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Web3 messaging infrastructure Notifi raises $10M seed round co-led by Hashed, Race Capital  • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on Posted in Crypto, crypto startups, Hashed, Race Capital, Startups, Venture, web3 messaging infrastructureNo Comments on Web3 messaging infrastructure Notifi raises $10M seed round co-led by Hashed, Race Capital  • ZebethMedia

Notifi, a communication infrastructure platform for Web3, said Tuesday it has raised $10 million in an oversubscribed seed funding co-led by previous backers Hashed and Race Capital. Other investors include Struck Capital, HRT Capital, Wintermute, Superscrypt founded by Temasek, bringing its total funding to $12.5 million.    The ten-month-old startup wants to address the broken communication model in Web3, which is fragmented across multiple application and messaging platforms like Telegram, Discord and Twitter and across layer-1 and layer-2 blockchain ecosystems. Notifi provides communication infrastructure and software development kits (SDKs) for decentralized applications on blockchain platforms with simplified and customized notifications.    Its platform allows Web3 developers to integrate multichannel communication into their applications without building the infrastructure themselves. “Notifi is similar to Twilio, but unlike Twilio, Notifi has built a Web3-native solution for blockchain developers that enables both on-chain and off-chain messaging across multiple layer-1 ecosystems,” co-founder and chief executive officer of Notifi Paul Kim told ZebethMedia.    Kim and Nimesh Amin (CTO), who previously worked at Amazon Web Services and Oracle Cloud, founded Notifi in January. Kim said its team is comprised of builders of Web 2 infrastructure, so they understand the importance of building and running services at scale with reliability, security and performance.    The startup targets the Web3 ecosystem and all Web2 addressable users. “We’re taking a pragmatic approach to solving the right customer and user pain point rather than building something no one asked for,” Kim continued. “This is why we support both on-and off-chain messaging. Not everything has to be decentralized. As Web3 goes mainstream, the next wave of users will want a simple text or email alert when something important happens.”    Notifi, which launched its SDKs in April this year, has more than 25 customers, including Orca, one of Solana’s biggest DEXs; Zebec, treasury management for DAOs; SynFutures, Polygon’s largest derivatives protocol; Hyperspace, an NFT marketplace; Realms, Solana’s DAO governance platform, and more, Kim said.     Notify will soon launch Notifi Hub, the Web3 inbox to aggregate cross-chain notifications and messaging into one single hub, which is currently in beta, to provide users with a centralized location to track and manage all of their messages and alerts across different blockchains, wallets and dApps.  Image Credits: Notifi   Notifi now supports Solana, NEAR and Ethereum and is expanding to Polygon, Avalanche, Aptos and Sui. The company’s initial launch partners include SynFutures and ZeroSwap on Polygon; Pocket Worlds on Avalanche; Pontem Networks, Aries Market, and Ethos Wallet on Aptos and Sui.    The funding will help Notifi expand support into other layer ecosystems and provide developers with more tools to enable advanced user experience. In addition, it plans to hire and scale its team to meet new needs of its product lines, such as notifications as a service, chat as a service, customer relationship management (CRM) and analytics tools for product messaging, and more, Kim said.   The company may face competition with XMTP and Dialect in the Web3 messaging space. Its differentiator is Notifi’s product is designed to allow for highly customizable experiences that dApps can implement and manage, Kim said, adding that the user experience developers can offer messaging and notification functionality within their native UI with a user experience that feels native to their app or platform.  “Paul and Nimesh bring years of infrastructure experience from Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, Oracle and Circle to Web3,” general partner at Race Capital Chris McCann said. “We at Race Capital could not be more thrilled to partner with them in this new round of seed funding and to support them on their mission to empower all Web3 builders to better communicate and interact with their users.”    “Notifi has a bold vision to make communication as easy to set up and maintain as a web application,” said partner at Hashed Baek Kim. “They’ve built a clever, intuitive interface that simplifies the extreme complexities involved in building cross-chain messaging and have received many early accolades from layer 1 blockchains and Web3 developers.” 

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Binance chief says FTX going down ‘not good for anyone’, warns of greater regulatory scrutiny • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on Posted in Binance, Changpeng Zhao, Crypto, FTX, VentureNo Comments on Binance chief says FTX going down ‘not good for anyone’, warns of greater regulatory scrutiny • ZebethMedia

Binance founder and chief executive Changpeng Zhao says FTX “going down is not good for anyone in the industry,” and the ongoing episode has “severely shaken” the confidence of consumers, a day after the world’s largest exchange signed a non-binding agreement to acquire its most formidable rival firm. Zhao said the sudden liquidity crunch at FTX will attract greater scrutiny on crypto exchanges from regulators. “Licenses around the globe will be harder to get. And people now think we are the biggest and will attack us more,” he said in a note to employees Wednesday, before publicly tweeting it. The billionaire, widely considered as the most powerful man in crypto, also asked the employees to not trade FTT, FTX’s native token. “I asked our team to stop selling as an organization. Yes, we have a bag. But that’s ok. More importantly, we need to hold ourselves to a higher standard than even in banks,” he wrote. The FTT token has fallen about 70% since Tuesday, now trading at about $4.5. Binance announced on Tuesday that it had signed a letter of intent to acquire the three-year-old firm FTX, delivering a shocking twist to the public spat between the world’s two largest crypto exchanges. Zhao said Binance reached the decision after the three-year-old exchange FTX’s chief executive Sam Bankman-Fried reached to him and sought help. Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, is the first investor that backed FTX, but as the younger firm grew in popularity, the relationship between the two started to wither. The firms haven’t disclosed the financial terms of the deal, but it is likely utterly terrible for investors of FTX, which was valued at $32 billion in a financing round earlier this year. The two executives had been hurling snarky remarks at each other for several months, but the relationship hit an all-time low earlier this month after Zhao said that Binance was selling its holdings of FTT, the native token of FTX exchange, that it had received as part of an exit from the firm last year. Zhao said the firm was liquidating its FTT holdings as a “post-exit risk management,” giving some credence to a widely circulated rumor about Alameda Research’s concerning financial health. Alameda and Bankman-Fried had earlier refuted such concerns. The Binance founder asserted that he did not “master plan this” deal or “anything related to it.” And urged employees to not view this deal as a “win for us.” “It was less than 24 hrs ago that SBF called me. And before that, I had very little knowledge of the internal state of things at FTX,” Zhao said. “I could do some mental calculations with out revenues to guess theirs, but it would never be very accurate. I was surprised when he wanted to talk.” Binance is the world’s most valuable crypto exchange, estimated to be worth over $300 billion. FTX was valued at $32 billion in its most recent funding round (a Series C) in January this year. The firm counts Sequoia, BlackRock, Tiger Global, Paradigm, Thoma Bravo, SoftBank, Ribbit Capital, Insight Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Altimeter Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Sino Global, Bond and Iconiq Growth among its long list of backers. FTX and its FTX US business raised over $2.2 billion across several funding rounds, according to Web3 Signals, a crypto dealbook. Tuesday’s announcement shocked the business world and even the crypto community, which has grown accustomed to topsy-turvy developments this year. Bankman-Fried was hailed as a crypto savior earlier this year after he bought a series of firms. FTX Ventures, the ventures arm of the crypto exchange, is also a major investor in a large number of crypto startups including Aptos Labs, Messari, Sky Mavis, LayerZero, YugaLabs and 1inch Network.

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Binance’s plan to acquire FTX is ‘real-life Game of Thrones’ as crypto winter winds blow • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on Posted in Binance, Crypto, crypto ecosystem, crypto exchanges, cryptocurrency, EC Blockchain, EC Cryptocurrency, FTXNo Comments on Binance’s plan to acquire FTX is ‘real-life Game of Thrones’ as crypto winter winds blow • ZebethMedia

Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by volume, has signed a letter of intent to buy its closest competitor, FTX, making huge waves in the crypto community after the putative billionaire CEOs of the exchanges engaged in a multi-day public dispute on Twitter. “It’s like real-life ‘Game of Thrones,’” Alex Taub, founder and CEO of DAO-focused platform Upstream, said to ZebethMedia in a message. Today’s acquisition news was bigger than the HBO show’s dramatic “Red Wedding” massacre scene. FTX was quick to spin the potential sale of its business as a win. “A *huge* thank you to [Changpeng “CZ” Zhao], Binance, and all of our supporters,” FTX founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried said in a tweet on Tuesday regarding the deal. “This is a user-centric development that benefits the entire industry. CZ has done, and will continue to do, an incredible job of building out the global crypto ecosystem, and creating a freer economic world.” But it’s a slam-dunk outcome for Binance after a heated spat. Investors, founders, and operators throughout the crypto community noted that the deal makes Binance appear strong amid a bear market for the sector while raising questions about FTX’s solvency and financial performance. “It’s crypto winter now, and it’s time when the market checks everyone for weakness,” Serhii Zhdanov, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange EXMO, said to ZebethMedia. “Exchanges as main players bear the main damage because of low liquidity, while their main income is from trading fees. It’s enough to check the change [in] trading volumes for the last year to understand how tough the situation is. “Naturally, it’s time of mergers and acquisitions,” Zhdanov said. “We might see more such stories in the near future.”

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Five spectacular reasons to go to TC Sessions: Crypto • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on Posted in Crypto, Startups, TC Sessions: Crypto, TC Sessions: Crypto 2022No Comments on Five spectacular reasons to go to TC Sessions: Crypto • ZebethMedia

Still on the fence about going to TC Sessions: Crypto on November 17 in Miami? There’s no better time or way to get the latest news, trends and expert insight on the rapidly changing, always evolving world of crypto. And in case you haven’t heard, this daylong conference is no one-trick pony. We go deep on blockchain, DeFi, NFTs and web3 too. So, what’s it gonna take? Here are five wicked good reasons to buy a pass to TC Sessions: Crypto. Speakers par excellence You can’t do much better than our roster of heavy hitters. Just some of the leading voices you’ll hear and learn from: Ava Labs president, John Wu Binance founder and CEO, Changpeng (CZ) Zhao Bitwise Asset Management’s general counsel and chief compliance officer, Katherine Dowling OpenSea co-founder and CEO, Devin Finzer Sequoia Capital partner, Michelle Bailhe Fradin Tezos co-founder, Kathleen Breitman Be sure to explore the full agenda and check out all the interviews and panel discussions — we will even have a live recording of TC’s Chain Reaction podcast. Big breakout sessions Don’t miss your chance to get your Q&A on and get the answers you need to know to help you build and sustain your startup. Here’s just one of the breakouts and a prime example of a topic that generates lots of questions. These folks will have answers. Keeping It Legal: The legal issues associated with crypto and web3 are complex. Tech companies may need to consider balancing the ethos of the blockchain industry with protecting their revenue models and reducing regulatory risk. How are they structuring financings — with equity or tokens or both? How can they protect their IP in an open source world? What contracts do they need with customers and service partners? And what are the best ways to operate within regulatory uncertainty and an anticipated wave of enforcement actions? Leading attorneys from a variety of practice groups at Wilson Sonsini, one of the pathbreaking law firms in the crypto space, will address these and other questions, including questions from the audience. Awesome emerging startups You’ll find more than 15 early-stage startups exhibiting their tech and talent at the show. Whether you’re looking for investment candidates, a new gig, potential customers or collaborators, be sure to get to know these rising stars and what they offer. You can research more about them here, here and here. World-class networking So much of the action across the cryptoverse takes place behind computer screens. This is the perfect time to engage and network in the flesh and eye-to-eye. But hold up: You can also network with folks online and schedule virtual meetings. It’s the very best of both worlds that lets you explore possibilities and mine for opportunity with game-changing founders, investors, developers and policy-makers. A Crypto pitch-off Who doesn’t love a pitch-off? Be in the room when some of the brightest early-stage crypto founders take the stage in front of a live audience. They’ll pitch their tech to a panel of experts, including Galaxy Ventures’ Will Nuelle, Gradient Ventures’ Wen-Wen Lam and Lux Capital’s Grace Isford. Bonus reason: Miami in November. Stay an extra day and bask in the sun and fun that only the Magic City can offer. There you have it. Five spectacular reasons to buy a pass today and join us at TC Sessions: Crypto on November 17. Is your company interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at TC Sessions: Crypto? Contact our sponsorship sales team by filling out this form.  

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FTX’s seemingly sluggish withdrawals raise eyebrows • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on Posted in Crypto, crypto exchanges, cryptocurrency, ethereum, FTX, stablecoinNo Comments on FTX’s seemingly sluggish withdrawals raise eyebrows • ZebethMedia

Withdrawal transactions for customers using FTX, the third largest crypto exchange by volume, have seemingly been limited to a nominal amount or none at all, according to multiple on-chain data sources. Stablecoin withdrawals from FTX dropped to zero around 6 a.m. ET on Tuesday, according to data on CryptoQuant. Meanwhile, withdrawals of ether, Ethereum’s token, have been small during the same time frame, CryptoQuant data also showed. Etherscan data also revealed that FTX withdrawals are currently executing for up to 0.12, or about $170.79, of ether. “As FTX’s net crypto asset holdings decreased by 83% over the past two days, they seem to be struggling to process withdrawals,” Ki Young Ju, CEO and co-founder of CryptoQuant, said to ZebethMedia. “For example, when their users exchange ETH for stablecoins and request withdrawals, FTX has to bring stablecoin liquidity to process the withdrawal via markets or other exchanges.” FTX’s stablecoin reserve also decreased 93% over the past two weeks, and it has injected USDC liquidity from Alameda Research wallets, Ju said. “This suspension of withdrawals seems to be a liquidity problem for user withdrawals.” A spokesperson from FTX did not reply to ZebethMedia’s request for comment. Some individuals in the crypto community tweeted that they “successfully withdrew” ethereum and bitcoin from FTX, while others replied that they have been waiting hours to withdraw funds. Last night, FTX tweeted that its team has been processing the backlog of withdrawals and added that the “queue is decreasing and getting back to more reasonable levels; nodes and banks catching up.” Since then, FTX and its CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, have not released any statements regarding the pause, as of the time of publication. The situation has transpired as FTX is facing heat from the world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance, after its CEO, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, tweeted that his exchange would slowly withdraw billions of its holdings in FTX’s native token, FTT. On Monday, Bankman-Fried tried to calm the waters in regard to FTX’s liquidity via a series of tweets indirectly responding to Zhao and Binance’s liquidations. “A competitor is trying to go after us with false rumors,” Bankman-Fried said. “FTX is fine. Assets are fine.” Bankman-Fried said FTX has enough to cover all client holdings and it doesn’t invest in client assets. He then tweeted he would “love” if Zhao and FTX could “work together for the ecosystem.” FTT is currently trading at $14.65, down about 35%, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

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Binance signs letter of intent to acquire FTX • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on Posted in Binance, Changpeng Zhao, Crypto, FTX, Sam Bankman-FriedNo Comments on Binance signs letter of intent to acquire FTX • ZebethMedia

Binance has signed a non-binding, letter of intent to acquire FTX, the two firms said, delivering a surprising twist amid the public feud between the world’s two largest crypto exchanges that contributed to several tokens taking a tumble Tuesday. The firms didn’t disclose the value of the deal, which is pending the due diligence process. In a series of tweets, Binance founder and chief executive Changpeng Zhao said Binance made the decision after FTX reached out to the firm for help. “To protect users, we signed a non-binding LOI, intending to fully acquire FTX and help cover the liquidity crunch. We will be conducting a full DD in the coming days,” he said. Binance, the world’s largest exchange, is the first investor that backed FTX, but as the younger firm grew in popularity, the relationship between the two firms started to wither. The two executives have hurled criticism at each other for several months, but the relationship between the two hit an all-time low earlier this week after Zhao revealed that Binance was selling its holding of FTT, the native token of FTX exchange that it had received as part of an exit from the firm last year. In a tweet, Sam Bankman-Fried (pictured above) said: “A *huge* thank you to CZ, Binance, and all of our supporters. This is a user-centric development that benefits the entire industry. CZ has done, and will continue to do, an incredible job of building out the global crypto ecosystem, and creating a freer economic world.” Several cryptocurrencies jumped on the news. Affected by the news of Binance’s acquisition of FTX, BNB rose to $370, an increase of 12% in one hour; FTT rose to a maximum of $22, an increase of 37% in one hour. BTC bounces back to $20,143 and ETH to $1,535. — Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) November 8, 2022 (More to follow)

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Line launches NFT marketplace on its platform DOSI  • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on Posted in Crypto, LineNext, NFT marketplace, NFTsNo Comments on Line launches NFT marketplace on its platform DOSI  • ZebethMedia

Japanese messaging app Line’s non-fungible token (NFT) unit LineNext said Tuesday that it has launched a consumer-to-consumer (C2C) marketplace on the NFT platform DOSI. The C2C trading service allows users to buy and sell NFTs globally.  The announcement comes nearly a year after Line said it plans to launch an NFT service in 2022 to provide a marketplace for companies and individuals to trade NFTs.  The company says anyone can easily trade NFT on its DOSI platform, which offers a simplified transaction process. Once users connect the DOSI wallet to MetaMask, an Ethereum crypto wallet, they can buy or sell NFTs with just a few clicks. Users can pay with Ethereum, credit cards, Naver Pay and more to trade NFTs.  LineNext plans to add more crypto assets and mobile payment services in each country.  The company claims that DOSI has amassed scores of users from 149 countries and issued more than 100,000 DOSI Wallets with 170,000 membership NFTs since its beta service launch in September. DOSI’s citizen membership service helps users acquire membership points, called DON, by participating in the NFT community activities or purchasing their NFTs.  LineNext has released a string of NFT projects partnering with companies, including Korean media mogul CJ ENM and its parent company Naver. The company plans to launch diverse additional NFT projects to help make NFTs more familiar to users in the future.  “We are determined to create a new kind of NFT experience for users,” said the chief executive officer of LineNext, Youngsu Ko, in a statement. “It’s not just an investment or a new kind of technology. For us, DOSI is about making NFTs fund and easy to use, creating benefits for our users and building communities.”  LineNext, which has offices in the U.S. and South Korea, told ZebethMedia last year its transaction brokerage fees will be the primary source of revenue.  DOSI is available in various languages, including English, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Bahasa, Spanish and Thai. The company could not be reached for comments when asked in which countries it operates the C2C platform service and the number of DOSI users.  

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Here’s the rundown on the Binance and FTX fiasco • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on Posted in Binance, Crypto, crypto markets, cryptocurrency, EC Blockchain, EC Cryptocurrency, FTX, marketsNo Comments on Here’s the rundown on the Binance and FTX fiasco • ZebethMedia

The largest crypto exchange by volume (Binance) and the third largest crypto exchange by volume (FTX) faced off in recent days after Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao tweeted that his exchange would slowly withdraw billions of its holdings in FTX’s native token, FTT, “due to recent revelations that have came to light.” But first, let’s take a few steps back. Concerns surrounding FTX’s liquidity grew following a Thursday report from CoinDesk about the balance sheet of Alameda Research, a crypto trading firm once run by FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. Alameda holds $14.6 billion in assets with $8 billion in liabilities as of June 30, CoinDesk reported. The report showed Alameda’s largest asset was about $3.66 billion of “unlocked FTT” and $2.16 billion of “FTT collateral.” (FTT is the token behind FTX.) This means the $5.82 billion in total FTT that Alameda owns is equal to 193% of the total known FTT market cap, which is about $3 billion, according to CoinMarketCap data. Image Credits: CryptoQuant (opens in a new window) “The issue is that Alameda cannot sell even small amounts of their FTT holdings without heavily impacting the price,” Marcus Sotiriou, an analyst at the publicly listed digital asset broker GlobalBlock, said in a note. “Data from CryptoQuant […] tells us that there are only around 200-300 active addresses trading the FTT token, which is very small in comparison to many other large caps. Hence, large sell orders would crash the FTT price, due to being illiquid.”

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Last day to save with early-bird passes to TC Sessions: Crypto • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on Posted in blockchain, Crypto, cryptocurrencies, founders, NFTs, Startups, TC Sessions: Crypto, TC Sessions: Crypto 2022, TechCrunch Events 2022, web3No Comments on Last day to save with early-bird passes to TC Sessions: Crypto • ZebethMedia

We’re less than two weeks away from kicking off TC Sessions: Crypto in Magic City on November 17. Yep, that’s Miami’s official nickname. Who knew? But listen up, crypto fans, because the bit of magic we call our early-bird special is about to perform a disappearing act in less than 24 hours – 11:59pm PST on November 7 to be exact. Don’t watch $150 in savings vanish before your eyes. Buy your pass now and avoid the price hike. Then use that extra cash to deck yourself out Miami Vice style — no socks required — and join the blockchain, crypto, DeFi, NFT and web3 communities to conjure up your own brand of magic. Check out the power-packed event agenda. It’s grown to be an impressive day all around — with more than 15 early-stage startups exhibiting on-site, and interviews and panel discussion featuring the sector’s top leaders, creators and investors. Folks like Binance’s Changpeng (CZ) Zhao, FTX Ventures’ Amy Wu, OpenSea’s Devin Finzer, Sequoia Capital’s Michelle Bailhe Fradin, Yuga Labs’ Nicole Muniz and many more. Whether you want to connect and collaborate with founders or investors or hire students determined to build the future generations of the cryptoverse, the networking at this event will be world-class. Expand your network and drive your business forward. Beyond the interviews, panel discussions and exhibition floor, you’ll also find a live podcast recording of Chain Reaction. Join the ZebethMedia crypto team as they dive into lively discussions on the latest blockchain news, drama and trends. And, in true ZebethMedia tradition, we’ll have a pitch-off — crypto style. Don’t miss the industry’s brightest entrepreneurs as they take the stage in front of a live audience and a panel of experts — including Galaxy Ventures’ Will Nuelle, Gradient Ventures’ Wen-Wen Lam, and Lux Capital’s Grace Isford — to pitch their revolutionary technologies. Don’t miss your chance to make magic happen. Buy an early-bird ticket today — while you still can — and crank up the heat with us at TC Sessions: Crypto in Miami on November 17. Is your company interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at TC Sessions: Crypto? Contact our sponsorship sales team by filling out this form.

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