ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, the developer of the privacy blockchain Canton Network, Digital Asset, announced the completion of a $135 million strategic financing round. This round was led by DRW Venture Capital and Tradeweb Markets, with participation from well-known companies in traditional finance and the crypto space, including BNP Paribas, Circle Ventures, Citadel Securities, DTCC, Virtu Financial, and Paxos.Canton Network, centered on configurable privacy, has attracted several companies, including Goldman Sachs and BNY Mellon, to test RWAs on its platform. This financing will help the Canton Network further expand the coverage of RWAs, which currently includes asset classes such as bonds, money market funds, alternative funds, commodities, repurchase agreements, mortgages, life insurance, and annuities.According to the Web3 asset data platform RootData, Digital Asset is a blockchain software and service provider that helps enterprises establish economic value through the internet. Digital Asset's products are built on Daml, a leading platform for building and running complex multi-party applications using an innovative smart contract language and tools. Daml features privacy and a top-notch SDK to ensure that all participants in the application remain in sync and have access to reliable real-time data.

ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, the former Chorus One executive team has established a new crypto venture fund, Frachtis, focusing on the intersection of blockchain and artificial intelligence, and has completed a fundraising of $20 million.Frachtis will invest in decentralized infrastructure, middleware, and consumer applications, and has currently positioned itself in eight projects including Hyve, Turtle.Club, and Bless network. The fund's limited partners include Chorus One, cyber•Fund, RockawayX, and Theta Blockchain Ventures.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, the crypto venture capital firm Metalayer Ventures, founded by former Chainlink Labs growth lead Mickey Graham and former Two Sigma executives Andy Kangpan and David Winton, has announced the launch of a $25 million fund focusing on investments in stablecoins, asset tokenization, and crypto infrastructure. The fund has already invested in 7 startups, including tax optimization platform AnchorZero, stablecoin service provider Spark Capital, and the on-chain trading protocol Theo, which recently raised $20 million.Metalayer co-founder David Winton developed the proprietary data platform Moirai, which filters potential projects by analyzing on-chain development activities, protocol interactions, and trading patterns. Mickey Graham stated that Moirai is the "core tool for systematically discovering early-stage quality projects," with evaluation dimensions covering technical feasibility, team background, and market fit. The fund plans to ultimately invest in 30 companies, with individual investments ranging from $500,000 to $1 million.

ChainCatcher news, according to Crowdfund Insider, African digital lending startup Carrot has announced the completion of a $4.2 million seed funding round, led by MaC Venture Capital, with participation from Partech Africa and Authentic Ventures.Carrot allows users to obtain credit by using stocks, fixed income products, cryptocurrencies, and other alternative investment products as collateral. The platform aims to address the limited traditional credit scoring infrastructure in the African market, providing reliable and affordable credit channels for individuals and small businesses.Since its launch, Carrot has disbursed over $2 million in credit, serving more than 10,000 users. This funding round will be used to expand the team, scale business operations, and accelerate product development, including investments in artificial intelligence to enhance its credit scoring, risk management, and fraud prevention systems.Carrot founder and CEO Bolu Aiki-Raji stated that the company plans to expand its services to other African countries by the end of 2025.

ChainCatcher message, a user asked Zhao Changpeng: "Has the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) asked you for money to stop defaming you?"Zhao Changpeng responded: "They haven't asked me for money to stop defamation, but I've heard they take money to smear us. There are rumors that a large venture capital firm that invested in a certain cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S. is heavily lobbying against 'Binance helping the U.S. become the cryptocurrency capital.' They have spent millions of dollars on 'lobbying activities.' This is a sign of fear of competition."

ChainCatcher news, according to Bloomberg, Theta Capital announced that its crypto fund "Theta Blockchain Ventures IV" has completed a $175 million financing round, focusing on investments in early crypto venture capital firms such as Coinfund and Polychain. Since 2018, Theta has focused on digital assets and currently manages approximately $1.2 billion in assets. The fund aims to provide differentiated returns for institutional investors through the professional advantages of "crypto-native" venture capital.

ChainCatcher news, according to TFN, the quantitative venture capital firm QuantumLight, founded by Revolut founder Nik Storonsky, announced the completion of its first fund with $250 million raised, exceeding the original fundraising target. The fund utilizes the self-developed AI model Aleph for systematic investment decision-making, aiming to identify high-potential growth companies. Since its establishment in 2023, QuantumLight has invested in 17 startups across fields such as AI, Web3, FinTech, SaaS, and HealthTech.In addition, QuantumLight has released its second operations manual, "Hiring Top Talent," sharing Revolut's experiences in talent recruitment to help startups systematically build efficient teams.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, 10T Holdings CEO Dan Tapiero stated at the Consensus conference that there is a widespread issue of overvaluation among current cryptocurrency startups, with many companies seeking funding at valuations 50-80 times their revenue, far exceeding reasonable limits. The firm has thus rejected over 200 projects, including well-known companies like the bankrupt FTX, BlockFi, and Celsius. Tapiero indicated that they prefer to invest in projects with valuations between $400 million and $500 million, with a valuation-to-revenue ratio not exceeding 10 times.Market data shows that despite concerns about valuation bubbles, the total amount of venture capital transactions in the cryptocurrency sector reached $6 billion in the first quarter of 2025, a more than 100% increase quarter-over-quarter. Pantera Capital CEO Dan Morehead shared his investment strategy at the conference, noting that 86% of their investment projects have achieved positive returns, with 22 becoming unicorn companies. Morehead suggested adopting a diversified strategy of equity and token combination investments to mitigate market volatility risks.Industry analysts pointed out that the current cryptocurrency financing market shows a clear trend of differentiation: on one hand, overvalued projects face difficulties in securing funding, while on the other hand, high-quality projects continue to attract capital. This pattern reflects investors' increasingly rational judgments regarding project quality and valuation.

ChainCatcher news, Ethereum Foundation's new Executive Director Tomasz Stańczak and former Managing Director of IOSG Ventures Gökhan Er announced the establishment of Lantern Capital, focusing on early-stage venture capital for Web3 projects.In addition, Lantern Capital will establish an exclusive strategic partnership with Nethermind, integrating Nethermind's technological advantages with Lantern Capital's research strengths to jointly explore potential projects.Lantern Capital is committed to investing in visionary founders who view blockchain as the economic, verification, governance, and identity infrastructure of the upcoming AI era. Lantern Capital will also focus on investing in high-potential early-stage projects within the Ethereum ecosystem and other multi-chain compatible projects, strategically capturing investment opportunities in early primary and secondary markets.

ChainCatcher news, according to Fortune, the cryptocurrency-focused venture capital firm dao5 has raised $222 million for its second fund.It is reported that dao5 was founded in 2022 by Tekin Salimi, an alumnus of the crypto venture capital giant Polychain. Previously, it raised $125 million for its inaugural fund, which has been fully deployed into crypto startups, including the Layer 1 blockchain Berachain and the decentralized AI project Bittensor.

ChainCatcher news, the Kaia Foundation announced on X that it has received investment from top crypto venture capital firms, led by Blockchain Capital and 1kx, with participation from Galaxy, The Spartan Group, IDG Capital, Mirana Ventures, SNZ Holding, Comma3 Ventures, Caladan, Lingfeng Capital, Waterdrip Capital, and MEXC Ventures. The specific investment amounts have not been disclosed.Kaia is formed by the merger of Klaytn and Finschia blockchains, originally developed by Kakao and LINE respectively. It features the lowest transaction latency in EVM L1, with a block time of 1 second and instant finality, enabling a smooth user experience and opening up possibilities for use cases that require near real-time responses.

ChainCatcher news, the new banking platform ether.fi has announced the launch of a $40 million venture capital fund, ether.fi Ventures Fund I, aimed at supporting fearless entrepreneurs who are redefining the possibilities of the industry.In addition, the fund has now disclosed its first batch of investment projects, namely Resolv, Rise Chain, and Symbiotic.

ChainCatcher news, focusing on stablecoin innovation, Dubai-based venture capital incubator Code & State announced it has secured $3 million in funding. This round was led by Warburg Serres and KR1, and the funds will be used to incubate projects aimed at promoting the real-world applications of stablecoins.It is reported that Code & State is a venture capital studio dedicated to building and scaling stablecoin enterprises, founded by Cédric Waldburger and Artia Moghbel. Code & State provides startups with funding, mentorship, and infrastructure support to help address key challenges in the stablecoin ecosystem, such as payment systems, cross-border remittances, compliance, and security.

ChainCatcher news, the third fund under the encrypted venture capital Maven 11 has completed fundraising of $107 million, which took about nine months longer than initially expected. Maven 11's Chief Investment Officer Bomans stated that the fund began deploying capital a year ago and has already supported several startups, including the decentralized trading platform GTE, the on-chain competition platform JokeRace, the on-chain major broker August, and the Ethereum scaling startup Spire Labs.It is reported that Maven 11 first announced the establishment of the third fund in November 2023, aiming to complete it in the first half of 2024. Although the fund was delayed, it received support from Theta Capital Management as well as new institutional backers from Europe and Asia. While Maven 11's Chief Investment Officer declined to disclose the names of all LPs, he noted that the London-based investment firm Karatage is one of the participants.

ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, crypto venture capital firm Maven 11 has raised $107 million for its third fund, slightly exceeding the initial target of $100 million.This financing was completed about nine months later than originally planned, mainly due to the harsh environment of the crypto market, with capital providers or limited partners (LPs) adopting a more cautious attitude. Balder Bomans, Chief Investment Officer and Managing Partner of Maven 11, stated that we have observed and experienced an increased sensitivity of capital providers towards venture capital funds, partly due to the widespread losses caused by a series of market crashes in 2022.

ChainCatcher news, the official TON blockchain stated on social media: "Contrary to some news media reports, the TON Foundation did not 'raise' $400 million. In fact, what the foundation disclosed is that over $400 million worth of Toncoin is currently held by some of the most forward-looking venture capital firms in the United States."

ChainCatcher news, CoinDesk analyst Sam Reynolds stated that according to Pitchbook data, venture capital financing in the U.S. cryptocurrency sector was approximately $861 million in the first quarter of 2025, while the AI industry attracted nearly $20 billion, with funding still clearly leaning towards artificial intelligence. Major financing in the AI sector includes: Databricks $15.3 billion, Anthropic $2 billion, totaling 795 transactions. The largest financing in the cryptocurrency industry was Abu Dhabi MGX's investment of $2 billion in Binance, with other financings including Mesh $82 million, Bitwise $70 million, and Sygnum Bank $58 million.Historical data shows that AI financing grew from $670 million in 2011 to $36 billion in 2020, with an overall growth rate far exceeding that of the cryptocurrency sector, where in 2021, a classification adjustment briefly caused cryptocurrency financing to surpass AI. Despite the dominance of AI funding, the cryptocurrency industry still obtains funds through unique mechanisms such as airdrops, which generated a total of $700 million from the top 11 airdrops from 2020 to 2024.According to Statista data, historical data shows that venture capital has generally favored artificial intelligence (AI) over cryptocurrencies, with funding for AI and machine learning continuing to grow and expand exponentially, increasing from $670 million in 2011 to $36 billion in 2020.

ChainCatcher news, according to Blockworks, former Blocktower Capital venture team members Thomas Klocanas, Steven Venino, and Winnie Lau have founded a new company, Strobe, and plan to raise $100 million for its second fund.The team is currently still deploying its first $150 million fund, which is expected to be completed by the end of this year. Klocanas stated that establishing an independent company allows the team to maintain a lean structure, focus on venture capital business, and adopt a more patient and independent investment strategy.Strobe's portfolio already includes projects such as Morpho, Ethena, Ledger, TYB, Aptos, and Maple Finance. Klocanas emphasized that they are looking for founders who can solve real problems and focus on fundamentals, rather than social media influencers, and believes that "if you can't create hundreds of millions of dollars in value for hundreds of millions of users, trading billions of dollars is unsustainable."