ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, the zero-knowledge proof generation layer Fermah has completed a $5.2 million seed round financing, led by a16z's CSX and Lemniscap, with participation from Bankless Ventures, Longhash Ventures, the P-OPS team, Public Works, ZK Validator, Lambda Class, Daedalus, Zero DAO, Velocity Capital, Daemon Ventures, and angel investors including Balaji Srinivasan and Sandeep Nailwal.According to the Web3 asset data platform RootData, Fermah is a general-purpose zero-knowledge proof generation layer. It acts as a marketplace, with suppliers including GPUs and FPGAs. On the demand side, Fermah can generate proofs for any instance using ZK.

ChainCatcher message, the Ethereum Foundation announced the list of funded projects and community activities for the second quarter of 2024, totaling over $8.47 million. In the areas of community and education, support was provided for global conferences and hackathons such as ETH Beijing, ETH Tokyo, and ETHWarsaw. In the field of cryptography and zero-knowledge proofs, research projects such as the Anon Aadhaar protocol and Faster Scalar Multiplication of Elliptic Curves were funded. In terms of developer experience, support was given for the development of tools like the Circom Language Server and the MEDGA Solidity debugger.The foundation also supported the retrospective public goods funding round operated by Cryptoversidad through indirect funding, as well as the Road to Devcon quadratic funding round aimed at Southeast Asia. At the protocol level, continued support was provided for the Account Abstraction Core Team and the Ethereum Protocol Fellowship (EPF) project. Other significant funding includes projects like L2BEAT, Ephemery Testnet, and Summer of Protocols.

ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, the blockchain research organization NEBRA is launching Universal Proof Aggregation technology, which allows multiple independent zero-knowledge proofs to be combined into a single compact proof to reduce blockchain verification costs.It is reported that the system will officially launch on Ethereum, aiming to lower the high costs of proof settlement. Zero-knowledge technology is a method of verification that does not disclose information, widely used in the blockchain field, such as zkVM, zkRollups, and zk co-processors.

ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, the general zero-knowledge proof platform ZKM has completed a $5 million Pre-A round of financing and is preparing to launch a Bitcoin-based Layer 2 network, led by OKX Ventures, with participation from Amber Group, Metis Foundation, Crypto.com, and others.It is reported that ZKM is a network based on zero-knowledge proofs, aimed at unifying blockchains and creating a settlement layer on Ethereum. As part of these efforts, ZKM is developing a special transaction processing network called "entangled rollups," starting with the upcoming L2, which the project claims is built on the Bitcoin blockchain.

ChainCatcher news, according to official sources, the decentralized zero-knowledge proof verification layer Aligned Layer, developed based on EigenLayer and targeting Ethereum, has announced the completion of a $20 million Series A funding round, led by Hack VC, with participation from dao5, L2IV, Nomad Capital, and others.It is reported that the Aligned Layer mainnet is planned to launch in the second quarter of 2024. As an EigenLayer AVS, Aligned Layer provides Ethereum with a new infrastructure for affordable zero-knowledge proof verification across all proof systems.Additionally, the Web3 asset data platform RootData shows that Aligned Layer is a ZK verification layer developed on top of EigenLayer. This will make the verification of any SNARK proof cost-effective, leveraging the security of Ethereum validators without being constrained by Ethereum. As an Eigen Layer AVS, it promises affordable verification and multifunctional proof systems for L2 and bridges, addressing critical needs in the blockchain ecosystem. The project is developed by Yet Another Company.

ChainCatcher news, at the Oak Grove Crypto 2024 held on April 5, Eric Vreeland, CSO of Polyhedra Network, which provides infrastructure for Web3 interoperability, mainly introduced Polyhedra's innovative technology and the further possibilities of zero-knowledge proofs in the interoperability field in his speech titled "Zero-knowledge, zero limits."Eric Vreeland mentioned that zero-knowledge technology greatly improves proof efficiency. The zero-knowledge proof solution Virgo++ launched by Polyhedra generates proofs in 8 seconds, while generating proofs on Ethereum only takes 10-15 seconds. The entire process is very smooth, helping users control risks and avoid data leakage. From the beginning of the protocol, Polyhedra has developed the entire data architecture and conducted data analysis, building a very good bridge that reduces intermediate information, enabling high-quality data transfer and helping to establish a good blockchain ecosystem.It is reported that Oak Grove Crypto 2024 is initiated by Oak Grove Ventures and co-hosted by Polyhedra, Alchemy Pay, Ritual, and ChainCatcher, aiming to bring together elites in the Web3 field to discuss and look forward to the development trends of the industry in the next five years. This grand event is expected to attract 500 to 1000 industry elites, including innovative leaders, technical experts, and industry investors. They will engage in in-depth discussions on popular topics such as AI, DePIN, gaming, crypto payments, and Bitcoin infrastructure.

ChainCatcher news, the Layer 2 ZK programmable privacy and scalability project Ola has announced the launch of the Ola Airdrop Vault plan. This plan aims to reward and thank the active builders in the community, including early contributors to the Ola community, OVP holders, Ola ecosystem developers, and feedback providers. In addition, Ola plans to airdrop to developers, researchers, and advocates of zero-knowledge proof (ZK) technology. The distribution of the airdrop mainly includes community proposals and voting, as well as direct allocations from the Ola team during significant project advancements.It is reported that Ola previously received token airdrops from Celestia and Starknet for its contributions in blockchain and ZK technology. The obtained token rewards have been used for community activities and lotteries for OVP holders. In the future, the Ola Airdrop Vault plan will introduce NFTs and more tokens from projects, further expanding the reward scope of the airdrop vault.

ChainCatcher news, zCloak Network today launched a zero-knowledge proof infrastructure based on the concept of chain abstraction, addressing the issues of traditional zero-knowledge proofs that can only verify on a single chain and single-chain usage. zCloak Network developed the STARK VM zero-knowledge proof verifier based on the ICP technology stack, achieving decentralized verification of zk-STARK zero-knowledge proofs at a very low cost. Coupled with ICP's ECDSA threshold signature technology, the verification results of zero-knowledge proofs can be directly used on any EVM chain as well as public chains like ICP, Solana, and Sui.In addition, zCloak Network will also launch a universal zero-knowledge proof generation and verification service based on chain abstraction, thereby lowering the application threshold for zero-knowledge proof technology in the Web3 field.

ChainCatcher news, zero-knowledge encryption technology company Toposware (Topos) announced the completion of a $5 million extended seed round financing, with participation from Evolution Equity Partners, Triatomic Capital, K2 Access Fund, and Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal.According to the RootData page, Topos is an interoperability protocol that utilizes zero-knowledge proofs and reliable broadcasting, allowing various public and private blockchains to communicate with each other. Zero-knowledge proofs enable blockchains to prove the validity of their state transitions without compromising private internal information, such as account addresses and account balances. Topos previously completed a financing round of 750 million yen in 2021.

ChainCatcher news, Modulus Labs announced the completion of a $6.3 million seed round financing, led by Variant and 1kx, with participation from Inflection, Bankless, Stanford, and others. Angel investors include the Ethereum Foundation, Worldcoin, Polygon, Celestia, and Solana. This funding will be used to help develop Modulus products.It is reported that Modulus utilizes ZKML combined with AI model's ZK proofs, with the key point being to use zero-knowledge proofs to demonstrate that the AI model is executed correctly.