Agora

Ethereum

Cryptocurrency

April

SALT

<p class="is-style-lead">Cryptocurrency companies closed the week with nearly $62 million in venture capital (VC) raised from various firms, including BlackRock.</p> 
<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="strong-securitize-receives-47-million-strong"><strong>Securitize receives $47 million</strong></h3> 
<p><a href="https://crypto.news/securitize-receives-47m-funding-round-headed-by-blackrock/" target="_blank" rel="">Securitize</a>, a leading player in digital asset securities, walked away with the bulk of the funds raised over the past few days.</p> 
<p>The company closed a significant funding round on May 1, raising $47 million. BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, led the effort.</p> 
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   <p lang="en" dir="ltr">Securitize is excited to announce that we have completed a $47 million funding round led by <a href="https://twitter.com/BlackRock?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="">@BlackRock</a> together with <a href="https://twitter.com/hamilton_lane?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="">@hamilton_lane</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/paraficapital?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="">@paraficapital</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/Tradeweb?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="">@Tradeweb</a>, and strategic investors <a href="https://twitter.com/AptosLabs?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="">@AptosLabs</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/circle?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="">@circle</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/Paxos?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="">@Paxos</a>.<br><br>This further proves that the demand for tokenized real-world… <a href="https://t.co/sRuNgEslVj" target="_blank" rel="">pic.twitter.com/sRuNgEslVj</a></p>— Securitize (@Securitize) <a href="https://twitter.com/Securitize/status/1785649731508527157?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="">May 1, 2024</a>
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<p>As part of the fundraising agreement, Joseph Chalom, BlackRock’s Global Head of Strategic Ecosystem Partnerships, joined the Securitize board of directors.</p> 
<p>The funding coincided with the launch of BlackRock’s first tokenized fund, the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), which was deployed on Ethereum (<a href="https://crypto.news/price/ethereum/" target="_blank" data-type="link" data-id="https://crypto.news/price/ethereum/" rel="">ETH</a>).&nbsp;</p> 
<p>Managed jointly with Securitize, BUIDL is intended to maintain a stable token value of $1, provide dividends directly to investors’ wallets, and offer flexible custody options in order to enhance investor accessibility and convenience.</p> 
<p> You might also like: <a href="https://crypto.news/vc-roundup-centrifuge-crypto-valley-exchange-nebra/" rel=""> VC roundup: Centrifuge, Crypto Valley Exchange, Nebra lock in funding rounds </a> </p> 
<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="strong-agora-raises-5-million-strong"><strong>Agora raises $5 million</strong></h3> 
<p>Cross-chain governance platform Agora secured $5 million in seed funding. </p> 
<p>Haun Ventures — backer of Chainalysis, Argus Labs and Sona — was the lead investment firm. Notable contributions also came from Seed Club, <a href="https://crypto.news/coinbase-ventures-emerges-as-most-active-crypto-vc-firm-with-372-deals/" target="_blank" rel="">Coinbase Ventures</a>, and various industry heavyweights such as Coin Center co-founder Balaji Srinivasan, podcast host and investor Sina Habibian, and Ethereum developer Tim Beiko.&nbsp;</p> 
<p>Agora offers an end-to-end governance system for decentralized communities, furnishing essential tools such as gasless voting, proposal sponsorship, and API integration, with notable clients including Optimism (<a href="https://crypto.news/price/optimism/" target="_blank" data-type="link" data-id="https://crypto.news/price/optimism/" rel="">OP</a>) and Uniswap (<a href="https://crypto.news/price/uniswap/" target="_blank" data-type="link" data-id="https://crypto.news/price/uniswap/" rel="">UNI</a>).</p> 
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   <p lang="en" dir="ltr">👋 Introducing Agora – the end-to-end governance app for crypto protocols.<br><br>We've spent the last 18 months building deeply with top protocols like <a href="https://twitter.com/Optimism?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="">@Optimism</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/UniswapFND?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="">@UniswapFND</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/ENS_DAO?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="">@ENS_DAO</a>…<br><br>And starting today, you can get all of the same tools for your community through our new site! <a href="https://t.co/bvxOB8pXPF" target="_blank" rel="">pic.twitter.com/bvxOB8pXPF</a></p>— Agora (@AgoraGovernance) <a href="https://twitter.com/AgoraGovernance/status/1785701310270144645?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="">May 1, 2024</a>
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<p> You might also like: <a href="https://crypto.news/major-russian-exchange-freezes-4m-of-user-assets-citing-money-laundering/" rel=""> Major Russian exchange freezes $4m of user assets, citing money laundering </a> </p> 
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="strong-moso-bags-2-million-strong"><strong>Moso bags $2 million</strong></h2> 
<p>Moso, a Los Angeles-based shop-to-earn platform that blends crypto with online shopping, successfully closed a $2 million seed <a href="https://crypto.news/tag/funding/" target="_blank" rel="">funding</a> round in late April.</p> 
<p>Symbolic Capital and Dao5 are among the backers.</p> 
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   <p lang="en" dir="ltr">We are excited to announce the closing of our Seed Round having raised $2M!<br><br>Big thank you to our investors and early community for making this possible and believing in our vision. <a href="https://t.co/oUjA3l1ewV" target="_blank" rel="">pic.twitter.com/oUjA3l1ewV</a></p>— Moso (@MosoHQ) <a href="https://twitter.com/MosoHQ/status/1783128542282461261?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="">April 24, 2024</a>
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<p>In a blog <a href="https://blog.moso.xyz/moso-secures-2m-investment-shaping-the-future-of-online-shopping-with-cryptocurrency-rewards-6f97622ad53e" target="_blank" rel="">post</a>, Moso indicated that it aims to use the funds from the seed round to bolster its operations and development initiatives.</p> 
<p>Led by CEO Blake Capozza, Moso partners with over 2,000 merchants, like Walmart and eBay, to facilitate crypto rewards for users.</p> 
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="strong-x10-gets-6-5-million-strong"><strong>X10 gets $6.5 million</strong></h2> 
<p>Elsewhere, former Revolut employees have launched X10, a hybrid crypto exchange, and secured $6.5 million in funding.&nbsp;</p> 
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   <p lang="en" dir="ltr">Hybrid crypto exchange X10 launched out of stealth today on testnet with $6.5 million in funding. Led by former Head of Crypto Ops at Revolut Ruslan Fakhrutdinov, the new platform aims to combine the best of CeFi and DeFi.</p>— Clagett (@Clagett) <a href="https://twitter.com/Clagett/status/1785366697710329979?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="">April 30, 2024</a>
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<p>Tioga Capital, Semantic Ventures, and notable individuals from Revolut and Lido, including Lido founder Konstantin Lomashuk, are among the backers. X10 promotes a hybrid approach to crypto custody, operating at the intersection of centralized and decentralized systems.</p> 
<p> You might also like: <a href="https://crypto.news/crypto-investments-surge-market-rebounds-q1/" rel=""> VC crypto investments surge as market rebounds, hits $2.5b in Q1 </a> </p> 
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="strong-hinkal-secures-1-4-million-strong"><strong>Hinkal secures $1.4 million</strong></h2> 
<p>Lastly, Hinkal, a San Francisco-based multi-chain privacy layer for confidential decentralized finance (defi) transactions, raised $1.4 million led by the SALT Fund.&nbsp;</p> 
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   <p lang="en" dir="ltr">We're excited to share that Hinkal has raised $1.4M at a $70M valuation, led by SALT Fund!<br><br>A big thank you to our investors and <a href="https://twitter.com/TheBlock__?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="">@TheBlock__</a> for featuring our story.<br><br>Together, we're re-anonymizing the blockchain.<br><br>Read more about our journey: <a href="https://t.co/ohMYT5jbE9" target="_blank" rel="">https://t.co/ohMYT5jbE9</a> <a href="https://t.co/6sEs8TbmnY" target="_blank" rel="">https://t.co/6sEs8TbmnY</a></p>— Hinkal (@hinkal_protocol) <a href="https://twitter.com/hinkal_protocol/status/1783907722959757476?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="">April 26, 2024</a>
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<p>Founded by Giorgi and Nika Koreli, Hinkal intends to address liquidity challenges for venture capital and founding teams by providing a secure environment for token vesting and liquidation without adverse market impacts.&nbsp;</p> 
<p>The platform is powered by zero knowledge (ZK) technology and offers a private smart contract wallet experience, enabling users to interact with decentralized applications (dapps) directly from private addresses.</p> 
<p> Read more: <a href="https://crypto.news/crypto-user-loses-69-3m-to-address-poisoning-scammer/" rel=""> Crypto user loses $69.3m to address poisoning scammer </a> </p>

VC roundup: Securitize, Agora, Moso, Hinkal, X10 clinch new funds

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