Edition #31 - 19 AUG 2022
Typically a lagging indicator of the sector’s health, the explosion of venture funding in the blockchain sector in 2021 and the first half of 2022 appears to be cooling off after seven consecutive sectors of growth.
According to Cointelegraph Research, inflows in the blockchain venture capital market have declined by 43% month-on-month in July 2022.
gaming developments
Highly anticipated crypto MMORPG Untamed Isles abandons development citing market conditions, accused of misusing investor funds;
P2E game Torque Drift 2 receives an “Epic MegaGrant” from Fortnite developers Epic Games to fund development;
The Ronin sidechain powering Axie Infinity adds three new validators, increasing the number to 17 following the hack in March.
metaverses & Adoption
U.S. government officials are requesting for an independent examiner to be appointed to look into Celsius collapse;
Australia’s leading gas station chain will now accept crypto for fuel at 170 locations;
Ethereum decentralization at great risk as Amazon hosts over half of all notes at its data centres;
Gordon Ramsay enters the metaverse as Hell’s Kitchen partners with The Sandbox;
Yuga Labs releases IP rights for CryptoPunks and Meebits, allowing owners to use their characters in commercial projects.
zen highlight
This week we highlight our portfolio company SkyBreakers - the first P&E helicopter simulator. The game has been in development for over 2 years already, with more than 30+ unique helicopter models, 70+ unique weapons and other assets which will be claimable by players as NFTs. Development studio building SkyBreakers has over 16 years of experience, a team of 50 passionate developers and artists and has partnered with industry giants like CD Project RED (Cyberpunk 2077, Witcher series).
The team at SkyBreakers has a small present for our newsletter readers! Get yourself heli-battle-ready with a unique discount code “ababm8dkba”.
defi
Three crucial DeFi protocols – Aave, Uniswap and Balancer had reportedly started blocking wallets that had interacted with Tornado Cash’s smart contract;
HUSD stablecoin climbs back to its peg after dropping to as low as 84 cents on the dollar amid liquidity concerns;
Bankrupt crypto lender Celsius on pace to run out of cash by October;
Uniswap’s volume hit 2022 low, sinking more than $24 billion;
Ethereum Classic (ETC) total value locked doubles ahead of Ethereum merge.
funding rounds
Koinbanx, an asset tokenization company, has completed its $22 million Series A round. Algorand lead the funding with Borderless Capital, Kalonia Venture Partners, G2 and Innogen Capital, among others in participation;
FOMO Pay, a crypto banking service provider, raises $13 million in Series A funding in a round lead by Jump Crypto, with HashKey Capital, Antalpha Ventures, Ab Initio Capital and Republic Capital in participation;
Injective Protocol, a blockchain protocol, raises a $40 million funding round lead by Jump Crypto along with participation from BH Digital.
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