Institutional Bulletin: The NEAR protocol has raised $350 million and Binance.US has been valued at $4.5 billion

The cryptocurrency industry is attracting an increasing number of institutional players. This is evidenced by the new investments in infrastructure and the growing attention companies are giving to bitcoin as an asset class. The most important events of the past few weeks are in the ForkLog review.
The Bored Ape Yacht Club creator has raised $450 million at a $4 billion valuation
Yuga Labs, makers of the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT Collection, raised $450 million in a $4 billion valuation round. MoonPay and others.
The company will use funds raised to scale the team and fund future developments, including the Otherside metaverse.
NEAR Protocol raises $350 million from Tiger Global and other investors
The NEAR Protocol team has closed a $350 million funding round led by venture capital fund Tiger Global with participation from Republic Capital, Hashed, FTX Ventures, Dragonfly Capital and other investors.
Funds raised will be used to increase the number of regional centers in key community centers around the world.
According to the team, there are around 300 apps running on the NEAR platform with over 200,000 community members worldwide.
Binance.US raises $200M at a $4.5B valuation
US-based bitcoin exchange Binance has raised $200 million in a venture capital funding round. Binance.US Preliminary Valuation Reaches $4.5 Billion
RRE Ventures, Foundation Capital, Original Capital, VanEck, Circle Ventures, Gaingels, Gold House and several other investors participated in the company’s first external financing.
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Funds raised on Binance.US will be used to grow the spot trading platform, expand the range of short-term products and services, as well as marketing and educational initiatives.
Improbable has raised $150 million to create a metaverse network
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The British startup Improbable raises 150 million dollars to create a network of interoperable M² metaverses.
A16z and SoftBank Vision Fund 2 led the funding round. It also included Mirana, Digital Currency Group, CMT, SIG, and Ethereal Ventures.
Improbable helps various platforms implement Web 3.0 elements and launch metaverses based on proprietary solutions.
Venture capital firm gumi Cryptos Capital raises $110 million
Crypto-focused gumi Cryptos Capital (gCC) has raised $110 million to invest in early-stage startups. This was announced in a press release.
The company has announced the launch of the second fund, which will mainly focus on DeFi, metaverses, games and DAO.
gCC plans to invest in each new project amounts ranging from $500,000 to $5 million, both through equity investments and the purchase of tokens.
The asset value of the first fund (Fund I), which has a portfolio of 36 companies, has increased from $21 million to $516 million, GCC officials noted. The company has invested in seed funding for OpenSea, as well as Celsius Network and DeFi platform 1inch.
FTX Ventures invests $100 million in Dave Digital Bank
Dave announced a strategic partnership with FTX US. As part of the cooperation, FTX Ventures, an investment fund affiliated with the trading platform, will invest $100 million in a digital bank.
Dave is developing a banking app where you can open an account, issue a debit card, and receive a small amount of money in payday installments.
The startup’s CEO, Jason Wilk, noted that as part of a partnership with FTX, cryptocurrencies are integrated into the app.
Boba Network raises $45M for a $1.5B valuation
The Boba Network project, focused on second-layer solutions for scaling Ethereum, raised $45 million. Investors valued the platform at $1.5 billion.
The Series A funding round took the form of a token sale. Participating were Crypto.com, Huobi, BitMart, Kinetic Capital, Infinite Capital, Hack VC, Dreamers VC led by Will Smith, M13 Ventures and around 400 other investors.
The project’s founder, Alan Chiu, said that the funds raised will help to increase the team, give grants to developers and also intensify marketing efforts.
Fractal NFT Marketplace Raised $35M in Seed Investment Round
The Fractal NFT platform on the Solana blockchain has closed a $35 million seed funding round.
The investment round was led by Paradigm and Multicoin Capital, with participation from a16z, Solana Labs, Animoca Brands, Coinbase and others.
The funds raised will be used to expand the development team.
Coin Metrics raises $35M from BNY Mellon and Acrew Capital
Analytics firm Coin Metrics closes a Series C funding round in
The investment round was led by BNY Mellon and Acrew Capital, with participation from Goldman Sachs, Fidelity Investments, Morningside Technology Ventures, Cboe Global Markets, JAM FINTOP Blockchain, Mubadala Investment Company and Brevan Howard Digital.
Funding has also been provided by previous investors – Coinbase, DCG, Dragonfly Capital, Castle Island Ventures, Highland Capital Partners, Avon Ventures, Communitas Capital, Collab+Currency, The Raptor Group, BlockFi and Animal Ventures.
Coin Funds Raised Metrics will focus on introducing innovative products for data analysis in the crypto industry and expanding business in international markets.
Moneybox raised £35m to enter the crypto industry
Asset manager Moneybox has raised £35m (~$45.8m) in Series D funding from Fidelity Investments, Polar Capital and former investors.
The funds will help the company grow its customer base, increase its ETF offering and introduce services for investing in digital assets.
Moneybox is approaching £3 billion in assets under management with 800,000 customers.
A16z’s Haun Ventures raises $1.5 billion to invest in Web 3.0
Linked to former a16z general partner Cathy Haun, Haun Ventures has raised $1.5 billion in two Web 3.0-focused crypto funds.
Funding comes from a16z, select partners, endowments, charities and family offices.
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Haun Ventures focuses on developer tools, end-to-end NFT services and digital asset taxation software.
$500 million to fund start-up investments, $1 billion to build an accelerator. Investments in shares and tokens are envisaged.
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