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Welcome to the 43rd edition of Sfermion’s Collider where we highlight the latest & greatest news in the world of web3, gaming & entertainment, AR/VR, AI, macro/economy, and more!
Every two weeks, we aim to drop a curated list of the most exciting stories & updates that we believe are enabling the emergence of the metaverse.
If you're looking forward to reading this edition of Sfermion’s Collider, please don't forget to subscribe below, share within your network, and follow Sfermion on Twitter to get the latest! Check out our Seam (💰) bio here :)
After 6-year hiatus, Stripe to start taking crypto payments, starting with USDC stablecoin (link)
Block lets Square merchants convert a part of their daily sales to bitcoin (link)
Hong Kong's 'in-kind' spot bitcoin and ether ETFs to start trading April 30 (link)
Consensys Sues the SEC to Defend the U.S. Ethereum Community (link)
Morgan Stanley Explores Letting Brokers (~15,000) Recommend Bitcoin ETFs (link)
Franklin Templeton Upgrades $380M Tokenized Treasury Fund to Enable Peer-to-Peer Transfers (link)
Aptos Labs collaborates with Microsoft, Brevan Howard and SK Telecom to build out institutional platform Aptos Ascend (link)
EY Launches Blockchain Tool on Ethereum (link)
TikTok’s Move Into Web3 (link)
RFK Jr. wants to put the entire US budget on a blockchain (link)
Hedge Funds Are Succumbing to Mind-Boggling Returns of Memecoins (link)
Kraken Releases Own Crypto Wallet, Joining Competition With Coinbase, MetaMask (link)
ZKasino launch leads to widespread outrage as $33 million promised to investors is sent to Lido (link)
Mango Markets Attacker Guilty of Fraud Over $110 Million Exploit (link)
Two SEC Lawyers Resign Following Debt Box Sanctions Fiasco: Bloomberg (link)
SEC suggests $5.3 billion fine for Do Kwon, Terraform Labs (link)
Blockchain Association Sues SEC (link)
Binance Converts $1B of SAFU Reserves to USDC (link)
Tether brings USDT and gold stablecoins to the TON blockchain (link)
Telegram Plans to Transform Stickers and Emojis as NFTs on TON (link)
Binance Unveils Megadrop Platform Featuring Web3 Quests and Airdrops (link)
OKX Ventures Teams Up with OnePiece Labs, Merlin Chain and Franklin Templeton in Backing the Runes Incubator (link)
Worldcoin teases ‘World Chain’ layer-2 (link)
OKX launches new Layer 2 on mainnet, aims to bring 50 million users on-chain (link)
Ankr launches AI-focused Layer 1 blockchain Neura on public testnet (link)
Matrix One (💰) introduces the world's first decentralized AI protocol for immersive on-chain characters, built on Solana (link)
Introducing GAL Staking: Unlock Access to Galxe (💰) Earn and Governance (link)
AletheaAI (💰) Launches Emotive AI Avatars on Coinbase Blockchain (link)
Ethereum Name Service integrates browser compatible .box web domains (link)
PayPal removes buyer and seller protections for NFTs (link)
IMF says Bitcoin has become necessary financial tool for preserving wealth amid financial instability (link)
Philippines SEC orders Apple and Google to remove Binance from app stores (link)
Epic execs say IP holders don't care about Fortnite, but they really want its ecosystem (link)
Fortnite removes item rarities, upsetting fans (link)
Roblox introducing new 'publishing advance' fee as it opens up creator marketplace (link)
Introducing Zentry: The Gaming Superlayer (link)
Xterio and BNB Reveal New L2 Blockchain (link)
Immutable (💰) Launches The Main Quest, the Largest Ever Web3 Gaming Rewards Program (link)
Complexity Welcomes Adam “Spike” Rivera as Web3 Advisor (link)
Puffverse Leaves BNB for Ronin and Raises $3 Million (link)
Join The Machines Arena (💰) Open Beta (link)
Apple Intensifies Talks With OpenAI for iPhone Generative AI Features (link)
Meta is testing an AI-powered search bar in Instagram (link)
DeepMind CEO Says Google Will Spend More Than $100 Billion on AI (link)
Samsung to Get Up to $6.4 Billion in US Grants for Chip Plants (link)
Micron Will Receive $6.1 Billion to Build Semiconductor Plants (link)
Meta says Llama 3 beats most other models, including Gemini (link)
Best Buy shares new generative AI strategy for customer support (link)
Nike, Vivienne Tam shift AI fashion revolution into high gear (link)
OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Other Tech Leaders to Serve on AI Safety Board (link)
Inside Big Tech's underground race to buy AI training data (link)
OpenAI Launches First Asian Office in Tokyo Amid Microsoft's Massive AI and Cloud Push in Japan (link)
US regulators seize troubled lender Republic First, sell it to Fulton Bank (link)
Tesla to cut 14,000 jobs as Elon Musk aims to make carmaker ‘lean and hungry’ (link)
Amazon Grows To Over 750,000 Robots As World's Second-Largest Private Employer Replaces Over 100,000 Humans (link)
FTC sues to block the $8.5 billion acquisition of Capri Holdings by Coach and Kate Spade’s parent company, Tapestry (link)
Business groups are fighting to keep your non-compete on the books (link)
A New Era for Mixed Reality - Meta Horizon OS Opens to third-party Developers (link)
Meta Wants to Bring Students as Young as 13 Into Metaverse (link)
Netflix Adds 9.3M Subscribers In Quarter, Growing Its Lead in Streaming (link)
Sundar Pichai fires 20 more employees for protesting Google's Israel cloud deal: 'Company not a place to debate politics (link)
New York Stock Exchange tests views on round-the-clock trading (link)
Apple pulls WhatsApp, Threads from China app store after Beijing order (link)
Apple’s Smartphone Sales Slump as China Rivals Rise (link)
Naval Ravikant’s Airchat is a social app built around talk, not text (link)
Drake Takes Aim at Kendrick Lamar With AI Tupac & Snoop Dogg Vocals on ‘Taylor Made Freestyle’ Diss Track (link)
Kim Kardashian's private equity firm hits fundraising hurdles (link)
China's bubble tea explosion has minted half-a-dozen billionaires (link)
Ghost Kitchens Are Disappearing, Squeezed by Demand and Complaints (link)
Elon Musk’s X Launches TV App as It Pushes Video Ambitions (link)
FIFA Said to Be Close to TV Deal With Apple for New Tournament (link)
The Next Winner of the World Chess Championship Could Be the Youngest Ever (link)
HackVC | 10 Things to Consider When Preparing for your Token Generation Event (TGE) (link)
a16z crypto | 5 rules for token launches (link)
Big Brain Holdings | The Quantum Threat to Cryptography (link)
Placeholder | Is It Time To Move Beyond Solidity? (link)
The Only Safe Way to Store Crypto (link)
Reverie | Why The Winners Won (link)
Crypto Will 10x Internet UX (link)
Monad | Monad vs Rollups (link)
Naavik | The Rise of the Everything Game (link)
Konvoy | Gaming IPO Watch List (2024) (link)
Adidas and STEPN (💰) Unveil Exclusive NFT Collection to Transform Move-to-Earn Ecosystem (link)
Maison Margiela and The Fabricant (💰) Present MetaTABI Collection (link)
Christie’s First Bitcoin Ordinals Auction Fetched Over $730K (link)
Louis Vuitton Bestows €7.9K Jacket by Pharrell to NFT Holders (link)
CryptoPunk Sells for $12.4 Million in Ethereum—One of the Biggest NFT Sales Ever (link)
Yuga Labs offloads 2 NFT games amid effort to ‘unshackle’ BAYC team (link)
Melania Trump Releases Mother’s Day Necklace with NFT (link)
Man City NFTs Snagged Under 5 Hours—Another Drop Incoming (link)
The Ultimate Guide to Bitcoin Puppets: All You Need to Know (link)
'Buy Bitcoin' Sign Sold for Over $1M at Auction (link)
Anichess (💰) Raises $1.8M Funding, co-led by Sfermion and Amber Group, to Expand Web3 Chess Platform (link)
Microsoft to invest $1.5B in UAE-based AI firm G42, takes minority stake (link)
Pantera Capital looks to raise $1B for new crypto fund V (link)
Seed-stage firm Eniac Ventures raises $220M across two funds (link)
Ramp raises another $150M co-led by Khosla and Founders Fund at a $7.65B valuation (link)
AI Startup Upstage Secures $72M for US, Asian Expansion (link)
Web3 Game Platform Iskra Raises $40M, Partners with Gate.io for Token Generation Event (link)
Movement Labs Raises $38M for Rollup Based on Facebook's Move Language (link)
Aligned Raises $34M To Grow DeFi and Web3 Infrastructure (link)
A Fully Aligned Round: $20M Series A Round with Hack VC as lead investor (link)
Liquid Restaking Protocol Puffer Raises $18M, Led by Brevan Howard, Electric Capital (link)
Turnkey Raises $15M Series A to Revolutionize the Crypto User Experience (link)
Shiba Inu raises $12M in token round for its new blockchain (link)
Avalon raises $10M to launch hybrid Web3 MMO (link)
Homium Raises $10M and Tokenizes Home Equity Loans on Avalanche (link)
Carv raises $10M Series A to help gamers monetize their data (link)
Web3 3D LBS game L3E7 completes $10M financing, led by SevenX Ventures and others (link)
Pantera Capital Invests $8M in InfiniGods Series A Funding (link)
Amex Ventures backs web3 loyalty firm Superlogic’s $7.6M funding (link)
Pantera Leads $7.5M Seed Round for Blast-Based DEX Platform Thruster (link)
DePIN project SendingNetwork raises $7.5M from Balaji Srinivasan and others (link)
Crypto Valley Exchange Raises $7M to Launch the Most Capital-Efficient Digital Asset Derivatives Trading Platform (link)
Adot, founded by ex-Googler, secures $6M total funding to build decentralized AI search (link
CoinFund and Distributed Global lead $5.5M seed round for decentralized AI firm Prime Intellect (link)
Laser Digital, Nomura Group lead $5M funding round for gaming firm Tevaera (link)
Only1 Secures $5M for Solana’s OnlyFans Clone (link)
Othentic Secures $4M Seed Round for Web3 Orchestration Layer (link)
Puffverse Raises $3M in Funding to Expand its NFT-Based Gaming Universe (link)
Bitcoin-Linked Stablecoin Firm OpenDelta Raises $2.5M (link)
Inference Labs Raises $2.3M in Pre-Seed Funding (link)
Ordinals Explorer Ord.io Nets $2M in Pre-Seed Round to Pioneer Next-Gen Bitcoin Services (link)
GEODNET concludes $2M investment round (link)
Runes DEX Secures $2M in Seed Investment to Pioneer AMM on Bitcoin (link)
Moso Secures $2M Investment: Shaping the Future of Online Shopping with Cryptocurrency Rewards (link)
Uncharted raises $1.7M strategic round to build the gamification layer of crypto (link)
Peter Thiel's Founders Fund takes a stake in crypto accelerator Alliance (link)
OKX Ventures Announces Strategic Investment in Privasea, a Data Infrastructure Platform Powered by DePIN and AI Technology (link)
Zima Red - Alexandre Turbide - Beatconnect: The Gamification of Music - 156
Doubl3Tap Ep 015 - Amitt Mahajan (Proof of Play)
Macro
Russia says it now has the right to confiscate all Western assets in Russia, worth more than $288 billion.
Web3
Crypto firm Consensys sues SEC and asks court to declare that Ethereum $ETH is not a security.
Now announcing our Web3 portal—the home for all things Web3 at Google Cloud → goo.gle/4b8VBmj
Experiment on testnet
Discover blockchain datasets & developer tools from Google Cloud and our partners
Learn how the Web3 Startup Program can help you build faster
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Curated by @mopat1214
If you enjoyed reading this edition of Sfermion’s Collider, please subscribe below, share within your network, and follow Sfermion on Twitter to get the latest! Check out our Seam (💰) bio here :)
Note: All information in this Newsletter regarding any company or investment is the sole responsibility of the company providing the information. Sfermion, and its affiliates, makes no representation or guarantee to the accuracy or completeness of the information presented. Sfermion is not responsible for any information contained in any links outside our websites and official social accounts.
Sfermion does not offer investment advice/analysis and makes no recommendations on how to act. Information regarding any company or investment in this Newsletter, including any links to information on our website, should not be viewed as an endorsement or recommendation of that company or investment for any purpose whatsoever. Any person receiving this Newsletter is encouraged to consult with their own financial advisor, or relevant personnel, before making any investment decision.
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