White Star Capital Digital Asset Fund - newsletter #56
Multiple 9-figure fundraises show no signs of slowing 🏛
Record breaking digital asset venture funding
There is a record amount of venture capital money pouring into the digital asset space, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) may come out on top. As of mid-June, an all-time high of $17bn has been invested into crypto projects in 2021.
The last few months alone, saw the likes of TRON, Binance, Avalanche and other layer 1 blockchains announce multi-million dollar funds to invest in digital asset projects over the next few years. There have also been several 9-figure fundraises, several of which were announced this week by Celcius, Coinswitch, ConsenSys and MoonPay.
One of the biggest areas of the industry gaining venture capital interest is the DeFi and the NFT space. Today’s precarious regulatory environment around DeFi has pushed investors into NFTs, a sector seen as potentially more protected from regulatory crackdowns for now.
The gaming sector, which is seen as a key growth area for NFTs, has raised almost $5.9bn in funding so far in 2021, more than the past two years. The record year for gaming venture funding was in 2018, with $6.1bn allocated to the space (source: Crunchbase). We believe there will be continued focus on the gaming subsector of crypto, both internally by White Star Capital and as a general market trend.
🔦 White Star & Portfolio Spotlight
Alethea AI announces the world’s first intelligent Metaverse
Coinshift integrates swaps powered by Paraswap
🏦 Enterprises & Institutions
George Soros' family office owns bitcoin, confirms CEO Fitzpatrick
Soros Fund is also an investor in crypto firms such as NYDIG and Lukka, but this appears to be the firm's first public confirmation of having investments in cryptocurrency directly.
Google Pay to support Bakkt debit card
Cryptocurrency balances will be converted to fiat to enable transactions to occur.
JPMorgan says institutional investors are replacing gold with bitcoin
The shift into bitcoin that drove late-2020 all-time highs “has started reemerging in recent weeks,” wrote analyst Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou.
⚖️ Government & Regulation
Digital currencies could 'reduce reliance on the U.S. dollar' says new Fed paper
Recent thinking at the Federal Reserve has positioned digital currencies as a possible challenge to the dollar's dominance.
US FDIC said to be studying deposit insurance for stablecoins
So-called pass-through coverage would insure the holders of these tokens against losses up to $250,000 if the bank holding the collateral were to fail.
South Korean financial regulators move forward on crypto taxation and exchange oversight
According to a report from the Korea Times, South Korea's financial leadership is fighting to implement crypto taxation on time.
Sen. Cynthia Lummis bought up to $100k of bitcoin in August, SEC filing shows
Lummis has been a noted pro-bitcoin voice in Congress, establishing the Financial Innovation Caucus to educate members of the Senate on crypto and regularly speaking out on crypto-related issues.
💰 Funding & Exits
Play-to-earn metaverse game Warena raises $1.5m
Among those joining the round are Genesis Builders, DAOMaker, Momentum 6, Master Ventures, Animoca, Clovers Ventures and more.
Cameroon’s Ejara raises $2m to offer crypto and investment services in Francophone Africa
CoinShares Ventures and Anthemis Group led the round.
PowerLoom raises a $3.1m seed round
The round was led by Blockchain Capital with participation from other crypto investors.
Dapper Labs backs $3.5m raise for crypto social media startup Yup
Yup, which works a little like Pinterest, is the brainchild of two recent Columbia graduates.
Crypto staking platform Stader Labs raises $4m in seed funding
The round was led by Pantera Capital, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, True Ventures, Jump Capital, Huobi Ventures, TerraForm Labs, Solana Foundation, Near Foundation, and others.
GooseFX announces $4.5m seed raise
GooseFX started as a protocol dedicating its efforts to bringing a complete DeFi experience to the Solana ecosystem.
Merit Circle closes $4.5m seed round to revolutionize the P2E gaming industry
The recently formed DAO will consist of funds like DeFiance Capital, Mechanism Capital, Spartan Group, DCG, others.
Art Blocks raises $6m on strength of generative NFTs
True Ventures pitched in 50% of the round with major participation from Galaxy Interactive, Galaxy Digital’s entertainment-focused venture fund, and Collab Currency.
DeFi project Strips Finance raises $8.5m to launch interest rates trading platform
Multicoin Capital led the round, with Sequoia Capital India, Fabric Ventures, and Morningstar Capital also participating.
Gaming platform OP Games raises $8.6m to bridge game developers to Web 3.0
Republic Crypto, Ascensive Assets, Morningstar Ventures, Mechanism Capital, Polygon Studios and Bitcoin.com participated in the round.
Crypto prime broker SheeldMarket raises $10m in Series A funding
London-based venture capital firm Atomico led the round, with Semantic Ventures participating.
Swiss FlowBank to open crypto ‘gateways’ following $11.8m investment from Coinshares
The Nasdaq-listed digital asset manager said it was offering its expertise for the bank to start building atop its technology stack.
New Zealand cryptocurrency exchange Easy Crypto raises $12m
Nuance Connected Capital led the Series A funding round, which also included investors from Indonesian and U.S. venture firms.
Decentralized exchange Futureswap raises $12m
Ribbit Capital, Framework Ventures, True Ventures, and Placeholder co-led the round, each investing $2m.
Indian TikTok competitor Chingari raises $19m to develop a ‘social token’
Republic Crypto, Galaxy Digital, Alameda Research, Solana Capital, Kraken, Blackpine, NGC, Coinfund, and others participated in the sale.
Dubai crypto exchange BitOasis raises $30m funding round
The Series B round was co-led by Jump Capital and Wamda.
Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic raises $60m in Series C funding
The round was led by cybersecurity-focused venture capital firm Evolution Equity Partners, with participation from SoftBank Vision Fund 2.
Indian crypto exchange CoinSwitch Kuber raises $260m in Series C funding
New investors Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Coinbase Ventures backed the round, along with existing investors Paradigm, Ribbit Capital, Sequoia Capital India, and Tiger Global.
ConsenSys funding round would value crypto start-up at $3bn
ConsenSys announced in April it had raised $65m from JPMorgan, Mastercard, UBS and other investors, in what the company called a “formation round”.
Crypto payment startup MoonPay valued at $3.4bn after first funding round
Tiger Global Management and Coatue Management co-led the $400m round.
Celsius raises $400m amid mounting regulatory pressure
The round was led by growth equity firm WestCap.
Bitkraft raises $75m token fund for blockchain game investments
The fund follows news from earlier in the year, where Bitkraft hired Piers Kicks to lead their efforts across the crypto ecosystem.
Binance launches $1bn growth fund for Binance Smart Chain
The massive fund is divided into four categories: Talent development, liquidity incentive program, builder program, and investment and incubation program.
Paradigm onboards new partner amid $1.5bn raise
Paradigm plans for the fund to weigh in between $1.25bn and $1.5bn.
🚀 Project Launches & Updates
Sorare signs NFT partnership with Bundesliga
The deal with Germany’s top soccer league will bring video-based “NFT Moments” to the platform for the first time.
🔥 Other Bits We're Excited About
Coinbase announces NFT waitlist, following lead of rivals Binance and FTX
Coinbase is breaking into the market for non-fungible tokens, announcing the waitlist for access to Coinbase NFT — making it the latest crypto firm to dive into the NFT frenzy.