Ostium Labs, the London-based company behind the first decentralised, non-custodial perpetuals exchange for Real World Assets — Ostium Protocol, has raised €3.3M seed round.

Co-led by General Catalyst and LocalGlobe, the round saw participation from SIG, DeFi Alliance, former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan, Vessel Capital, and others.

The team will use the fund to assist in the launching of the company’s flagship Protocol, an on-chain trading hub for RWAs. The trading hub will enable traders to gain price exposure to various asset classes previously unavailable on-chain.

The launch comes at a critical point in financial markets as alternative asset classes have gained rapid traction. Such traction is, in large part, an effect of the waning effectiveness of traditional diversification strategies after inflation- and interest rate-driven disruption to market dynamics.

Achieving future asset diversification

Ostium Labs aims to disrupt the market with a platform engineered from the ground up to support RWAs. It will offer exposure for traders and deliver a superior user experience for trading RWAs in a smooth and permissionless trading format similar to existing DeFi power users.

The initial seed funding will assist the company’s mainnet deployment of the Ostium Protocol through continued growth of the development team, meticulous economical design, and smart contract audits.

Currently, Ostium Labs plans to do a testnet launch in Q4, with a mainnet deployment at the start of the new year, post-audits.

Ostium’s history began when its founders, Kaledora Kiernan-Linn and Marco Antonio, met as new students at Harvard before working together at Bridgewater Associates. Both bonded over their shared experience in high-stakes environments that demanded peerless performance and excellence.

The pair became frustrated with the associated cost, friction, and attention split needed to manage both on- and off-chain trades across asset classes when they began their venture into trading. Kiernan-Linn and Antonio eventually aimed to facilitate seamless on-chain diversification so traders are unrestricted in trading their favoured assets.

Confidence in Ostium Labs

Both Ostium Labs and the investors included in the initial seed funding are adamant in their opinions about the former’s ability to facilitate alternative asset diversification strategies.

Marco Antonio, co-founder of Ostium, says, “We’re at a turning point in the broader market landscape. Traditional diversification strategies are no longer as effective as they used to be, and the appeal of alternative assets is growing. We see a pressing need for a purpose-built on-chain DEX to cater to the diversification needs of traders. Ostium aims to fill this void.”

Ash Arora, Partner at LocalGlobe, says, “Ostium’s brilliant team and their ambition to become the leading on-chain platform for democratising tangible asset investments resonates deeply with the foundational principles of Web3.”

“We’re thrilled about Ostium’s potential to cultivate access to a truly novel suite of on-chain assets and democratise consumer access to long-underserved asset classes,” adds Arora.

California-based PayPal, a financial technology company, announced on Monday, August 7, that it has introduced a regulated stablecoin that has the potential to revolutionise payments within web3 and digitally native ecosystems. 

Dubbed PayPal USD (PYUSD), the stablecoin aims to bridge the gap between traditional financial systems and the emerging world of blockchain and cryptocurrencies.

PayPal USD

PayPal USD is designed to contribute to the opportunity stablecoins offer for payments and is 100 per cent backed by U.S. dollar deposits, short-term US Treasuries, and similar cash equivalents. 

PayPal USD is redeemable 1:1 for U.S. dollars and is issued by Paxos Trust Company.  

Commencing its rollout, with a gradual expansion planned over the forthcoming weeks, PayPal is granting eligible U.S. customers the opportunity to:

• Transfer PayPal USD between PayPal and compatible external wallets.
• Conduct person-to-person transactions using PYUSD.
• Utilise PayPal USD for purchases by selecting it at checkout.
• Seamlessly convert between PayPal’s supported cryptocurrencies and PayPal’s USD.

“The shift toward digital currencies requires a stable instrument that is both digitally native and easily connected to fiat currency like the U.S. dollar,” says Dan Schulman, president and CEO of PayPal. 

“Our commitment to responsible innovation and compliance, and our track record delivering new experiences to our customers, provides the foundation necessary to contribute to the growth of digital payments through PayPal USD,” adds Schulman.

Will be available to consumers, merchants, and developers

PayPal USD will be available to consumers, merchants, and developers to seamlessly connect fiat and digital currencies. 

As an ERC-20 token issued on the Ethereum blockchain, PayPal USD will be available to an already large and growing community of external developers, wallets, and web3 applications, can be easily adopted by exchanges, and will be deployed to power experiences within the PayPal ecosystem.   

Most of the current volume of stablecoins is used in web3-specific environments. PayPal USD will be compatible with that ecosystem from day one and will soon be available on Venmo. 

Beginning in September 2023, Paxos will publish a public monthly Reserve Report for PayPal USD that outlines the instruments composing the reserves. 

Paxos will also publish a public third-party attestation of the value of PayPal USD reserve assets.

The attestation will be issued by an independent third-party accounting firm and conducted in accordance with attestation standards established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). 

Fake PYUSD tokens on surge

Ever since PayPal introduced its latest stablecoin, there has been a surge in opportunistic individuals, speculative traders, and potentially fraudulent actors attempting to leverage the excitement by launching their imitation tokens.

As per data obtained from DEX Screener, a decentralised exchange scanner, numerous new token pairs labelled as “PYUSD” have emerged within hours following the initial announcement.

These mimic tokens have been generated across different blockchain networks, including BNB Smart Chain, Ethereum, and Coinbase’s recently introduced layer 2 solution, Base.

The US fintech company made it explicitly clear that transfers of PayPal USD are restricted to verified PayPal accounts and compatible wallets, significantly diminishing the possibility that any of the tokens listed under the same name on platforms like UniSwap or other decentralised exchanges are genuine.

Among the imitative PYUSD tokens, the most notable one originating on the Ethereum network, has achieved an astonishing trading volume of $2.6 million immediately following PayPal’s stablecoin announcement, reports Cointelegraph.

Despite its initial surge of over 30,000% in the initial eight hours, this token’s value has subsequently dropped by more than 66% from its peak.

Many of these counterfeit PYUSD tokens are likely designed as “honeypots,” a term used to describe tokens that trap investors – once purchased, the holders are unable to sell, resulting in the loss of their cryptocurrency investments. 

Unless investors possess the ability to personally audit smart contracts, they often remain unaware of the honeypot nature until they attempt to offload their holdings.

Crypto.com, the popular cryptocurrency trading platform, announced that it has been approved for registration with De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) as a provider of crypto services. 

The announcement comes after a comprehensive review of Crypto.com’s business and compliance in line with the Netherlands’ Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Prevention) Act (Wwft).

“Collaborating with regulators to responsibly advance the crypto and blockchain industry is of paramount importance to Crypto.com,” says Kris Marszalek, CEO of Crypto.com. 

“This registration approval from De Nederlandsche Bank is a significant milestone for our business and the latest testament to our commitment to compliance. We look forward to continuing to work with DNB and other regulators around the world,” adds Marszalek.

This announcement marks another significant achievement in Crypto.com’s ongoing journey of securing regulatory licenses worldwide. 

Crypto.com’s other approvals

Previously, the company received its Major Payment Institution (MPI) license for Digital Payment Token (DPT) and MPI for e-money issuance, account issuance, and cross-border, and domestic money transfer services from the Monetary Authority of Singapore. 

Additionally, it obtained registration as a Digital Asset Service Provider (DASP) by the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) in France and as a crypto-asset business from the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Crypto.com’s efforts in regulatory compliance also extended to other regions, including approval of its MVP Preparatory License from the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA). 

The company received Electronic Financial Transaction Act and Virtual Asset Service Provider registration in South Korea, as well as registration approval as a Digital Currency Exchange Provider and Independent Remittance Dealer in Australia by AUSTRAC. 

It obtained an Australian Financial Services License and Australian Credit License from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

Further international recognition came through registration in Spain as a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) from the Bank of Spain, registration in Italy from the Organismo Agenti e Mediatori (OAM), registration in Greece from the Hellenic Capital Market Commission, and registration in Cyprus from the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

Additionally, Crypto.com obtained regulatory approval from the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority and was granted a US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regulated Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO) and a Designated Contracts Market (DCM) status.

The company also proactively engaged with Canadian regulators, with a pre-registration undertaking with the Ontario Securities Commission and Canada Securities Administrators,  among other commendable efforts in various jurisdictions.

Crypto.com: what you need to know

Crypto.com was founded in 2016 as a cryptocurrency platform that allows users to buy, sell and pay with crypto. 

Today, the platform has over 100 million customers and has the world’s fastest-growing crypto app. It also offers Crypto.com Visa Card, which is the largest crypto card programme in the world.

Since its founding, Crypto.com has expanded to offer a crypto exchange and DeFi Wallet. It also offers Crypto.com NFT as a platform for collecting and trading NFTs, which includes a curation from the world of art, design, entertainment, and sports. 

Headquartered in Singapore, Crypto.com employs over 2,600 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia, and promises to offer a platform built on security, privacy, and compliance.

Madrid-based ONYZE, a first next-generation crypto-asset custody company, announced on Monday that it has closed the first investment fund based on decentralised finance at the European level.

The company says that the project took place within the secure testing environment of the Spanish financial sandbox, receiving praise from the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) at a European level.

Ángel Luis Quesada Nieto, CEO of ONYZE, says, “Thanks to the work of all the parties involved, we have been able to create a new and disruptive product, which shows that new finances are not opposed to the regulator and that safe and regulated products can be made in DeFi/Blockchain environments.”

ONYZE has spearheaded the coordination of this project in collaboration with one of the country’s most established investment fund managers. However, the fund manager’s name has not been disclosed.

This is the second Onyze project admitted to the Spanish financial sandbox.

Both institutions, during the project, validated the initial proposals about the security and transparency offered by blockchain technology and the protocols of decentralised finance in the custody and valuation of digital assets.

To do this, the CNMV monitors and supervises real-time operational data and results to draw positive conclusions.

ONYZE: Digital assets custody platform

Founded in 2019, ONYZE is a developer of a digital assets custodian application designed to provide partners and investors with API-accessible cryptocurrency products.

ONYZE’s mission is to enable companies to offer digital asset services to their end users.

Using the highest security standards of the European market, the Spanish company provides solutions for securing crypto assets. Additionally, the company’s automated AML system regarding cryptocurrencies prevents unlawful activities.

The company also offers exchange operations, NFT custody, and DeFi solutions.

Since 2019, the company says its growth has been exponential, making agreements with organisations such as Renta 4 Banco or Allfunds and innovative projects in the first and second regulatory Sandbox of the Treasury, as well as the development of proof of concept for institutions like CaixaBank. 

California-based Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), a stage-agnostic venture capital firm, announced on Sunday, June 11 that it will open its first international office in London later this year.

The VC also announced that it is planning the next Crypto Startup School accelerator programme in the UK in Spring 2024. 

a16z Crypto: Supporting blockchain technologies and startups

The programme aims to attract UK and international entrepreneurs to build web3 startups in the UK. 

The company says its UK office will allow it to work closely with universities throughout the UK to provide talent and support to develop blockchain clubs. It will also encourage blockchain-related curriculum.

The London office, scheduled to open later this year, will be led by General Partner Sriram Krishnan.

To date, a16z Crypto has invested in UK-based crypto companies such as Arweave, Aztec, and Improbable.

Chris Dixon, a16z crypto founder and managing partner, says, “The UK has deep pools of talent, world-leading academic institutions, and a strong entrepreneurial culture.” 

“Following a productive dialogue with the Prime Minister, and months of constructive conversations with HM Treasury, UK policymakers, and the Financial Conduct Authority, we’re thrilled to open our first international office in a jurisdiction that welcomes blockchain technology and is committed to creating a predictable business environment by pursuing regulations that both embrace web3 and protect consumers,” adds Dixon. 

The US VC claims the CSS programme attracted more than 8,000 applicants with the final 26 companies chosen receiving investments from a16z, mentorship from industry experts, and the opportunity to participate in a Demo Day that reaches investors at the end of the course. 

Participants came from a range of countries including the UK, the US, India, Germany, France, Argentina, Ecuador, and Canada.

Rishi Sunak, UK Prime Minister, says, “As we cement the UK’s place as a science and tech superpower, we must embrace innovations like Web3, powered by blockchain technology. This will enable startups to flourish here and grow the economy.”

“That success is founded on having the right regulation and guardrails in place to protect consumers and foster innovation. While there’s still work to do, I’m determined to unlock opportunities for this technology and turn the UK into the world’s Web3 centre.”

“That’s why I am thrilled world-leading investor, Andreessen Horowitz, has decided to open their first international office in the UK – which is a testament to our world-class universities and talent and our strong competitive business environment,” says Sunak. 

Investment in Gensyn

Andreessen Horowitz also announced investment in UK-based Gensyn, leading a $43M round.

Founded by computer science and machine learning research veterans Ben Fielding and Harry Grieve, Gensyn’s decentralised compute protocol will enable developers to build state-of-the-art AI systems on any connected hardware. 

Their novel cryptographic verification system allows users to trust that the protocol’s machine learning work was completed correctly.

Andreessen Horowitz: What you need to know

Based out of California, Andreessen Horowitz (known as a16z) is a stage-agnostic venture capital firm with multiple funds, including the Bio funds, the Crypto funds, and the Cultural Leadership Fund.

Andreessen Horowitz invests in seed to late-stage technology companies across the consumer, enterprise, bio/healthcare, crypto, and fintech spaces. 

Cambridge-based Fetch.ai, a startup that helps companies build and deploy autonomous smart agents, announced on Thursday a strategic partnership with BitGet, a crypto derivatives and copy trading platform.

As part of this partnership, BitGet has pledged $10M (approximately €9.1M) in backing to the Fetch.ai ecosystem and will provide consultations on marketing and other important directions to help position the ecosystem in the market.

This partnership is a significant step for BitGet as it expands its service offerings. 

The announcement comes a few weeks after Fetch.ai raised €36.69M in funding from Singapore’s DWF Labs, a technology incubator.

As a top-five crypto derivatives trading platform, BitGet is actively building its spot market with the support of a wider range of tradable assets and the relaunch of BitGet Launchpad. 

With Fetch.ai’s infrastructure to build smart and autonomous services, BitGet is now in a strong position to offer its users even more innovative software solutions.

Humayun Sheikh, Fetch.ai Founder and CEO, says, “We are proud to partner with one of the world’s top crypto derivative exchanges in our mission to mould the building blocks for a new economy, and we are thankful for their generous support in this endeavor. Like us at Fetch.ai, BitGet understands the vast potential of blockchain technology, and with the quantum leap that AI has made in the past few years, the opportunities for applying blockchain to AI are limitless. We look forward to working with them in the years to come.”

Fetch.ai: What you need to know

Fetch.ai‘s AI agent network is at the core of its ecosystem, providing a decentralised network of autonomous agents that can perform a wide range of tasks. 

The network also offers a smart wallet featuring automation and integration with OpenAI’s GPT API, a decentralised machine-learning platform, and AI agent-based trading tools.

Fetch.ai’s ability to support modular P2P interactions across multiple services and economic settlements is what makes it so valuable. 

Using its decentralised machine learning algorithms, Fetch.ai provides its users with various innovative software solutions, all assisted by an integrated client library, an indexer for fast querying, and a CLI tool for contract deployment and testing.

BitGet: What you need to know

Founded in 2018, BitGet is a cryptocurrency exchange with futures trading and copy trading services as its key features. 

Serving over 8 million users in more than 100 countries and regions, the exchange is committed to helping users trade smarter by providing a secure, one-stop trading solution. 

According to Coingecko, BitGet is currently a top 5 futures trading platform and a top 10 spot trading platform.

Gracy Chen, Managing Director of BitGet, says, “We know value when we see it. Fetch.ai already consists of a host of functioning and applicable technological AI solutions that can have a real impact on the way businesses and individuals interact. That is the main reason we have decided to pledge our support to this promising startup and will continue to do so as we identify others in need of assistance from our dedicated fund. Blockchain progress is unstoppable, but it can be accelerated if we lend it a helping hand, which is what we at BitGet intend to do.”

Amsterdam-based Change, a cryptocurrency platform for retail investors, announced on Friday that it has secured €2M in funding from Switzerland-based private equity firm Andromeda Capital Partners Suisse AG.

The Estonian-born company says it will use the funds to cement its position in the market.

In 2021, the company raised €3.7M in crowdfunding from 50 private investors at a €175M valuation.

Change: What you need to know

Founded by Kristjan Kangro (CEO) and Gustav Liblik (CPO) in 2016, Change is a Dutch-Estonian community-driven investing platform that’s on a mission to ‘remove the barriers and complexities to wealth creation’. 

To date, the company has raised over $21M (approximately €18M) in funding backed by over 7,000 private investors.

Roger Cook, former global CEO of DHL, and Hans van der Noordaa, former CEO of the Retail Division of ING Bank and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Deloitte Netherlands, also back the company. 

Last year, the company acquired a new Dutch license that will enable it to provide services with traditional and new-age financial assets throughout the EU.

Change Group, the parent company, received approval from the Dutch Central Bank (DCB) to offer its financial services to the 453M people living in the European Economic Area. 

As a result, the Dutch company ramped up its investment options, including stocks, shares, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and even commodities, as well as its established crypto and DeFi products. 

Change aims to make investing and wealth creation simple, affordable, and accessible with a wide range of traditional and new-age digital financial assets.

Stavanger, Norway-based Gateway.fm, a decentralised blockchain node infrastructure provider, announced on Monday, February 20, that it has raised $4.6M (approximately €4.3M) in a Seed round of funding led by Lemniscap.

CMT Digital Ventures, the LAO DAO, Folius Ventures, TRGC, Metaweb Ventures, Very Early Ventures, Factor Ventures, Fantom Foundation, and Unstoppable Domains Ventures also participated in the round.

Gateway.fm says it will use the funds to accelerate product development and to provision advanced staking services. 

Additionally, the Norwegian company plans to use the funds to drive user acquisition and scale the company’s engineering department.

Cuautemoc Weber, co-founder and CEO of Gateway.fm, says, “Today’s announcement represents a firm stamp of approval for our product suite from a collection of top global investment visionaries.” 

“We want to provide reliable node infrastructure, best-in-class validators, and robust dev tooling to help Web3 projects scale at pace, while enticing financial institutions and enterprises to explore blockchain technology with confidence,” he adds. 

Gateway.fm: Helping Web3 projects scale seamlessly

Founded by Igor Mandrigin and Cuautemoc Weber, Gateway.fm is a decentralised high-performance blockchain infra/node provider that is building distributed, multi-chain infrastructure designed to help Web3 projects scale without allocating resources to configuring or maintaining servers.

The Web3 company focuses on building decentralised RPC solutions that don’t rely on centralised services such as Amazon Web Services (AWS). 

To date, the company claims to have received strong market validation for its ‘Grow’, ‘Access’ and ‘Jumpstart’ solutions from a range of notable industry heavyweights, including 1inch, Gnosis, Ethereum Foundation, NEAR, and Polygon Labs.

The company’s product suite includes: 

Gateway Grow: It is for institutional staking validators across several Proof-of-Stake (POS) chains like Ethereum, Gnosis, and IXO. 

Gateway Access: It is a dedicated, cost-effective RPC node service built for scale, which currently supports ETH, Fantom, NEAR, and Gnosis. 

Gateway Jumpstart: It enables new blockchains, appchains, and protocols to accelerate mainnet launch and drive user adoption.

The Investor

Lemniscap is an investment firm that specialises in investments in emerging crypto assets and blockchain startups.

Since its founding in 2017, Lemniscap has funded multiple investments in the crypto blockchain space on the core belief that blockchain technology will upend traditional business models, resulting in profound changes in the world economy.

Roderik van der Graaf, Founder of Lemniscap, says, “With a set of elite-grade, next-gen tools, Gateway is broadening the inclusivity, availability, and reliability of blockchain networks and protocols.” 

“The team is composed of distinguished leaders across the fields of blockchain, distributed software, 2 fintech, information security, and telecommunications – providing excellent infrastructure solutions tailored to projects’ networking needs while facilitating a new wave of Web3 innovation,” adds Graaf.

Romania-based TOKHIT, a blockchain-powered gamified social app, announced on Thursday, February 9, that it has closed $100M (approximately €93.6M) in a fresh funding round from an international investment fund. 

The Romanian company has not revealed the investor’s name and the valuation at which the deal was closed. 

The capitalisation will be conducted through TOKHIT Holding Switzerland financed by ODAS Group, which will coordinate all development and promotion activities at the global level.

“The funds will be used to fuel further developments of the product on all devices, to strengthen the global reach and ambitious international goals in terms of user conversions, and to support the listing on the crypto platforms,” says Andrei Ureche, TOKHIT’s founder and CEO.

The announcement comes after a $100K Seed investment and additional three rounds dedicated to token sales. 

TOKHIT: Gamified social platform 

Founded by Andrei Ureche and Cristian Voaides, TOKHIT is a gamified platform powered by Blockchain technology where content creators, influencers, and Crypto & NFT enthusiasts can socialise, play and earn. 

The app lets users earn crypto rewards (Diamond HITT tokens) for their in-app activity and the platform’s AI algorithm pushes every published post to other users, helping creators gain new followers. 

The app is available for download on iOS devices, with upcoming developments aiming to make it available on all platforms.

Zurich-based Obligate (previously FQX), a blockchain-based debt infrastructure provider, announced on Thursday that it has closed a Seed extension funding round, bringing the total capital raised to $8.5M (approximately €7.8M). 

Blockchange Ventures and Circle Ventures, as well as initial seed co-investors Earlybird and SIX Fintech Ventures, participated in the round.

Benedikt Schuppli, Obligate’s Co-Founder and CEO, says, “This backing from leading TradFi and Web3 institutions proves the value of applying blockchain technology to traditional financial instruments. This investment enables us to build a more accessible and efficient financial system where borrowers and investors are directly connected.”

Obligate: What you need to know

Founded by Dr. Stephan Meyer, Dr. Philipp von Randow, and Benedikt Schuppli, Obligate combines deep legal and tech know-how with financial expertise to help build a new blockchain-based financial system. 

Dr. Stephan Meyer, Co-Founder and Chief Legal Officer at Obligate, says, “Obligate is an all-in-one bond and commercial paper platform, powered by full automation of the transaction life cycles and a public blockchain. We make bond issuances simple, flexible, and cost-efficient atop a solid legal and regulatory foundation.”

Through a regulated approach, the Swiss platform offers a decentralised platform for on-chain financing using bonds and commercial paper. 

The company says it comes at a fraction of the cost and time of traditional offerings but with the same regulatory certainty. Investors get access to a wide range of regulated digital debt assets, which can be secured with on-chain collateral. 

Obligate’s platform helps reduce the time and costs associated with bond issuance by 80 per cent since it leverages smart contracts and tokenisation instead of intermediaries such as paying and issuer agents. 

Building on its existing blockchain-based debt infrastructure, Obligate will launch its blockchain-based platform in Q1 2023 and enable end-to-end corporate debt funding in a decentralised and regulated environment.

“Like the internet before it, we expect the blockchain will underpin some of the largest businesses out there, including in finance,” says Ken Seiff, Managing Partner at Blockchange Ventures. “Obligate’s vision of using the efficiency and speed of Blockchain embedded in a structure that still supports the core needs and requirements of existing debt markets is powerful. It takes a team with this combination of background and depth of experience to make this happen.”