Crypto Giggle
The institutional interest in cryptocurrency and the blockchain industry is booming. Nick van Eck has launched Agora Digital Dollar (AUSD), which is a stablecoin with a strong backing from cash, U.S. Treasury Bills, and overnight repos. Paradigm is planning to raise $750 to $850 millions in what may be the largest crypto fundraise to date. 1kx also managed to secure $75 Million for a fund focusing on crypto consumer applications.
Agora Digital Dollar
Nick van Eck is the son of Jan van Eck who has been a leading investment manager for over 30 years. Nick van Eck launched a stablecoin named Agora Digital Dollar (AUSD) after an extremely successful funding round of $12 million. Nick van Eck, son of investment management expert Jan Van Eck, is taking a bold step into the world of crypto with the launch of a new stablecoin called Agora digital dollar (AUSD) after a very successful $12 million funding round. Nick will be working alongside crypto veterans Drake Evans & Joe McGrady to lead Agora in his role as CEO. AUSD is unique in that it will be fully backed up by U.S. Treasury Bills, overnight repo contracts, and cash. VanEck manages its reserve.
Investors from the digital assets sphere have shown a great deal of trust in the project, such as Dragonfly Robot Ventures Wintermute Breed and General Catalyst. Agora will have its operational base outside of the U.S. in certain markets, pending the adoption of stablecoin legislation in the U.S. The company has made this decision to focus on customers from outside of the U.S. with an emphasis on Argentina and Southeast Asia.
Nick van Eck remains optimistic about Agora’s chances of carving out a place in a market that is highly competitive and dominated by stablecoin giants such as Tether. Agora wants to build a strong foundation for AUSD by focusing on establishing robust partnerships within the crypto-ecosystem. AUSD, unlike some of its predecessors will not provide income to holders. This decision was made after the failure of TerraClassicUSD.
Nick van Eck has a vision that goes beyond simply participating in the cryptocurrency market. It’s all about transparency, trust and strategic partnerships.
Crypto VC Paradigm Plans Major Fundraising
Paradigm Venture Capital, an established crypto-venture capital company, has been in talks with investors about a possible funding round of between $750 and $850 millions. The crypto market has shown signs of recovery in the last few months. Bloomberg reports that this could be the largest funding round for the crypto industry since Andreessen Horowitz set the record in May 2022 with $4.5 billion.
This would be Paradigm’s biggest fund since November 20,21 when the company raised $2.5 billion during the peak of the cryptocurrency bull market, creating the largest crypto fund at that point.
Paradigm’s portfolio of investments includes impressive Web3 projects and cryptos such as Coinbase, Fireblocks and Uniswap. It was Paradigm that played an important role in elevating Merkle Manufactory (the company behind Farcaster) to unicorn status, with a value exceeding $1 billion. Paradigm has faced many challenges in its journey into the crypto world. Before the dramatic collapse of FTX, the firm had invested $278m in the exchange. This led to a write down on the entire investment. Matt Huang is Paradigm’s managing partner and founder. He regrets the decision.
The crypto fundraising scene has experienced its highs and lows. In October 2023, fundraising fell to $445,000,000, which was the lowest level since December 2020. According to RootData, March 2024 saw a huge $1.16billion in fundraising. It seems that the DeFi (decentralized finance) and infrastructure sectors are the main beneficiaries of the funding wave.
Venture capital funding for non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which was $3.4 billion in 2022, dropped by 92% last year and is now $281.3 millions. The decline in the floor price of NFTs is a reflection of the fall of the prices for major collections. CryptoPunks, the Bored Ape Yacht Club and others have seen their prices drop by 63% or 90% from the peak.
Onekx secures $75 million for new crypto fund
This increase is evident by the fact that another crypto-VC company, 1kx raised $75 million in its most recent fund. The massive funding comes from well-known venture capitalists such as Marc Andreessen Galaxy Digital and Accolade partners, Chris Dixon of Andreessen Horowitz being one of the Limited Partners. Lasse Clausen was the 1kx founding partner who made this announcement.
Accolade is a leading private equity company and anchor investor of this fund. Fund will invest in consumer apps built with crypto technology. It has allocated investment to five companies so far, but their names are not yet public.
The timing of this fundraising event was perfect, as the interest in crypto has increased since the U.S. approved spot Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs). PitchBook reports that venture capital funding has increased for crypto startups in the 4th quarter of 2023. The rise in crypto startup funding is a result of increasing institutional trust.
Andreessen Horowitz has announced an enormous $100 million funding round for EigenLayer. This is Ethereum’s most popular restaking protocol. Avail, which has raised $27 million in a seed round led by Founder Fund, Dragonfly and Avail, is another significant funder. This funding round is aimed to improve Web3 data accessibility and the consensus layer. In addition, Immutable launched, with King River Capital, Polygon Labs and Polygon Labs in partnership, a $100-million fund to invest in blockchain games. The “Inevitable Games Fund” has invested in a number of game titles from ImmutableX and Polygon.
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