Blockchain Weekly | Yibang International will respond publicly after being shorted; former BitMEX CEO surrenders to US authorities

Summary: The US SEC began reviewing the WisdomTree Bitcoin ETF; former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes has surrendered to the US authorities; the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television issued the "Blockchain-based Content Review Standard System (2021 Edition)"; Bitcoin futures and options trading volumes both hit record highs in March; Grayscale plans to convert the Bitcoin Trust into a Bitcoin ETF.

According to PANews statistics, there were 40 project financing and acquisition cases in the blockchain field announced this week, involving an amount of approximately US$590 million (excluding projects whose specific investment and financing amounts have not yet been disclosed). The investment and financing projects cover development, trading platforms, mining, protocols, DeFi, NFT and other fields.

1. Arthur Hayes, former CEO of BitMEX, has surrendered to US authorities

On April 7, according to CoinDesk, half a year after facing charges from U.S. financial regulators, former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes has surrendered to U.S. authorities in Hawaii to face U.S. charges that he failed to take appropriate measures to prevent the cryptocurrency exchange he co-founded from being used for money laundering. Hayes was later released on a $10 million bail pending future court proceedings in New York.

2. The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television issued the "Content Review Standard System Based on Blockchain (2021 Edition)"

On April 6, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television issued the "Content Review Standard System Based on Blockchain (2021 Edition)". The content review standard system based on blockchain aims to promote the healthy and sustainable development of media content. Starting from the actual development of content review business, it covers the content review system, business process, security, management and other links based on blockchain, and promotes the standardized construction and standardized operation of the content review system based on blockchain.

3. The Central Bank of Argentina requires banks under its jurisdiction to report customer information using encryption for transactions

On April 5, the Central Bank of Argentina (BCRA) required banks operating under its jurisdiction to obtain and provide detailed information on all customers using cryptocurrency transactions. In a form leaked by the local Bitcoin community on Twitter, the Central Bank of Argentina commissioned the domestic bank to provide information on each customer's unique tax identification code (CUIT), address, account number, account type, and the name of the person authorized to use the account.

The accompanying information further states that the data request is necessary and falls within the scope of BCRA’s operations, as it has a “monitoring function for payment systems.” Argentina’s central bank later confirmed the authenticity of the sheet to a local news platform, adding that the purpose of the exercise is to determine whether crypto assets warrant greater regulation in the country.

1. Bitcoin futures and options trading volumes hit all-time highs in March

According to data from TheBlock on April 6, Bitcoin futures trading volume reached $2.13 trillion last month, 1.90% higher than the record high in January. Among them, the platform with the largest Bitcoin futures trading volume in March was Binance (accounting for 33.84% of the total trading volume), followed by Huobi (accounting for 22.32% of the total trading volume) and OKEx (accounting for 13.75% of the total trading volume).

Meanwhile, from February to March, Bitcoin options rose by 16.19%, also setting a new record high, with the total trading volume of Bitcoin options reaching $28.63 billion in March, of which 96.26% came from Deribit, 3.37% from OKEx, and 2.02% from CME.

2. The Bitcoin ETF submitted by two US institutions was approved, and Grayscale plans to convert the Bitcoin Trust into a Bitcoin ETF

According to CoinDesk on April 10, VanEck's digital asset ETF application has been under review for several weeks, and its initial comment period ended on Friday. It is expected that regulators will make a preliminary decision next month on whether to approve or continue to evaluate VanEck's application. In addition, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued an announcement on Friday, announcing that it will begin reviewing the WisdomTree Bitcoin Trust.

On April 5, Grayscale confirmed in a document submitted to the U.S. SEC that it intends to convert its Bitcoin Trust into a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). The timing of the conversion depends on the regulatory environment. Grayscale said that the platform is 100% committed to converting GBTC into a Bitcoin ETF. When GBTC is converted to an ETF, holders of publicly traded GBTC shares will not need to take action and management fees will be reduced accordingly.

3. The algorithmic stablecoin Fei has started its first governance vote

On April 11, the first governance vote of the algorithmic stablecoin Fei has been launched. The holders of the governance token Tribe will vote on how to adjust the exchange rate of the protocol control value (PCV). The three options are 1, 0.9 and remain unchanged. Currently, 54.26% of the votes support adjusting the PCV exchange rate to 1.

4. NEAR announces the official launch of the Ethereum cross-chain Rainbow Bridge

On April 6, according to official news, NEAR announced that the Ethereum cross-chain tool Rainbow Bridge has been officially launched. All ERC-20 series tokens can be seamlessly transferred between NEAR and Ethereum, helping users avoid higher gas fees without affecting speed.

It is reported that Rainbow Bridge is a universal protocol that does not require trust or permission and can be used to connect multiple blockchains, not just Ethereum. Rainbow Bridge is completely decentralized and can adapt to any future protocol changes that may occur on the two chains.

1. Ebang International plans to respond to Hindenburg Research's short-selling report allegations next week

On April 9, Ebang International announced plans to address shareholders in an open letter early next week in response to the allegations in the Hindenburg Research short-selling report. Ebang International previously stated that there are many errors, speculations and incorrect interpretations in the Hindenburg Research report, and the board of directors and audit committee intend to further review these allegations and erroneous information and will take all necessary and appropriate actions to protect the interests of shareholders.

Earlier news, Hindenburg Research stated that Ebang International transferred most of the cash out of the company's accounts through a series of opaque transactions with insiders and suspicious counterparties.

2. Canadian listed mining company Hut8 plans to raise about $400 million through securities issuance

On April 8, according to a document submitted by Canadian listed mining company Hut 8 to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the company is planning to raise approximately US$396 million through securities issuance on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX).

It is understood that Hut 8 is a Canadian cryptocurrency mining company that is committed to providing investors with risk exposure to BlockChain processing infrastructure and technology, as well as potential cryptocurrency rewards and transaction fee income.

3. Riot Blockchain purchased 42,000 S19j Antminers from Bitmain for $138.5 million

On April 7, according to globenewswire, Riot Blockchain.Inc., a US-listed mining company, announced a procurement contract to purchase 42,000 S19j Antminers from Bitmain for US$138.5 million. The company said that after full deployment in 2022, Riot will have approximately 81,150 Antminers, 95% of which will be the latest generation of S19 series models, and the company's total hash rate will reach 7.7 exahash/s.

4. Hong Kong Customs seized nearly 300 smuggled mining graphics cards

On April 5, IT Home reported that the Hong Kong Customs recently cracked a smuggling case, which included nearly 300 mining graphics cards, suspected to be Nvidia CMP 30HX models, worth about 2 million yuan. There was no label on the front of the graphics card, which was a dual-fan design, and there was no video output interface on the graphics card baffle. This is also the first time that Hong Kong Customs has seized smuggled mining graphics cards.

5.500.com announced that it will acquire 7-nanometer mining machine manufacturer Bee Computing

On April 5, 500.com Limited announced the acquisition of a 7-nanometer mining machine manufacturer and the issuance of new preferred shares. 500.com has signed a share swap agreement with shareholders of Honeybee Computing (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd. The company will issue 45,825,530 Class A common shares (valued at US$2.182 per share) in exchange for the total issued share capital of Honeybee Computing (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd. for US$100 million, accounting for approximately 8.18% of the total issued share capital of 500.com as of March 31, 2021.

The transaction is subject to certain conditions prior to closing, including the completion of the reorganization of Honeybee Computing and the satisfaction of other closing conditions. Under the share exchange agreement, the company will pay 16,038,930 Class A common shares worth US$35 million to the selling shareholders at the first closing, which is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2021.

1. Users can now use Crypto.com to pay when shopping on Amazon, eBay and Walmart

According to Cryptoslate on April 11, the cryptocurrency debit card company Crypto.com has established a new partnership with Shopping.io, allowing users to use Crypto.com to pay when shopping on Amazon, eBay and Walmart. Users can enjoy an additional 5% discount and up to 10% cashback rewards when shopping, and orders outside the United States will also be exempted from the $20 shipping fee.

2. Premier League Southampton supports the use of Bitcoin to pay bonuses

On April 11, the Premier League Southampton Football Club signed a new sponsorship agreement that allows the club to pay performance bonuses in the form of Bitcoin. At the same time, the team will also extend its partnership with Coingaming Group for three years, and Coingaming Group's brand Sportsbet.io will continue to serve as the club's jersey sponsor.

3. Spanish aviation claims company Wings to Claim will use cryptocurrency for compensation

On April 9, according to El Mundo Financiero, Criptan, a crypto exchange based in Valencia, Spain, signed an agreement with aviation claims company Wings to Claim, allowing it to use cryptocurrencies instead of euros to compensate passengers. After that, Spanish passengers can fill out claims forms for events such as flight delays, lost luggage, overbooking, etc., and receive compensation in cryptocurrencies.

4. Meitu purchased another 10 million USD worth of Bitcoin, and the accumulated total floating profit may reach more than 200% of last year’s net profit

On April 9, according to official news, Meitu issued an announcement on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that the company's wholly-owned subsidiary Meitu Hong Kong further purchased 175.67798279 units of Bitcoin in open market transactions on April 8, 2021 in accordance with the cryptocurrency investment plan, with a total consideration of approximately US$10 million. As of the date of this announcement, the Group has accumulated a net purchase of approximately US$100 million worth of cryptocurrencies.

In addition, according to CMC market data, without considering the handling fees, if Meitu did not reduce its positions throughout the process, the above investments would have achieved a floating profit of nearly US$19 million, which, after converted into RMB, would exceed 200% of Meitu's full-year net profit in 2020 (Meitu's 2020 financial report showed a net profit of 60.9 million RMB).

5. Citibank and IADB complete cross-border payment pilot based on blockchain

According to Cointelegraph, Citi has successfully completed a blockchain-based cross-border payment proof of concept in cooperation with the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB). The pilot used the LACChain blockchain network to pay recipients in the Dominican Republic from the United States. Marcos Allende, technical director of LACChain, explained that as part of the project, the IADB will deposit tokenized funds denominated in US dollars into Citi accounts and transfer funds using digital wallets.

6. British beauty brand WakeSkincare announces acceptance of cryptocurrency as payment method

On April 6, according to bitblogger, Wake Skincare, a UK-based DTC brand, announced that it would accept cryptocurrency as a payment method. Users can use the Bitcoin and Ethereum payment options provided by Coinbase on their Shopify checkout page.

7. NBA Kings will provide Bitcoin salary payment options for all players and employees

On April 6, according to Coindesk, Sacramento Kings team president Vivek Ranadivé said on Clubhouse on Monday that the Sacramento Kings will become the first team to offer Bitcoin salary payment options to all players and staff.

8. MicroStrategy purchased another 253 Bitcoins for $15 million

On April 5, MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor announced on Twitter that MicroStrategy purchased another 253 bitcoins for $15 million in cash at a price of $59,339 per bitcoin. As of April 5, 2021, MicroStrategy acquired 91,579 bitcoins for $2.226 billion, with an average price of $24,311 per bitcoin.

1. Decentralized derivatives trading agreement Deri Protocol announced that it has received investment from LD Capital and others

On April 11, the decentralized derivatives trading protocol Deri Protocol announced five investors, namely LD Captial, FBG Captial, Bixin Ventures, Lotus Captial and Black Range.

2. Crypto-mortgage lending platform Loda raises $3 million, Dao Ventures and others participate

On April 11, cryptocurrency mortgage lending platform Loda announced the completion of a $3 million seed round of financing. Participating investors include Mechanism Capital, Framework Ventures, Spartan Group, Dao Ventures, PNYX, One Block, X21 Digital, Orthogonal Trading and Gleneagle Capital.

Angel investors include Paul Veradittakit (Pantera), Shiliang Tang (Ledger Prime), Dan Wessels (Jacaranda Finance), Ilan Israelstam (Apex Capital) and Geordie Manolas (Heliant Family Office). It is understood that the financing will be used by the team to develop the test network and main network that will be launched soon.

3.Busy Technology completes $1.9 million financing, with BlockArk and Spark Digital Capital participating

On April 11, Busy Technology completed a total of US$1.9 million in financing through seed rounds and private placements. Investors included Spark Digital Capital, Insignius Capital, BlockArk, PrivCode Capital (MXC), Block Dream Fund (OKEx), Momentum-6,499 Block, DFG, Gate.io Labs, Matrix Ventures, HotBit, Blockpact Capital, E-Digital Assets, Ternary Capital, etc.

4. Solana’s first IDO platform Solstarter receives investment from Alameda

On April 11, Solstarter, the first IDO platform on Solana, said it had received an investment from Alameda Research, but the amount was not disclosed. Earlier news said that Solstarter had received an investment from DeFiance Capital, a DeFi investment fund under Three Arrows Capital, but the specific investment amount was not disclosed.

It is reported that Solstarter is the first IDO platform on the Solana public chain. Projects conducting IDO on Solstarter will be fairly distributed based on the user's pledge amount.

5. PolkaDomain, a Polka domain name service provider, completes strategic financing of US$400,000

On April 10, PolkaDomain completed a strategic financing of US$400,000, with investors including NGC Ventures, SparkDigitalCapital, LinkPAD and MetaConstant. After this round of financing, PolkaDomain will establish a DNS NFT and domain name market on Polkadot.

In addition, PolkaDomain recently announced that it will issue the token $NAME in April, and recently announced the details of the airdrop and IDO.

6. Juggernaut DeFi (JGN) receives strategic investment from LD Capital

On April 10, according to official news, Juggernaut DeFi (JGN) received strategic investment from LD Capital. JGN has received strategic investment from Binance "Seed Fund", SoftBank Group (UK), K24 Ventures and other institutions.

JGNnft.com is the first NFT exchange exclusively for the BSC community. It has launched NFT artworks and collectible cards in collaboration with multiple artists, and has launched multiple NFT blind box games. In the future, JGN will continue to expand its layout on the Binance Smart Chain.

7. Decentralized Autonomous Organization Neptune DAO raises $20 million to provide liquidity for DeFi projects

On April 10, the decentralized autonomous organization Neptune DAO raised 9990 ETH (about 20 million US dollars) to provide liquidity for DeFi projects. Neptune DAO was incubated by The LAO and is structured as a limited liability company to comply with laws and regulations. Neptune DAO's paid members pool their funds into projects selected by the group and provide liquidity for these projects in an attempt to get a return.

8. Blockchain platform Crowny completes seed round financing, Dao Maker and others participate

According to official statements, Crowny, a blockchain platform aimed at connecting users and brands, announced the completion of its seed round of financing. The investment amount has not been disclosed yet. Investors include Dao Maker, Rarestone Capital, AU21 Capital, LD Capital, Twin Apex Capital, White Palm Ventures, PNYX Ventures, Genblock Capital and Savy Capital.

It is reported that Crowny encourages users to participate in brands and projects of interest to them through loyalty points, discounts, rewards, etc., thereby finding audiences for brands while protecting user privacy.

9.LD Capital announces the establishment of an NFT fund worth over 10 million US dollars

On April 9, LD Capital announced the establishment of an NFT fund of over 10 million US dollars, which will focus on investing in and supporting high-quality NFT projects. LD has invested in more than 20 high-quality NFT projects in the past year, such as Flow, Efinity, Illuvium, Seascape, Terra Virtua, Alienworlds, Showcase, Ethermon, LOC Game, Marble Cards, StarAtlas, etc.

10. Orange receives joint strategic investment of over US$1.5 million from multiple institutions

On April 9, according to official news, Orange has received more than 1.5 million US dollars in strategic investment from multiple institutions, including Galaxy Block Capital, Buck Capital, DGZ Capital, Sanyuan Capital, Plus Capital, Wabi.com and Hashpool. This round of financing will be used for in-depth research on DeFi and NFT technologies, DeFi ecosystem expansion and the layout of the new financial revolution.

It is reported that Orange has integrated multiple on-chain applications such as DEX, NFT trading and auction, NFT creation, coin deposit and interest earning, lossless lottery, etc., and will deploy an asset cross-chain bridge so that users can use Orange across chains and ecosystems.

11. Polkadot multi-chain smart contract platform ParaState completes $5 million strategic financing

On April 9, ParaState, a multi-chain smart contract platform in the Polkadot ecosystem, announced the completion of a $5 million strategic financing led by KNS Group, with participation from Alameda Research, Signum Capital, HyperChain Capital, BiXin Ventures, Genesis Block Ventures, Inclusion Capital, etc. ParaState said that this round of financing will be used to expand ParaState's R&D investment and incubate DeFi projects.

It is reported that ParaState is a multi-chain smart contract platform that connects the application and developer ecosystems between Polkadot, Substrate and Ethereum, as well as other chains that want to provide Ethereum compatibility.

12. Decentralized cloud storage aggregator ColdStack receives strategic investment from DFG

According to Crypto Ninjas, decentralized cloud storage aggregator ColdStack announced that it has received strategic investment from DFG (Digital Finance Group).

Earlier news, ColdStack announced that the S3 API will start private beta testing from March 29 to May 1. During this testing period, users can upload files no larger than 10Tb. ColdStack said that after this round of financing, ColdStack will start token sales.

13. Blockchain taxi startup MVL completes $1500 Series B financing

On April 9, Tech in Asia reported that Singapore’s blockchain taxi startup MVL announced the completion of a US$1,500 Series B financing round, led by existing investor Central and participated by Trive Ventures.

14. Layer2 solution AllianceBlock receives $100 million investment from Binance Accelerator Fund

On April 9, Layer2 solution AllianceBlock officially announced that it had received an investment from Binance’s $100 million acceleration fund.

It is reported that AllianceBlock was launched on Binance Smart Chain at the end of 2020 and is building a decentralized, blockchain-agnostic Layer2 protocol that can automatically convert any digital asset into a securitizable product.

15. QuChain Technology completed a C round of financing worth hundreds of millions of yuan, led by E Fund

According to official news on April 9, Hangzhou QuChain Technology Co., Ltd. recently announced the completion of a C round of financing worth hundreds of millions of yuan. This round of financing was led by E Fund and followed by Yinhong Fund led by Gong Hongjia.

16. Boson Protocol ends public token auction, raising $25.8 million

On April 9, according to official news, Boson Protocol, a DeFi project that aims to connect smart contracts with real-world data, has now ended its public token auction. The final settlement price (Clearing price) was 4.3 USDT, raising a total of US$25.8 million with a total of 9,280 bids.

17.NFT blockchain technology provider Arkane Network completes 1.55 million euros in seed round financing

According to Cryptoninjas on April 9, NFT blockchain technology provider Arkane Network announced the completion of a 1.55 million euro seed round of financing. The financing was led by High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), and other investors included DM-BB David Majert, Palentine Ventures (Blockrocket) and imec.istart Fund.

It is reported that Arkane was founded in 2018 by Tim Dierckxsens, Karel Striegel, Davy Van Roy and Gerbert Vandenberge with the aim of solving the complexity of blockchain technology and making it ready for mainstream applications.

18. Decentralized climate data network dClimate completes $3.5 million seed round of financing, led by CoinFund

On April 9, the decentralized climate data network dClimate announced the completion of a $3.5 million seed round of financing, led by CoinFund, with participation from Multicoin Capital and Republic Labs. The dClimate founding team raised this round of financing by selling its native governance tokens, and the funds raised will be used to recruit developers and expand the network's data sources by attracting more participants to the market.

It is reported that dClimate is the first transparent, decentralized climate data market where climate data, forecasts and models are standardized, monetized and distributed.

19. Polkadot privacy computing platform zCloak completes $1.3 million seed round financing, led by IOSG and Hypersphere

On April 9, it was reported that the Polkadot ecosystem privacy computing platform zCloak Network, formerly Starks Network, has completed a US$1.3 million seed round of financing, led by IOSG Ventures and Hypersphere Ventures, with participation from KR1, DFG, Advanced Blockchain AG, PAKA Fund, and the Digital Renaissance Foundation.

It is reported that the zCloak Network project was launched in 2020. Through the original "autonomous data" and "self-proving computing" technologies, it completes data analysis and calculations without sending personal data to the outside world, thereby completely eliminating the pain points of personal data privacy leakage in the era of big data and cloud computing.

20. Polkadot DeFi project Equilibrium completes $2.5 million Series A financing

On April 9, according to Cointelegraph, Polkadot's DeFi project Equilibrium completed a US$2.5 million Series A financing round, with participation from KR1, LD Capital, CMS Holdings, Signum Capital, Hypersphere Ventures, OKEx's Block Dream Fund, Genesis Block Ventures, AU21 Capital, DFG Capital, PNYX Ventures, and FBG Capital.

It is reported that Equilibrium is a DeFi project and parachain candidate project based on Polkadot. Its flagship product is a MakerDAO-like protocol for generating collateralized stablecoins.

21. Forbes’ first NFT sold on Nifty Gateway for $333,300

On April 9, the first NFT titled "Merchants of the Metaverse" by the major business magazine Forbes ended its auction on the NFT market Nifty Gateway at 1:30 pm Eastern Time and was sold for US$333,333.

It is reported that the NFT was sold to a bidder named "mondoir" and the cover of the NFT is Gemini founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.

22. Polkadot DeFi project Equilibrium completes $2.5 million in financing

According to Cointelegraph on April 8, Polkadot's DeFi project Equilibrium has completed a $2.5 million financing, with participation from KR1, Signum Capital and Hypersphere Ventures. Equilibrium is one of Polkadot's DeFi-centric parachain candidates, and its flagship product is a MakerDAO-like protocol for generating collateralized stablecoins.

23. Bitcoin investment company NYDIG receives another $100 million in financing

On April 8, according to The Block, crypto investment company NYDIG announced that it had received another $100 million in financing, just one month after raising $200 million. This round of financing came from strategic partners, including insurance companies Starr Insurance, Liberty Mutual Insurance and other insurance companies. NYDIG's assets under management are rapidly approaching $6 billion, and the company recently announced that it will cooperate with Morgan Stanley.

24. The9 completed a financing of US$143.8 million, and the funds will be used to deploy blockchain

Internet company The9 (Nasdaq: NCTY, referred to as "The9") officially announced today that it has completed the share and equity sales agreement signed with Maxim Group LLC on March 31 this year. In this transaction, The9 issued 3,765,100 American Depositary Shares ("ADS") at a price of US$33.2 and 2,823,825 ADS subscription warrants exercised at a price of US$36.0.

In addition, the underwriters also subscribed to the oversubscription rights provided by The9, and sold an additional 564,760 ADSs and 423,570 ADS subscription warrants at the same price. Before deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions and issuance expenses, the total amount of financing obtained by The9 through the issuance of this batch of ADSs and subscription warrants was US$143.8 million. The9 said that the funds obtained from this additional issuance will be used for the company's layout and development in the blockchain industry.

25.Refinable completes $3 million in private equity financing, with Binance participating

According to Cointelegraph on April 7, Refinable, an integrated NFT market based on BSC, announced the completion of a $3 million private placement financing, with participation from Binance, Mr. Beast and others. Note: Mr. Beast is a well-known YouTube blogger with more than 10 million followers on Twitter. Refinable plans to use the financing to support the future development of the platform and focus on expanding the internal team and attracting more talent. This will also allow Refinable to participate in research and development while expanding the platform.

26. Community governance DeFi protocol Kianite completes $1.5 million in private placement financing

According to bitalk news on April 7, the community governance DeFi protocol Kianite completed a $1.5 million private round of financing. Investors include SparkDigitalCapital, X21 Digital, Hillrise Capital, PrivCode Capital, Block Dream Fund, Magnus Capital, Oasis Capital, Candaq, Titans Ventures, etc.

27. High-frequency trading company JumpTrading has invested in Chiliz

On April 7, Reuters reported that high-frequency trading company Jump Trading has made an equity investment in blockchain sports and e-sports platform Chiliz. Jump Trading said that since the beginning of this year, it has been making markets for tokens issued by Chiliz, providing buy and sell quotes and liquidity.

28. ChainSwap, a cross-chain bridge, completes $3 million in strategic financing and will airdrop to its users and MATTER token holders

On April 7, the cross-chain bridge ChainSwap completed a strategic financing of US$3 million, with investments from Alameda Research, Block Dream Fund, NGC Ventures, Spark Digital Capital, Metaconstant Ventures, CMS Holdings, Rarestone Captial, Monday Capital, Continue Capital, SRC Capital, DAO Ventures, Mask Network, Particle and other institutions.

It is reported that ChainSwap was launched by the cross-chain perpetual derivatives protocol AntiMatter, allowing project parties to exchange their tokens between Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain BSC and Huobi Ecological Chain.

29. Yellow Road, an IDO platform on BSC, completed a private placement financing of US$500,000, with AU21 and others participating in the investment

On April 7, Yellow Road, an IDO platform based on BSC, announced the completion of a $500,000 private placement. Participating investors include Genesis Block, AU21, Momentum 6, Phoenix VC, Hybrid Ventures, Titans Ventures, Blocksync Ventures, and SMO Capital.

30.Cryptio Completes $1.2 Million Seed Round, Led by Draper Associates

On April 7, digital asset accounting tool Cryptio announced the completion of a $1.2 million seed round of financing, led by Tim Draper's crypto fund Draper Associates, with participation from Consensys, Outlier Ventures, Aave founder and CEO Stani Kulechov, Stake Capital founder Julien Bouteloup and other institutions and individuals.

31. BitFuFu, a mining platform with standardized computing power, receives strategic investment from Bitmain

On April 7, BitFuFu, a mining platform with standardized computing power, received strategic investment from Bitmain. After receiving the investment, BitFuFu's supply chain will be further optimized, its funds and resources will be further improved, and its users will receive more reliable services.

32. Fintech platform COTI receives first venture capital investment from Cardano venture capital fund cFund

On April 6, according to official news, the enterprise-level fintech platform COTI has received investment from the Cardano ecosystem venture capital fund cFund. Through this investment, the two parties will work together to explore new opportunities. The COTI team also became the first venture capital recipient of cFund. COTI's vision is to empower organizations and provide enterprise-level fintech solutions. Partners can choose to build their own payment solutions and digitize any currency they want, creating a more transparent and universal payment ecosystem.

33. Decentralized knowledge graph storage project EpiK Protocol completes $3 million strategic round of financing

On April 6, EpiK Protocol, a decentralized knowledge graph storage project, announced the completion of a US$3 million strategic round of financing. This round of financing received investments from Jackdaw Capital, FBG, SuperChain Capital, ChinaNet Technology, Nebulas, Crypto Venture Capital, Lancer Capital, Clim Funds (Gleneagle Securities), CollinStar and other institutions, which will jointly help EpiK accelerate the construction of the ecosystem.

It is reported that EpiK Protocol is a decentralized, co-constructed, shared and mutually beneficial secure and reliable knowledge graph collaboration platform. It has currently built a distributed storage miner ecosystem of more than 20,000 nodes; more than 100 field experts and more than 30,000 bounty hunters have signed up to participate in the knowledge ecosystem. According to the project roadmap, the mainnet will be launched in Q2 2021.

34. Crypto accounting platform Cryptio raises $1.2 million in seed round financing

On April 6, The Block reported that cryptocurrency accounting platform Cryptio raised $1.2 million in a seed round led by Draper Associates. Other participants in the round included ConsenSys Ventures, Outlier Ventures and Aave founder Stani Kulechov. Paris-based Cryptio aims to expand its corporate accounting solutions for digital assets.

35. Crypto trading app Atani raises $6.25 million

On April 6, according to CoinDesk, crypto trading application Atani announced on Tuesday that it had completed a $6.25 million seed round of financing. The round was led by Flywire's early investor JME Ventures, with participation from Conexo Ventures, Encomenda Smart Capital and Lanai Partners.

It is reported that Atani is a Madrid-based startup that is a non-custodial platform that provides trading and portfolio monitoring on 22 different exchanges, including Coinbase Pro. The platform also provides tax reporting tools that are effective in more than 30 countries or regions.

36.NFT trading platform Mintable completes seed round financing, Defi Alliance and others participate

On April 6, NFT trading platform Mintable announced the completion of its seed round of financing, with participation from CRC Capital, Time Ventures, Sound Ventures, Defiance Capital, Defi Alliance and Lunex Ventures.

37. Alameda Research invests $4 million in Coin98 Finance

On April 6, according to Forbes, Alameda Research invested $4 million in Coin98 Finance, a DeFi ecosystem from Southeast Asia. The deal shows the growth of DeFi throughout Asia, a region that has lagged behind other major regions such as the United States and Europe over the past year.

Alameda Research is reportedly the leading quantitative crypto trading firm behind top derivatives exchange FTX. Coin98 Finance is a team that is building a suite of DeFi products in Vietnam. Its venture arm, Coin98 Ventures, operates the country’s largest cryptocurrency fund, which also co-manages the Solana Ecosystem Fund with the Solana Foundation.

38.TON Labs completes $6 million financing

On April 6, according to Cointelegraph, TON Labs completed US$6 million in financing. This round of financing was led by Runa Capital and RTP Global. The funds will be used to build a new product environment for the Free TON blockchain.

39. SPAC Nocturne completes IPO, raising over $100 million

On April 6, according to Yahoo Finance, the crypto asset M&A company SPAC Nocturne Acquisition (code MBTC) announced that it had completed a fundraising of US$100 million and was officially listed on the Nasdaq on March 31, 2021.

It is reported that its issuance unit consists of one common share and one rights share. After the initial business combination is completed, each rights share will entitle the holder to receive 110 common shares. When the relevant securities are officially traded, the common shares and rights shares will be traded on Nasdaq with the stock codes "MBTC" and "MBTCR" respectively.

40. Cryptocurrency exchange INX has completed $32 million in financing

According to Globes on April 5, cryptocurrency exchange INX recently completed a 39.6 million Canadian dollar (about 32 million U.S. dollars) financing on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). INX's listing will be carried out through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Valdy Investments, with a market value of 220 million Canadian dollars. Once all regulatory approvals are obtained, the company's shares will begin trading on TSX.