Author Archives: TheBlock.co

Big Brain is rapidly gaining traction as one of the more active investment firms in the blockchain space, with more than $60 million deployed in more than 200 projects. All of this since last year, when early-stage investors and SolBigBrain started providing backing for protocols such as NEAR and Solana. The firm is among the[Read more…]

After over four years of preparation, zkSync is approaching its highly anticipated launch.  One of the largest debates in the industry is how Ethereum will scale, and which methods or technologies will be the most successful. As a result, zkSync’s launch will be a pivotal moment for Ethereum, as it’s the first time zkSync’s novel[Read more…]

Serial entrepreneur Jason Goldberg has raised $3 million in a pre-seed round for his latest venture Airstack, a web3 API platform.  Goldberg has been an entrepreneur for over 20 years having played a role in seven companies including Hem, a furniture design label which was sold to a private investment company in 2016; Moxie, a[Read more…]

Polygon is launching a public testnet for Ethereum scaling solution Hermez, as the race for a dominant Ethereum Layer 2 solution gets underway. Polygon acquired the Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solution Hermez late last year for $250 million. Hermez runs on top of Ethereum and boosts its scalability by allowing it to process more transactions for a[Read more…]

Stems, a decentralized music platform, closed a $4 million pre-seed funding round.  The investment firm Ideo CoLab Ventures led the funding round, with additional participation from Collab+Currency, Village Global and Polygon Studios. Notable crypto firms such as Merit Circle and Yield Guild Games participated as well, along with FireEyes, NoiseDAO, Jump, GSR, Akatsuki and others. Stems is a decentralized[Read more…]

Robinhood’s self-custody wallet has launched in beta to 10,000 iOS customers globally.  Robinhood Wallet, a standalone app on the Apple Store, allows users to trade and swap crypto without network fees. The app is initially launching with Polygon support but will support multiple networks in the future, according to Robinhood. Polygon was chosen for its[Read more…]

Immunefi, a platform that helps web3 projects launch bug bounty programs and whitehat hackers earn money, has raised $24 million in a Series A funding round amid increasing crypto hacks. Framework Ventures led the round in the largest deal the crypto investment firm has publicly announced, according to a statement on Thursday. Other investors include Electric[Read more…]

Ethereum scaling solution Polygon plans to continue hiring despite the bear market and choppy macro conditions, it said this week.  This will include plans to increase its overall headcount by over 40%, according to an interview published by Bloomberg. Bhumika Srivastava, the firm’s head of human resources, said the company hopes to capitalize on the misfortune of[Read more…]

Koop, a web3 protocol focused on the creator economy, announced Wednesday its public launch and $5 million in seed funding.  Variant Fund and Nick Tomaino’s venture capital firm 1confirmation co-led the round, with Palm Tree Crew, Day One Ventures, Ethereal Ventures, DeFi Alliance, Volt Capital and others participating. Angel investors including crypto influencer Cooper Turley, former[Read more…]