Last week we saw some major backing of the Secret Network blockchain, as significant blockchain players Arrington Capital and Blocktower Capital invested in the privacy-first smart contract platform. What this is signaling is the rise of privacy-oriented financial blockchain projects, which are crucial if “DeFi” (decentralized finance) is to have any kind of future. We…
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Institutions need to keep their crypto assets somewhere. And they aren’t going to keep it on some random, or consumer-grade crypto operation. This requires more sophisticated technology. Furthermore, being in the EU is going to be a key barrier to entry for many US or Asia-based operations. Thus it is that Berlin-based digital asset custody…
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The arrival of institutional investors and the rise of decentralized finance (DeFi) has been an incredible boon for the entire cryptocurrency sector but it has also highlighted a number of persistent limitations that many blockchain networks encounter when faced with surges in activity and the need to scale. High fees and slower transaction times on…
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Democratizing finance has been a dominant theme in recent years — with companies vying to create a level playing field and give amateur investors the same opportunities that hedge funds and institutional investors enjoy. There have been some successes along the way. Purchasing stocks is a lot easier now than it was a few years…
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Pendle Finance, a DeFi protocol that allows users to tokenize and sell future yields, has completed a private investment round worth $3.5 million to power the next phase of its platform’s evolution. The private investment round included contributions from several companies, including CMS, DeFi Alliance, Lemniscap, Hashkey Capital, imToken and Spartan Group, among others. The…
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The team behind Liquity Protocol — a DeFi project launched on April 5 — has attracted $1 billion worth of locked up value according to data from Dune Analytics. From $0 to $1B TVL in 10 days Here’s some charts highlighting Liquity’s growth so far: pic.twitter.com/qpSzRp0gZs — Liquity (@LiquityProtocol) April 15, 2021 The Pantera Capital-backed…
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Sheesha Finance, a decentralized finance mutual fund based in the United Arab Emirates, has raised $9.44 million over a two-week token sale — underscoring heightened investor demand for DeFi applications. The token sale, known as a liquidity generation event, or LGE, excluded private sales and early contribution bonuses, which allowed micro-investments of as little as…
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Decentralized finance startup MOUND, known for its yield farming aggregator Pancake Bunny, has raised $1.6 million in seed funding led by Binance Labs. Other participants included IDEO CoLab, SparkLabs Korea and Handshake co-founder Andrew Lee. Built on Binance Smart Chain, a blockchain for developing high-performance DeFi apps, MOUND says Pancake Bunny now has more than…
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Kasikornbank, or KBank, one of Thailand’s largest banks has begun experimenting with DeFi services as part of its business expansion plan. According to a report by Bangkok Post, the bank’s DeFi exploration is being spearheaded by Kbank’s tech subsidiary Kasikorn Business Technology Group, or KBTG. Commenting on KBank’s DeFi plans, KBTG chairman Ruangroj Poonpol said:…
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