and Lightspeed Faction

LSD protocol Puffer Finance announced the completion of a $5.5 million seed round financing, led by Lemniscap and Lightspeed Faction, with participation from other investors including Brevan Howard Digital, Bankless Ventures, Animoca Ventures, Kucoin Ventures, DACM, LBK, SNZ, Canonical Crypto, as well as community funds 33DAO, WAGMI33, and Concave, along with angel investors like Anand Lyer and Shen Yu.

The funds will be used to further develop Puffer Finance's open-source project "Secure-Signer," aimed at preventing validators from facing penalties during the verification process. This project previously received a $120,000 grant from the Ethereum Foundation, with core researcher Justin Drake participating as an advisor. Additionally, Puffer Finance is creating a permissionless staking pool that lowers the participation threshold for independent validators from 32 ETH to 2 ETH, enhancing capital efficiency. (Source Link)

3. L1 Digital Raises $152 Million for Its Second Venture Capital Fund

According to CoinDesk, Swiss digital asset investment advisor L1 Digital (L1D) has raised $152 million for its second venture capital fund, focusing on digital assets with an asset management scale of $400 million.

L1D co-founder and CEO Ray Hindi stated that the new L1D Venture Fund II SLP has deployed about one-third of its capital. Investment projects include the institutional credit ecosystem Centrifuge, blockchain development platform Chroma, cryptocurrency custodian Safe, decentralized trading aggregator Li.Fi, and financial management startup Squads. The average investment amount ranges from $1.5 million to $7 million.

It is reported that L1D invests 70% of its funds directly into crypto startups, with the remaining 30% invested in early-stage crypto investment firms. L1D has previously supported well-known industry investors such as Multicoin Capital, DeFiance Capital, Castle Island Ventures, and 1kx. (Source Link)

4. Bitstamp to Suspend Trading of SOL and 6 Other Tokens for U.S. Users

According to Cointelegraph, cryptocurrency exchange Bitstamp will stop offering trading for seven tokens, including Axie Infinity (AXS), Chiliz (CHZ), Decentraland (MANA), Polygon (MATIC), Near (NEAR), Sandbox (SAND), and Solana (SOL) to U.S. users starting August 29.

Bitstamp announced on August 8 that due to "recent developments," U.S. customers will soon be unable to trade the aforementioned seven cryptocurrencies. While the company did not specify the reason for the trading halt, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has alleged that these seven tokens are unregistered securities in its lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase.

Bitstamp stated that users should close orders involving the above assets by August 29, 2023. After this deadline, related trading activities will be permanently halted on the Bitstamp platform. Users can still hold and withdraw these seven tokens from their accounts. (Source Link)

5. Decentralized Trading Platform Saddle Finance to Cease Operations and Liquidate Funds

Ethereum-based stablecoin trading platform Saddle Finance is ceasing operations and will liquidate funds to investors. Saddle's founder Sunil Srivatsa proposed on Tuesday to liquidate its treasury's ARB tokens and airdrop the proceeds to holders of Saddle's SDL and veSDL tokens. However, it is currently unclear how much capital is in the Saddle treasury.

Sunil Srivatsa stated that previous Curve hacking incidents reminded the Saddle team of the ever-present threat of exploitable vulnerabilities, and the protocol's developers need to exit the project by September 30, 2023.

According to crypto data platform Rootdata, Saddle Finance previously raised over $10 million from venture capitalists. The platform primarily engages in stablecoin trading and currently has user deposits worth approximately $2 million. (Source Link)

6. AI Financial Company Parcha AI Founded by Former Coinbase Executive Completes $5 Million Seed Round Financing, with Participation from Kindred Ventures

According to Forbes, generative AI fintech startup Parcha AI, founded by former Coinbase Senior Product Director Asver, announced the completion of a $5 million seed round financing, with participation from Kindred Ventures, Initialized Capital, and angel investors including YC President Garry Tan, Datadog President Amit Agarwal, and Google Product VP Bradley Horowitz. The funds will be used to continue building its products and hire more staff.

Parcha AI primarily helps fintech companies, including crypto firms, automate manual labor, utilizing large language models to handle operations such as fraud detection, business compliance, and customer acquisition. Its current clients include crypto payment company Bridge and U.S. financial services and technology company Brex. (Source Link)

7. Binance Labs Announces Strategic Investment in AltLayer

Binance's venture capital and incubation arm, Binance Labs, announced a strategic investment in AltLayer, a leading provider of decentralized Rollups as a Service (RaaS) for Web3 applications.

Binance Labs Investment Director Nicola W. stated, "Application-specific Rollups provide Layer 1 security and the customizability of application chains. However, a common issue with today's Rollups is that they mostly operate using centralized sequencers, leading to fragmented liquidity and user bases. We find AltLayer's approach to facilitating application-specific Rollup launches through Beacon Layer to be an inspiring practice. Their core network provides several decentralized and interoperability attributes urgently needed in the thousands of Rollup worlds. All of this significantly shortens time to market and encourages rapid innovation and experimentation." (Source Link)

8. Temasek, Sequoia Capital, SoftBank, and 18 Other FTX Investors Listed as Defendants in Class Action Lawsuit

According to Cointelegraph, Temasek, Sequoia Capital, SoftBank, and 18 other FTX investors have been listed as defendants in a class action lawsuit filed in Miami due to their association with the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX. The plaintiffs claim that these investment firms are responsible for "aiding and abetting" FTX's fraud. The plaintiffs pointed out that the FTX cryptocurrency exchange violated multiple securities laws and misappropriated customer funds, while the defendants claimed they had completed due diligence. (Source Link)

9. Cybersecurity Startup SphereX Completes $8.2 Million Seed Round Financing, Led by Aleph

ChainCatcher reports that cybersecurity startup SphereX has completed an $8.2 million seed round financing at a valuation of $24 million. The round was led by Aleph, with participation from Pillar VC, Fabric Ventures, and Mensch Capital Partners. Its main product, SphereX Protect, aims to mark and block suspicious transactions through blockchain applications, and the funds will be used for product promotion and team expansion. (Source Link)

"What Interesting Articles Are Worth Reading in the Last 24 Hours"

1. "Overview of the 2023 Korea Blockchain Week (KBW) Official and Surrounding Events (9.1-9.10)"

The 6th Korea Blockchain Week (KBW) will be held in early September in Seoul, Korea, as one of Asia's most influential blockchain events. Currently, in addition to the three main events, Web3 projects, investment institutions, and media have organized dozens of surrounding activities in Seoul, including hackathons, lightning talks, and panel discussions. ChainCatcher has compiled all the events disclosed by the official sources.

2. "Bankless Co-Founder: Crypto Enters the Last Cycle Before Maturity"

If you look closely, you will find some signs that cryptocurrency is entering its last market cycle.

After this phase ends, it will enter a long-term era of maturity, stability, and growth.

One perspective in the crypto space suggests that "the next cycle will be the last cycle." This has been said before, and I do not intend to make a definitive prediction. I am merely connecting some points in the crypto space that point to a new phase in the crypto market after the bear market ends.

Now, let's dive deeper!

3. "Must Both Parties Be Online? Low Capital Efficiency? Debunking Six Major Misconceptions About the Lightning Network"

To achieve simplicity, seamlessness, and complete abstraction, the Lightning Network still has a long way to go. There are still many edge cases, and non-custodial users have not yet enjoyed the ultimate user experience. However, many issues have been resolved, and more will be addressed in the coming years. Now that the lightning has arrived, how far can the thunder be?