The grant will be used to fund research in developing an approach to scale the performance of blockchains by building a secure, decentralized log on top of a Byzantine-tolerant database. a Byzantine-tolerant database mitigates the risk of a thinly distributed network of nodes, which can result in a network attack like a 51% attack.

“We are delighted to support the work of Professor Alvisi’s students as they not only research novel blockchain systems but also develop real-world, scalable use cases and applications to benefit the future of the industry," said Aptos Labs CTO and co-founder Avery Ching.

The company also said Stanford University Professor of Computer Science, Dr. Dan Boneh has joined as an adviser.

Aptos' grant follows in the footsteps of Cardano, which funded a $4.5 million research hub at Edinburgh University in November.

The aptos token (APT), which was airdropped to early users in October, was one of the top performing crypto assets in January, surging from a low of $3.52 to a high of $20.32. It currently trades at $16.36 according to CoinDesk prices. Whilst sentiment remains positive on the whole, concerns have been raised over tokenomics and the lack of activity on the network in comparison to layer 1 competitors like Ethereum.

Currently, Aptos has $61.45 million in total value locked (TVL) on its network in comparison to its market cap of $2.6 billion.

Aptos CEO Mo Shaikh defended the project's token distribution in November, claiming that it is "much fairer" than its competitors.

“We expect Reality Labs expenses will increase meaningfully again in 2023,” Zuckerberg told analysts during the company’s last earnings call in October. Meta reported the same day that its Reality Labs, the division tasked with fulfilling the CEO's metaverse dreams, had lost $3.7 billion during the third quarter of 2022. That's expected to jump to $4.4 billion for fourth quarter earnings, which will be announced Wednesday after the close.

Zuckerberg’s desire to be a pivotal player in the yet-to-be-realized immersive digital world — envisioned as a mix of virtual, augmented and mixed reality — are expected to result in a full-year loss of $13.8 billion for Reality Labs alone, according to an average of analysts’ estimates compiled by FactSet.

Although Zuckerberg has been relatively forthright and transparent about the tremendous cost involved in investing in his dream to bring Meta into the metaverse, when the company reports its 2022 fourth quarter earnings, its almost guaranteed that many shareholders will continue to feel concerned. Meta has lost more than $600 billion in value since the company’s market capitalization began declining in late 2021.

“Meta’s original outlook for 2023 operating expenses, Reality Labs losses and [capital expenditure] shared on the third quarter 2022 earnings call contributed to a perception that the company’s management was unaligned with the interests of shareholders,” according to a report published a little over a month ago by media analysis firm MoffettNathanson. Led by analyst Michael Nathanson, the firm has predicted Reality Labs would lose $13 billion in 2022, better than the average estimate.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) laid out its regulatory plans after receiving feedback on a discussion paper published last year. Based on the 58 responses it received, the regulator said it will set up a regime to supervise stablecoins, which are cryptocurrencies whose value is pegged to other assets.

To start with, the HKMA plans to supervise the governance, issuance and stabilization of fiat-backed stablecoins, for which issuers must maintain reserves matching the amount of the crypto in circulation. Stablecoin reserves have come under heavy regulatory scrutiny around the world since 2021, when the issuer of the top stablecoin by market capitalization, Tether, revealed much of its USDT reserves were made up of unsecured short-term debt. Major economies such as the U.S., the European Union and Japan also are working on controls for stablecoin issuers.

"The value of the reserve assets of a stablecoin arrangement should meet the value of the outstanding stablecoins at all times," the report said. "The reserve assets should be of high quality and high liquidity. Stablecoins that derive their value based on arbitrage or algorithm will not be accepted."

TerraUSD, an algorithmic stablecoin whose value was supposed to be maintained through another crypto asset, luno, collapsed last May.

"In drawing up the specific regulatory arrangements, the HKMA will consider the feedback received, latest market development and international discussion. We will also engage with stakeholders and market participants. We expect to implement the regulatory arrangements in 2023/24,” HKMA Chief Executive Eddie Yue said in a press statement.

The agreement is valued at about $1.4 billion, comprising an “additional consideration” worth about $111 million and the $1.3 billion market value of all the cryptocurrency at the bankrupt platform, according to a statement from Voyager Digital on Monday in New York.

Customers will be able to transfer to the FTX US platform after the conclusion of the bankruptcy process, Voyager said, adding the purchase agreement will be presented for approval in court on Oct. 19.

The purchase follows several earlier attempts by FTX to bail out or acquire Voyager. The New York-based platform had about 3.5 million users at the end of March, and 1.19 million funded accounts.

Voyager filed for bankruptcy protection in July after a failed attempt by Alameda Research -- a trading house affiliated with FTX -- to bail it out with a revolving line of credit. 

That same month, FTX and Alameda disclosed a joint bid for Voyager, but Voyager called it a “low-ball” offer. In September, Alameda said it will return about $200 million worth of Bitcoin and Ether it had borrowed from Voyager by the end of the month.

Bankman-Fried has been aggressively buying up distressed crypto companies this year, scooping up millions of customers and valuable technologies at a cheaper price than they traded at just half a year ago. 

Earlier this year FTX propped up the crypto platform BlockFi and was exploring a potential takeover of Robinhood Markets Inc., where Bankman-Fried owns a stake. He is estimated to own more than 50% of FTX, 70% of FTX US, and almost all of Alameda.

FTX is in the process of raising a $1 billion funding round, according to a source familiar with the deal, which hasn’t closed yet or been made public.

SPACE ID is building decentralized, censorship-resistant, and open-sourced universal identifiers. The naming service network allows users to use one human-readable domain name to represent their identities across all individual DApps and blockchains. Each domain service is built around the following properties:

• A universal username equipped with multi-chain interoperability. 

• A decentralized identity in a single source of truth (SSOT) system. 

• An ad-hoc oracle chain to enhance scalability and availability.

The first version of SPACE ID was launched in August 2022 along with the .bnb domain, bringing developers building on the BNB Chain a standard domain identifier. To date, SPACE ID has completed 10 premium .bnb domain auctions on the Binance NFT marketplace, with more than 19,000 .bnb domain names having been registered. The team is working to partner and integrate with many projects within the BNB Chain ecosystem.

Nicola W. from the Binance Labs’ investment team commented: “SPACE ID is building a universal naming standard and a software development kit (SDK) that not only brings flexibility and simplicity to users’ Web3 interactions, but also bridges the gap between Web2 and Web3 apps. We look forward to working closely with SPACE ID to facilitate Web3 naming services and further grow the BNB ecosystem.”

Solo, growth lead at SPACE ID, said: “If having a recognizable identity is not really what humans want, then everyone’s Twitter handle could as well be composed of 40 meaningless characters, like a crypto wallet address. Yet, we all choose to get a username that resonates with us. Why would it be different with your Web3 identity? You could secure a universal identity that would stay the same, not only across all apps, but also all blockchains. At SPACE ID, our team aims to not only deliver this need, but also lead the charge.”

About Binance Labs

Binance Labs identifies, invests in, and empowers viable blockchain entrepreneurs, startups, and communities, providing financing to industry projects that help drive the wider blockchain ecosystem. 

Binance Labs is committed to supporting fast-executing teams who positively impact the crypto space and build the decentralized web.