Sky Mavis Raises USD 150M, HSBC & Metaverse, BitPay Adds Bitcoin Lightning Network + More News

Adoption Banking Binance Bitcoin Bitpay Ethereum

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Sumejja Muratagić-Tadić

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Sumejja Muratagić-Tadić

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Sumejja is a freelance copywriter from Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, who delights in pulling things apart to see how they work. That does not necessarily mean she puts them back together; she's...

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June 26, 2023 06:54 EDT

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Investments news

• Blockchain gaming project Sky Mavis announced it raised USD 150m in a funding round led by crypto exchange BinanceBinance, which will be used to reimburse user funds affected by the Ronin Validator Hack. Additionally, Sky Mavis said it will increase the validator group to 21 validators within the next three months, which will be a split between various stakeholders including partners, community members, and long-term allies.
• Digital asset platform Nexo (NEXO) announced the launch of Nexo Prime, a prime brokerage platform aimed at institutional, corporate, and high-net-worth investors. The new platform has USD 375m in custodial insurance via insurance firms Lloyd’s of London and March & Arch.
• Crypto exchange Binance.US said it raised over USD 200m in a seed funding round, at a pre-money valuation of USD 4.5bn. The funds will be used to develop and launch a suite of new products and services, to be announced in the short term, they added.
• Crypto-mapping network Hivemapper announced a USD 18m Series A round led by Multicoin Capital. The new funds will be used to support Hivemapper’s mainnet launch this summer, onboard more map contributors, and deliver the company’s crypto-integrated Hivemapper Dashcam, they added.
• Ethereum (ETH) Layer-2 scaling solution Boba Network raised USD 45m in a Series A funding round, valuing the project at USD 1.5bn. The funding will be used to aid Boba’s further development, they said.
• Blockchain developer NEAR Protocol (NEAR) raised USD 350m in a round led by Tiger Global, per Bloomberg.
• Crypto financial intelligence provider Coin Metrics raised USD 35m in a Series C funding round led by Acrew Capital and BNY Mellon.
• Blockchain platform Polygon (MATIC) and liquidity protocol Arrakis Finance announced a collaboration as part of a USD 15m strategic partnership to grow the Polygon ecosystem. The first phase of the program kicks off with a USD 3m program to encourage the migration of liquidity to the Polygon ecosystem.
• Crypto platform Blockchain.com announced Blockchain.com Asset Management (BCAM), a crypto asset management platform with investments managed by investment manager Altis Partners. The platform is aimed at institutional investors, family offices, and high-net-worth individuals.

Metaverse news

• Financial giant HSBC Holdings launched a fund called the Metaverse Discretionary Strategy portfolio to capture investment opportunities in the metaverse, focusing on infrastructure, computing, virtualization, experience, discovery, and interface, for its high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth professional investors and accredited investor clients in Hong Kong and Singapore, per Reuters.
• Outdoor-focused tech company Outside Interactive announced a wellness-driven alternative to the metaverse called the Outerverse. The platform will consist of three primary parts: a non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace, a creator platform, and a loyalty token.

Adoption news

• Major crypto payments services provider BitPay announced support for Layer-2 technology Bitcoin Lightning Network payments through its Payment Processing Platform. “As a result of the integration, BitPay merchants and their customers will be able to complete cost-effective bitcoin transactions with lower fees,” they said, adding that BitPay’s wallet app has not yet enabled the Lightning network.
• Crypto insurance provider Relm announced the launch of Relm II, a reinsurance business that can accept both fiat and crypto as collateral.
• Crypto platform Blockchain.com announced that its wallet users will now have access to Ethereum (ETH) decentralized applications (dapps) through integration with wallet connecting service WalletConnect. The new integration is available for both iOS and Android users, and web support will be available soon, they said.

Security News

• Digital payments company Block announced that a former employee improperly downloaded Cash App investing reports containing US customer data, and the company is notifying some 8.2m current and former customers about the breach. They added that the reports did not include usernames, passwords, social security numbers, birth dates, payment card or bank account information, addresses, or other personally identifiable information.

Mining news

• Riot Blockchain announced that they produced BTC 511 (USD 23m) in March 2022, an increase of approximately 176%, as compared to March 2021.
• Marathon Digital announced the intention to transition its bitcoin (BTC) miners from the facility in Hardin, Montana, USA, to new locations with more sustainable and non-carbon emitting sources of power. However, they did not disclose which locations they are looking to move to.

Regulation news

• US Congresspeople Norma J. Torres and Rick Crawford introduced the Accountability for Cryptocurrency in El Salvador (ACES) Act, which directs the State Department to produce an analysis of El Salvador’s adoption of BTC as legal tender and the risks for cybersecurity, economic stability, and democratic governance in El Salvador, as well as create a plan to mitigate potential risks to the US financial system.

NFTs news

• The NFT artworks made by Ross Ulbricht in prison are now available for viewing. The five pieces of art will be displayed at the Bitcoin 2022 Renaissance Art Gallery and auctioned on the Scarce.City platform.
• Social platform YouTube influencer Logan Paul announced he has co-founded Liquid MarketPlace, a platform where people can buy and sell portions of rare collectibles in real-time via digitized tokens. With an initial focus on trading cards, Liquid MarketPlace plans to introduce new collectibles categories in the next 3 to 6 months as it expands its user base.
• Luxury car manufacturer Lamborghini will auction the last Lamborghini Aventador LP 780-4 Ultimae Coupé ever produced and a one-of-one NFT. The buyer should receive exclusive virtual previews of future limited edition Lamborghini models, a private tour of the Museo Lamborghini, and a virtual “Meet and Greet” with contemporary artists Steve Aoki and Krista Kim.