White Star Capital Digital Asset Fund - newsletter #103
Google Cloud Announces Partnership with Solana
Google Cloud Announces Partnership with Solana
White Star Capital Digital Asset Fund - newsletter #103
Solana Breakpoint, Lisbon
Solana Breakpoint, the blockchain’s annual conference held in Lisbon last week, saw a number of big launches. Solana and Solana Labs co-founders took to the stage to announce Solana smartphones, a dApp store, and GeoNFTs. But the ecosystem’s partnership with Google stole the limelight.
What is the Google Cloud partnership?
Google Cloud first announced its Blockchain Node Engine in October. It is a node-hosting service designed to help build and deploy on blockchain platforms and dApps. Ethereum was the first blockchain supported by the engine, and Breakpoint saw the announcement of Solana as its next collaboration. Solana is one of the most popular and functional Layer 1s in the Web3 ecosystem today, so it makes sense as a next move for Google. The integration will help users with launching Solana nodes in the Google Cloud.
Google Cloud will also index the Solana blockchain and bring data to ‘Big Query’, a fully-managed serverless data warehouse in 2023, in order to improve developer access to historical data.
“Web3 companies who require dedicated nodes can relay transactions, deploy smart contracts, and read or write blockchain data with the reliability, performance, and security they expect from Google Cloud compute and network infrastructure,” commented Google Cloud executives Amit Zavery and James Tromans.
What is Google’s long-term vision?
Google is making big advances in building out a crypto product suite, although it is not the first Web2 tech giant to foray into this space. Amazon’s Managed Blockchain supported Ethereum nodes-as-a-service since last year.
“This is like a natural evolution for us because we saw a lot of our financial services crypto-native gaming customers do more and more blockchain-related workloads on [Google Cloud] and it was clear that a dedicated product suite for Web3 would serve them better,” Google’s Web3 lead, Nalin Mittal, explained.
🔦 White Star & Portfolio Spotlight
Multis now supports Polygon
You can now create or link existing Gnosis Safe on the Polygon Network to manage your MATIC or any other token on this blazing-fast layer2!
Unlock your crypto treasury: Introducing Multis Corporate Cards
Multis has become the one stop shop to convert and spend — no need to exchange your crypto anymore!
🏦 Enterprises & Institutions
NTT Docomo to invest $4bn in Web3 using mobile infrastructure
Funds will be used to set up a company that will develop blockchain-centered solutions, a source told Nikkei Asia. It will begin operating in 2023.
Arweave teams up with Meta for NFT storage
Meta and Instagram signal Web3 intent by rolling out NFT infrastructure in collaboration with Arweave and Polygon.
Crypto Exchange Gemini Expands to 5 More European Countries
Crypto exchange Gemini today announced it had expanded its offerings to five more European countries, bringing its presence on the continent to 12 nations even as crypto prices suffer from a prolonged slump.
JPMorgan Trade on Public Blockchain ‘Monumental Step’ for DeFi
JPMorgan, DBS and SBI Digital Asset execute live trade using DeFi, tokenized deposits and verifiable credentials.
⚖️ Government & Regulation
EU Commission set to propose legislation for digital euro
The European Commission will "soon" come out with a legislative proposal on a digital euro, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said.
Swiss regulator includes AML provisions for crypto transactions
From next year, Swiss citizens will need to confirm their identity when conducting crypto transfers of over 1000 Swiss francs ($1005).
Abra CEO explains the benefits of a fully regulated bank for digital assets
Abra Co-Founder and CEO Bill Barhydt discussed the upside of Abra Bank offering fully-regulated, interest-bearing accounts in the U.S.
💰 Funding & Exits
Crypto Lending Platform Moon Mortgage Raises $3.5M Seed Round
The platform will allow investors to use their crypto as collateral for financing real estate investments.
Stanford undergrads raise $3.3 million for their Notebook Labs protocol
Notebook Labs is building an identity protocol with a focus on privacy.
London-based gaming community Fruitlab raises €1.5m to boost its platform
Founded in 2018, Fruitlab’s mission is to provide a fair and equitable platform for players, content creators and game developers.
Courtyard raises $7M to redefine physical collectibles ownership through NFTs
Financing led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA) will allow the physically-backed NFT platform to scale and optimize its infrastructure.
Privacy Protocol Elusiv Raises $3.5 Million in Seed Funding
Elusiv protocol offers privacy with compliance to protect Solana users with accessible and compliant privacy.
🚀 Project Launches & Updates
Bitpanda’s founders launch their own venture capital firm
The founder trio of crypto investment platform Bitpanda has quietly set up its own venture capital firm, named Diamond Hand Ventures.
AirDAO launches Ethereum cross-chain bridge for its Layer 1 network
The Ethereum bridge is AirDAO’s second cross-chain bridge as the network alreadyhas a BNB Smart Chain bridge.
Circle's Euro Coin Coming To Solana in 2023
The Euro-backed stablecoin will launch on Solana in the first half of 2023, alongside Circle's Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol.
🔥 Other Bits We're Excited About
Animoca Brands CEO: 'There Is No Metaverse Without Web3'
Robby Yung took aim at Meta's focus on virtual reality for the metaverse, calling VR "a big distraction" and "a mistake."
Vitalik reveals a new phase in the Ethereum roadmap: ‘The Scourge’
The remaining milestones of the Ethereum roadmap consist of The Surge, The Scourge, The Verge, The Purge and The Splurge.