White Star Capital Digital Asset Fund - newsletter #49
Announcing our newest investment + the institutions have arrived 🏙
Announcing our investment in Alethea AI and more institutional NFT developments
We are very happy to announce our investment into the $16m token round of Alethea AI, the creator of the iNFT standard. We invested alongside Galaxy Digital, Multicoin, Alameda, Gemini, Metapurse, Crypto.com, and leading angels such as Mark Cuban & Meltem Demirors. Read more in our special announcement here.
In other NFT news this week, Visa announced that they bought CryptoPunk 7610, one of 3,840 female punks, for around $150k. CryptoPunks are considered the original NFTs, launched in 2017 by Larva Labs. These are a collection of 10,000 pixel art images of misfits and eccentrics. Each CryptoPunk has its own personality and unique combination of features.
Visa believes NFTs will play an important role in the future of commerce. NFTs can help individual content creators and small and medium-sized businesses in new ways, said Visa's head of crypto, Cuy Sheffield. "NFTs are an intersection of culture and commerce."
Following the news earlier today that Visa has bought a CryptoPunk, around 90 NFTs in the collection have been sold in a single hour. The total amount of these sales is roughly $20m. Unsurprisingly, the purchase stimulated a surge of demand in the market for CryptoPunks. According to Larva Labs' website, a wave of sales has gone through, featuring mostly human CryptoPunks. The majority of the sales were for around $180k to $250k, although one reached as high as $917k.
CryptoPunk sales can reach a lot higher than this. According to NFT tracker CryptoSlam, the highest CryptoPunk sale in history was $7.6m for an alien Punk with shades, a pipe and a cap.
🔦 White Star & Portfolio Spotlight
Mark Cuban-Backed Firm Alethea Is Creating ‘Intelligent’ NFTs
Alethea AI has announced their $16m token sale with participation from White Star Capital, Metapurse, Crypto.com Capital, Mark Cuban, Multicoin, Alameda, Dapper Labs, Galaxy Interactive and Gemini Frontier Fund.
DeFi-powered social token site Rally submits plan to decentralize itself
The proposed road map would see the "creator coin" platform split up into a venture studio, a DAO, a Swiss non-profit and more.
Paraswap is the top DEX aggregator on Polygon
UTA signs social token platform Rally to connect “crypto-interested talent” with fans
🏦 Enterprises & Institutions
Evolve Funds files for crypto ETF in Canada
The ETF would give investors “indirect exposure” to certain cryptocurrencies.
Robinhood’s revenue from cryptocurrency trading jumps to 41% of total
Cryptocurrency-based revenue for the second quarter was $233m, versus just $5m in the year-ago quarter.
Coinbase to add over $500m in crypto to current holdings
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong tweeted that the crypto exchange will also invest 10% of its profits in cryptocurrency.
PayPal launches crypto trading service in the UK
PayPal has launched its crypto service in the UK. Starting next week, the company will allow its users in the country to buy, sell, and hold cryptocurrencies.
a16z-backed content platform Substack begins accepting bitcoin payments
Substack, an online content platform through which writers can make money from subscriptions, has integrated bitcoin as a payment option.
Citigroup is working with regulators to start trading bitcoin futures
Citigroup is performing the regulatory legwork necessary to start trading CME's bitcoin futures product.
MicroStrategy announces new bitcoin buy worth $177m
This brings MicroStrategy's total bitcoin supply to 108,992 BTC, an amount worth approximately $5.3bn at press time.
⚖️ Government & Regulation
El Salvador's official bitcoin wallet will go live on September 7
Digital Yuan used in China’s domestic futures market for first time
The interbank payment using the e-CNY afforded a zero cost, efficient and convenient payment option in real time.
💰 Funding & Exits
1confirmation backs new NFT startup built for music artists in $2.2m round
1confirmation, the investment firm backed by Peter Thiel and Mark Cuban, announced Thursday an investment in non-fungible token (NFT) project Catalog.
A16z leads $4.6m investment in Yield Guild Games
Other participating investors included venture capital firm Kingsway Capital, Infinity Ventures Crypto, Atelier Ventures and the gaming entrepreneur Gabriel Leydon.
Cross-chain protocol Chainflip raises $6m
Funding will also go toward external communication campaigns and to build out Chainflip’s products and team.
'Fractional' NFT platform completes $7.9m in seed funding
Investors include Divergence Ventures, Flamingo DAO, Variant Fund, and Delphi Ventures. Paradigm led the round.
Y Combinator, Dragonfly back seed round for crypto trading dashboard Hedgehog
Led by Acorns alums, Hedgehog will use the fresh $1.6m to build a robo-advisor for cryptocurrency investing.
Asian digital asset manager Hyperithm raises $11m
Hyperithm, a Tokyo-based digital asset management firm, raised $11m in a Series B funding round that was co-led by South Korea’s Hashed and Wemade Tree
Taiwan’s XREX blockchain firm faises $17m in funding round led by CDIB Capital
Funding will go toward expanding the firm's fiat currency portfolio, acquiring additional licenses and furthering partnerships.
MobileCoin raises $66m to build out privacy-focused payments tech
The round, joined by Alameda Research, Coinbase Ventures and others, looks to put MobileCoin in more messaging apps.
Tapiero’s 10T Holdings, Akuna Capital buy $100m stake in bitcoin options exchange Deribit
The transaction occurred on the secondary market; Deribit declined to state its current valuation.
Blockstream raises $210m, acquires mining chip manufacturer Spondoolies
The Series B round values Adam Back's Bitcoin technology firm at $3.2bn.
OKEx establishes $10m fund for GameFi projects
The cash will come from the exchange's $100m OKEx BlockDream Ventures fund, which invests in blockchain projects.
ParaFi, Dragonfly back new investment venture aimed at Web3 and APAC
Folius Ventures LLC, which has been operating in stealth for several months, was founded by Jason Kam, a former director at New York-based Briarwood Chase Management.
FinTech Collective closes $250m fund with new DeFi strategy
$200m will be poured into the firm’s existing early-stage strategy, which targets fintech and digital assets, with $50m assigned to a newly formed Decentralized Finance (DeFi) fund.
🚀 Project Launches & Updates
SuperRare drops RARE token to decentralize NFT marketplace
SuperRare has done over $90m in NFT art sales since 2018 and is backed by the likes of Mark Cuban, Velvet Sea Ventures, 1confirmation and others.
🔥 Other Bits We're Excited About
Visa buys a CryptoPunk as it takes first steps into 'NFT commerce'
Visa bought CryptoPunk 7610, one of 3,840 female punks, for around $150k.