Get your daily, bite-sized summary of crypto asset and blockchain news by researching the stories that go unnoticed in today’s crypto news.
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Investment news
- Ethereum (ETH) scaling platform Polygon (MATIC) announced a $ 400 million deal with a zero-knowledge (ZK) startup I in an attempt to scale Ethereum even further and “bring millions of users to Web 3.0”. The structure of the acquisition was not specified. ZK tests are a scaling solution because it allows you to verify many Ethereum transactions with a single small test. “But until now, the ZK test generation has been slow and inefficient. Mir has solved this problem by generating recursive tests faster than ever,” according to Polygon. (Look: Polygon Co-Founder on the ‘Holy Grail’ of Scaling, Ethereum Merge, NFTs and more)
- The managing director of SoftbankLatin America Fund Paulo Passoni stated that roughly 10% of one of the company’s $ 5 billion funds is invested in crypto assets, which is a strategy he supports even if some tokens are overvalued, according to Bloomberg. He was quoted as saying that the crypto market is “the most relevant thing going on around the world right now.”
- Programmable liquidity mining protocol izumi announced that it has closed its $ 3.5 million Series A fundraising round. The funds will facilitate the launch of the native izumi token (iZi), which will occur on December 20, and will be followed by the launch of the izumi platform “LiquidBox” on December 21, they said.
- Crypto derivatives company Paradigm has closed a $ 35 million Series A financing round, which values the company at $ 400 million. It was co-directed by Jump Capital and Alameda Ventures, with the participation of more than 25 investors. According to the press release, the company works with more than 600 institutions, while the trading volumes on the network have increased more than 1,300% year-over-year to USD 10 million in total volume traded per month.
NFT News
- Global soft drink giant Pepsi announced its first series of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) called the Genesis Pepsi Mic Drop collection. Pepsi is creating 1,893 (to mark the year Pepsi was born) unique generative-style NFTs that will be activated on the Ethereum blockchain on Friday, December 10, free to users (outside of gas fees).
- The Ross Ulbricht Genesis Collection NFT auction raised ETH 1446 ($ 6.27 million), while the auction winner was FreeRossDAO, a group claiming to be a supporter of Ross Ulbricht and prison reform. All proceeds from the auction will not be owned by Ulbricht or his family, but rather by a legally separate entity that will redistribute the proceeds to him. Art4Giving fund, as well as towards efforts to free Ulbricht through new legal procedures, awareness raising and more.
Adoption news
- Social media platform Reddit has launched a waiting list for the upcoming site-wide expansion of its Ethereum-based “Community Points” token rewards program, as well as a dedicated website. Redditors will be able to earn community points by making contributions to a subreddit, such as creating and uploading valuable content, or volunteering to moderate the community, while selling, trading, or trading the points is against site rules.
- Crowdfunding platform Kick starter said that will launch a new company that will eventually see its website move to a blockchain-based system at Celo (CELO).
- Ava Labs, the developer of Avalanche (AVAX), has been selected to join Mastercard Start Path Crypto, a startup engagement program dedicated to exploring blockchain technology. Ava Labs will connect with MasterCardecosystem of digital partners and players around the world to expand and accelerate blockchain technology innovation, they said.
- Binance Charity, the blockchain-enabled donation platform, said it has partnered with Code to inspire in order to launch a three-month pilot project. The program aims to fund and support 100 young women in Afghanistan, who have lost their jobs as a result of the Taliban takeover, through computer education. Binance Charity will open Trust Wallets for each student, to which the stablecoin of binance USD (BUSD) will be transferred directly. Students can convert BUSD to local currency at local exchange offices.
Exchange news
- Bybit It said its user base increased 77% in the third quarter of this year, compared to the second quarter, reaching around 4.8 million users worldwide. The platform also said that it saw more than $ 1.7 trillion in crypto asset transactions in the third quarter, compared to $ 1 trillion in the first quarter of this year.
Career news
- Decentralized exchange SushiSwap (SUSHI) Joseph Delong, Chief Technology Officer Announced that he is moving away from the project “with immediate effect.” He stated that the current issues facing the protocol are “unlikely” to result in an acceptable resolution, and warned the community to “be wary of any self-proclaimed leaders emerging from the current core team.”