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SynFutures, a decentralized derivatives exchange, has announced a $1.4 million fundraise as it launches the test net for the first version of its synthetic asset trading platform.
Standard Crypto and Dragonfly took part in the funding round, the valuation of which SynFutures declined to share.
Similar to DeFi projects like Synthetix, the SynFutures marketplace aims to allow users to launch tokens tied to a wide range of assets, including gold and stocks.
In an interview with The Block, Rachel Lin — formerly head of DeFi and lending at Matrixport — said that the project differs from the competition because it offers a more open market relative to others. Whereas Synthetix decides which assets are to be listed on its platform, SynFutures will allow any market to launch that draws price data from Chainlink, Lin said. Assets on the platform will also trade as futures, with users having the ability to trade with leverage.
SynFutures also plans to partner with Bitmain and Houbi on supporting hashrate derivatives — a product that allows traders to hedge or speculate on the bitcoin network’s mining difficulty.
The startup has more fundraising plans on the horizon. Lin said SynFutures is planning to raise a Series A round in either the first or second quarter of the year.
The seed funding round’s announcement comes during a period of expansion for the DeFi market, with volumes at decentralized exchanges as the percentage of centralized exchange volume growing since November, according to data compiled by The Block.
© 2021 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
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Author: Brady Dale
A new $72 million crypto venture capital fund has been announced, drawing a mix of deep-pocked investors, including billionaire Paul Tudor Jones.
Details of the fund and its backers were first reported by Yahoo! Finance. The fund’s limited partners include recording artist and producer LL Cool J, former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi, SoFi CEO Anthony Noto, Apollo Group co-founder Josh Harris and former TD Ameritrade CEO Joe Moglia, among others.
The fund was launched out of North Island Ventures, a New York-based VC firm founded in 2017. North Island is chaired by Glenn Hutchins, the co-founder of private equity firm Silver Lake. Hutchins will manage the fund alongside James Hutchins, who previously worked as Coatue Management’s head of research, and Travis Scher, formerly vice president of investments for Digital Currency Group.
According to a series of tweets from Scher, some of the fund’s investments include Dapper Labs — creator of the CryptoKitties gaming dapp and the Flow blockchain — as well as startups Axelar and Nori.
“We believe that crypto offers solutions to some of the world’s most pressing problems, and our mission is to support the best entrepreneurs in the world bringing these solutions to life,” he wrote in a tweet.
© 2021 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
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The Chinese city of Suzhou is set to give away 30 million yuan or about $5 million in the latest digital currency test.
The city government announced the news on Thursday, saying that the giveaway will take place on Friday, in 150,000 red envelopes, each worth 200 yuan ($31).
The giveaway results will be announced on February 10, and winners will have to spend the money between February 10 and February 26 on the e-commerce site JD.com and selected offline merchants in Suzhou.
This would be the latest digital yuan trial by Suzhou. In December, the city gave away about $3 million worth of digital yuan in red packets.
China’s digital currency keeps getting real with an increasing number of city-wide tests, as The Block has reported previously. Chengdu is said to be the next place to roll out another test of China’s central bank digital currency, officially known as Digital Currency/ Electronic Payment or DC/EP.
© 2021 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
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Author: Yogita Khatri