Evening News | Coinbase NFT marketplace beta launched; The Central Bank of Russia will start digital ruble settlements in 2023
Clean energy mining company Crusoe Energy, cricket NFT platform Rario, and Ethereum scaling project Scroll have all completed significant financing.Organizer: Nianqing, Chain Catcher
"What important events have occurred in the past 24 hours?"
1. Coinbase NFT marketplace beta launched, plans to become an NFT-based Web3 social marketplace
The beta version of the Coinbase NFT marketplace has launched and is currently accessible to everyone, but only certain specific users can buy or sell. It currently supports Ethereum-based NFTs and ETH payments. Coinbase NFT is an NFT-based Web3 social marketplace that will add features such as minting, token-gated communities, purchasing NFTs using Coinbase accounts or credit cards, and supporting more chains in the future, with plans to adopt more decentralized solutions. (Source link)
2. Cricket NFT platform Rario completes $120 million financing, led by Dream Capital
Singapore-based cricket NFT platform Rario has completed $120 million in financing, led by Dream Sports' corporate venture capital and M&A division, Dream Capital, with participation from Alpha Wave Global, Animoca Brands, Presight Capital, and Kingsway Capital. This round of financing will be used for product development and licensing.
Rario has obtained NFT rights for six international leagues and over 900 international cricketers through various partnerships, allowing sports fans to buy, sell, and trade NFTs using credit cards, debit cards, and bank transfers. Rario enables fans to participate as a community and have the opportunity to own a piece of cricket history through digital collectibles like player cards, video moments, and cricket memorabilia. (Source link)
3. Clean energy mining company Crusoe Energy raises $350 million in Series C funding at a $1.75 billion valuation
Bitcoin clean energy mining startup Crusoe Energy has raised $350 million in Series C funding at a post-money valuation of $1.75 billion, led by G2 Venture Partners, with participation from Bain Capital Ventures, Polychain Capital, and Winklevoss Capital.
Crusoe powers Bitcoin mining using natural gas and operates 86 natural gas data centers in oil-rich North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado, with plans to operate over 180 by the end of this year. Additionally, the company is expanding its business into less cyclical cloud computing. (Source link)
4. Jon Goldman launches $50 million venture capital fund, focusing on VR games and the metaverse
Former Foundation 9 founder and CEO, and current Greycroft partner Jon Goldman has launched a $50 million venture capital fund, Tower 26, primarily investing in VR games and the metaverse, focusing on financing rounds after seed stages. Foundation 9, founded by Jon Goldman, developed hundreds of games based on well-known IPs such as "Star Wars," "The Matrix," "The Simpsons," and "The Lord of the Rings." (Source link)
5. Binance to restrict services for Russian citizens or entities with assets over €10,000
Binance announced that following the EU's fifth set of restrictions on Russia, it has been required to limit services for Russian nationals or individuals residing in Russia, or legal entities established in Russia, for cryptocurrency assets exceeding €10,000.
Under this restriction, classified accounts will enter a withdrawal-only mode, and these accounts will not be allowed to deposit or trade. The limit also covers all spot, futures, custodial wallets, as well as staking and earning deposits. Users holding open futures or derivative positions exceeding €10,000 will have 90 days to close their positions and will not be allowed to open new ones. (Source link)
6. Ethereum scaling project Scroll raises $30 million in Series A funding, led by Polychain
Scroll has completed $30 million in Series A funding, led by Polychain Capital, with participation from Bain Capital Crypto, Robot Ventures, Geometry DAO, and several angel investors including Ying Tong and Carlos Aria from the Ethereum Foundation, as well as Ethereum community members like Anthony Sassal, Ryan Adams, and Santiago Santos. Scroll plans to expand its team and launch a testnet in the second half of this year. Currently, Scroll has 20 employees.
Scroll was co-founded by Sandy Peng, Ye Zhang, and Haichen Shen early last year, aiming to scale Ethereum using ZK Rollups, bundling Ethereum transactions off-chain to support more transactions at a lower cost. (Source link)
7. The Central Bank of Russia to begin digital ruble settlements in 2023, pilot testing to start this year
According to Reuters, Elvira Nabiullina, the governor of the Central Bank of Russia, stated that the central bank will begin digital ruble settlements in 2023, and it is expected to be used in international settlements as well. Russia has been developing its digital ruble and plans to conduct pilot testing this year. (Source link)
"What interesting articles are worth reading in the past 24 hours?"
Recently, Forbes published its list of the world's best venture capitalists for 2022, with a16z partner Chris Dixon topping the list for investing in Coinbase across eight rounds. Now, Chris Dixon holds about $3 billion targeting the Web3 direction and is regarded as one of the most successful investors in the Web3 space, as well as one of its biggest advocates. On April 12, Chris Dixon participated in The Verge's "Decoder" podcast, detailing his reflections on Web2 and his research thoughts on Web3.
After waiting for over six months and with more than 4 million people on the waiting list, the Coinbase NFT marketplace has finally launched its beta version, unveiling its mysterious veil. Although this NFT marketplace only supports specific invited users for logging in and trading NFTs, most of its pages are freely accessible. Chain Catcher provides a detailed introduction to the features and characteristics of the Coinbase NFT marketplace based on currently available public information.
3. “What is Nation3DAO, which aims to build a cloud nation, and how does its mechanism work?”
The Nation3 project has recently gained popularity on Twitter, with a previous retweet event where commenting with an address could earn one NATION (currently valued at around $3,000). Setting aside the 24-fold price surge, let's take a look at what Nation3 is, what it aims to do, and how its mechanism works.
4. “Born to Fail: The Inherent Fragility of Algorithmic Stablecoins”
Algorithmic stablecoins are inherently fragile; these uncollateralized digital assets attempt to peg their prices to reference assets using financial instruments, algorithms, and market incentives, but they are fundamentally unstable and exist in a state of perpetual fragility. So far, several iterations have struggled to maintain a stable peg, with some even ending in catastrophic failure. This article argues that algorithmic stability is fundamentally flawed because it relies on several uncontrollable factors.
5. “Green Pill Podcast: Vitalik Discusses Public Goods Funding and the Crypto Ecosystem”
The podcast "Green Pill," which discusses public goods and the regenerative crypto economy, invited Vitalik Buterin, and the two explored topics such as public goods, secondary financing, DAO governance, and Layer 2. Vitalik mentioned that there are two common problems in the cryptocurrency field: first, many public goods suffer from funding shortages. For example, some projects spend hundreds of millions or even billions on securities, liquidity mining, or other ventures, yet cannot muster a few million to pay for R&D. Second, suitable public goods are not funded, leading to the emergence of centralized alternatives in the market…
