Crypto Biz: The Web3 arms race is upon us, April 14–20, 2022

April 22, 2022 Coin Telegraph

2022 is shaping up to be the year for Web3. KuCoin, Framework Ventures and CoinDCX have all made a splash in this emerging paradigm.

“Web3” used to be an empty industry buzzword that described the next iteration of the internet. In 2022, Web3 is still an annoying buzzword, but at least the blockchain community is trying to assign it real-world utility.

This week’s Crypto Biz newsletter features several major funding rounds dedicated to building the Web3 economy. After reading through the stories, you can decide whether we’re actually getting closer to defining Web3. Oh, and remember all the buzz surrounding Special Purpose Acquisition Companies, or SPACs? A crypto-focused SPAC just closed an initial public offering on the Nasdaq, raising $115 million in the process.

Framework Ventures allocates half of $400M fund to Web3 gaming

Remember DeFi Summer 2020? Well, venture capitalists are gearing up for Web3 Summer 2022. That should help numb the crippling pain of 2021’s Summer of Wyckoff. Framework Ventures is anticipating big things for the space. This week, the venture firm announced that it would invest $200 million of a new $400 million fund in Web3 gaming projects. Now for the hard part: How do they identify the next Axie Infinity? Framework was an early investor in Chainlink, Aave and The Graph, so it knows how to spot gems very early.

KuCoin-backed companies launch $100M Web3 developer fund

I used to associate KuCoin with endless shitcoin listings, but the exchange is a lot bigger than I thought. Not only does KuCoin have its own venture arm, but it’s also rolling out a new NFT marketplace called Windvane. KuCoin Ventures and Windvane have co-launched a $100 million “Creators Fund” to help fund — you guessed it — Web3 projects. If we’re going to be technical about it, the Creators Fund wants to target NFT startups that are contributing to the development of Web3. Projects at the intersection of art, sports and GameFi are eligible to receive funding.

Crypto exchange CoinDCX raises $135M funding to support Indian Web3

For all the uncertainty surrounding India’s cryptocurrency laws, the country is becoming quite the hotbed for digital asset investing. This week, local exchange CoinDCX became India’s first crypto-centric business to complete a Series D funding round, raising $135 million to support various Web3 initiatives. While it’s not entirely clear how the funding will be used, CEO Sumit Gupta said India has the opportunity to become a leader in the Web3 economy. Gupta also told local news outlets that Web3 will only add to India’s financial system.

Crypto-focused SPAC raises $115M in Nasdaq IPO

A SPAC by the name of Aura FAT Projects Acquisition Corp recently launched its initial public offering (IPO) on Nasdaq, raising $115 million with a focus on crypto industry assets. The IPO was actually oversubscribed by $15 million, which tells you all you need to know about the institutional appetite for all things crypto. Aura FAT is eyeing strategic acquisitions in the blockchain sector, focusing on Web3 (there it is again), digital ledger technology (DLT), e-gaming assets and crypto more generally. Wait until you read about the SPAC’s geographical presence.

Don’t miss our portfolio reveals!

What does your crypto bag look like? In this week’s The Market Report, Cointelegraph analysts revealed their crypto holdings. Full disclosure: I’m a hardcore Bitcoiner because I believe Bitcoin (BTC) is the best monetary alternative we have in the age of rapidly inflating fiat. But, my fellow analysts Jordan Finneseth and Benton Yuan have a much different take. You can watch the full replay below.

Crypto Biz is your weekly pulse of the business behind blockchain and crypto delivered directly to your inbox every Thursday.

KuCoin Launches $100M Web3 Creators Fund

April 19, 2022 The Crypto Briefing

KuCoin-backed companies launch $100M Web3 developer fund

April 19, 2022 Coin Telegraph

KuCoin-backed companies launch 0M Web3 developer fund

Coin Telegraph

The fund will support early-stage NFT projects that are contributing to the growth and development of the Web3 economy.

Crypto exchange KuCoin’s venture capital arm and nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace have launched a $100 million “Creators Fund” to help bootstrap early-stage NFT projects at the intersection of art, sports and GameFi.

KuCoin Ventures and the Windvane NFT marketplace have created the fund to help artists and creators showcase their work and scale their business to wider audiences, the companies announced Tuesday. The fund’s mandate is to support promising NFT projects that are contributing to the development of Web3, which refers to the next iteration of the internet powered by blockchain technology.

Windvane is a new NFT marketplace from KuCoin that aims to tap into the crypto exchange’s large user base. At the time of writing, KuCoin was the fifth largest crypto exchange by volume, according to CoinMarketCap.

The rise of Web3 has given creators a new venue to mint NFTs that have real utility inside virtual worlds. Yet Siu, the co-founder and chairman of venture capital firm Animoca Brands, recently told Cointelegraph that Web3 provides an efficient way for creators to work collaboratively for both name recognition and economic benefit.

‘This is the Mona Lisa of the digital world’, This is what Sina Estavi who bought the NFT in March 2021 told then

Jack Dorsey’s first tweet was converted to a NFT last yr & sold for $2.9 million. Now, it may be resold for less than $14,000. pic.twitter.com/fvDU37lgmV
— Naresh Nambisan ‍♂️ (@nareshbahrain) April 17, 2022

While the nonfungible token market has slowed recently, as evidenced by the plunging resale value of Jack Dorsey’s genesis tweet NFT, the industry’s builders continue to attract significant interest from venture capital. As Cointelegraph reported, NFT avatar startup Genies recently closed a $150 million Series C funding round at a valuation of $1 billion. In January of this year, NFT-focused holding company Metaversal raised $50 million to expand its investment capacity in the digital collectible and metaverse sectors.

Lack of proper financial services boosts crypto ownership in Nigeria, says report

April 12, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

One of the main reasons investors across the globe seek to diversify traditional assets into crypto is to counter rising fiat inflation.

A new study has revealed staggering growth in crypto adoption across Nigeria, fueled by limited access to affordable fiat-based financial services in Africa.

Crypto exchange KuCoin’s “Into the Cryptoverse Report” highlights that many Nigerian citizens have started using cryptocurrencies as a viable alternative to store and transfer assets.

According to the report, 35% of the Nigerian population aged 18 to 60 — or 33.4 million people — have owned or traded cryptocurrencies during the last six months. Out of those people, nearly 17.36 million (or 52% of Nigerian crypto investors) have allocated over half of their assets to cryptocurrencies.

One of the main reasons why investors across the globe seek to diversify traditional assets into cryptocurrencies is to counter rising fiat inflation. For example, a selection of United Kingdom investors was surveyed last month, and the majority considered tokens to be safer and more secure than traditional investments such as gold, oil, stocks and real estate.

The KuCoin report further highlights peer-to-peer trading as the most popular method among Nigerian investors to convert fiat into crypto assets. Doubling down on the crypto adoption spree, roughly 23.38 million Nigerians, or 70% of existing crypto investors, will increase their cryptocurrency investments over the next six months.

The value of the naira, the nation’s fiat currency, has fallen by over 209% in the past six years, which stands as one of the key drivers for local investors to eye deflationary assets such as Bitcoin (BTC).

The report also shows that while a majority of Nigerian crypto investors began their hodling journey many years ago, 26% began investing in cryptocurrencies just six months back — owing to the 2021 bull run, which saw BTC prices briefly cross the $69,000 mark.

In October 2021, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari introduced the country’s central bank digital currency, the eNaira. Numerous governments across the globe intend to use CBDCs as a digitized fiat replacement, primarily aimed at reducing operational costs and speeding up cross-border payments.

The eNaira is considered the most developed CBDC, scoring 95 out of 100 across both the retail and wholesale categories in PwC’s recently released “2022 Global CBDC Index.”

Earlier in April, a study released by crypto exchange Gemini confirmed a massive rise in global crypto investors in 2021.

As Cointelegraph reported, India, Brazil and Hong Kong witnessed the highest crypto adoption, with more than 50% of respondents acknowledging investing in cryptocurrencies.

*Cryptocurrency ownership by country. Source: Gemini*

Gemini’s report also found that Indonesia and Brazil are leading the world i the share of cryptocurrency investors among the general population.

Study Finds 33.4 Million Nigerian Adults Hold or Have Traded Crypto in Last 6 Months

April 12, 2022 Bitcoin.com

New $250M TONcoin Fund targets DEX and NFT tools on TON blockchain

April 11, 2022 Coin Telegraph

New 0M TONcoin Fund targets DEX and NFT tools on TON blockchain

Coin Telegraph

Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo announced plans to adopt the TON blockchain amid the TONcoin Fund launch.

The TON Foundation, an organization building on the Telegram-initiated blockchain project, The Open Network (TON), has chosen the TONcoin Fund as its official ecosystem fund.

The TONcoin Fund announced on Monday the launch of an ecosystem fund focusing on supporting TON-based projects, securing an initial collective commitment of up to $250 million from major firms within the industry. The fund has earned the title of the TON Foundation’s official incubation partner, meaning that they will support the fund’s portfolio investments.

The fund’s contributors included firms like Huobi Incubator, Kucoin Ventures, MEXC Pioneer Fund, 3Commas Capital, the blockchain startup Orbs, TON Miners and Kilo Fund. The fund aims to deploy funds through incubation, investment, grants, hackathons as well as educational programs as projects are accepted and incubated.

TONcoin Fund managing partner Benjamin Rameau told Cointelegraph that the fund is working “very closely” with the TON Foundation, hoping to help the TON blockchain reach its full potential. Rameau said that the fund is focused explicitly on Web3-related developments and is now incubating a decentralized exchange and nonfungible token (NFT) project. “We are also eying opportunities with wallets, NFT marketplaces and decentralized finance,” he added.

“TON may become the first blockchain network accessible to millions of users thanks to the Telegram integration efforts by the community via in-app bots as well as native interface proposals,” Rameau noted. He referred to Pavel Durov’s public endorsement of TONcoin in late 2021, which followed an announcement of TONcoin’s payment integrations with the Telegram messenger.

Rameau, who is also the founder of Jenny Metaverse DAO and partner at the cryptocurrency trading platform 3Commas Capital, grew interested in the TON blockchain and related applications while starting with Gamee, a Telegram bot-enabled mobile gaming platform. He realized that TON would be a great fit for creating blockchain solutions that “people actually want to use” and enable the mass adoption of the technology.

The executive told Cointelegraph that TON-enabled solutions could include payments, play-to-earn games, profile pictures on chats directly linked to crypto wallets as well as subscriptions to media, stating:

“TON will not just be the blockchain that people use on Telegram, it will define people’s online identity and will act as a bridge between all their Web3 and Web2 activities.”

The latest announcement came on the same day with Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the Republic of the Congo dislosing plans to adopt TON, the layer one proof-of-stake blockchain, as the cryptocurrency and blockchain to drive future national economic progress. The DRC is also reportedly considering launching a new national stablecoin, built on top of the TON blockchain.

"TON has been engaging with all three countries independently for some time and has taken the lead to deliver cryptocurrency and blockchain solutions for each nation. These countries will each undertake a phased transition to adopting cryptocurrency as a central pillar of their economic structures," the joint announcement notes.

Telegram officially shut down its involvement in TON in May 2020 after a lengthy battle with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission over Telegram’s $1.7 billion initial coin offering in 2018. The open-source blockchain project has since given rise to many other projects such as Free TON, NewTON as well as TONcoin.

KuCoin