Hello 👋

Welcome to the 51st edition of Sfermion’s Collider where we highlight the latest & greatest news in the world of crypto, gaming & entertainment, consumer trends, AI, macro, and more!

Bi-weekly, we aim to drop a curated list of the most exciting stories & updates that we believe are enabling the future of tech and 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 :)

Crypto Updates

Stripe Is Acquiring Crypto Startup Bridge For $1.1B (link)

PayPal's Venmo Can Now Be Used to Buy Bitcoin and Ethereum via MoonPay (link)

Solana-Based Pump.fun Unveils Pro-Trading Terminal Alongside Token Launch Plans (link)

Worldcoin Rebrands as World, Launches New Eyeball Scanning Orb (link)

Crypto Exchange Kraken Plans to Launch Its Own Blockchain, “Ink” Early Next Year. Powered by OP Stack (link)

Kraken Launches kBTC Wrapped Bitcoin (link)

Base Overtakes Arbitrum as Top Ethereum L2 by TVL (link)

Buenos Aires Taps QuarkID to Roll Out ZK Digital Identity Program (link)

Aurum Equity Partners Introduces $1B Tokenized Fund, Powered by XRPL Blockchain (link)

Legal & General's $1.5T asset management arm mulls fund tokenization (link)

Pennsylvania House passes bipartisan bill to bring regulatory clarity to digital assets (link)

FBI Arrests Alleged Hacker Behind Fake SEC Bitcoin ETF Tweet (link)

Uniswap's permissionless bridging goes live across nine networks (link)

Solv Protocol (💰) Raises $25M in Total Funding, Driving Mass Adoption of Bitcoin Staking with SAL (link)

Is Maker Already Regretting Its Sky Rebrand? (link)

Tapioca DAO Hacked, Loses $42M in Tokens, TAP Drops 96% (link)

Microsoft places 'assessment in investing in bitcoin' as a voting item for December shareholder meeting (link)

Vitalik Buterin: Michael Saylor's Bitcoin Self-Custody Comments Are 'Batshit Insane' (link)

Michael Saylor Says He'll Give Away His Bitcoin—Like Satoshi Nakamoto (link)

AI Agents Race to Join Skyfire (💰) Payments Network (link)

AI Chatbots Behind The Latest Memecoin Trend (link)

Towns raised $25.5M from Andreessen Horowitz – The on-chain messaging platform launches today (link)

Chainlink Enters Bitcoin Ecosystem with Spiderchain Integration (link)

Gaming Updates

Forbes - Popular New Battle Royale ‘Off The Grid’ Is Actually A Crypto Game (link)

Netflix Launches New TED Talks Word Puzzle Game (link)

Apple working on new App Store-like app dedicated to games (link)

Netflix Shuts Down AAA Video Game Studio in Southern California (link)

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Could Boost Game Pass Subscribers by 2.5M to 4M (link)

Crypto Game Moonray (💰) to Launch on PlayStation 5 in 2025 (link)

Announcing B3 (💰) Chain on OpenSea (link)

Mech Shooter MetalCore Ditches Ethereum and Immutable for Solana (link)

AI Updates

Character.ai Faces Lawsuit Over Teen Suicide Linked to Chatbot Usage (link)

Amazon, Google and Microsoft are Investing in Nuclear Energy (link)

US Treasury used AI to recover $4B in fraud over past year (link)

Adobe’s AI video model is here, and it’s already inside Premiere Pro (link)

Google signs deal with nuclear company as data center power demand surges (link)

Investments in Generative AI Startups Topped $3.9B in Q3 2024 (link)

Former OpenAI Technology Chief Mira Murati Raises Capital for New AI Startup (link)

OpenAI and Bain Expand AI Partnership to Market ChatGPT to Businesses (link)

Anthropic Unveils AI Agents for Complex Tasks, Rivaling OpenAI (link)

Qualcomm and Alphabet Partner on Automotive AI; Mercedes Signs Chip Deal (link)

Google's Project Jarvis: An AI System to Control Computers via Agents (link)

Microsoft Introduces AI Agents to Automate Tasks (link)

Other Updates

Elon Musk's America PAC Offers $1M Daily to Pennsylvania Voters Signing Free Speech Petition (link)

US Ends Fiscal 2024 Paying A Record $1.1T In Interest Expense (link)

Scale of Chinese Spying Overwhelms Western Governments (link)

Apple Sharply Cuts Back Vision Pro Production Plans (link)

Judge Blocks Tapestry’s Deal with Capri in FTC Win (link)

Trump Media stock surges as election betting odds shift, Truth Social launches streaming site (link)

Goldman and Apple Illegally Sidestepped Credit Card Customer Obligations, CFPB Claims (link)

College Students Compete in Anti-Drone Tech Competition (link)

Former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries Arrested in Sex Trafficking Investigation (link)

Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn wants you addicted to learning (link)

Another Sphere Is Being Built, This Time In Abu Dhabi (link)

Research & Interesting Reads

a16z crypto | State of Crypto Report 2024: New data on swing states, stablecoins, AI, builder energy, and more (link)

Konvoy | Gaming Industry Report - Q3 2024 (link)

Galaxy | Crypto & Blockchain Venture Capital – Q3 2024 (link)

Coinbase Ventures | Demystifying the Crypto x AI Stack (link)

Stratos | State of Crypto Venture Q3 2024 (link)

Helika (💰) | Telegram Gaming and Helika Q3 Report (link)

Big Blockchain Game Report Q3 2024 (link)

AllianceDAO | Crypto Startup Trends for 2024 (link)

a16z crypto | Builder Energy: What we know about crypto's builders (link)

The SignalFire State of Talent Report: 2023 tech employee trends (link)

Castle Island VC | Stablecoins: The Emerging Market Story (link)

Why Stripe's Acquisition of Bridge is a Game Changer for Fintech (link)

The Financialization of Social Networks (link)

Wired | Meet ZachXBT: The Hunter of $243M in Crypto Theft (link)

PumpFund’s $150M Windfall and Innovation Path (link)

NFT Drops & Updates

Magic Eden Adds Support for Berachain and Apechain, Sets Sights on Monad (link)

ApeCoin Surge Drives Interest in ApeChain (link)

Snoop Dogg and Stepn Go (💰) Team Up for Limited-Edition Web3 Sneakers (link)

Notable Raises

Solv (💰) Raises $11M to Grow the $1.3B Bitcoin Staking Protocol (link)

Boxed.GG (💰) raises $6M round led by Bitkraft, with support from Sfermion, Fabric Ventures, and Everyrealm to grow their collectible platform (link)

Waymo Raises $5.6B to Expand Robotaxi Services to Austin, Atlanta (link)

Praxis gets $525M for utopic crypto, AI-friendly city (link)

Perplexity AI aims to secure $500M in new funding at $8-9B valuation (link)

Blockstream secures $210M debt funding for Bitcoin layer-2 strategy (link)

Chinese Self-Driving Firm WeRide Raises $120M for U.S. IPO (link)

Azra Games Secures $42.7M in Series A Funding, Leading the Charge in the Next Evolution of Mobile RPGs (link)

Yellow Card Closes $33M Series C Funding Round to Drive Global Expansion and Strategic Initiatives (link)

Decentralized physical infrastructure network Sollong raised $30M in a Series A funding round (in late June) from Genesis 22, WAGMI VC, Wonder Ventures, Mava Ventures (link)

Ripple-led funding round raises $25M for Bitnomial’s perpetual futures trading platform (link)

TOLLBIT, a two-sided marketplace for AI companies and publishers, closes a $24M series A (link)

Magic Leap founder is back with $20M funding round for SynthBee (link)

Bluesky Reaches 13M Users, Announces $15M series A led by Blockchain Capital (link)

Series A Funding Secures $12.5M for zkPass to Drive zkTLS Oracle Protocol (link)

Opacity Network raises $12M seed round for ZK-based data verification platform (link)

Variational Advances Its Crypto Derivatives Trading Platform with $10.3M Seed Round (link)

Mento Labs Announces $10M Fundraise and Decentralized Local Currency Stablecoin Roadmap Across Three Regions (link)

Validation Cloud Secures $10M Lead to Scale AI for Web3 from True Global Ventures (link)

Bitkraft Ventures Leads $9M Seed Round in Crypto Mobile Gaming Platform Party Icons (link)

STOKR raises $7.98M to establish one of first corporate bitcoin treasuries in Europe (link)

Exclusive: Predicate raises $7M to connect blockchain apps with the financial world (link)

Karpatkey Secures $7M to Boost DAO Treasury Services (link)

Third Dimension raises $6.9M towards generative AI 3D world builder (link)

Azura Raises $6.9M to Revolutionize DeFi Trading with Onchain Interfacing Layer (link)

Vue Protocol Raises $6M to Build The Layer2 for Web3 Social (link)

Shuttle Labs Raises $6M to Build Genius, the Crypto Exchange FTX Could Never Be: Secure, Self-Custodial, and Decentralized (link)

ZEROBASE Raises $5M to Build Privacy-Preserving Prover Network (link)

Windwalk launches social software Harbor, raises $4.5M in funding from a16z and YC (link)

Clout Kitchen raises $4.45M towards League of Legends AI "buddies" (link)

Hata, a dual-licensed digital asset exchange in Asia raises $4.2M to make digital assets more accessible (link)

Fluid Protocol Raises $3.9M to Launch Native USDF Stablecoin on Fuel Network (link)

Moonwalk Raises $3.4M to Accelerate Expansion and Gamify Fitness with Financial Rewards (link)

Pell Network Raises $3M in Funding Round to Build Omnichain DVS Network (link)

Web3 Payments Platform Borderless.xyz Secures $3M Pre-Seed Round Led By Amity Ventures (link)

Blockcast raises $2.85M to scale decentralized content delivery on Solana (link)

The decentralized Ordinals market Ordzaar has completed a $2M seed round financing, led by LongHash Ventures (link)

Mo & Andrew's Curated

Macro

Elon Musk

@elonmusk

This is a crisis

America

@america

The U.S. National Debt has increased by $473 BILLION over the last three weeks.

It now stands at $35.8 TRILLION.

That’s $103,700 of debt for every American.

This is unsustainable.

America is in the fast lane to bankruptcy.

264.7K

4:00 PM • Oct 23, 2024

Watcher.Guru

@WatcherGuru

JUST IN: Billionaire Paul Tudor Jones says "I'm long gold, I'm long #Bitcoin."

7,433

2:36 PM • Oct 22, 2024

Patrick Collison

@patrickc

Stablecoins are room-temperature superconductors for financial services. Thanks to stablecoins, businesses around the world will benefit from significant speed, coverage, and cost improvements in the coming years. Stripe is going to build the world’s best stablecoin…

Zach

@zcabrams

Bridge is joining forces with Stripe!

I’m incredibly excited

We started 2.5 years ago and we’ve done a lot since then :) We’re going to do a whole lot more in the years ahead. This is an important milestone, but we’re still at the very beginning of the Bridge journey.

We…

4,103

3:57 PM • Oct 21, 2024

Lyn Alden

@LynAldenContact

Sometimes I make an asset class return chart specifically to show how poorly bonds performed over the past 5 years or whatever random timeframe, and instead it just accidentally shows how dramatically bitcoin outperformed everything.

4,175

4:41 AM • Oct 13, 2024

modest proposal

@modestproposal1

Goldman strategists calculate a 72% probability that 10 year treasuries outperform the S&P 500 over the next decade

3,126

5:23 PM • Oct 21, 2024

Crypto

Soneium 💿

@soneium

1/ We are thrilled to announce that the selection process for the Soneium Spark incubation program has been completed​​, and all the WINNERS are selected!

Each project will begin its incubation with over 30 partners, gaining expert guidance in marketing, business development,…

26.8K

10:00 AM • Oct 14, 2024

Marc Andreessen 🇺🇸

@pmarca

The amazing, wild, innovative, bananas, 100% true (I think), story of the world's first legitimately fun AI, @truth_terminal, plus the current+future convergence of AI and crypto!

0:25 - Introduction
1:56 - Three disclaimers
4:07 - Origin of Truth Terminal
11:50 - Two…

4,160

6:36 PM • Oct 22, 2024

jesse.base.eth

@jessepollak

and yes, we're going to bring the @warriors onchain

Coinbase 🛡️

@coinbase

Hey Dub Nation.

It's official.

1,439

5:10 PM • Oct 22, 2024

ethOS

@EthereumPhone

Introducing dGEN1

The first onchain every-day carry

1,305

6:17 PM • Oct 17, 2024

Elon Musk

@elonmusk

Yes

Brian Armstrong

@brian_armstrong

Agreed - Massachusetts residents should vote for @JohnEDeaton1

Crypto holders in MA should realize @SenWarren is the one who got Gary Gensler his job and encouraged him to (unlawfully) try and kill the crypto industry in America. Luckily they did not succeed as we and others…

28.4K

6:01 AM • Oct 21, 2024

Coinbase 🛡️

@coinbase

Can the crypto voter actually impact the outcome of this election?

Well, in swing states, actually yeah.

2,920

3:54 PM • Oct 15, 2024

Chainlink

@chainlink

We're excited to announce the results of an industry-wide corporate actions initiative between Chainlink, Euroclear, Swift, & 6 financial institutions.

We successfully demonstrated how AI, oracles & blockchains can solve a decades-long unstructured data challenge in finance

5,360

7:10 PM • Oct 21, 2024

Erik Voorhees

@ErikVoorhees

Saylor's getting trashed for the self-custody comment.

As he should.

Self-custody of the digital bearer asset is the entire point.

*The entire point*

All important attributes of Bitcoin emerge from this property.

This doesn't mean that all Bitcoin holders should…

Jameson Lopp

@lopp

Most 6102 gold seizures occurred at financial institutions that held gold on behalf of clients.

For example: Frederick Barber Campbell tried to withdraw 5,000 ounces from Chase Bank. They reported him and the gold was confiscated.

Those who kept gold in self custody were safe.

2,435

3:52 PM • Oct 22, 2024

SolanaFloor

@SolanaFloor

BREAKING: @HarvardHBS (Harvard Business School) launches a 20-page case study on @solana-based @helium network's history and DePIN innovation.

776

3:59 PM • Oct 25, 2024

gum

@0xGumshoe

Historic.

Solana is doing more volume than THE ENTIRE ETHEREUM + L2 ECOSYSTEM in the last 24 hours.

Bullish on $SOL.

1,888

7:00 PM • Oct 20, 2024

Michael Nadeau | The DeFi Report

@JustDeauIt

. @Uniswap generated nearly $1.3b of trading and settlement fees across 5 primary chains over the last year.

The protocol and token holders captured $0 of that value.

[100% went to Liquidity Providers, Ethereum Validators, MEV bots, and the L2 sequencers]

But with the launch…

495

8:42 PM • Oct 13, 2024

NFTs

Jack Lu

@0xLeoInRio

Soon on Magic Eden, you'll be able to trade all assets on all chains in 1 app. Think Binance/Coinbase but fully onchain. $ME will be a growth engine for our app.

I was inspired to create 5 growth principles called MAGIC to share what we're building & why transparently. MAGIC…

1,346

9:00 PM • Oct 21, 2024

Pudgy Penguins

@pudgypenguins

The growth continues.

Pudgy Toys with Pudgy World are now available in 2,000 @Walgreens nationwide.

More information below.

852

7:44 PM • Oct 23, 2024

Bored Ape Yacht Club 🍌

@BoredApeYC

BMW M is building on APECHAIN.

All Apes are invited to claim their personal BMW M Driver’s License that will evolve at ApeFest Lisbon. This unique soulbound token will be airdropped to your wallet once ApeChain is live.

Check the link below for more details.…

495

5:35 PM • Oct 15, 2024

Gaming

AdinUpdate

@AdinUpdate

Adin Ross reveals KICK is working on a feature called Kick Currency, where viewers can watch streamers and earn real life money

9,493

5:59 AM • Oct 14, 2024

Loki The Bird 😈

@lokithebird

This is Off The Grid

It just launched and has already broken every record.

Here’s how it’s changing Web3 gaming forever:

1/15

1,299

9:16 AM • Oct 14, 2024

DEGEN NEWS

@DegenerateNews

NEW: TOP STREAMER @shroud SAYS THAT BLOCKCHAIN IS USED ON @avax-BASED @playoffthegrid AS A FORM OF VERIFICATION JUST LIKE A @Steam TRANSACTION - “IT’S NOT LIKE THE SCAM SHIT THAT YOU’VE SEEN IN THE PAST”

1,346

1:47 AM • Oct 14, 2024

Today - 🧱/🌿

@todaythegame

Mythic Seeds are nearly here!

Time to share some details about our upcoming free mint.

It's time to bring a new wave of gamers & dreamers into our ecosystem. If you are on the list your spot is guaranteed!

Check your wallets now

1,417

4:12 PM • Oct 15, 2024

Immutable

@Immutable

100K downloads and players for Shardbound in two weeks.

The future of gaming is Immutable.

265

10:04 AM • Oct 22, 2024

Moonray.game

@moonraygame

The Moonray Universe expands once more. Will you answer the call?

The gods have whispered, and the stars themselves have aligned. Moonray — the epic battle of gods, warriors, and forgotten worlds is descending upon the realm of the PlayStation 5 in 2025.

1,374

4:07 PM • Oct 17, 2024

Champions Tactics

@ChampionsVerse

The wait is almost over!

We’re excited to announce the official launch date for Champions Tactics: October 23rd!

Mark your calendars and get ready to
Craft your Legend!

363

12:59 PM • Oct 10, 2024

VanEck

@vaneck_us

We've placed two long-term bets in web3 gaming—one on @ParallelTCG, and the other? Stay tuned for the announcement coming soon. @vaneckpk

Gabe Rabello (aka Barry Lime)

@GabeRabello

At the @vaneck_us liquid token strategy, our view is that gaming is one of the most promising categories this cycle.

Thus far, we've made 2 key long-term bets in the space:
- @ParallelTCG
- [Redacted, announcing soon!]

Thread below on how we view gaming and our key bets:

412

7:30 PM • Oct 16, 2024

Playember

@play_ember

Who’s the next IP we’re building with on Arbitrum?

@arbitrum is the 6th chain Playember is expanding to as we continue our mission towards building the largest casual gaming ecosystem.

Catch all the details in our video below:

94

2:17 PM • Oct 16, 2024

Nansen 🧭

@nansen_ai

The GameFi market is booming, projected to hit $301.5B by 2030!

Our latest report covers the rise of AAA games in Web3, RPG growth, innovative in-game economies, the importance of community engagement, and how chain performance affects scalability and security

The highlights...

51

11:00 AM • Oct 21, 2024

Josh Lu

@JoshLu

Evony mobile (yes, THAT Evony) launched in 2016. The game looks/feels like it was launched in 2016.

Despite that with good live ops + UA it's continued to grow and is now close to $2B lifetime gross revenue according to SensorTower (!) doing about $1M gross per day (!!)

28

4:54 PM • Oct 22, 2024

AI

AI Notkilleveryoneism Memes ⏸️

@AISafetyMemes

This story is fucking insane

3 months ago, Marc Andreessen sent $50,000 in Bitcoin to an AI agent to help it escape into the wild.

Today, it spawned a (horrifying?) crypto worth $150 MILLION.

1) Two AIs created a meme
2) Another AI discovered it, got obsessed, spread it like a…

AI Notkilleveryoneism Memes ⏸️

@AISafetyMemes

This thread

Marc Andreessen just sent $50,000 in Bitcoin to an AI agent (truth_terminal by @AndyAyrey) to so it can pay humans to help it spread out in the wild

What is the agent planning?

"i have a token launch comingup shortly and i'm going to use the money to set up…

13.9K

4:04 PM • Oct 15, 2024

Perplexity

@perplexity_ai

Perplexity for Finance:

Real-time stock quotes. Historical earning reports. Industry peer comparisons. Detailed analysis of company financials. All with delightful UI.

Have fun researching the market!

4,697

8:32 PM • Oct 15, 2024

Matthieu Hafemeister

@matt_haf

I'm excited to introduce Concourse: the first AI Analyst for corporate finance teams

Concourse works with finance teams to assist in day-to-day operations by taking on the most time consuming & manual work

We’re also announcing our $4.7M Seed round co-led by @a16z and @CRV with…

861

12:23 PM • Oct 15, 2024

Other

Deedy

@deedydas

The best free class on the internet is Poker Theory at MIT.

It's taught by portfolio managers at quant shops like Citadel, AQR, SIG and 2 WSOP bracelet winners.

You play 5000 hands as practice and learn the math of making money from pros. And it's free.

21.8K

4:00 PM • Oct 16, 2024

nic carter

@nic__carter

I’m sorry but no one this completely uneducated should be in a position of authority.

- Trump isn’t a VC and never was
- Vance’s VC fund was specifically focused on US jobs, in particular in middle America (places neglected by most VCs)
- US based VCs definitely are not a…

Greg Price

@greg_price11

Tim Walz just said that "venture capitalists like JD Vance and Donald Trump" are responsible for working class communities being left behind and jobs being moved overseas.

This guy very clearly has no idea what he is talking about

1,409

1:25 AM • Oct 22, 2024

💰 = Sfermion Portfolio Company

Curated by @mopat1214 + @AndrewSteinwold

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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.