headlines
Monad Labs in talks to have Paradigm lead investment of more than $200 million
Paradigm is in talks to lead a funding round of more than $200 million in Monad Labs, which would value the company at $3 billion, people familiar with the matter said.
Paradigm has said it would commit $150 million and has been contacting other investors since late 2023 to see if they would be interested in joining the round, people familiar with the matter said.
If successfully completed, Monad Labs’ over $200 million funding round would be the largest cryptocurrency funding round so far in 2024, according to Crunchbase’s Web3 Tracker data.
A spokesperson for Paradigm declined to comment, and Monad Labs co-founder and CEO Keone Hon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (Fortune Magazine)
It was reported in February 2023 that Monad Labs, a technology startup founded by the former team of Jump Trading, completed US$19 million in financing, led by Dragonfly Capital, with participation from Placeholder Capital, Lemniscap, Shima Capital, Finality Capital, Naval Ravikant, Cobie, Hasu, etc.
Ethereum surpasses Walmart to become the 19th largest asset in the world by market capitalization
According to the latest data from 8marketcap, the current market value of Ethereum has reached US$484.31 billion, surpassing the retail giant Walmart (current market value is approximately US$483.85 billion) and becoming the 19th largest asset in the world by market value.
Coinbase asks appeals court to direct SEC to start drafting cryptocurrency rules
Coinbase said in opening arguments to the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday that the appeals court should direct the SEC to begin a long overdue rulemaking process.
Coinbase said the SEC violated the Administrative Procedure Act because it did not conduct a rulemaking and did not provide details on why it rejected Coinbase’s rulemaking petition. The act regulates how federal agencies develop and issue rules. The SEC does not have the legal authority to extend the current securities regime to digital assets. But if the SEC insists on moving forward without congressional authorization, the decision must be made and enforced through forward-looking rulemaking.
Next, the SEC will file an objection in April, and Coinbase will then have a few weeks to respond. If the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals decides to hold oral arguments, it will have to wait until late summer or early fall. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals could rule in late 2024 or 2025, according to people familiar with the matter.
Industry news
The U.S. Treasury Department once again proposes new cryptocurrency tax rules
The U.S. Treasury Department is once again proposing a raft of tax rules related to digital assets, including a ban on wash trading and a consumption tax on miners’ electricity costs, according to President Joe Biden’s plan. The Treasury Department on Monday released its 2025 revenue proposals, known as the Green Paper, outlining tax proposals in Bidens budget released on Monday. The request was repeated, but the proposal never became law.
According to monitoring by Farside Investors, Grayscale GBTC had a net outflow of approximately US$494.1 million on March 11. Bitwises BITB funds have a net inflow of $50 million, ARK 21 Shares ARKB funds have a net inflow of $13 million, and WisdomTrees BTCW funds have a net inflow of $5.8 million.
According to monitoring by Farside Investors, the VanEck Bitcoin Spot ETF (HODL) had a net inflow of US$118.8 million yesterday, setting its highest single-day inflow record.
Investment and Financing
Ethena Labs completes new round of financing, Avon Ventures participated
According to official news, USDe developer Ethena Labs announced that it has completed a new round of financing. Avon Ventures, a venture fund under FMR LLC, the parent company of Fidelity Investments, participated in the investment. The specific amount has not yet been disclosed.
Flash Protocol: Plans to launch token FLASH in March
According to official news, Taproot asset issuance protocol Flash Protocol announced that it will launch the FLASH token in March. It is reported that the token will be used to support Bitcoin’s native NFT issuance platform Flash, aiming to promote GameFi, AI and Meme culture on Bitcoin. .
Layer 2 developer Eclipse Labs closes $50 million in Series A funding
Layer 2 developer Eclipse Labs announced the completion of a $50 million Series A round of financing, co-led by Placeholder and Hack VC, with participation from Polychain Capital, Delphi Digital, Maven 11, DBA and Fenbushi CapitaFlow Traders, GSR, Apollo Global Management and OKX Ventures, as of The current total financing amount of the project reaches US$65 million. Eclipse aims to provide differentiated layer 2 solutions, but has not yet disclosed valuation information for this round of financing.
UniSat completes a new round of strategic financing, with CGV participating in the investment
Bitcoin Ordinals/BRC-20 protocol open source wallet and infrastructure/service provider UniSat announced the completion of a new round of strategic financing. Japanese cryptocurrency investment institution CGV participated in the investment. The specific amount has not yet been disclosed. According to Dune data, the UniSat wallet currently accounts for approximately 10% to 20% of market trading volume and trading time, with approximately 800,000 weekly active users.
Project News
According to official news, Starknet, the second-layer expansion solution for Ethereum, announced the establishment of a game committee and has reserved 50 million STRK to support proposals recommended by the committee. It is reported that the responsibility of the game committee is to analyze, formulate strategies and recommend plans to expand Starknet game ecosystem. It is reported that the members of the Game Committee are appointed by the Board of Directors of the Starknet Foundation. The committee currently consists of six experts, namely:
1、Henri Lieutaud, Starknet Foundation
2、Oli Freuler, Starkware
3、Gabin Marignier, Focus Tree
4、Chris Lexmond, Unstoppable Games
5、Tarrence van As, Cartridge
6、Loaf, Loot Realms
The classic game MapleStory will launch a Web3 version based on Avalanche
South Korean game publisher Nexon Group announced that its 2D massively multiplayer online role-playing game MapleStory will cooperate with Ava Labs to officially enter the Avalanche network and launch a Web3 version called MapleStory Universe.
MapleStory Universe will be supported through its own Avalanche subnet, which is designed for its gaming ecosystem and can be thought of as a network within a network. The first game MapleStory N will allow players to build their own game world and receive Web3 rewards for this. While the announcement did not specify what Web3 incentives players will receive, its website notes that NFTs are at the core of its value ecosystem.
Nexon expects that the PC version of MapleStory N will be launched on the Avalanche network by the end of this year. MapleStory was one of the first online games to popularize the free-to-play model since its launch in 2003, and has now expanded to servers in the United States, Europe and other Asian countries such as Japan and China, with more than 180 million users in its 20-year history user.
According to the latest disclosed data, Telegram users have reached 900 million, and the company is currently close to profitability. Its founder Pavel Durov revealed that Telegram’s current revenue has reached hundreds of millions of dollars, and it is expected to go public this year or next year after achieving profitability. The United States may have its potential Listing location. According to the Russian TASS news agency, Telegram had planned to hold an initial public offering in the second to third quarter of 2025. Investors will have the option to convert Telegram bonds purchased in the secondary market into stocks. If the IPO is held before March 2025, it is planned to enjoy a 15% discount; if the IPO is held before March 2026, it is planned to enjoy a 20% discount.
The converged Layer 3 network zkLink Nova has officially launched on the mainnet
zkLink announced that the zkLink Nova mainnet has been officially launched. zkLink Nova is developed and built based on zkSyncs ZK Stack and zkLinks Nexus technology. It is positioned as the industrys first converged Layer 3 zkEVM Rollup network.
As an aggregated Layer 3 Rollup, zkLink Nova can solve various problems such as dispersed liquidity between Layer 2 blockchains, complex multi-chain DApp development, and poor user experience due to isolation of assets and applications between chains.
zkLink Nova will be deeply integrated with multiple Layer 2 networks such as Arbitrum, Linea, Manta, Mantle and zkSync, thereby improving the overall liquidity and asset cross-chain capabilities of the Ethereum ecosystem.
