PayPal launches a stablecoin

Edition #75 - 12 AUG 2023

In PayPal's latest crypto payment push, PayPal USD (PYUSD) will be issued by Paxos Trust Co. and fully backed by U.S. dollar deposits, short-term Treasuries and similar cash equivalents, the San Jose, California-based payments company said on Monday. It’s pegged to the dollar and will be gradually available to PayPal’s customers in the U.S.

Meanwhile, Spain's central bank approves euro-linked token pilot as part of sandbox initiative.

gaming developments

• ​​​​​​​​​​​​Gamefi: a gaming paradigm shift or another bubble about to burst?

• Exploring the power of gamification, NFTs and data in Web3 with Animoca Brands founder Yat Siu.

• Newzoo's Global Games Market Report 2023 was just released.

• Amazon Prime's NFT treat: free in-game NFTs for players.

• Mahjong e-sports Web3 gaming platform on Ethereum Mahjong Meta raised $12M funding round led by Dragonfly Capital, Folius Ventures, with participation from Meteorite Labs, Find Satoshi Lab, Parallel Ventures, Emoote.

metaverses & AI

• ​​​​Tezos-based generative art NFT platform fxhash raised $5M in a Seed funding round led by 1kx, with participation from Fabric Ventures, Bright Opportunities DAO, Union Square Ventures (USV), Tezos Foundation, Tane, Daedalus, Everyrealm, Punk DAO, KRPDM.

• ​​Web3 security platform CUBE3 AI raised $8.2M in a Seed funding round led by Blockchange Ventures, with participation from Dispersion Capital, Symbolic Capital (ex Hyperedge Capital), Hypersphere, TA Ventures, Iclub.

defi

• ​​​​​​​​​​​An institutional-grade perpetual futures DEX D8X raised $1.5M in a Pre-seed funding round led by Polygon Ventures, with participation from Swissborg Ventures, Cogitent Ventures, Axelar Network, Veris Ventures, G1 Ventures, Pragma Ventures, Crypto Discover.

• ​​Perpetual DEX focused on risk management and capital efficiency KiloEx closed its funding round led by Binance Labs Fund. Amount raised is not disclosed.

• ​​Decentralized Rollup-as-a-Service protocol AltLayer closed its funding round led by Binance Labs Fund. Amount raised is not disclosed.

• DeFi protocol offers Ethereum staking experience unshETH raised $3.3M in a Seed funding round from Soma Capital, ICONIQ Growth, THE LAO, Backend Capital, Electric Feel Entertainment & Ventures, MH Ventures, 300DAO, Electric Ant, HF0, Epakon Capital.

funding rounds

• ​​​​​​​​Multicoin backer L1 Digital raises $152M for second Crypto VC Fund.​​

• All-in-one Web3 benefits and membership platform VIP3 raised $2M in a Seed funding round from IOBC Capital, Ankr Network, PAKA.

• ​​Anti-slashing liquid staking Protocol Puffer Finance raised $5.5M in a Seed funding round led by Lemniscap, Lightspeed Faction, with participation from Brevan Howard Digital, Bankless Ventures, Animoca Ventures, DACM, SNZ Holding, Canonical Crypto.

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