Last week, there were a total of 23 public financing events in the cryptocurrency market, with a cumulative financing of approximately 720 million USD | Investment and Financing Weekly Report
The crypto wallet Phantom completed a $150 million Series C funding round with a valuation of $3 billion, led by Sequoia Capital and Paradigm; the crypto custodian Komainu secured $75 million in Bitcoin financing, with Blockstream CEO joining its board; Chainalysis spent over $100 million to acquire AI agent security startup Alterya.Organizer: Luan Peng, RootData
According to incomplete statistics from RootData, during the period from January 13 to January 19, 2025, there were a total of 23 public financing events in the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry, with a cumulative financing of approximately $720 million.
From the perspective of track distribution, the projects that received financing are mainly concentrated in the infrastructure and DeFi tracks. Popular projects include the open-source economic infrastructure Merit Systems, the decentralized exchange GTE based on the MegaETH blockchain, the Berachain ecological farming simulation game project Beratone, and the AI-driven cryptocurrency analysis platform Mind AI.
In addition, the social graph protocol Tapestry based on Solana announced the completion of a $5.75 million Series A financing, led by Union Square Ventures and Fabric Ventures.
*（List of projects with financing greater than $5 million last week, data source: * Rootdata）
I. Infrastructure
Open-source economic infrastructure Merit Systems has completed a $10 million seed round financing, led by a16z crypto and Blockchain Capital, with participation from Solana co-founder Toly, Not Boring Capital founder Packy McCormick, Farcaster co-founder Dan Romero, and Framework Ventures co-founder Vance Spencer. The funds raised will be used to accelerate the development of the open-source economy.
Merit aims to solve the "attribution problem" in software development. Merit is building a protocol to appropriately attribute and reward contributors based on the value they create.
Web3 gaming company Hyve Labs has completed $2.75 million in Pre-Seed round financing, led by Framework Ventures, with participation from Volt Capital, Builder Capital, 32 Bit Ventures, and numerous angel investors.
The company intends to use these funds to expand its team and develop its core infrastructure, such as launching its testnet, its first game, and other on-chain assets.
Hyve Labs has developed a game rollup that uses decentralized data availability services like EigenDA to act as a cross-chain game launcher.
Cryptocurrency wallet Phantom completes $150 million Series C financing at a $3 billion valuation, led by Sequoia Capital and Paradigm
Cryptocurrency wallet Phantom has completed $150 million in Series C financing at a $3 billion valuation, led by Sequoia Capital and Paradigm, with participation from a16z and Variant.
Since its launch in 2021, Phantom has reached 15 million monthly active users, managing $25 billion in self-custodied assets.
According to RootData, Phantom is a user-friendly cryptocurrency wallet that allows users to securely and easily store, buy, send, receive, trade tokens, and collect NFTs on the Solana blockchain.
According to Chainwire, Web 2.5 infrastructure company Torram announced the completion of $710,000 in Pre-Seed round financing, with participation from Draper Associates, Blockchain Founders Fund, Boost VC, Side Door Ventures, Deep Ventures, MH Ventures, Silvermine Capital, and Trive Digital.
According to Web3 asset data platform RootData, Torram is a Bitcoin-native meta-protocol that provides AI-enhanced indexing for Bitcoin dApps and developers, bringing crypto-native and real-world data on-chain.
CeDeFi infrastructure BounceBit receives investment from Laser Digital
CeDeFi infrastructure BounceBit has received investment from Laser Digital, a subsidiary of Japan's Nomura Group.
Laser Digital is a digital asset company that provides scalable and robust opportunities in trading, asset management, and venture capital, supported by Nomura Securities.
According to Bloomberg, Paris-based cryptocurrency wallet technology company Dfns has completed $16 million in financing, led by Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADQ, with other investors including market maker Wintermute, Motive Partners, Bpifrance, and the family office of Galeries Lafayette Group, Motier Ventures.
Dfns, founded in 2020, has developed technology that allows developers to build and securely manage digital asset wallets more easily. Its clients include Fidelity International, Zodia Custody, and the stablecoin company Bridge, which was acquired by Stripe last year. The startup plans to expand its workforce from the current 25 to 35 employees, having raised $13 million in 2022.
According to official news, Bitcoin on-chain financial infrastructure Alpen Labs announced the completion of $8.5 million in strategic financing, led by DBA and Cyber Fun, with Ribbit Capital, Castle Island Ventures, and Geometry being the largest investors in its seed round financing, and supporting Alpen again in this round. This funding will help accelerate the development of Bitcoin ZK Rollup "Strata" and launch it on the mainnet in 2025.
Strata will be launched as an open platform aimed at expanding and promoting the use of Bitcoin, unlocking many practical features for Bitcoin: simple self-custody, intuitive and privacy-protecting payments, interoperability, Bitcoin-backed lending and stablecoins, and many other on-chain applications. Strata will be open to the public starting next month with the upcoming launch of its test network.
Previously, Bitcoin L2 developer Alpen Labs completed $10.6 million in financing, led by Ribbit Capital.
II. DeFi
CertiK Ventures announces investment in Solana ecological Layer 2 scaling project Mantis
Blockchain security company CertiK's investment division CertiK Ventures announced on social media its investment in Mantis.
The project is the first Layer 2 scaling solution built on the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM), aimed at enhancing the interoperability and user experience of decentralized finance through AI agents. Currently, Mantis's cross-chain trading feature has been launched, with a trading volume of $35 million, and is undergoing a security audit by OtterSec.
MegaETH ecological DEX GTE has raised $10 million through three rounds of financing
The decentralized exchange GTE based on the MegaETH blockchain has raised $10 million through three rounds of financing, including $1.5 million in Pre-Seed financing, $6.942 million in seed round financing, and $2.5 million in community financing from Echo.
GTE's venture capital investors include Maven 11, Wintermute, Flow Traders, Robot Ventures, IMC Trading, Guy Young from Ethena, Max Resnick from Anza, and undisclosed traders from Jump Trading.
III. Gaming
Berachain ecological game project Beratone announces $2 million seed round financing
According to official news, the Berachain ecological farming simulation game project Beratone announced the completion of $2 million in seed round financing, led by Animoca, with participation from SNZ, Citizen X, Avid3, Metazero Capital, Digits, and some individuals.
IV. AI
AI-driven cryptocurrency analysis platform Mind AI announced the completion of $1.2 million in strategic financing, with participation from aixcb, Castrum Istanbul, Dewhales, SMO Capital, Metazero Capital, X21 Digital, Lunar Labs Capital, Zephyrus Capital, AlfaCatalyst, Decubate, Maven Capital, Unreal Capital, GAINS Associates, Coinvestor Ventures, Kef Ventures, Carbon Browser, Danxia Capital, and Unicorn Ventures.
Additionally, according to Web3 asset data platform RootData, Mind AI is a cryptocurrency analysis platform that helps investors make better decisions using data. Its goal is to help users eliminate the noise and information overload from social media.
V. Others
According to The Block, the Solana-based social graph protocol Tapestry announced the completion of $5.75 million in Series A financing, led by Union Square Ventures and Fabric Ventures. This round of financing adopts an equity plus token warrant structure, with an equity valuation of $35 million and a token network valuation of $70 million.
Tapestry currently has 13 employees and has raised a total of $12.5 million. The protocol utilizes Solana's state compression technology to build social graphs at the Layer 1 level, unlike Layer 2-based Farcaster and Lens. The project adopts a freemium business model and plans to expand to ecosystems such as Aptos, Monad, and Berachain in the future.
Digital advertising platform EarnOS announced the completion of $5 million in seed round financing, led by Escape Velocity (EV3), with participation from Animoca Brands, GD1, Laser Digital, XION, Mysten Labs, Opacity Network, and others.
The beta version of the EarnOS platform was launched by XION, with brands such as Uber, Baskin Robbins, Sunglass Hut, and The North Face joining during the beta release.
According to RootData, EarnOS is a digital advertising platform where third-party brands can acquire customers and offer rewards. It utilizes XION's chain abstraction to open up new ways to incentivize over 5.5 billion active internet users for mainstream brands and enterprises.
According to Bloomberg, cryptocurrency custodian Komainu Holdings Ltd., supported by Nomura Holdings Inc., has received $75 million in Bitcoin financing from Blockstream Capital Partners.
The company plans to use these funds to support its global expansion plans and integrate collateral management and tokenization technology developed by Blockstream Corp. Blockstream CEO Adam Back will join the Komainu board.
According to Cointelegraph, Barcelona-based RWA tokenization platform Brickken announced the completion of $2.5 million in seed round financing, with a post-investment valuation exceeding $22.5 million, with participation from Psalion, Ergodic Fund, SNZ Capital, Blue Bay Ventures, Mocha, and Hodl Ventures.
According to Web3 asset data platform RootData, Brickken is a company that provides asset tokenization solutions, standardizing the asset tokenization process through decentralized applications (dApps) and providing businesses with the tools needed to easily create, sell, and manage digital assets.
Cryptocurrency bank Sygnum completes $58 million financing, led by Fulgur Ventures
Swiss and Singapore-based cryptocurrency bank Sygnum has completed $58 million in financing, led by Fulgur Ventures, with a post-financing valuation of $1 billion.
The new funds will be used to expand its product portfolio (focusing on Bitcoin technology), enhance its institutional infrastructure, strengthen its compliance team, and explore strategic acquisition opportunities. The proceeds will also support Sygnum's EU expansion plans and establish regulated operations in Hong Kong.
According to RootData, Sygnum is a digital asset bank with a Swiss banking license and a Singapore asset management license. Sygnum enables institutions and private qualified investors, corporations, banks, and other financial institutions to invest in the emerging digital asset economy with complete trust. Clients can invest in leading digital assets using Swiss francs, US dollars, euros, and Singapore dollars that they deposit.
Chainalysis spends over $100 million to acquire AI agent security startup Alterya
According to Business Insider, Chainalysis has spent over $100 million to acquire AI agent security startup Alterya, with specific valuation information not disclosed.
Two sources familiar with the deal revealed that the total acquisition amount is approximately $150 million. Alterya is a graduate of the renowned Silicon Valley incubator Y Combinator and has developed AI technology that uses agents to detect and prevent fraud targeting financial institutions, fintech, and cryptocurrency service providers.
MoonPay acquires Helio for $175 million to expand cryptocurrency payment infrastructure
MoonPay has acquired Helio for $175 million to expand its cryptocurrency payment infrastructure, with this acquisition integrating Helio's technology into MoonPay, enabling cryptocurrency transactions on e-commerce platforms such as Shopify and Discord.
