May 24th: Liquidity restakage startup Ether.fi’s latest product may finally help “paper-rich” crypto DeGeneres turn her blockchain investments into pocket change. Ether.fi Cash is a mobile wallet and Visa credit card that lets users borrow USDC, the popular US dollar-backed stablecoin, against their decentralized finance (DeFi) investments and pay it back directly in crypto.
Crypto Governance Advisory Firm MetaLeX Raises $2.75 Million
May 23: Cryptocurrency advocates used to argue that “code is law.” Courts and legal experts eventually forced the phrase to go away. But there’s still plenty of money being spent on figuring out how the two intertwine. One of those people is crypto lawyer Gabriel Shapiro’s MetaLeX. MetaLeX is a hybrid law firm and technology company focused on the confusion that crypto projects cause when they try to “decentralize.” MetaLeX recently raised $2.75 million in seed funding led by Cyber Fund. Shapiro said the company is now valued at $27.5 million.
ZK Hardware Acceleration Project Cysic Raises $12 Million
May 23 (PROTOCOL VILLAGE Exclusive): Cysic, a ZK (zero-knowledge) hardware acceleration company, announced it has successfully raised $12 million in a Pre-A funding round. The round was led by industry leaders HashKey Capital and OKX Ventures and, according to the team, “aims to facilitate the generation of ZK proofs in a faster, cost-effective, user-friendly and decentralized manner.”
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EasyA Consensus Hackathon – Call for Participants
This year, Consensus will collaborate with EasyA, the world’s #1 Web3 learning app, to host its first-ever in-person hackathon. It will be a 3-day multi-chain IRL hackathon with world-class sponsors from Sui to Stellar to Polkadot, bringing together the world’s best developers to build the future of Web3 and raise funds for their projects.
The projects launched by EasyA graduates are worth over $2.5 billion. The EasyA Consensus Hackathon will be the most important hackathon of 2024.
We still have a few spaces available for hackers, so if you’re interested in participating, please apply here.
Dfinity releases “EVM RPC” API that allows ICP to read other chains
May 23: The Dfinity Foundation, a major contributor to the Internet Computer (ICP), announced that “EVM RPC Canister”, described as “a new API that allows ICP smart contracts to read and write data on different chains”, is now live. According to the team, “EVM RPC is another major milestone in the development of Dfinity’s Chain Fusion framework, which allows Internet Computer smart contracts to directly interoperate with all major blockchains, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, other EVMs, and soon Solana, without relying on an intermediary.” Additionally, “ckUSDC, an interoperable stablecoin pegged 1:1 to USDC, is now available across the ICP.”
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Celo Foundation’s Reinsberg Announces TGE Advisory “Bloom”
May 23: Celo Foundation head Rene Reinsberg announced “Bloom”, an ecosystem token generation event (TGE) advisory, at Dappcon in Berlin on Thursday. According to the team, “Created to guide projects across all blockchain ecosystems preparing for a TGE and subsequent product rollout, the foundation will provide strategic and operational support, including access to launchpads, exchange support, and access to fundraising and investor networks. Bloom will provide more time and resources for product development and strategy, and remove ambiguity, allowing founders to focus on building projects that create positive external effects for users around the world.”
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Robinhood Wallet to Enable Gasless Swaps on Arbitrum
May 23: Robinhood Wallet will enable gasless swaps on Arbitrum starting Thursday, the team says. “Users will be able to swap on Arbitrum without needing ETH for gas. Behind the swaps is a DEX aggregator called 0x. Once released, users will be presented with the best available swap rates, whether for gas or gasless swaps, and there will be no additional charges from Robinhood.”
Horizen Labs launches “ZkVerify” as a “dedicated zero-knowledge proof verification network”
May 23: Horizen Labs, the lead developer of the Horizen blockchain, releases zkVerify, “a purpose-built zero-knowledge proof verification network designed for payment optimization. It addresses the biggest cost currently faced by zkRollups and zkApps that limits their scalability and efficiency.” According to the team, “ZkVerify offloads computationally intensive proof verification, allowing blockchains to focus on their core functionality. It integrates with multiple SNARK proof schemes, reducing verification costs by up to 91%. It currently supports Ethereum and Bitcoin L2, with plans to expand to other architectures. ZkVerify is currently live on testnet.”
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Cross-Chain Protocol Analog Launches $ANLOG Incentivized Testnet
May 23: Analog, a Layer 0 cross-chain communications protocol and Web3 data provider, launched an incentivized testnet, allocating a minimum of 2% of the token supply to participants, according to the team: “Analog’s testnet is open to developers, the community, and validators. Participants can complete quests, climb the ATP leaderboard, and share $ANLOG. This will enable developers to build dApps with a range of tools, enabling true interoperability between any blockchain network. Analog’s core products form a powerful toolkit for cross-chain development.”
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Solana-Based DEX Zeta Markets Plans Its Own Layer 2 Network
May 23: Zeta Markets, a Solana-based DEX for trading perpetual swaps on-chain, is currently planning its own Layer 2 solution, “ZX,” described by the team as “optimistic rollup built on Solana.” The mainnet launch is scheduled for early 2025. At the same time, Zeta will also release a detailed lightpaper outlining ZX’s architecture and capabilities. According to the press release, “ZX is an optimistic rollup built on Solana that utilizes zero-knowledge (zk) proofs for trustless on-chain settlement… Key features of ZX include high throughput of up to 10,000 transactions per second, sub-10 millisecond transaction confirmations that compete with major centralized exchanges, seamless one-click trading, and up to 50x leverage with multiple collateral options.”
Orderly Network Expands to Polygon PoS
May 23: Orderly Network, which describes itself as a “permissionless liquidity layer for Web3 trading,” has expanded to Polygon PoS in partnership with Quickswap, the leading DEX for Polygon PoS, to launch Falkor. According to the team, “This integration is a testament to our versatility, enabling AMMs like QuickSwap to expand their product offering and offer perpetual futures on Polygon PoS for the first time,” said Arjun Arora, COO of Orderly Network.
HouseParty, River Protocol from HNT Labs, co-founded by Meerkat’s Ben Rubin, has launched
May 23: River Protocol, developed by HNT Labs, will be released on Thursday. HNT Labs was founded by Ben Rubin and Brian Meek and has raised $33 million in funding from a16z Crypto, Benchmark and Framework. Ben Rubin is the founder of HouseParty and Meerkat. According to the team, “River Protocol was designed for decentralized real-time messaging apps. River leverages an EVM-compatible L2 chain, decentralized off-chain nodes, end-to-end encryption, and smart contracts from Base. With River, developers can create a wide range of products, including decentralized social networks, community governance platforms, secure messaging apps, and co-working spaces.”
HAQQ-evmOS integration enables cross-chain support with Cosmos and Ethereum
May 23: HAQQ Network, calling itself “an ethical-first Web3 DeFi ecosystem with the highest number of daily active users in Cosmos,” announced “an important partnership with evmOS, an EVM-compatible tech stack. The integration of evmOS functionality into the HAQQ Network will enable cross-chain compatibility with the Cosmos and Ethereum networks, giving HAQQ users and developers access to a wider range of DeFi capabilities.”
Aptos Announces Launch of TruStake, TruFin’s Institutional Liquidity Staking Solution
May 23: Aptos Blockchain team said, “The TruStake Aptos vault allows users to stake APTs while maintaining flexibility and control over their assets, all within a permissioned environment that prioritizes security. Leveraging the scalability and performance of the Aptos blockchain, TruFin’s liquidity staking solution gives APT holders the ability to generate staking rewards on their holdings and access additional revenue opportunities across DeFi protocols.”
Plume, a Layer-2 Blockchain for Real-World Assets, Raises $10M Seed Funding from Haun and Galaxy
May 23: As blockchain battles for mainstream acceptance in the US Congress this week, a growing number of compliance-focused crypto projects are hoping that we’ll soon see a surge in blockchain-based RWAs (real-world assets) once the regulatory environment becomes more favorable. One such startup, Plume, has raised $10M in seed funding for what is said to be the first Layer 2 blockchain built specifically for RWAs. The round was led by Haun Ventures, with participation from Galaxy Ventures, Superscrypt, A Capital, SV Angel, Portal Ventures, and Reciprocal Ventures.
Protocol Village is a regular feature of The Protocol, a weekly newsletter that explores the technology behind crypto, block by block. Sign up here to receive it by email every Wednesday. The project team can send updates here. Find previous versions of Protocol Village here. Also, be sure to tune in to our weekly The Protocol podcast.
