Stablecoin operator TrustToken has launched a new lending marketplace that allows asset managers to create their own decentralized finance products, potentially opening the door to wider mainstream adoption of DeFi solutions. The new lending marketplace, which is offered on unsecured lending protocol TrueFi, gives independent financial institutions the ability to design, launch and fund new investment products. Asset managers also have access to TrueFi’s pool of lenders and borrowers as well as TrustToken’s institutional offerings. Version 1 of the TrueFi protocol was shipped to institutional clients in November 2020 around the same time that the native TRU token launched. The …

A16z, a VC company with investments in Protocol Labs, Polychain Capital and Opensea among others, is now planning to raise $4.5 billion for its latest fund which is focused solely on cryptocurrencies, according to a report by U.K newspaper Financial Times. Last week, Andreessen Horowitz’ venture capital firm reportedly said it would raise $3.5 billion for its VC fund, as well as another $1 billion for web3 seed investments, with the plans to be announced in March. The firm is ready to eclipse the $2.2 billion it raised in June 2021, which was at the time the crypto industry's largest. …

Web3 and social games publisher Carry1st has raised $20 million in Series A funding to further expand product development in Africa — a continent that could become the premier hub for the gaming industry over the next decade. The investment round was led by Silicon Valley venture firm Andreessen Horowitz, which has been highly active in the blockchain space, with additional participation from Avenir and Google-parent Alphabet. Carry1st’s existing backers, including Riot Games, Konvoy Ventures, Raine Ventures and TTV Capital, also participated in the investment round. The cash injection will be used by Carry1st to expand its content portfolio, grow …

Major cryptocurrency custody bank Anchorage Digital has closed a fresh funding round, bringing its valuation to over $3 billion. Anchorage Digital announced Dec. 15 that it raised $350 million in a series D round led by equity investment giant KKR. According to the announcement, this is the first time for KKR to directly invest in equity in a company in the crypto industry. The company invested through its Next Generation Technology Growth Fund II, which is dedicated to developing equity investment in the technology space. “As a pioneer in enabling institutional investors to access digital assets, Anchorage has built a …

European security startup Nym Technologies has announced a $13 million funding round coordinated by renowned crypto investor Andreessen Horowitz, or a16z, and further participated by a venture capital firms Digital Currency Group, Tayssir Capital, Huobi Ventures, Hashkey and Fenbush. This third funding round represented their highest raise to date, following seed funding of $2,5 million in May 2019 and Series A raise of $6 million in July 2021 — Polychain Capital led the latter of which — according to financial data from Crunchbase. Nym Technologies is an open-source, decentralized infrastructure that aims to surpass the typical third-party privacy services offered …

Mythical Games announced the conclusion of a $150 million fundraising round. The company conducted the raise at a $1.25 billion valuation on Thursday, which was led by global venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. Mythical said it plans to use this new infusion of capital to help integrate NFTs into games. Andreessen General Partner Arianna Simpson said in a statement: “Co-Founders John, Jamie, and Rudy have a wealth of experience in the gaming world, and have built a world-class team to support their vision. We’re thrilled to partner with them to bring NFT gaming to an even larger stage.” Other investors …

Two blockchain entrepreneurs have launched a new cryptocurrency fund designed to bootstrap promising Web 3 startups, sending a strong signal that venture capital is eyeing the next builders of the decentralized internet. On Friday, Kevin Chou and Mahesh Vellanki unveiled SuperLayer, a crypto venture studio building Web 3 projects directly on the Rally network, a crypto-social platform that lets creators and artists launch their own digital currency. The venture studio will launch projects in-house before recruiting product managers to further develop the business. Notably, SuperLayer has received backing from big-name investors, including Marc Andreessen of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, …

San Francisco based blockchain web services company Alchemy announced a $250 million Series C fundraising round led by Andreessen Horowitz on Thursday, bringing its current valuation to $3.5 billion. This announcement comes hot on the heels of a late April $80 million Series B, which previously valued the start up at $505 million. Pantera Capital, Redpoint, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Coatue, DFJ and Lee Fixel’s Addition also participated in the Series C round. According to founders Nikil Viswanathan and Jon Lau, the company is “very profitable” and has thus far not spent any of that money, but plans to use the …

Funded by crypto heavyweights, new crypto unicorn Worldcoin revealed its plan to let everyone claim free coins to accelerate global crypto adoption. Providing the global population with free cryptocurrency sounds like a moonshot project, but $25 million in backing from Andreessen Horowitz, Coinbase Ventures, 1confirmation, Blockchange and Day One Ventures, and a valuation of $1 billion adds some weight to the Worldcoin project. Co-founded by Alex Blania, Sam Altman and Max Novendstern, Worldcoin saw the participation of more than 100,000 people from around the world during its test period and aims to reach over a billion people within two years. …

Between fever-pitch anticipation over the impending approval of a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s $42-million-plus settlement with Tether and Bitfinex, and Vladimir Putin brooding over cryptocurrency’s capacity to transfer value, this past week has been saturated with major policy news. While all the above are instances of state figures’ and institutions’ top-down actions and statements on digital assets, an arguably even more interesting tide has emerged on the side of the crypto industry itself. Two major players of the digital space, Coinbase and a16z (Andreessen Horowitz), came forward with proposed visions for regulating internet-native economic activity Below …

Anthony Albanese, chief operating officer of Andreessen Horowitz’s (a16z) crypto division, and Katie Haun, general partner at the firm, are among a high-powered delegation from the venture capital giant who will engage with lawmakers and administration officials in the United States on crypto regulations. According to CNBC on Wednesday, the move is part of efforts by the Silicon Valley-based VC outfit to promote favorable regulation of the emerging Web 3.0 ecosystem. Speaking to CNBC, a16z global policy chief Tomicah Tillemann decried the broken state of the current Web 2.0 status quo. According to Tillemann, Web 3.0 offers an alternative to …

Andreessen Horowitz (A16z), a leading venture capital firm operating in the crypto sector, has nabbed two of the leading engineers working on Facebook’s digital currency project for its digital asset fund. According to a Monday report from CNBC, Nassim Eddequiouaq and Riyaz Faizullabhoy have jumped ship from Facebook to A16z after spending two years working on the social media giant’s Novi digital wallet (formerly Calibra). Faizullabhoy will serve as the chief technology officer, while Eddequiouaq will take on the role of the chief information security officer at A16z’s crypto division. Faizullabhoy stated: “Andreessen Horowitz has shown an impressive dedication to …