Shigeru, CGV Research Nowadays, Web3 is no longer an armchair theory or an Internet buzzword. It is perceived by many people as the technological revolution that subverts the Internet. However, looking around the world, few Web3 applications have a host of users. Probably the only renowned Web3 application with the most users is Bitcoin. — Jack Dorsey, a former Web3 advocate and Twitter founder who converted the first tweet into NFT, claimed that “You don’t own web3. The VCs and their LPs (limited partners) do. It will never escape their incentives.”; — Moxie Marlinspike, founder of Signal, an encryption communication application, discovered that Web3 may be a false proposition, after developing two DApps; — PandaDAO, which raised 1900ETH, started the dissolution process less than one year after its founding, just because “the core work of the community is to vote, and there is no time to do other things”… Currently, it is fair to say that the world of Web2 is definitely better than that of Web1. Many people wonder if the world of Web3 is better than that of Web2. It makes no sense without users. The natural selection of users determines the prosperity of the Web3 world or not. In the Web2 world, Facebook has more than 3 billion global users, YouTube and WhatsApp have more than 2 billion users, and WeChat and Tik Tok have more than 1 billion users. According to the data of TripleA, a cryptocurrency payment company, there were more than 320 million users of cryptocurrency and Web3 worldwide in 2022, which was about 4.2% of the global population. If we compare the current user volume of Web3 with that of the Internet, we can find that the current development stage of Web3 is roughly equivalent to the Internet in the late 1990s. Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) predicted that Web3 might have 1 billion users in a short time. So, what are the areas in which applications will attract billion of Web3 users? Stay away from “pseudo-Web3 applications” dressed in Web3 Discard the false and retain the true. Not all so-called Web3 applications are authentic. In the field of GameFi, there are many “pseudo-Web3 applications”. Literally speaking, GameFi, consists of two parts, namely game, and finance. In a nutshell, it means that game players earn cryptocurrency by playing games. Famous GameFi games such as Axis Infinity, DeFi Kingdoms, etc., fail to impress 3 billion game players around the world, and gradually move towards a death spiral with the recession of the encryption market. Taking Axie Infinity as an example, since 2021, by allowing players to “Play-to-Earn”, it has been advocating that “blockchain games can promote a fairer global economy and provide people around the world with more opportunities”, which has been favored by the market. However, 14 months later, most people stopped playing the game. They generally felt angry, and anxious. Some even lost thousands of dollars. A healthy GameFi project has a well-established ecological mechanism of internal and external circulation, such as obtaining external benefits through commercial cooperation. As for the GameFi projects that rely on the Ponzi model for user growth, the income earned by early users comes from the principal invested by late users. If the income of the project cannot keep up with the growth rate of the debt, the collapse is only a matter of time. Similar problems exist in the field of NFT, which is dominated by avatars and profile pictures (PFP). In the past, PFP was almost synonymous with NFT. When mentioning NFT, you may think of the boring ape head that costs several million dollars a piece. However, without functional support, effective incentives, and healthy circulation of the creator economy, the vast majority of PFP projects have little value, and they only seek the recognition of a group of users to support their value. Compared with the market peak at the beginning of 2022, the overall transaction volume of the NFT market has dropped by more than 90%, the mainstream PFP projects have dropped by 60–70%, and other projects are even more miserable. The same is true of the once-popular Metaverse projects. Compared to Roblox’s 202M monthly active users, Minecraft’s 141M monthly active users, Sandbox and Decentraland only have 200k and 56k monthly active users, respectively. It seems that Decentraland and Sandbox are overvalued. It can be said that in addition to the above fields, there are a large number of “pseudo-Web3 applications” in DeFi, DID, DAO, Sociafi, and other fields. They may be the products of the capital bubble or the historical heritage of the technological growth cycle, which cover up the true value of Web3 applications. It’s time for us to seek the value essence of Web3 From the perspective of the first principles, let’s explore the essence of Web3 to gain insight into its next development direction. Web3 is generally regarded as the industry form closest to “value Internet”. In fact, Web3 is not a simple upgrade based on Web1 and Web2. Its core is to build a new network with decentralization, value co-creation, and distribution according to the contribution, thus giving users real data autonomy. So, how should we define “Web3 application”? Based on the views of the industry, CGV Research team reckons that the Web3 application is based on blockchain technology, takes Token as a tool or medium, and addresses users’ actual needs as the starting point to support users’ interactive operations, thus realizing the creation, distribution, and circulation of value. Obviously, the Web3 application is not a panacea for all issues, nor is it suitable for any scenario. If you develop a Web3 application to cater to the trend of Web3, it will be in vain. What are Web3 applications suitable for and not suitable for? This is a question that should be on the minds of anyone investing in Web3. I quite agree with Alex Xu of Mint Ventures that the underlying value of Web3 lies in its unlicensed and global nature, providing a free market with unprecedented scale and boundaries. The open source of code and the verifiability of data offer a lower cost of trust in this unprecedented and prosperous free market. Therefore, “liberty” and “trust” are the core advantages and essential values of Web3. In terms of Liberty, it includes the free combination and migration of assets, agreements, identities, product matrices, intellectual property, and other fields; with respect to trust, based on the tamper-proof, transparent and open characteristics of blockchain technology, Web3 has established a new trust relationship different from the traditional trust that relies on justice, violent authority, customs, and culture. If a Web3 application suitable for a business scenario is not well designed in terms of “Liberty” and “trust” and has no business planning, it will encounter major challenges in future operations. For example, projects that transfer real assets on the chain (such as synthetic assets, STO, etc.) do not get rid of the original credit system (based on the law, government’s asset identification), so it does work well in Web3 field; as for crypto native Web3 assets, their business flows can all be operated on the chain, which has the dual advantages of Liberty and trust. In addition to giving full play to Web3’s advantages of “Liberty” and “trust”, the ability to have basic business logic ensures the sustainable operation of Web3 projects. Looking back at StepN, a phenomenal Web3 application in 2022, although its attempts to solve various issues related to product growth, IPO fundraising and corporate governance with a set of X-to-earn economic models deserve some credit, it encountered a tremendous recession in the later stage. The biggest issue of StepN is similar to that of GameFi mentioned above, that is, the project’s business model is not sound and does not create much extra-ecological value. It turns forward debt (NFT sales revenue) into cash proceeds, weakening the value creation ability of the project. Therefore, the CGV Research team argues that the success of Web3 applications lies in the digital elements of “Liberty” and “trust”, and the verifiability of business logic, which are indispensable. In this regard, the team proposes the “Unicorn Growth Index” of Web3 applications: Six types of Web3 projects that have the potential to grow into “unicorns” 1.Mobile crypto digital wallet Liberty index: ☆☆☆☆ Trust index: ☆☆☆☆ Business model verifiable index: ☆☆☆☆☆ Web3 Unicorn growth index: ☆☆☆☆☆ The crypto digital wallet has two attributes, namely asset account, and identity symbol. The first step for users to access the Web3 world is to create a crypto digital wallet. Whether it is to create an account in a centralized exchange, register a decentralized wallet or purchase a hardware wallet, users need a wallet to access Web3. In 2009, Bitcoin enabled the existing asymmetric key pair technology to be used to write to the public database, thus creating the first “crypto wallet”; In 2016, MetaMask was officially launched, which opened the door to dApps. It is unlike previous wallets and platforms that focused on interacting with crypto assets such as Bitcoin. Number of global wallet users from November 2011 to July 11, 2022 (Unit: million) Data source: https://www.statista.com With the development of crypto assets, wallets have undergone changes in different stages: from single-asset wallets and single-chain wallets to multi-chain multi-asset wallets, from single transfer and collection to blockchain ecological aggregation service platform, which generates mobile wallets, public-chain ecological wallets, transaction platform wallets, asset custody wallets, hardware wallets, identity wallets, and other sub-tracks. In addition to the traditional business model of attracting users and developing the fund deposit function, crypto wallets provide value-added services (wealth management products, PoS mining, trading, asset aggregation, market information, etc.), as well as advertising and other ways to increase revenues. We are optimistic about the development of mobile crypto wallets and have the opportunity to become the data flow and distribution platform of Web3 applications, which will ultimately promote the paradigm shift of the entire Web3 track from “wealth creation effect” to “daily application”. Mobile crypto digital wallets worth attention include: Metamask: (@MetaMask) 30+ million monthly active users. Lightweight Ethereum open-source wallet is also a kind of APP wallet; It has the function of testing Ethereum smart contract and supporting the most complete Dapp; it can be compatible with hardware wallets such as Ledger and Trezor. TrustWallet: (@TrustWallet) an unmanaged mobile multi-chain crypto wallet that has more than 58 million users and supports more than 8 million tokens and various gateways to thousands of Web3 dApps. BitKeep: (@BitKeepOS) 8 million users worldwide, the largest Web3 multi-chain wallet in the Asian market, adopts various security mechanisms such as hot and cold separation, offline signature, and supports 80+ mainnets, one-click cross-chain transactions, and other functions. 2. “Play-and-Earn” game Liberty index: ☆☆☆☆ Trust index: ☆☆☆☆☆ Business model verifiable index: ☆☆☆☆☆ Web3 Unicorn growth index: ☆☆☆☆☆ Just like the importance of games to the Internet economy, crypto games have been regarded as the optimum driving force for the growth of users of the Web3 ecosystem. Although crypto games have a huge potential market, it is not interesting for most players. Currently, GameFi or P2E (Play-to-Earn) is the most common crypto game. Their biggest advantage is to offer players the opportunity to earn money. But the simple incentive to make money through play is not necessarily a sustainable model. If the cycle is extended to half a year or longer, you will find no successful practice project. To play Web3 games, we still have to respect the game attributes and pay attention to the fun, which is the real value. As the market fever wanes and user interest shifts, Web3 games have a new trend of Play-and-Earn. On the one hand, Web3 games draw on the Free-to-Earn model of traditional games, so that everyone can participate for free and some players can make money; On the other hand, Web3 games create complete on-chain games and autonomous worlds. The core logic of games is on the chain, and they will adopt the open architecture, autonomous existence, and combination in the future. Unfortunately, the typical representative of the “Play and Earn” game has not yet appeared. Who will be the next Axis Infinity and StepN needs to be tested by history. While games are still exploring how to strike a balance between the entertainment experience and the financial incentives, the capital is betting on the market. In May 2022, a16z launched a $600 million fund dedicated to investing in Web3 gaming startups, mainly in three areas: game studios, consumer applications that support the player community (take Discord for example), and game infrastructure providers. Superficially, the three fields are scattered, they only have one goal, to create real Web3 games. It is worth noting that the next generation of “Play-and-Earn” games, projects related to Web3 game industry, may be created by them: TreatureDAO: (@Treasure_DAO) a decentralized game platform and distribution platform that meets the needs of independent developers through perfect infrastructure and ecology, and forms an economy by accumulating players’ activity content. Currently, it is the №1 game and NFT ecosystem on Arbitrum, with more than 100,000 players. SkyArk Studio: (@SkyarkS) an AAA blockchain game studio, which launched on-chain and asset-only series of games such as SkyArk Chronicles, as well as the exclusively developed NFT game engine. The engine allows NFT to be interoperable, editable, and evolvable, and helps players use NFTs in different games with different gameplays. Bedlam: an electronic sports game center, a platform for creating and hosting personal game identities (performance statistics and content) for Web3 games. Users can participate in leagues or tournaments and follow their favorite teams. 3.Phydigital application Liberty index: ☆☆☆ Trust index: ☆☆☆☆ Business model verifiable index: ☆☆☆☆ Web3 Unicorn growth index: ☆☆☆☆ In terms of crypto native and Web2 brands in fashion and entertainment, Web3 offers opportunities to bring digital and real-world objects and experiences to their audiences. The new popular pairing of the physical world and the digital world has coined a new term “phydigital”. “Phydigital” (“Physical” plus “Digital”) integrates physical environment or physical objects and digital or online technology-driven experience. It was first proposed by Momentum, an Australian marketing agency, in 2013. We reckon that, in a broader sense, physical projects with digital performance and digital projects that affect the physical environment or physical objects can be taken as phydigital applications. They represent a broad category of Web3, enabling blockchain developers to figure out new approaches that combine the physical and digital worlds. In 2022, Tiffany, a luxury jewelry company, launched “NFTiffs” to the holders of CryptoPunks, with a physical version of the diamond pendant. 250 NFTiffs sold out within 20 minutes after their debut and created $12.5 million of revenue for the company. The creation of this “phygital” project is an innovative business attempt by luxury goods to Web3. In December 2021, NIKE announced the acquisition of RTFKT, a virtual fashion brand, and regarded it as the fourth largest independent brand in addition to Nike, Jordan, and Converse. It can be seen that Nike has raised NFT construction to the level of brand strategy. RTFKT is building a physical shoe, which employs Nike’s electronic shoelace Adapt technology. Consumers can exchange corresponding physical shoes after purchasing virtual ones. NBA Top Shot is a blockchain collection game jointly created by NBA, NBPA, and Dapper Labs. It aims to turn the highlight moments of NBA games into tradable digital game cards. In other words, the paper card exchange that fans used to need to do offline can take place anywhere, anytime online. In addition to the above FMCG and luxury goods, the physical card business of the financial category is trying to connect with Web3. Visa and Mastercard jointly develop cryptocurrency debit cards with different Web3 companies. For example, Blockchain.com will cooperate with Visa to launch a debit card, which is associated with the client’s crypto account. There are no fees for the transactions of this debit card and users can get 1% cryptocurrency cashback. By integrating the physical and the digital world, phydigital drops are no longer used to buy items for display, but to produce more things by combining various parts of the real world and the virtual world to create unique experiences. In the initial stage, phygital products integrate physical and virtual products. With the convenience of social sharing and DIY derived from virtual products, we can get a glimpse of the great potential generated by the combination of phygital and Web3. At present, the providers of phydigital application solutions that deserve attention include: RTFKT Studios: (@RTFKT) it adopts the latest game engine, NFT, blockchain certification, and augmented reality, and applies manufacturing expertise to create unique sneakers and digital artifacts. Dapper Labs:（@dapperlabs）it is the company behind the well-known projects CryptoKitties, NBA Top Shot, NFL All Day, UFC Strike, and Flow blockchain. It uses blockchain technology to develop NFT and new forms of digital engagement for fans around the world, paving the way for a more open and inclusive world that starts with games and entertainment. 4.Web3 growth stack application Liberty index: ☆☆☆ Trust index: ☆☆☆☆ Business model verifiable index: ☆☆☆☆☆ Web3 Unicorn growth index: ☆☆☆☆ Web2 embraces Web3, which will facilitate the breakthrough in Web3 and attract huge incremental users. According to statistics, 43 of the top 100 brands in the world, including Starbucks and others, are testing the alternative use cases of Web3 and NFTs. Major Brand Flagship NFT Collection Launches Source: Messari Shayon Sengupta of Multicoin Capital first proposed the concept of “Web3 Growth Stack”, that is, product managers and marketing personnel use Web3 technology to build tools to acquire, attract and retain clients. The great advantage of Web3 Growth Stack is the ability to tightly couple in-application events with on-chain payments. Web2 products cannot deliver value to users in real time, but Web3 products can and may even fundamentally expand the design space for growth tools and advertising models. Previously, Starbucks announced the launch of the Starbucks Odyssey, an NFT membership program. Consumers can participate in Odyssey series of travel activities, mainly including interactive games and fun challenges. After completion, consumers will receive a collectable Digital Journey Medal (NFT) as the reward. The Digital Journey Medal can be traded as NFTs, upgrading participate-to-ear to collect-to-earn and improving user stickiness and repurchase; Starbucks members have NFTs, which means that the data is uploaded on the chain. Other brands (cooperative or competitive brands) can perform various airdrops for these members, which has evolved into airdrop-to-ear. The more active the members are, the more NFTs they have, the more airdrops they will get, and the stickiness and repurchase of users will be improved. The essence behind the Starbucks NFT membership program is to follow the user-centered philosophy, where users take back data ownership and gain more value. Now, more commercial brands are paying close attention to how Starbucks develops and practices in the future; If it works, we will see the great enthusiasm of major brands for the release of the NFT reward points system. Starbucks has 27.4 million members, Nike has more than 300 million members, and Pizza Hut has more than 80 million members… These brands use the “Web3 Growth Stack” to transform Web3, which may be the fastest way to create Web3 applications with one billion users. “Web3 Growth Stack” applications that deserve special attention include: Blackbird: (@blackbird_xyz) a Web3 platform specially designed for the tourism and hotel catering industry. It is committed to establishing direct links between restaurants and guests through loyalty and membership services. It integrates loyalty and member-related products to provide rewards for dining frequency, consumption, etc. Layer Infinity: (@RensOriginal) a Web3 platform established by e-commerce brands. It helps traditional consumer brands easily migrate to Web3, and release NFTs compatible with the Metaverse, which can be bound with physical products. In addition to tracking the authenticity of products and exchanging physical objects, each NFT can be linked to various practical NFTs. 5.Web3 social application Liberty index: ☆☆☆ Trust index: ☆☆☆☆ Business model verifiable index: ☆☆☆☆☆ Web3 Unicorn growth index: ☆☆☆☆ The social platform has a large number of users, portraits, and behavior data, which contains the huge business value. The most valuable Internet products in the world of Web2 are best illustrated by the valuations of giants like Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, etc. According to Metcalfe’s law, the value of a social network is proportional to the square of the number of users. The more users, the greater the value of social platforms, and then the user growth curve explodes at a single point. Diagram of Metcalfe’s law Source: MicroFinTech: Expanding Financial Inclusion with Cost-Cutting Innovation Therefore, the pain point of innovation in social projects is that it is “easy to defend but difficult to attack”. Once a user network is established through a certain paradigm, it is impossible for the latecomers to surpass it. For the social platform in the Web3 era, the decentralized technology based on the blockchain makes the user’s creative content, social relationship data, identity, and reputation achieve decentralization and composability. People will have absolute control over their social data, thus forming a user-centered social network. However, the development of Web3 social applications is still at an infant stage. Web 3 products cannot support the billion-level daily user volume of Facebook, WeChat; Web 3.0 products have a higher threshold, but their product experience is poorer than Web2 products. Besides, most Web3 social products only meet the on-chain social and financial needs of crypto native users. Products that meet on-chain and off-chain social and financial needs may stand out in the future. After all, social is more than just online data interaction. It should be linked to video entertainment, games, music, fitness, and other aspects of our lives. CGV Research believes that the key characteristics of the next generation of Web3 social applications should include: 1) the cost acceptable to the user; 2) The product experience close to or better than Web 2, and lower threshold for use; 3) cost acceptable to the user data synchronization (both on-chain and off-chain can be integrated); 4) design continuous incentive mechanism through tokens or NFTs; 5) mature community vitality, high user activity, and stickiness. Overall, social applications are the most promising but the most difficult field for Web3 applications. How to expand infrastructure and implement a sustainable economic model is the current focus and pain point. For the Web3 social applications, we need to take a longer view. Web3 social applications worthy of attention include: Lens Protocol: (@LensProtocol) an open and composable Web3 social media protocol that allows anyone to create unmanaged social media materials and build new social media applications. Users are free to develop and own the content they create by owning the corresponding NFTs. Mask Network: (@realMaskNetwork) a portal that helps users transfer from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0. It integrates privacy and social networking, a cross-border payment network, decentralized file storage and sharing, decentralized finance, and governance (DAO). It allows users to encrypt their messages on social media platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook. Besides, it has the functions of sending and receiving cryptocurrency red packets, ITO, uploading, and saving decentralized files. Galxe: (@Galxe) a collaborative credential infrastructure that is designed to create user profiles based on the user’s blockchain behavior. Brands and projects can use these Web3 digital credentials for better promotion, such as gamifying their loyalty system, launching marketing campaigns, acquiring users, etc. 6. Creator economy application Liberty index: ☆☆☆☆☆ Trust index: ☆☆☆☆☆ Business model verifiable index: ☆☆☆☆ Web3 Unicorn growth index: ☆☆☆☆ For many people, the creator economy is a big concept. Its content includes texts, pictures, music, videos, and other forms, each with a different growth logic. From the perspective of the industry, CGV Research deems that the creator economy refers to the economic form in which independent content creators (such as bloggers, social media KOL, photographers, etc.) publish their original content through digital carriers such as texts, videos, audios, and other channels via platforms or communities, and gain profits. The creator economy has two key characteristics: first, creators can turn data flow into cash by acquiring fans and followers with unique contents; second, creators can build tools and infrastructure to create or manage content. According to the Influencer Marketing Hub, 50 million people worldwide participate in the creator economy. By the end of 2022, the market size of the global creator economy reached US$104.2 billion. However, the current creator economy system has serious income inequality, with a large portion of creators’ earnings being paid to third parties as service fees. On Spotify, each song played once by a paid account only generates a copyright fee of $0.004; only 0.33% of YouTube creators earn full-time income; and only the top 1% of authors on Amazon earn $1,000 in a month. In addition, problems such as the lack of content management rights and vicious competition are commonplace in the current creator economy system. Web3 is a new generation of Internet based on blockchain infrastructure, which has made the biggest difference between the creator economy and the previous ones. In addition to consumption and creation, users own and freely use the data content created by themselves. List of global creator economy startups Source: Speedinvest According to this logic, Web3 will bring three paradigm changes to the “creator economy”: 1) redistribute the value and rights of the platform to creators through independent mechanisms such as tokenization and smart contracts; 2) provide composable and trustable perspectives for people who want to start creating; 3) for the first time, users have the opportunity to gain rewards and own part of the Internet value. The application scenarios of Web3 creator economy projects include content creation, NFT issuance and trading, community building, fan motivation, and asset management. A complete value chain has been formed to help creators use content, NFT, and social tokens to closely connect with fans. Of course, it should be reminded that the starting point of the Web3 creator economy is not about grabbing data flow, but abandoning the competition for users’ attention and highlighting productivity. Only by providing better content, can higher revenue be achieved. Web3 creator economy applications worthy of attention: Mirror: (@viamirror) it combines content publishing with web3 technology, stores content in Arweave, and publishes it to fans by connecting wallets. Besides, all posts on Mirror are mintable, turning fans into collectors; Rally: (@rally_io) YouTube’s Web3 alternative. It is a platform for creators and their communities to build their independent digital economy. It prioritizes creators and allows them to promote interaction with the community around social tokens. Bill Gates once said: “most people overestimate what they can do in one or two years and underestimate what they can do in five or ten years.” Now it seems that the Web3 market with 1 billion users is still far away from us. But nothing is impossible, it is only a matter of time. As a Web3 practitioner, the only thing we can do is to provide better Web3 services to all corners of the world and all aspects of everyone’s life through the constant building, thus making this day come earlier. Note: This article is a CGV research paper and is for reference only. It does not constitute any investment proposal. About Cryptogram Venture (CGV): A Japan-based research and investment institution engaged in crypto. It has participated in early investments in Republic, CasperLabs, AlchemyPay Graph, Pocket, and Powerpool, as well as the Japanese government-regulated yen stablecoin JPYW, etc. CGV FoF is the limited partner of Huobi venture, Rocktree capital, Kirin fund, etc. Currently, CGV has branches in Singapore, Canada, and China. References: https://a16z.com/2020/12/07/social-strikes-back-fastest-growing-apps/ https://multicoin.capital/2023/01/11/the-web3-growth-stack/https://www.robinsloan.com/lab/notes-on-web3/ https://future.com/power-of-social-community/ https://medium.com/ixfi/SocialFi-what-is-it-and-how-does-it-affect-social-media-as-we-know-it-8c28c023a00d https://twitter.com/jolestar/status/1589830650659753986 https://coinyuppie.com/SocialFi-the-key-technology-changing-the-globalization-of-the-blockchain-industry/ https://medium.com/coinmonks/what-exactly-is-SocialFi-is-this-a-new-cryptocurrency-trend-1d2bf209dd99 https://blockcast.cc/news/an-overview-of-the-SocialFi-ecosystem-social-dao-and-governance-tools/

With the temporary recovery of the crypto market, Web3 funding and developers in all tracks are active. From last week’s statistics (10 projects in total), Web3 infrastructure projects (5) were the main direction of funding, while the number of funding for NFT (1), Metaverse (1), and Web3 application (3) projects started to pick up. CGV summarizes a week of noteworthy investment and funding information in the crypto market, as follows for January 23, 2023 to January 29, 2023 in the global crypto market. 【Infrastructure】 1. Tribes | Raised $3.3 million in pre-seed round｜Led by Kindred Ventures On January 23rd, Tribes, a Web3 social wallet, announced the closing of a $3.3 million pre-seed round led by Kindred Ventures, South Park Commons and Script Capita. Link to original article: https://www.coindesk.com/business/2023/01/23/web3-social-wallet-tribes-launches-with-33m-in-funding/ 2. QuickNode | Series B financing of $60 million｜Led by LLC On January 24, QuickNode, a blockchain development platform, announced the closing of a $60 million Series B funding round at a valuation of $800 million, led by 10T Holdings, LLC, with participation from Tiger Global, 776, Protocol Labs and QED. Link to original article: https://cointelegraph.com/press-releases/quicknode-raises-60m-series-b-round-to-further-fuel-blockchain-adoption 3. Asset Reality | Seed round funding of $4.91 million｜Led by Framework Ventures On January 25, Asset Reality, a digital asset recovery solution, announced the closing of a $4.91 million seed round led by Framework Ventures with participation from TechStars, SGH Capital and others. Link to original article: https://www.assetreality.com/post/asset-reality-raises-5m-in-recent-seed-funding 4. Ethos | Raised $4.2 million｜Mysten Labs participates On January 26th, Ethos closed a $4.2 million seed round led by Gumi Cryptos Capital and Boldstart Ventures, with participation from Tribe Capital, Matrix Port and AllianceDAO, as well as Sui network developer Mysten Labs. Link to original article: https://www.theblock.co/post/205795/sui-based-wallet-raises-4-2-million-led-by-gumi-cryptos-and-boldstart?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social 5. Tholos | Raised $1.5 million in pre-seed round｜Led by North Island Ventures On January 28th, Tholos, a money escrow platform, closed a $1.5 million Pre-seeded round led by North Island Ventures, Lattice Capital, Chainforest and Dispersion Capital, with participation from 369 Capital and others. Link to original article: https://mirror.xyz/tholos.eth/dwHnNWuOFLXJ6Bzju-OBE5h1GpLKtDmq49diOmGnsBM 【NFT】 6. EZswap | Pre-Seed round of funding of $1 million On January 26, EZswap, an NFT trading platform, announced that it closed a $1 million Pre-Seed round of funding in October 2022 at a $40 million Token valuation, and that the platform’s code has been audited by security firm Beosin and will go live at the end of January. Link to original article: https://twitter.com/EZ_swap/status/1618604379455750147 【Metaverse】 7. Emperia | Series A financing of $10 million｜Led by Base10 Partners On January 25, Emperia, a metaverse-as-a-service (MaaS) platform, announced the closing of a $10 million Series A round led by Base10 Partners, with participation from Sony Innovation Fund, Stanford Capital Partners, Daphi, Concept Ventures, Background Capital and others. Link to original article: https://wwd.com/business-news/technology/metaverse-emperia-retail-ecommerce-funding-1235496551/ 【Web3 Applications】 8. Bunzz | Seed round funding of $4.5 million｜gjmp and other participants On January 25, Bunzz, a Web3 decentralized application development platform, announced the closing of a $4.5 million seed round with participation from gjmp, DG Daiwa Ventures, Coincheck and Ceres. Link to original article: https://www.thebharatexpressnews.com/bunzz-raises-4-5m-to-expand-its-smart-contract-hub-for-dapp-development-tben/ 9. Spatial LABS | Raised $10 million in a seed round｜Led by Blockchain Capital On January 26th, Spatial LABS, a Polygon Chain-based Web3 wearable technology startup, announced the closing of a $10 million seed round led by Blockchain Capital with participation from Marcy Venture Partners, a venture capital firm co-founded by Jay-Z. Link to original article: https://techcrunch.com/2023/01/26/spatial-labs-a-web3-infrastructure-and-hardware-company-closes-10m-seed-round/ 10. StoryCo | Seed round financing of $6 million｜Led by Patron On January 26th, StoryCo, a Web3 content platform, announced the completion of a $6 million seed funding round led by Collab + Currency and Patron, with participation from Floodgate Ventures, Blockchange Ventures, Sfermion, Flamingo DAO, and others. Link to original article: https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-storyco-blockchain-immersive-storytelling-nft-raised-6-million-2023-1 About Cryptogram Venture (CGV): CGVCGV FoFCryptogram Venture (CGV) is a Japan-based research and investment institution engaged in crypto.With the business philosophy of “research-driven investment”, it has participated in early investments in FTX, Republic, CasperLabs, AlchemyPay, Graph, Bitkeep, Pocket, and Powerpool, as well as the Japanese government-regulated yen stablecoin JPYW, etc. Meanwhile, CGV FoF is the limited partner of Huobi venture, Rocktree capital, Kirin fund, etc.From July to October 2022, it launched the first TWSH in Japan, which was jointly supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Keio University, SONY, SoftBank, and other institutions and experts. Currently, CGV has branches in Singapore, Canada, and China. and China.

From last week’s statistics (11 projects in total), Web3 infrastructure projects (4) were the main direction of funding, while DeFi (3), NFT (1), Metaverse (1), and Game (1) projects also continued to have low funding numbers. CGV summarizes a week’s worth of noteworthy investment and funding information for the crypto market, as follows for January 16, 2023 to January 22, 2023 in the global crypto market. 【Infrastructure】 1. Cypher | Raised $4.3 million｜Led by Y Combinator On January 19, Cypher, a multi-chain Web3 wallet, announced the completion of a $4.3 million funding round led by Y Combinator with participation from OrangeDAO, Samsung Next and others. Link to original article: https://www.theblock.co/post/203711/y-combinator-multichain-wallet-cypher?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social 2. Nil Foundation | Raised $22 million｜Led by Polychain Capital On January 19, Nil Foundation, a developer of ZK technology, announced a $22 million funding round at a valuation of $220 million, led by Polychain Capital with participation from IOSG Ventures, Blockchain Capital, Starkware, and Mina Protocol. Link to original article: https://www.theblock.co/post/203411/zk-tech-developer-nil-foundation-raises-22-million-at-a-220-million-valuation?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social 3. Koinos Group | Raised $500,000｜Led by Blockchain Founders Fund On January 20th, Koinos Group, a developer of the public chain Koinos, closed a $500,000 seed round led by Blockchain Founders Fund with participation from Splinterlands. Link to original article: https://www.finsmes.com/2023/01/koinos-group-raises-500k-in-seed-funding.html 4. Jeff | Pre-A round of financing｜Joycity and others participated in the project On January 20, Jeff, a subsidiary of Korean payment company Danal’s Meta Universe, closed a Pre-A round of funding with participation from Singapore VC Xponential Ventures and gaming company Joycity for an undisclosed amount. Link to original article: https://www.coindeskkorea.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=82994 【DeFi】 5. Davos | Pre-seed round raises $500,000｜Polygon Ventures participates On January 18, DeFi startup Davos announced the closing of a $500,000 pre-seed round with participation from Polygon Ventures and Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal. Link to original article: https://yourstory.com/the-decrypting-story/defi-startup-davos-funding-sandeep-nailwal-polygon 6. Elixir | Seed round funding of $2.1 million｜FalconX and others participated in the project On January 17, Elixir, a DeFi protocol, closed a $2.1 million seed round with participation from FalconX, Commonwealth, OP Crypto, ChapterOne and others. Link to original article: https://www.theblock.co/post/202510/falconx-bitmex-founder-hayes-invest-in-market-maker-elixir-amid-dearth-of-providers 7. Diva | Seed round funding of $3.5 million｜Led by A&T Capital On January 17, Diva, a decentralized liquidity pledge protocol, closed a $3.5 million seed round led by A&T Capital with participation from Gnosis, Bankless, OKX Blockdream Ventures, Metaweb, DCV Capital, Alphemy Capital and others. Link to original article: https://www.theblock.co/post/202690/diva-closes-3-5-million-seed-round-for-distributed-liquid-staking-protocol 【Game】 8. Intella X | Raised $12 million｜Animoca Brands and others participated in the project On January 18, Intella X, a Web3 gaming platform, announced the completion of a $12 million funding round with participation from Polygon, Animoca Brands, Magic Eden, Planetarium, Big Brain Holdings, Crit Ventures, JoyCity, Pearl Abyss, XL Games, Wemix, and Global Coin Research. Link to original article: https://www.theblock.co/post/202995/polygon-backed-web3-gaming-platform-intella-x-raises-12-million-ahead-of-q1-launch 【NFT】 9. Candy Digital | Series A1 financing of $38.5 million｜Led by Galaxy Digital On January 20, Candy Digital, a sports NFT company, closed its Series A1 funding round earlier this year for $38,449,997 led by Galaxy Digital and ConsenSys Mesh, with participation from 10T Holdings and ConsenSys, among others. Candy Digital will use the funding to continue to expand its platform and build new partnerships with other brands and organizations. Link to original article: https://www.coindesk.com/business/2023/01/19/sports-nft-firm-candy-digital-raised-over-38m-amid-founder-strife/?utm_source=twitter&utm_content=editorial&utm_medium=social&utm_term=organic&utm_campaign=coindesk_main 【Web3 Applications】 10. Plai Labs | Seed funding round of $32 million｜Led by a16z On January 20, Web3 social platform Plai Labs closed a $32 million seed round of funding led by a16z, with no other investors disclosed at this time. Link to original article: https://www.coindesk.com/web3/2023/01/19/tech-veteran-backed-web3-social-platform-plai-labs-raises-32m-in-seed-round/?utm_campaign=coindesk_main&utm_medium=social&utm_term=organic&utm_content=editorial&utm_source=twitter 【Metaverse】 11. Createra | Series A financing of $10 million｜Led by a16z On January 16, Createra, a metaverse project, closed a $10 million Series A round of funding led by a16z, which is dedicated to building a metaverse platform centered on Generation Z. Link to original article: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/createra-raises-10-million-led-230731410.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cudGhlYmxvY2tiZWF0cy5pbmZvLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAKEn5bDbcxeqxq-UrTHadhEJvv7wjTb3OEITxD4Tafj65RjRDCbsg1nfjoGrjW1DJ8STi3xgJmcLt-hKeLrWZuGMv51orSsOtFhZYRawUEVTW8AdCiqA6e6ftRxauHxyEQukR2g3y7_nzoCoO_I_CI5EUJHG-i2rOrlrTsl_4m42 About Cryptogram Venture (CGV): A Japan-based research and investment institution engaged in crypto. It has participated in early investments in Republic, CasperLabs, AlchemyPay Graph, Pocket, and Powerpool, as well as the Japanese government-regulated yen stablecoin JPYW, etc. CGV FoF is the limited partner of Huobi venture, Rocktree capital, Kirin fund, etc. Currently, CGV has branches in Singapore, Canada, and China.

The crypto market as a whole saw a decline this week, with both BTC and ETH down 6%. Looking at this week’s statistics (9 projects in total), the pitch market started to recover for NFT (2), Game (3), and DeFi (3) projects, while the number of pitches for Web3 infrastructure projects (1) slowed down.CGV, in conjunction with CTC, has compiled a week’s worth of noteworthy investment and funding information from the global crypto market for August 29 — September 4, 2022, as follows. 【Infrastructure】 1. Sei Labs | Seed round funding of $5 million｜Led by Multicoin Capital On August 31, crypto startup Sei Labs closed a $5 million seed round led by Multicoin Capital, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, GSR, Flow Traders, Hudson River Trading, Delphi Digital, Tangent and others. Link to original article:https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-31/ex-goldman-banker-s-crypto-startup-backed-by-key-market-makers 【DeFi】 2. GammaX | Raised $4 million｜Led by StarkWare On August 29th, GammaX, a Singapore-based company building a new high-performance hybrid crypto derivatives exchange, closed a $4 million round of funding led by StarkWare and Dexterity Capital, with participation from Alphanonce, Cobo, Genesis Trading, Kyber, Ledger Prime, Matrixport, Profluent, Uncorrelated, and 01Node. Link to original article:https://decrypt.co/108460/gammax-raises-4m-launch-crypto-derivatives-exchange-ethereum-layer-2-solution 3. Clockwork | Raised $4 million｜Led by Multicoin Capital On August 30th, Clockwork, a decentralized automation network for Solana, closed a $4 million seed round led by Multicoin Capital and Asymmetric, with participation from Solana Ventures and El Cap Ventures. The funding round will be used to expand the team, build community and support integration with partner projects. Link to original article:https://www.theblock.co/post/165953/solana-automation-network-clockwork-raises-4-million?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social 4. GoGoPool | Raised $5 million｜Led by Framework Ventures On August 31,GoGoPool, a decentralized staking protocol on Avalanche, announced a $5 million funding round led by Framework Ventures and Coinfund, with participation from Avalaunch, Republic Capital and Flow Traders. Link to original article:https://www.theblock.co/post/166498/gogopool-raises-5-million-to-provide-decentralized-staking-on-avalanche?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social 【Game】 5. Limit Break | Raised $200 million｜Led by Paradigm On August 29th, Limit Break raised $200 million in two rounds of funding led by Josh Buckley, Paradigm and Standard Crypto, with participation from FTX, Coinbase, Positive Sum, Shervinator and Anthos Capital. Link to original article:https://twitter.com/limitbreak/status/1564240941690798081?s=21&t=8jZochTqhoCKzRvvu4iz-A 6. Xterio | Raised $40 million｜Led by FTX Ventures On August 30, Xterio, a web3 game developer and publisher, announced a $40 million funding round co-led by video game developer FunPlus, venture capital firm Makers Fund, FTX Ventures and blockchain gaming platform XPLA, with participation from Animoca Brands, HashKey, Foresight Ventures, Infinity Ventures Crypto and Matrix Partners. Foresight Ventures, Infinity Ventures Crypto and Matrix Partners. Link to original article:https://www.theblock.co/post/166447/web3-game-developer-xterio-raises-40-million-in-saft-sale 7. Internet Game | Seed round funding of $7 million｜ParaFi Capital and others participated On September 3, Internet Game, a project that has described itself as ‘HQ Trivia meets NFTs,’ announced the closing of a $7 million seed funding round with participation from ParaFi Capital, Dragonfly Capital, Dephi Digital, Uniswap Ventures, Collab+Currency and others. Link to original article:https://www.theblock.co/post/167390/bankrupt-hq-trivias-nft-reinvention-scores-7-million-seed-round 【NFT】 8. Tokenproof | Raised $5 million｜Led by Penny Jar On August 30, Tokenproof, a token-gating platform, announced a $5 million funding round led by Penny Jar with participation from Corazon Capital, 6th Man Ventures, Canonical Crypto and others. Link to original article:https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/08/30/nft-security-startup-tokenproof-raises-5m-to-keep-jpegs-safe-from-scammers/ 9. PROOF | Series A financing of $50 million｜Led by a16z On August 31, PROOF, the parent company of NFT project Moonbirds, announced the completion of a $50 million Series A funding round led by a16z with participation from Seven Seven Six, True Ventures, Collab+Currency, Flamingo DAO, SV Angel, Vayner Fund and others. Link to original article:https://docs.proof.xyz/future/press The first Tokyo Web3 Summer Hackathon, “TWSH”, was launched by Cryptogram Venture (CGV). TWSH welcomes the participation of traditional Internet developers and blockchain developers who are interested in Web3, developers, engineers, product managers and UI designers with innovative and creative abilities. Application for institutional cooperation (event support, project investment, media cooperation, etc.): Yurinatyou@cgv.fund Website for project registration: https://www.web3hackathon.io/ About Cryptogram Venture (CGV) Cryptogram Venture (CGV) is a Japan-based research and investment institution engaged in crypto. With the business philosophy of “research-driven investment”, it has participated in early investments in FTX, Republic, CasperLabs, AlchemyPay, Graph, Bitkeep, Pocket, and Powerpool, as well as the Japanese government-regulated yen stablecoin JPYW, etc. Meanwhile, CGV FoF is the limited partner of Huobi venture, Rocktree capital, Kirin fund, etc. Currently, CGV has branches in Singapore, Canada, and China.

With the US Dollar Index nearing a 20-year high and the 10-year US Treasury yield reaching 3%undefined capital flowed out of risky assets and the Crypto market followed the US equity market in a sharp correction. From this week's statistics (7 projects in total)undefined the number of crypto market primary market pitches slowed downundefined with Web3 Infrastructure (2)undefined NFT (1)undefined Game (2)undefined and Metaverse (2) projects all seeing a decrease in the number of pitches and funding. CGVundefined in conjunction with CTCundefined has put together a roundup of the notable pitches and funding information from the global crypto market for the week of 2022undefined as follows The following is a summary of the global crypto market's notable pitches from August 22 - August 28undefined 2022. 【Infrastructure】 1. Hidden Road Partners | Series A financing of $50 million｜FTX Ventures and others participated On August 22ndundefined Hidden Road Partners recently announced the closing of a $50 million Series A round of financing led by Castle Island Ventures with participation from FTX Venturesundefined Citadel Securitiesundefined Uncorrelated Venturesundefined Greycroftundefined XBTOundefined Humla Venturesundefined Wintermuteundefined SLN Capitalundefined Profluent Tradingundefined Coinbase Ventures and Corner Capital. Humla Venturesundefined Wintermuteundefined SLN Capitalundefined Profluent Tradingundefined Coinbase Venturesundefined and Corner Capital. Link to original article:https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-22/wall-street-crypto-giants-line-up-to-back-startup-prime-broker#xj4y7vzkg 2. Mural | Seed round funding of $5.6 million｜DCG and others participated On August 23rdundefined Muralundefined a crypto firm focused on decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) infrastructureundefined announced the closing of a $5.6 million seed round with participation from Mike Novogratz's Galaxy Venturesundefined Barry Silbert's Digital Currency Group (DCG)undefined Firstminute Capitalundefined 186 Ventures and others. Link to original article:https://techcrunch.com/2022/08/23/mural-raised-5-6m-to-help-brands-deploy-dao-treasury-funds/ 【Game】 3. Cricinshots | Seed Round Financing｜Led by Antler India On August 24undefined Web3 cricket game Cricinshots announced the completion of a seed funding round led by Antler India for an undisclosed amount. Link to original article:https://bwdisrupt.businessworld.in/article/Web3-Game-Cricinshots-Raises-Pre-Seed-Funding-Led-By-Antler-India/24-08-2022-443577/ 4. Animoca Brands Japan | Raised $45 million｜ MUFG and others participated On August 26undefined Animoca Brands Japan announced the closing of a $45 million financing round at a $500 million valuationundefined with participation from MUFG and Animoca Brandsundefined which will allow Animoca Brands Japan to use the new funding to continue to license popular intellectual propertyundefined develop internal capabilitiesundefined and facilitate the adoption of Web3 by multiple partners. Link to original article:https://www.animocabrands.com/animoca-brands-japan-raises-usd-45-million-from-mufg-and-animoca-brands-to-grow-web3-business 【Metaverse】 5. Ready Player Me | Series B financing of $56 million｜ Led by a16z On August 23rdundefined Ready Player Meundefined a metaverse identity platformundefined closed a $56 million funding round led by a16z with participation from Roblox co-founder David Baszuckiundefined Twitch co-founder Justin Kanundefined King Games co-founder Sebastian Knutsson and Riccardo Zacconiundefined sports and entertainment company Endeavourundefined Kevin Hart and Hartbeat Venturesundefined among others. Link to original article:https://techcrunch.com/2022/08/23/ready-player-me-a-platform-to-build-dynamic-cross-game-avatars-for-virtual-worlds-raises-56m-led-by-a16z/?tpcc=tcplustwitter 6. Com2uS | Raised $3 million｜SK Networks participates On August 23undefined Com2Verseundefined the metaverse subsidiary of game publisher Com2uSundefined announced the closing of a 4 billion won ($3 million) financing round with SK Networks participating to acquire outstanding shares. Link to original article:https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2022/08/23/business/tech/Korea-game-metaverse/20220823152254430.html 【NFT】 7. NFT Genius | Series A financing of $10.5 million｜ Led by Dapper Labs and others On August 25undefined NFT Genius closed a $10.5 million Series A round of funding at a $150 million valuationundefined led by Dapper Labsundefined Spartan Labsundefined Commonwealth Asset Management (CWAM) and Fundamental Labsundefined with participation from Spartanundefined One Football and Unibancoundefined among others. Link to original article:https://www.nftgators.com/nft-genius-raises-10-5m-series-a-funding-at-150m-valuation-exclusive/ About Cryptogram Venture (CGV) : Cryptogram Venture (CGV) is a Japan-based research and investment institution engaged in crypto. With the business philosophy of “research-driven investment”undefined it has participated in early investments in FTXundefined Republicundefined CasperLabsundefined AlchemyPayundefined Graphundefined Bitkeepundefined Pocketundefined and Powerpoolundefined as well as the Japanese government-regulated yen stablecoin JPYWundefined etc. Meanwhileundefined CGV FoF is the limited partner of Huobi ventureundefined Rocktree capitalundefined Kirin fundundefined etc. Currentlyundefined CGV has branches in Singaporeundefined Canadaundefined and China.

A few days ago, the first Tokyo Web3 Summer Hackathon, "TWSH", was launched by Cryptogram Venture (CGV). As of August 25, Tokyo time, nearly 100 projects have completed their registration. As the co-sponsors of this event, THE Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Keio University, SONY, SoftBank, Cointelegraph Japan (CTJ), and other institutions will "take root in Japan", innovate and practice Japan's unique "industry-government-university" cooperation mechanism, discover and support the best talents and teams in the Web3 field. Meanwhile, TWSH will "go global" and gather top partners who are facilitators of the global Web3 ecosystem. Currently, TWSH has received strong support from dozens of renowned institutions in the global blockchain industry, including Metis, MetaEstate, Avalanche, Alchemy Pay, Atom Capital, Binance, BAI Capital, Cryptomeria Capital, Consensus Lab, EVG , Gate.io, IOSG Ventures, IPFS infinite Japan, K24 Ventures, Kirin Fund, Matrixport, NGC Ventures, OKX, Tokyo Tower, Tokyo Esports Gate, Rocktree Capital, Samurai Guild Games, SevenX, Waterdrip Capital, Y+ capital, and members of Asia Blockchain Gaming Alliance (ABGA) such as Huobi Ventures, Polygon, Spark Digital Capital, Yield Guild Games (YGG), covering encryption and Web3 investment and research, public chain, trading platform, financial services, Metaverse ecological development, etc. They will bring together all resources for this event to make contributions to the hackathon. TWSH welcomes the participation of traditional Internet developers and blockchain developers who are interested in Web3, developers, engineers, product managers and UI designers with innovative and creative abilities. The details of the "TWSH" have been announced. Winners will have access to receive investment and startup guidance from top global VC institutions, win prizes with a total prize pool of $150,000, as well as the support of a million dollar incubation fund. Application for institutional cooperation (event support, project investment, media cooperation, etc.): Yurinatyou@cgv.fund Website for project registration: https://www.web3hackathon.io/ About the "TWSH" "Tokyo Web3 Summer Hackathon (TWSH)" is initiated by Cryptogram Venture (CGV), and supported by experts from institutions such as the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Keio University, Sony, Softbank, Asia Blockchain Gaming Alliance (ABGA), Cointelegraph Japan (CTJ). It will be "Japan-based and global-oriented", give full play to Japan's unique "industry-government-academia" cooperation and innovation mechanism to discover, support, and help outstanding talents and teams in the Web3 field and explore the application potential of the Web3 on a global scale, to help teams and projects start smoothly and achieve sustainable growth and development. About Cryptogram Venture (CGV) Cryptogram Venture (CGV) is a Japan-based research and investment institution engaged in crypto. With the business philosophy of "research-driven investment", it has participated in early investments in FTX, Republic, CasperLabs, AlchemyPay, Graph, Bitkeep, Pocket, and Powerpool, as well as the Japanese government-regulated yen stablecoin JPYW, SONY Tokyo Tower, Metaverse REDO, etc. Meanwhile, CGV FoF is the limited partner of Huobi venture, Rocktree capital, Kirin fund, etc. Currently, CGV has branches in Singapore, Canada, and China.

On August 5th, Japan's first Web3 Hackathon, the event details of "Tokyo Web3 Summer Hackathon (TWSH)", was officially announced. "Tokyo Web3 Summer Hackathon (TWSH)" is initiated by Cryptogram Venture (CGV) and supported by experts from institutions such as the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Keio University, Sony, Softbank, Asia Blockchain Gaming Alliance (ABGA), Cointelegraph Japan (CTJ). It will be "Japan-based and global-oriented", give full play to Japan's unique "industry-government-academia" cooperation and innovation mechanism to discover, support, and help outstanding talents and teams in the Web3 field and explore the application potential of the Web3 on a global scale, to help teams and projects start smoothly and achieve sustainable growth and development. Since the launch of the "TWSH", dozens of industry organizations such as IOSG, BAI capital, HashKey, Metis, Achemypay, etc. have joined as supporting organizations and judging committee members. Additionally, nearly 100 projects have been registered. According to the arrangement and setting of the organizing committee of "TWSH", the event details of this hackathon are as follows: 1.Schedule July 26 - August 26: Project registration; August 27 - September 16: Project pre-selection, excellent project roadshow, and NFT theme exhibition and other related activities September 17 - September 26: Organize centralized evaluation of projects and announce the results of the awards; End of September: Offline award ceremony in Japan. (Follow @CGVFof on Twitter for updates.) 2. Participants Traditional Internet developers and blockchain developers who are interested in Web3, developers, engineers, product managers, and UI designers with innovative and creative abilities. 3. Key fields "TWSH" welcomes projects from any public chain/ecological team to submit projects. The key fields of the competition include: Web3 protocol and infrastructure (L1/L2/cross-chain bridge, storage/identity/communication/auditing, etc.); Metaverse (virtual land, scenario development, platform construction, content production, virtual humans, etc.); NFTs (new standard protocols, issuance platforms, liquidity infrastructure, blue-chip assets, etc.); Games (innovative games, basic development layers, issuance platforms, guilds, etc.); DAOs (basic tools, asset management platforms, collection/self-service, guild governance), etc. 4. Resource support Bonus sponsorship. The winning projects will share a total prize pool of $150,00: 1 champion (20,000 USDT); 2 runners-up (10,000 USDT each); 6 second runners-up (5,000 USDT each), as well as several regional awards, category awards, and ecological sponsorship awards. Project investment and entrepreneurial guidance. Outstanding projects have the chance to receive a total of $1 million from the incubator funding, as well as start-up guidance from top global VC institutions. Connect developers with partner resources. The project can establish contacts with more BUIDLer and Web3 organizations, exchange with and learn from them, and explore more cooperation opportunities. Project exposure and brand awareness enhancement. The projects will gain more popularity through Japan's first Web3 Hackathon; the winning projects will have the opportunity to receive PR support and media interviews provided by CGV. 5. Scoring criteria Application for institutional cooperation (event support, project investment, media cooperation, etc.): Yurinatyou@cgv.fund Website for project registration: https://www.web3hackathon.io/ About Cryptogram Venture (CGV) Cryptogram Venture (CGV) is a Japan-based research and investment institution engaged in crypto. With the business philosophy of "research-driven investment", it has participated in early investments in FTX, Republic, CasperLabs, AlchemyPay, Graph, Bitkeep, Pocket, and Powerpool, as well as the Japanese government-regulated yen stablecoin JPYW, SONY Tokyo Tower, Metaverse REDO, etc. Meanwhile, CGV FoF is the limited partner of Huobi venture, Rocktree capital, Kirin fund, etc. Currently, CGV has branches in Singapore, Canada, and China.

By: Vargason, CGV Research Fellow Introduction As we enter the Web3 world, let’s start by asking ourselves a question: Do we need a crypto wallet to trade and keep our crypto assets? The answer is yes. Crypto wallets are essential for users in terms of market transactions and asset custody. With the development of DeFi, GameFi, and NFT, the use of crypto wallets has become a must-have skill. As a digital asset circulation carrier and an essential medium for reaching users, the crypto wallet is no longer an independent product but the gateway to the Web3 ecosystem. In recent years, the number of tokens lost on centralized exchanges has increased. The CeFi platform, while generating significant revenues, is unable to protect users’ assets, making users prefer to protect their assets through crypto wallets. If you want to explore the Web3 world, the first thing you need to do is to understand and use crypto wallets. In this article, CGV introduces you the crypto wallet, its ecological development, and the role it plays in the Web3 world. 1. What is the crypto wallet? 1.1 The development path of the crypto wallet Initially, crypto wallets were only used for depositing crypto assets and occasional transfers. Crypto wallets were more of an option for users with numerous assets, and most of users preferred to deposit their assets on non-custodial centralized exchanges. Due to the frequent security incidents on centralized platforms and the threat to users’ crypto assets, users prefer to protect their assets through crypto wallets. With the development of DeFi and NFT, users have begun to use crypto wallets to interact with on-chain protocols. In addition to allowing users to interact with various protocols, crypto wallets have introduced exchange functions, greatly facilitating users’ participation in Web3. 1.2 Private keys are the “Achilles’ heel” of crypto wallets Common crypto wallets are divided into three categories, namely software wallets, hardware wallets, and paper wallets, which can also be classified as hot or cold wallets depending on their working mechanism. A crypto wallet is mainly composed of a wallet account, a public key account, and a blockchain network, among which the most important are public keys, private keys, and mnemonics. Crypto wallets do not deposit digital assets, they are just a tool that provide what’s needed to interact with the blockchain. These wallets can generate indispensable information to support transactions that send and receive cryptocurrencies via the blockchain. Such information contains one or more pairs of public and private keys, and the address essentially represents a specific “location” on the blockchain used to receive the cryptocurrency. Therefore, you can disclose the public key address to others to receive funds. However, you cannot reveal to anyone your private key, which allows you to access the cryptocurrency in your wallet, regardless of which wallet you use. The private key is the “Achilles’ heel” of a crypto wallet and is the most important part of your crypto wallet that you need to protect. 2. Why is wallet the gateway to the Web3 world? 2.1 The crypto wallet has a promising future How to understand the relationship between crypto wallets and Web3? First of all, we should realize that the layout of crypto wallets is the starting point for building a value network, a vital traffic entry for infrastructure in the blockchain era. It is also the first step to participating in digital asset transactions and related asset activities. Paypal reported a 40% increase in new crypto wallet users in revenue in Q4 2021 and predicted that crypto services would make more progress and double in 2022. This year’s frequent market manias have confirmed this. Recently, Robinhood officially announced the launch of a crypto wallet at the Bitcoin Conference 2022 in Miami, and Opera launched an Internet browser and a crypto wallet with built-in Web3 integration. Besides, Phantom won $109 million in equity, and WalletConnect completed the A round of $ 11 million, etc. As an important entry for Web3 projects, the market expectations of crypto wallets are very impressive. Wallet is the traffic entrance of DeFi and an indispensable part of the crypto ecosystem. Wallets such as Metamesk and Bitkeep are crypto wallets that stand out in the wave of DFI. For example, Solana attracted users with its public chain design but lacked an easy-to-use wallet software. After Solana released the Phantom wallet, it attracted investment from industry investors including A16Z and Coinbase, and gained a large market share. 2.2 The path to digital asset management platforms for crypto wallets With the increase in crypto applications and the expansion of the crypto market scale, crypto wallets will gradually become a management platform that includes a variety of digital assets, from the single function of depositing and protecting assets, to generate more service products, such as wallet wealth management products, manageable ID documents, one-stop aggregated asset management platforms for daily payment, memorial card, etc. In this way, users can further experience the advantages of decentralized wallets, which will become important product forms and presentation methods in Web3. CGV deems that the more elements derived from crypto wallets, the more favorable it is to promote the progress of Web3. It may be a container for assets on our chain, and a collection of identities when we act in the Web3 world. A large number of daily behaviours will be related to the blockchain wallet, and users can even browse Web3 directly using crypto wallets. Crypto wallets are crucial to driving the industry. As the number of users grows, so does the demand for wallets. Crypto wallets are evolving into daily digital wallets, investment/deposits centers, digital identities, Web3 social, chain Bridges, etc. 2.3 Crypto wallets provide a safe haven for the Web 3 world As wallets become more widely used, there are more incidents of malicious clusters targeting Web3-enabled wallets such as Metamask. Confiant, a security agency, has uncovered a cluster of malicious activities involving a distributed wallet that allows hackers to steal private seeds and access users’ funds through backflushed fake wallets. Crypto wallet, which provides high performance, high security, and low threshold asset management services and extended platform for global users and developers, will be the next focus. There is no clear answer as to which crypto wallet should be used. If you trade frequently, a web wallet allows you to quickly access your funds and conduct transactions with ease. Let’s take a look at several wallets that are frequently used by users in the current market: 3. Ecological analysis of crypto wallets To make it easier for you to understand crypto wallets, CGV analyses the current wallet market by the way it works, and divides crypto wallets into “hot wallets” and “cold wallets”. Hot wallets refer to wallets that are connected to the Internet in any way. On the contrary, cold wallets are completely disconnected from the Internet. They use physical media to store keys offline, which can effectively resist online attacks by hackers. Therefore, cold wallets are more secure in “depositing” tokens. 3.1 Hot wallet ecology 1）BitKeep BitKeep is a decentralized multi-chain digital asset wallet. The wallet team has a unique understanding of the crypto industry and wallets. They have integrated Wallet, Swap, NFTMarket, DeFi, and DApps to build the gateway to the Web3 ecosystem. Public data shows that BitKeep wallet has become one of the more popular crypto wallets in Asia in terms of user base, revenue size, and valuation ranking. CGV notes that the problem for new users entering the Web3 world is that the learning threshold is too high, especially when it comes to mainnet selection for wallets, asset trading, and other issues. To lower the threshold for users, BitKeep has introduced several distinctive features: Buy any asset with any digital asset. BitKeep realizes quick exchange on DEXs such as Uniswap, Sushiswap, PancakeSwap, etc., and one-click cross-chain exchange for any asset of Ethereum, BSC, HECO, Polygon, Avax, Fantom, OEC, TRX, Solana. Save gas fees. Users do not have to deposit the corresponding mainnet tokens in advance as gas fees when transferring or trading via the BitKeep wallet, and can directly use the existing tokens to exchange, which saves the extra costs incurred by two exchanges, and simplifies the steps of exchanging mainnet tokens. Buy NFTs easily. BitKeep NFT Market is an aggregated NFT market with cross-platform search capabilities, as well as support for receiving and transferring tokens and bulk transfers of tokens, allowing users to purchase NFTs using any token on the same chain. CGV notices that capital institutions also favor BitKeep. On May 18, 2022, BitKeep raised $15 million in financing, with a valuation of $100 million. KuCoin Ventures, A&T Capital, Matrixport, Bixin Capital, Peak Capital, YM Capital, and other first-tier institutions have participated in the investment. 2）MetaMesk MetaMask is an easy-to-use crypto wallet supporting iOS/Android and major browsers. It is the wallet most widely supported by various browser in the crypto economy and has become the standard for all decentralized applications (Dapps). For users, MetaMask is an “electronic bank account” that can manage crypto assets, and users can use it for online and offline consumption, transfers, mortgage loans and other operations. It is also a “passport” to the decentralized network under the Web3 concept, through which users can connect to most platforms in the blockchain field. In terms of security, it is different from the mode in which the keys are stored in the central server, which isolates the storage environment from the site environment. With respect to connectivity, the interface between Ethereum and various DeFi platforms is built. That is, it is possible to participate in construction without synchronizing complete nodes. MetaMask is undoubtedly the most likely to become the Google of the Web3 era with its initial business model, as well as its leading monthly active users and funding scale. 3）Gnosis Gnosis Safe is a smart contract wallet running on Ethereum that requires the minimum required amount of keys of the total number of keys that is needed to sign the transaction (M-of-N). For example, if your business has 3 key stakeholders, you can set your wallet to require approval from all of them before sending a transaction request, which ensures that no one can steal the funds. Over the past 4 years, the development of multi-signature wallet Gnosis Safe has become a critical infrastructure for Web3, protecting digital assets for DAOs, institutions, projects and individuals. Gnosis Safe users manage over $64 billion worth of assets on the Ethereum mainnet alone. 4）CoinbaseWallet CoinbaseWallet is a beginner-friendly secure wallet with low transaction fees and ease of use. With CoinbaseWallet, you can use it not just as a tool to access cryptocurrencies, but as a foothold to explore decentralized networks. With CoinbaseWallet, you can manage ETH and all your ECR-20 currencies. As it supports BTC, BCH and LTC, you can use it to receive airdrops and cryptocurrencies, buy and store cryptocurrencies, and trade with anyone anywhere with no fees. 3.2 Hard wallet ecology 1）Ledger Ledger is a hardware wallet with moderate ease of use and high security. Ledger, the maker of Bitcoin hardware wallets, is one of the technology leaders in digital currency security, providing consumers and businesses with trusted hardware. Ledger is a smartcard-based Bitcoin hardware wallet that offers the highest level of protection with technology-leading availability and manipulation. Ledger hardware wallet is a multi-functional wallet, a hardware device that securely stores private keys. When viewing the wallet and sending transaction requests, the hardware wallet needs to be used with a software wallet. It also supports the secure storage of Bitcoin, Ethereum and platform tokens, Zcash, etc. Its projects have offered open source resources on Github. 2）Trezor Trezor is a hardware wallet with moderate ease of use and high security. Trezor is a high-tech data encryption memory. This brand is recognized as the earliest and most discreet and secure crypto memory. It is a reliable brand that has been verified by global digital currency players, with excellent company records and rich software support. Trezor’s security model is based on the principle of zero trust, which assumes that any part of the security system can be successfully attacked. Summary There is no clear answer as to which crypto wallet should be used. CGV suggests that if you trade frequently, web wallet can allow you to quickly access funds and conduct transactions conveniently. If you hold a large number of cryptocurrencies for a long time and do not intend to sell them, then cold wallet is an ideal option. These wallets are not connected to the Internet and are more secure against online phishing attacks or scams. Therefore, before choosing the ideal wallet, you should first figure out the technology of the wallet. Practical protection tools should be considered when using cryptocurrency trading platforms. CGV deems that with the continuous prosperity of the Web3 ecosystem, it will be a huge opportunity for crypto wallets to integrate this ecosystem and enrich our assets. About Cryptogram Venture (CGV) : Cryptogram Venture (CGV) is a Japan-based research and investment institution engaged in crypto. With the business philosophy of “research-driven investment”, it has participated in early investments in FTX, Republic, CasperLabs, AlchemyPay, Graph, Bitkeep, Pocket, and Powerpool, as well as the Japanese government-regulated yen stablecoin JPYW, etc. Meanwhile, CGV FoF is the limited partner of Huobi venture, Rocktree capital, Kirin fund, etc. Currently, CGV has branches in Singapore, Canada, and China.

The crypto market is building even in a bear market, with the Web3 ecosystem maintaining around 5,000 active developers per week for the past three months, with Ether ranking first with 1,720. From this week’s statistics (8 projects in total), web3 infrastructure projects (4) continue to be favored by investors, while NFT (2), Game (1), and DeFi (1) projects have seen a slowdown in the number of pitches and funding. CGV, in conjunction with CTC, has put together a week’s worth of noteworthy pitches and funding information from the global crypto market, below, for August 1, 2022 -July 7 Global Crypto Market Pitching Information. 【Infrastructure】 1. Debt DAO | Seed round funding of $3.5 million｜Led by Dragonfly Capital On August 1st, Debt DAO, a crypto credit protocol, closed a $3.5 million seed round led by Dragonfly Capital with participation from GSR, Numeus, Fasanara Capital and others. Link to original article:https://www.theblock.co/post/160427/dragonfly-capital-leads-3-5-million-seed-round-for-debt-dao 2. Lifeform | Seed Round Financing｜Led by Binance Labs On August 3, Lifeform, a provider of decentralized visual digital identity (DID) solutions, announced the completion of a seed funding round led by Binance Labs. Link to original article:https://twitter.com/BinanceLabs/status/1554664874340278274?s=20&t=mikJu0V_deT_2QP51w69-g 3. Web3Port | Seed round funding of $1 million｜SNZ, HashKey and others participated On August 3, Web3 gas pedal Web3Port (formerly ICPort) closed a $1 million seed round at a $20 million valuation, with participation from SNZ Holding, HashKey, KuCoin Ventures, FBG, Spark Digital Capital, 7 O’Clock Capital, MH Ventures, Web 3.0 SEA Alliance, BetteversDAO, and others. Link to original article:https://medium.com/@Web3Port/icport-closes-seed-round-funding-at-20-million-valuation-and-is-officially-rebranded-to-web3port-4ecce60730fd 4. Coherent | Seed round funding of $4.5 million｜Coinbase Ventures and others participated On August 5, Coherent, a blockchain data startup founded by former Coinbase employee Carl Cortright, closed a $4.5 million seed round led by Kindred Ventures, Matchstick Ventures and Foundry Group, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Alchemy and Chapter One. Link to original article:https://www.theblock.co/post/161557/coherent-web3-data-startup-funding-former-coinbase-employee 【DeFi】 5. OrBit Markets | Raised $4.6 million in an angel round｜Led by Matrixport On August 1, OrBit Markets, an institutional liquidity provider in crypto options and structured products, recently announced the closing of a $4.6 million angel funding round led by Matrixport with participation from Brevan Howard Digital, New Form Capital, Maven 11 and Westridge Markets. Link to original article:https://us.acrofan.com/detail.php?number=701181 【Game】 6. Panzerdogs | Raised $3.35 million｜Solana Ventures and others participed On August 4, Panzerdogs, a “tank battle” themed PvP chain game, closed $3.35 million in funding from Solana Ventures, Magic Eden, COM2US, CRIT, Mysten Labs, Zeeprime Capital, Hustle Fund, SOLBigBrain, and Devmons GG, and individual investors such as Sebastien Borget, co-founder of The Sandbox. Link to original article:https://view.news.eu.nasdaq.com/view?id=bdfd77d8932fb747603d7c94d3fa7be23&lang=en 【NFT】 7. Capsid | Seed round funding of $3 million｜Distributed Global and others participed On August 1st, Capsid, the NFT derivatives marketplace, announced on social media that it had closed a $3 million seed funding round. The round was funded by Distributed Global, 32-Bit Ventures, SpringWind, Xoogler Ventures and Mask Network. Link to original article:https://twitter.com/Capsid_One/status/1554302018641993728?s=20&t=rTX-j3UDxTVuBZNsKpGaCQ 8. Halliday | Seed round financing of $6 million｜Led by a16z On August 5, Web3 startup Halliday closed a $6 million seed round led by a16z with participation from Hashed, A.Capital, SV Angel and others. Link to original article:https://twitter.com/TechCrunch/status/1555242667793072129?s=20&t=UFX0qymtEcpOsHwNVjMh6g About Cryptogram Venture (CGV) : Cryptogram Venture (CGV) is a Japan-based research and investment institution engaged in crypto. With the business philosophy of “research-driven investment”, it has participated in early investments in FTX, Republic, CasperLabs, AlchemyPay, Graph, Bitkeep, Pocket, and Powerpool, as well as the Japanese government-regulated yen stablecoin JPYW, etc. Meanwhile, CGV FoF is the limited partner of Huobi venture, Rocktree capital, Kirin fund, etc. Currently, CGV has branches in Singapore, Canada, and China.

Despite the modest gains in the crypto market, the current market sentiment is still very fragile, and from this week’s primary market pitch data (7 projects in total), primary market pitches for DeFi (2) projects are starting to pick up, while pitches for Web3 infrastructure (2) and NFT (3) projects are still the focus of pitches. The following is a summary of the global crypto market’s noteworthy investment and funding information for July 18 — July 24, 2022. 【Infrastructure】 1. Sunscreen | Seed round funding of $4.65 million｜Led by Polychain Capital On July 18, Sunscreen, which specializes in web3 privacy, announced the closing of a $4.65 million seed round led by Polychain Capital, with participation from angel investors including Northzone, Coinbase Ventures, dao5 and Naval Ravikan, and Entropy founder Tux Pacific. Link to original article:https://techcrunch.com/2022/07/18/crypto-blockchain-web3-privacy-cryptography-fully-homomorphic-encryption-startup-sunscreen/ 2. Hashflow | Series A financing of $25 million｜Coinbase Ventures and others participated On July 21, decentralized trading platform Hashflow announced the closing of a $25 million Series A round of funding at a post-investment valuation of $400 million from Electric Capital, Dragonfly Capital Partners, LedgerPrime, Balaji Srinivasan, Jump Crypto, Wintermute Trading, GSR, Kronos Research, Altonomy, Coinbase Ventures, Kraken Ventures, Fabric Ventures, Evernew Capital, Spacewhale Capital, etc. Link to original article:https://blog.hashflow.com/hashflow-raises-25m-series-a-from-jump-crypto-wintermute-and-gsr-3f4e6edec28a 【NFT】 3. Cardinal | Seed round funding of $4.4 million｜Led by Solana Ventures On July 23rd, Cardinal, a Solana-based infrastructure protocol that aims to improve the utility of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), announced the closing of a $4.4 million seed round led by Protagonist and Solana Ventures, with participation from Animoca Brands, Alameda Research, Delphi Digital and CMS Holdings. Link to original article:https://www.theblock.co/post/159128/cardinal-solana-nft-utility-protocol-seed-funding?utm_source=cryptopanic&utm_medium=rss 4. Optic | Seed round funding of $11 million｜Led by Pantera Capital On July 20, Optic, an NFT smart authentication company, closed an $11 million seed funding round co-led by Pantera Capital and Kleiner Perkins, with participation from Greylock Partners, Lattice Capital, OpenSea, Circle, Polygon, CoinDCX, Neon DAO, and Flamingo DAO. CoinDCX, Neon DAO, and Flamingo DAO. The funding will be used to build core AI infrastructure, among other things. Link to original article:https://www.theblock.co/post/158678/nft-fraud-fighters-optic-raise-11-million-in-seed-funding-round?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social 5. Zharta | Seed round funding of $4 million｜Led by Greenfield One On July 20, Zharta, creator of a lending protocol for instant NFT collateralized loans, closed a $4 million seed round led by Greenfield One with participation from Shilling Capital, Possible Ventures and others. Link to original article:https://medium.com/@ZhartaFinance/zharta-raises-4-3-m-to-speed-growth-in-instant-nft-lending-f50526fd189e 【DeFi】 6. XLD Finance | Pre-A round of funding of $13 million｜Led by Dragonfly Capital On July 19, XLD Finance, a DeFi service company, announced the closing of a $13 million Pre-A round of financing led by Dragonfly Capital and Infinity Ventures Crypto, with funding from Advance AI, Circle, Digital Currency Group, IDG Capital, Insignia Venture Partners, Integra Partners, Morningstar Ventures, Openspace Ventures, Sfermion, Shima Capital, Transcend Fund TrustToken, UOB Venture Management, Woo Network, Yield Guild Games, YOLO Ventures, Emfarsis, and others. The funds from this round will be used to scale its product and engineering teams, as well as expand its network of authorized partner financial institutions, merchants and billing. Link to original article:https://www.theblock.co/post/157808/web3-infrastructure-startup-xld-finance-raises-13m-to-build-apis-that-enable-financial-access-through-crypto 7. Bluejay Finance | Raised $2.9 million｜C2 Ventures and others participated On July 20, Bluejay Finance, a decentralized Stablecoin protocol, announced a $2.9 million funding round with participation from C2 Ventures, Zee Prime Capital, Stake Capital Group, Daedalus Angels, RNR Capital and other DeFi projects such as Voltz and Flux. Link to original article:https://blockchainreporter.net/stablecoin-protocol-bluejay-finance-raises-2-9m-in-funding/ Cryptogram Venture (CGV) is a Japan-based research and investment institution engaged in crypto. With the business philosophy of “research-driven investment”, it has participated in early investments in FTX, Republic, CasperLabs, AlchemyPay, Graph, Bitkeep, Pocket, and Powerpool, as well as the Japanese government-regulated yen stablecoin JPYW, etc. Meanwhile, CGV FoF is the limited partner of Huobi venture, Rocktree capital, Kirin fund, etc. Currently, CGV has branches in Singapore, Canada, and China.

With a crisis in market liquidity, NFT volume fell 74% month-over-month in June, the largest drop ever. From the primary market investment and financing data (10 projects in total) counted this week, the primary investment and financing of web3 infrastructure (3), Metaverse (3) and DeFi (2) projects started to pick up, while speculative institutions are still cautious about GameFi (1) and NFT (1) projects. CGV, in conjunction with CTC, has put together a roundup of the week’s noteworthy pitches in the global crypto market for July 11 — July 17, 2022, as follows. 【Infrastructure】 1. Quadrata | Seed round funding of $7.5 million｜Led by Dragonfly Capital On July 12, Web3 Identity Network Quadrata closed a $7.5 million seed funding round led by Dragonfly Capital with participation from Franklin Templeton, Abra, GSR Ventures, Orange DAO, Fellows Fund, GreatPoint Franklin Templeton, Abra, GSR Ventures, Orange DAO, Fellows Fund, GreatPoint Ventures, August Capital and others. Link to original article:https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/07/12/dragonfly-capital-leads-75m-round-for-quadratas-identity-passport/ 2. Farcaster | Raised $30 million｜Led by a16z On July 13, Farcaster, a decentralized social protocol, closed a $30 million funding round led by a16z, with Standard Crypto, Elad Gil, 1confirmation, Scalar Capital, First Round Capital, Volt Capital, A Capital, Todd and Rahul’s Angel Fund, Coinbase Ventures, Mischief, Ansa Capital, Haystack, Ribbit Capital, Chapter One, Multicoin Capital, Offline Ventures, Archetype, Canonical Crypto, Proof Group, Floodgate, Balaji Srinivsasan, 6529, Ray Tonsing and others. Farcaster has released an initial version of its protocol and client, is in development for Farcaster v2, and plans to launch later this year. Link to original article:https://danromero.org/farcaster/ 3. Modular Capital | Raised $20 million｜Multicoin Capital and others participed On July 18, cryptocurrency hedge fund Modular Capital closed a $20 million funding round with participation from Multicoin Capital, ParaFi Capital, Road Capital and LedgerPrime. Link to original article:https://blockworks.co/investment-pros-jump-into-bear-market-with-new-crypto-hedge-fund/= 【DeFi】 4. Contango | Raised $4 million | Coinbase Ventures and others participed On July 14, Contango, a unique decentralized exchange (“DEX”) offering expirable futures (i.e. instruments with a known settlement date), announced a $4 million funding round led by ParaFi, with participation from incubator dlab and Advanced Blockchain AG, as well as Coinbase Ventures, Spartan Group, AngelDAO, Cumberland, GSR Markets, and Amber Group. Link to original article:https://medium.com/contango-exchange/contango-raises-4m-in-a-round-led-by-parafi-to-bring-expirable-futures-to-defi-9424a943741a 5. Empiric Network | Raised $7 million | Jane Street and others participed On July 16, Empiric Network, a new decentralized blockchain oracle on StarkNet, announced the completion of a $7 million funding round led by Variant with participation from Alameda, CMT, Flow Traders, Gemini, Jane Street, StarkWare, and others, which will be used primarily for hiring and expanding the development team. Link to original article:https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/07/15/decentralized-oracle-empiric-network-launches-with-7m-funding-round/ 【Game】 6. CLUB | Seed round funding of $3.1 million | Led by Zee Prime Capital On July 16, CLUB, a Web3 game studio, announced the closing of a $3.1 million seed funding round led by Zee Prime Capital with participation from ATKA, Merit Circle, CitizenX, Moonlanding Ventures, and Petrock Capital. CLUB is developing the P2E soccer game “CLUB Game”, which aims to introduce Web3 digital ownership to enhance the gaming experience and enable players to realize the value of what they have created. Link to original article:https://alexablockchain.com/club-raises-3-1m-seed-financing/ 【NFT】 7. Hang | Series A financing of $16 million | Led by Paradigm On July 14, Hang, an NFT membership platform, announced the closing of a $16 million Series A round of funding led by Paradigm with participation from Tiger Global, 35 Ventures, Night Ventures and others. Hang’s membership program will use NFT to incentivize users with rewards and perks, and the platform has already partnered with brands such as Budweiser and Pinkberry. Link to original article: https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/07/14/paradigm-leads-16m-round-for-nft-membership-platform-hang/ 【Metaverse】 8. Hologram | Seed round funding of $6.5 million | Led by Polychain Capital On July 15, Hologram, an on-chain virtual character development platform, announced the closing of a $6.5 million seed round led by Polychain Capital with participation from Nascent, Inflection, The Operating Group, Quantstamp, Neon DAO and others. Link to original article:https://venturebeat.com/2022/07/14/hologram-raises-6-5m-for-blockchain-based-avatars-that-you-can-use-in-video-calls/ 9. Arkive | Raised $9.7 million | Coinbase Ventures and others participed On July 16, Arkive, a decentralized physical museum, closed a $9.7 million funding round led by Offline and TCG Crypto, with participation from NFX, Freestyle Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Not Boring Capital, Precursor, Chainforest and others. Link to original article:http://svdaily.com/2022/07/15/arkive-emerges-from-stealth/ 10. Jakaverse | Raised $3 million in pre-A round | Led by Titan Capital Group On July 18, Jakaverse, a Thai metaverse platform, announced the closing of a $3 million pre-A round of funding led by Titan Capital Group Holdings and the acquisition of 100 Jakaverse metaverse virtual plots. Link to original article:https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2022/07/18/2480930/0/en/Jakaverse-Metaverse-Platform-Raises-3M-Pre-Series-A-Financing-from-Young-Millionaire-Partners-Owner-of-Titan-Capital-Group-Holdings-Co-Ltd.html Cryptogram Venture (CGV) is a Japan-based research and investment institution engaged in crypto. With the business philosophy of “research-driven investment”, it has participated in early investments in FTX, Republic, CasperLabs, AlchemyPay, Graph, Bitkeep, Pocket, and Powerpool, as well as the Japanese government-regulated yen stablecoin JPYW, etc. Meanwhile, CGV FoF is the limited partner of Huobi venture, Rocktree capital, Kirin fund, etc. Currently, CGV has branches in Singapore, Canada, and China.

On July 20, 2022, Cryptogram Venture (CGV) announced that “Tokyo Web3 Summer Hackathon (TWSH)”, the first Web3 hackathon in Japan initiated by CGV and supported by experts from institutions such as Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Keio University, Sony, Softbank, Asia Blockchain Gaming Alliance (ABGA), Cointelegraph Japan (CTJ), will be held soon. It is reported that the (pre-) registration for participating in the project has started at https://www.web3hackathon.io/, and institutional cooperation, recruitment and negotiation are in progress. This hackathon is held in Japan to support the Japanese government’s vigorous promotion of Web3. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida recently stated that the advent of the Web3 era might lead Japan’s economic growth; the Japanese government will undertake institutional reforms to create an environment that facilitate the creation of new services — including Web3-related infrastructure. Japan has an enormous potential in encryption and Web3 and may play an essential role in the global Web3 market. The “Tokyo Web3 Summer Hackathon” will be “ Japan-based and global-oriented”, give full play to Japan’s unique “industry-government-academia” cooperation and innovation mechanism to discover, support, and help outstanding talents and teams in the Web3 field and explore the application potential of the Web3 on a global scale, facilitate teams and projects starting smoothly and achieving sustainable growth and development, and provide scientific and technological support and new vitality to the current social development and digital transformation of various industries. Steve Chiu, founder of CGV and event organizer, said that the main topics of this campaign will cover Web3 protocol and infrastructure (L1/L2/cross-chain bridge, storage/identity/communication/audit, etc.); metaverse (virtual land, scenario development, platform building, content production, virtual human, etc.); NFT (new standard protocol, distribution platform, liquidity infrastructure, blue-chip assets, etc.); game (innovative games, basic development layer, distribution platform, guilds, etc.); DAO (basic tools, capital management platform, collection/self-help category, guild governance), etc. Currently, the first batch of judges determined for the competition includes Matsuda Ikkei, member of the Research and Development Bureau of the MEXT; Yamanaka Naoaki, Vice President of the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers (IEICE) and Director of the Keio Leading-edge Laboratory of Science and Technology (KLL); Miyazawa Kazumasa, member of the Financial Review Council of the Financial Services Agency of Japan and the “first person” to make electronic payments in Japan; Yamada Yoshiyuki, former head of IT sales business, Softbank Corporation, and experts and scholars in the global crypto industry and Web3 field with a wide range of influence, representatives of investment and research institutions, well-known project founders, etc. The hackathon will gather top industry institutions and potential projects. Participants will get the opportunity to have early contact with first-line projects and share with global organizations and practitioners in Web3 industry. Additionally, they will have access to receive investment and entrepreneurial guidance from top global VC institutions, win prizes with a total prize pool of $150,000, as well as the support of a million-dollar incubation fund. According to the schedule of the hackathon, from July to September, project registration, screening and evaluation, project roadshow, NFT theme exhibition, and other activities will be organized; online pre-selection and outstanding project roadshow will start in mid-August; offline award ceremony is expected to be held in Japan in mid to late September. Application for institutional cooperation (event support, project investment, media cooperation, etc.): Yurinatyou@cgv.fund Website for project (pre-) registration: https://www.web3hackathon.io/ About Cryptogram Venture (CGV): Cryptogram Venture (CGV) is a Japan-based research and investment institution engaged in crypto. With the business philosophy of “research-driven investment”, it has participated in early investments in FTX, Republic, CasperLabs, AlchemyPay, Graph, Bitkeep, Pocket, and Powerpool, as well as the Japanese government-regulated yen stablecoin JPYW, etc. Meanwhile, CGV FoF is the limited partner of Huobi venture, Rocktree capital, Kirin fund, etc. Currently, CGV has branches in Singapore, Canada, and China. About MEXT The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) is one of Japan’s central government administrative organs responsible for coordinating education, science, technology, academic, cultural, and sports affairs in Japan. About Keio University Keio University, a world-renowned research and comprehensive university, is the first institution of higher education in Japan. The predecessor of Keio University was a private school of Western learning founded in 1858 for the dissemination of Western natural sciences in the Edo period. Under the guidance and influence of its founder, Yukichi Fukuzawa, Keio University has played a pioneering and leading role in Japanese society. About Sony As a multinational conglomerate based in Japan, Sony is mainly engaged in the development of electronic products. It operates in various fields, such as consumer electronics, electronic games, finance, entertainment, semiconductors, smartphones, cameras, camcorders, audio, etc. Additionally, it has created numerous worldwide brands, including Xperia, Walkman, Sony Music, Columbia Pictures, PlayStation, Alpha, etc. About Softbank Founded in Japan by Masayoshi Son in 1981 and listed in Japan in 1994, SoftBank Group is an integrated venture capital firm with a focus on investments in the IT industry, including networks and telecommunications. SoftBank has invested in over 600 companies worldwide and has majority stakes in more than 300 major IT companies across the world. About Asia Blockchain Gaming Alliance (ABGA） Asia Blockchain Gaming Alliance (ABGA) is a non-profit Blockchain Gaming Alliance launched by leading institutions in the gaming industry. It aims to gather industry information, screen outstanding teams and enterprises, broaden investment horizons, and promote the development of Blockchain Gaming industry, thus helping the Asian high-quality projects and teams gain a foothold in Asia and go global. About Cointelegraph Japan (CTJ) Cointelegraph Japan is an international media company based in Japanese-speaking areas. It focuses on blockchain fintech, and real-time, objective, and true reporting, adhering to originality and connecting the world.