The cryptocurrency industry continues to attract an increasing number of institutional players. This is evident from new investments in infrastructure and the growing attention companies are paying to Bitcoin as an asset class. ForkLog reviews the most significant events of recent weeks.
Payment Service Oobit Secures $25 Million from Tether and Solana Co-Founder
The cryptocurrency payment service closed a Series A funding round, raising $25 million. The investment was provided by USDT stablecoin issuer Tether, Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko, CMCC Global, and 468 Capital.
BIG NEWS!
We are excited to announce that we have secured a $25M investment in Series A Led by Tether and CMCC Global, backed by Solana Co-Founder Anatoly Yakovenko and 468 Capital ?
Read the full story on @CoinDesk ?https://t.co/bFexo7ywqn pic.twitter.com/GqVkbVxVv5
— Oobit (@oobit) February 5, 2024
Oobit clients use the app to pay for purchases with digital assets at any location accepting Visa or MasterCard. Merchants receive fiat currency.
The company plans to add the ability to use third-party wallets, transforming the service into a non-custodial cryptocurrency payment app.
Nibiru Chain Raises $12 Million
Nibiru Chain, a first-layer blockchain developer, closed a $12 million funding round to prepare for an “ambitious” growth phase.
Nibiru Chain has secured a $12M investment from venture funding and the @Coinlist community sale ?
The investment will propel Nibiru to build a platform that’s truly user and developer-centric!
Thank you Nibiruns for all the support ?https://t.co/PCMzfJmGU4
— Nibiru Chain (@NibiruChain) February 5, 2024
The investment was provided by Kraken Ventures, ArkStream, NGC Ventures, Master Ventures, Tribe Capital, and Banter Capital.
The Nibiru community sale on CoinList brought the project $3 million in nine minutes. During an additional placement, the team raised another $3 million in 11 minutes.
Superform Revenue Marketplace Raises $6.5 Million from Polychain Capital
The cryptocurrency revenue marketplace Superform closed a seed funding round, raising $6.5 million.
1/ Superform Labs has raised $6.5m led by @polychain w/ participation from @BlockTower, @Maven11Capital, @CMT_Digital, @circle_ventures, @CryptoHayes, @PrimordialAA, Marc Roberts and more ?
Superform is now LIVE in Early Access on 7 chains ?⬇️ pic.twitter.com/V9OK3cqIFl
— Superform Labs ? (@superformxyz) February 8, 2024
It was led by Polychain Capital with participation from BlockTower Capital, Maven 11, Circle Ventures, and other venture firms. Among the project’s angel investors are former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes, Marc Bhargava from Tagomi, Avi Felman, Michael Bucella, and Brian Pellegrino.
Superform was founded by former BlockTower Capital investors Blake Richardson and Vikram Arun, along with former Microsoft product manager Alex Cort.
The cross-chain revenue marketplace allows DeFi protocols to list their vaults or asset pools. Users can deposit funds to earn profits.
DEX Aggregator Flood Raises $5.2 Million
The decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator Flood closed a seed funding round, raising $5.2 million, as reported by The Block.
The round, closed in the summer of 2023, was led by Bain Capital Crypto with participation from Archetype and Robot Ventures.
The protocol for routing, managing, and settling trades, Flood operates on Arbitrum One. The team plans to expand it to Ethereum, Base, and Optimism in the coming months.
The aggregator also manages its own DEX, FloodSwap. Since its launch in November 2023, its trading volume has exceeded $1.4 million, according to Dune Analytics.
Glif Protocol Raises $4.5 Million from Multicoin Capital
The liquid leasing protocol for Filecoin, Glif, raised $4.5 million in a seed funding round.
We’re proud to announce a $4.5M seed round led by @multicoincap with follow-on participation from @ZeePrimeCap, @Dialectic_Group, @fintech_io, @BigBrainVC, @fenbushi, @VinnyLingham, @protocollabs, @manamgnt & other angel investors. pic.twitter.com/vKYct7pI85
— GLIF (@glifio) February 6, 2024
The round was led by Multicoin Capital with participation from Zee Prime Capital, Fintech Collective, Big Brain Holdings, Protocol Labs, and other investors.
According to Filfox, Glif is the largest protocol in the Filecoin ecosystem, with a total value locked exceeding $155 million.
The project allows token holders, providers, and miners to earn by depositing. Glif operates similarly to a liquid staking platform.
“Glif for Filecoin is like Lido for Ethereum or Jito for Solana — a foundation for the network and its capital efficiency,” stated Multicoin Capital managing partner Kyle Samani.
L2 Project LightLink Raises $4.5 Million
The Layer 2 (L2) solution for Ethereum, LightLink, raised $4.5 million in a seed funding round.
? LightLink has secured $4.5M in seed funding, led by @TandBMedia and @mqdc_official, who invested $300M in Translucia + backed @Mittaria_Origin!@Blue7_io, @JellyC_, @b3v_io, and other key Web3 VCs have joined the round.
We are ready for our TGE!
? https://t.co/3S84tiTNAi pic.twitter.com/uXVYeISvRV
— LightLink ⛓️ (@LightLinkChain) February 6, 2024
The round was led by Thai media company T&B Media Global and developer MQDC with participation from JellyC, Mittaria, Blue7, B3V, and other investors.
LightLink’s technology will support the “multiverse project” Translucia, which combines virtual and physical worlds with $300 million in funding.
Also on ForkLog:
- Bitcoin-DEX Portal raised $34 million with participation from Coinbase.
- Hybrid crypto exchange Cube raised $12 million at a $100 million valuation.
- Binance supported the liquid restaking protocol Puffer Finance.