US inflation hits 8.6% in a four-decade high

Edition #21 - 10 JUNE 2022

The consumer price index (CPI), the most widely tracked benchmark for inflation, rose 8.6% on a year-over-year basis in May, topping expectations that it would decline to 8.2% from April's 8.3%. The core CPI – which strips out food and energy costs – rose 6% year over year in May, dipping from April's 6.2%, but more than expectations for 5.9%.

gaming developments

Ronin Blockchain Surpasses $4 Billion in All-Time NFT Sales Volume;
Illuvium raises $72 million from its land auction, selling 19,969 in-game plots;
Axie Infinity's weekly revenue continues to slide – drops below $1 million for the first time since February 2021.

metaverses & Adoption

Fidelity CEO suggests bear market is an opportunity to go ‘extra hard’ in crypto
ROBO-01: Chinese car launched in the metaverse is now a vailable IRL;
Finance giants Citadel, Fidelity and Charles Schwab are planning to launch a crypto trading platform;
Japan’s crypto governing body is looking to e ase rules to list new cryptocurrencies.

zen portfolio highlight

We are thrilled to be leading the Seed funding round for AvaxFi, an Avalanche native lending platform.

The team at AvaxFi has developed a user-friendly, scalable, and fully decentralized platform for instant loan approval, automated collateral, trustless custody, and augmented lending liquidity. Built on the leading proof-of-stake (POS) blockchain Avalanche, AvaxFi aims to unleash the next generation of seamless, fast, and secure crypto lending.

Find out more about AvaxFi and keep in the loop with the latest on Twitter and Medium.

defi

Terra’s Anchor protocol users vote to halt ‘earning and borrowing’
Circle announces the stablecoin USDC is now supported on the Polygon network;
Cosmos-based DeFi exchange Osmosis hit by $5 million exploit;
Ethereum’s Ropsten Testnet has completed its merge, setting the stage to pending transition to proof-of-stake;
Tron’s stablecoin USDD becomes over 200% overcollateralized to prevent a repeat of Terra's UST.

funding rounds

Orderly Network, a decentralised exchange, closed its $20 million strategic round, with participation by Three Arrows Capital, Pantera, Alameda Research and others;
Entropy, a decentralised crypto custodian, completed its $25 million Seed round, led by a16z;
Delphia, an algorithmic investment adviser, closed its $60 million Series A, led by Multicoin Capital.

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