Revolutionary Protocol Village’s C3 Unleashes Public Mainnet, Pioneering A Game-Changing Self-Custodial Crypto Exchange

The most recent advancements in blockchain technology, funding disclosures, and agreements from Jan. 4-10.

“On January 8, C3.io, a hybrid crypto exchange, unveiled its public mainnet. Their “self-custodial approach ensures user control over funds, prioritizing security and mitigating insolvency risks,” as highlighted by the team. Security measures include passing two Halborn audits, offering up to $100K for Immunifi-discovered vulnerabilities. Collaborating with Pyth Network, it facilitated over 10 million oracle-based transactions. Users access CEX functionalities such as instant execution, high throughput, REST APIs, Websocket connectivity, advanced order types, and multi-chain support. Key components are two smart contracts, the Cross-collateral Clearing Engine and Health Calculator, deployed on Algorand’s blockchain, serving as C3’s settlement layer. To manage balances, C3 utilizes Wormhole’s cross-chain interoperability protocol for deposits and withdrawals within its on-chain component.

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Solana Foundation Reports 2.5K Active Developers Monthly In Latest Update

On January 9, the Solana Foundation published its latest report, the State of the Developer Ecosystem. The team outlined that it “captures the robustness of the Solana developer community throughout 2023,” showcasing vital metrics for ecosystem health. This includes monthly active developer counts, retention rates, and the overall developer expertise. Presently, Solana boasts over 2,500 monthly active developers contributing to open-source repositories, maintaining a retention rate of over 50% across three months.

Ta-da, AI Marketplace Leveraging ‘Gamified Web3,’ Secures $3.5M In Funding

On January 8, Ta-da, an AI data marketplace, concluded a $3.5M funding round. Investors, such as Morningstar Ventures, layer-1 blockchain protocol MultiversX, GBV Capital, XVentures, NxGen, and Spark Digital Capital, participated. The platform operates on a ‘gamified Web3’ model and stems from Vivoka, a successful startup specializing in speech recognition solutions. CEO William Simonin, a serial entrepreneur, heads the venture. Owen ‘Hasheur’ Simonin, founder of Meria.com and a prominent Web3 influencer in France, serves as an investor and advisory board member. The advisory board includes Luc Julia, creator of Apple’s Siri, and Morningstar Ventures CEO Danilo Carlucci.

Samson Mow’s AQUA Introduces Bitcoin Wallet Tailored For Latin American Users, Bitcoin Enthusiasts

On January 7, AQUA by JAN3, a Bitcoin and stablecoin wallet led by former Blockstream Chief Strategy Officer Samson Mow, launched. Tailored for Latin American users, AQUA boasts features enticing to devoted Bitcoin Maximalists, offering a robust interface to layer-2 technologies like Lightning and Liquid. Leveraging submarine swaps, AQUA enables circumvention of high fee-rate environments, facilitating seamless transitions between Lightning and Liquid networks. Additionally, AQUA empowers Bitcoiners to batch their Bitcoin transactions in Layer 2 and swap to the mainchain when fees are minimal.

Parallel Asserts First Live Arbitrum Orbit L2 Implementation On Mainnet

On January 7, the Parallel Network was officially unveiled on mainnet, accessible to developers, as announced by the team. They assert that it’s the pioneering layer-2 network on Arbitrum Orbit to initiate live operations. Additionally, it stands out as the premier non-custodial omni-chain margin protocol, facilitating liquidity pooling across multiple chains and instant availability within the Parallel Network.

Telos Foundation Welcomes John Lilic As Executive Director

On January 5, the Telos Foundation, supporting the Delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPOS) layer-1 blockchain Telos, appointed John Lilic, former contributor at ConsenSys and Polygon, as executive director. The team stated: “Lilic will lead Telos’s transition to a layer-0 network integrated with ZK technology, aimed at attracting global developers and users. Having been an early volunteer at the Bitcoin Center NYC in 2014, Lilic joined ConsenSys in 2015 and later became a key advisor at Polygon in 2020. He’s also recognized as a Top 50 Web3 Angel Investor. Lilic will allocate the headline sponsorship for ETHCC 2024 to Telos, along with an additional sponsorship at ETH Belgrade 2024. Furthermore, he’ll endeavor to establish an external advisory board comprising top-tier talent in 2024.

Bracket, A DeFi Structured Products Platform, Secures $2M In Funding From Binance Labs & NGC

On January 5, Bracket Labs, offering leveraged structured products for non-custodial DeFi users, raised $2 million in a pre-seed round. This funding, led by Binance Labs and NGC Ventures, supports their ‘Passage’ volatility trading product on the BracketX platform. According to the team, ‘Passage,’ operating on Arbitrum, streamlines on-chain long and short volatility trading with a user-friendly interface. It features 200% leverage, a limit order book, and a liquidity-improving vault. Bracket Labs aims to further enhance Passage by introducing liquid-staked tokens and deploying on BNB Chain in 2024.

KuCoin’s Investment In DeMR, A Mixed-Reality Project Built On Solana

On January 4, KuCoin Labs, the investment and incubation arm of the Seychelles-based crypto exchange KuCoin, announced a strategic investment in DeMR. DeMR stands for ‘decentralized mixed reality (MR)’ infrastructure network (MR-DePIN), operating on the Solana blockchain, as per a press release. The project tackles critical challenges related to 3D mapping by utilizing a decentralized network and an automated AI map reconstruction pipeline. This approach allows the collection and reconstruction of global full-scene 3D high-definition map data more cost-effectively and efficiently, offering open spatial interaction services for extensive MR applications. The data ownership and revenue are shared among global contributors, with continuous revenue based on subsequent application evaluations of contribution volumes.

VC Specializing In EOS Backs EZSwap For Gaming & ‘Smart Inscriptions’

On January 4, EOS Network Ventures (ENV) announced a $500K investment in EZ Swap, a multi-chain NFT DEX protocol and inscription marketplace, as part of its successful second fundraising round in December 2023, totaling $1 million. ENV led the investment with backing from major investors like IOBC Capital and Momentum Capital. This investment aims to significantly bolster EZ Swap’s gaming asset and smart inscription protocol landscape. ENV operates as a venture capital fund specializing in strategic equity and token-based investments in Web3 startups leveraging the EOS Network. The EOS Network, described as a third-generation blockchain platform, is powered by the EOS VM, a low-latency, highly performant, and extensible WebAssembly engine facilitating feeless transactions.

* We hope this information will help you in your investment process, but this is not investment advice. Every investment carries risk, especially in this industry, so DYOR before making a decision.