Financing Weekly Report | 20 public financing events, IOST completes $21 million strategic financing, with participation from DWF Labs and others.

Highlights of this Issue

According to incomplete statistics from PANews, there were 20 financing events in the global blockchain from June 2 to June 8 last week; the total amount of funds exceeded $568 million, with a significant increase in inflows compared to the previous week. The overview is as follows:

• DeFi announced 9 financing events, among which IOST completed a strategic financing of 21 million USD, with participation from DWF Labs and others;
• Web3 Gaming sector announced 1 financing event, Launcher Capital completed a $4 million seed round of financing, led by a16z CSX;
• Web3+AI announced 3 investment events, including the decentralized AI company RabitiAI, which completed a $5 million financing round led by Nortiyus;
• Infrastructure & Tools sector announced 4 investment events, among which Web3 security solution provider Dedge Security completed a €4 million seed round financing, led by Tritemius;
• Other applications announced 1 financing event, SharpLink Gaming completed a $425 million private placement financing, led by Consensys;
• Decentralized Finance sector announced 2 financing events, including the digital asset bank group Sygnum completing a $58 million strategic growth round, with a post-money valuation exceeding $1 billion.

DeFi

IOST completes $21 million strategic financing, with participation from DWF Labs and others

The multi-chain ecosystem IOST, focused on RWA infrastructure, announced the completion of a $21 million strategic financing round, with investors including institutions such as DWF Labs, Presto, and Rollman Management Groups. This round of financing uses a customized allocation mechanism aimed at promoting the decentralized development of the validator network. This strategic capital will drive the launch of upcoming products, deepen ecosystem integration, and solidify IOST’s position in the RWA 3.0 innovation field.

Cryptocurrency exchange Rails completes $14 million financing, with participation from Kraken and others

The crypto exchange startup Rails, backed by Kraken, has announced the completion of a $14 million funding round, with participation from Kraken, CMCC Global, Slow Ventures, Round13 Capital, and Quantstamp, bringing its total funding to $20 million. The hybrid trading platform launched by the company combines the execution speed of a centralized exchange with on-chain custody of assets. Rails was founded by the team behind the crypto wallet BlockEQ, which was acquired by the Canadian exchange Coinsquare in 2018. The platform will be exclusively deployed on the Ink Layer2 blockchain developed by Kraken.

Base ecosystem derivatives exchange Avantis completes $8 million Series A financing, led by Founders Fund and Pantera Capital

Avantis, a decentralized leveraged trading protocol based on Base Chain, announced the closing of an $8 million Series A funding round co-led by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund and Pantera Capital, with participation from Symbolic Capital, SALT Fund, and Flowdesk. Harsehaj Singh, CEO of Lumena Labs, the core development team, said that the round of financing will be completed in mid-2024 with an “equity + token warrant” structure, but the post-investment valuation was not disclosed. This brings Avantis’ total funding to $12 million.

Avantis was launched in 2023 and has now become the largest derivatives protocol on the Base chain, with a cumulative trading volume exceeding $7.5 billion and over 60,000 users. The platform supports trading of real-world assets (RWA) such as cryptocurrencies, foreign exchange, and commodities, with plans to expand into stocks, sports, and prediction markets. To achieve this goal, Avantis will undergo a technical upgrade, including the transformation of the AMM system to support multiple price sources and the development of a customized EVM-compatible blockchain to enable zero Gas fee trading. The platform’s V2 version is expected to be launched in a few months, claiming to achieve a tenfold increase in capital efficiency and support cross-margin trading.

Stablecoin bank platform Limited completes $7 million seed round financing, with participation from SevenX Ventures and others

Limited, a next-generation fintech company that provides self-custody stablecoin banking services, announced the closing of a $7 million seed round. The round was led by North Island Ventures, with participation from SevenX Ventures, Third Prime, Arche Capital, and Collab+Currency. Limited has built a comprehensive payment platform that combines the security of self-custody stablecoins with the convenience of high-end banking services, and currently covers 176 countries through iOS, Android and the web. Limited restructurs global banking, allowing businesses and individuals to take full control of their funds through self-custody wallets while using global payment channels, and enjoy high-end card benefits exclusive to traditional banking customers.

Cryptocurrency lending startup 3Jane raises $5.2 million in seed funding, led by Paradigm

Crypto venture capital firm Paradigm led a $5.2 million seed round of crypto credit startup 3Jane, which also ended its invisibility operations. 3Jane plans to build the first credit-based money market protocol focused on bringing unsecured credit to the digital asset space. Described as a “peer-to-pool credit money market,” the 3Jane protocol provides unsecured USDC credit services in real-time through algorithms, targeting yield liquidity providers, traders, corporates, and AI agents. At the technical level, 3Jane uses zkTLS technology to extract off-chain credit data in privacy. The project is planned to be launched on the mainnet in the third quarter of 2025, with an initial focus on the US market.

On-chain staking and yield protocol HashPower completes $4 million strategic financing, with participation from HashKey Capital and others

On-chain staking and yield protocol HashPower has announced the closing of a $4 million strategic funding round with participation from HashKey Capital, FBG Capital, Hailstone Labs and DePIN X Capital. The funds will be used to expand global decentralized mining capabilities and build digital assets and AI infrastructure through permissionless on-chain access. HashPower has previously signed a $60 million memorandum of understanding with eight institutions, including Aethir and Automata Network, to jointly promote decentralized mining and AI infrastructure research and development. Through the DePIN + AI token economic model, the platform enables users to obtain staking and mining rewards without holding hardware, and currently relies on the global node network to provide on-chain computing power reward distribution.

On-chain hedge fund platform Neutral Trade completes $2 million financing

Neutral Trade, a hedge fund platform on the Solana ecosystem, recently announced the closing of a $2 million funding round with participation from Skyland Ventures, Enzyme, BlackPine, and several DeFi-focused angel investors. The funding will be used to support the expansion of Ethereum, Layer 2 networks, and centralized exchanges. According to reports, the platform offers delta-neutral and multi-strategy vaults designed for accessibility, with a minimum deposit of just $100 and on-chain transparency for all positions. Its vaults range from fixed-income stablecoin strategies to thematic indices.

The crypto derivatives trading protocol Variational completes $1.5 million in strategic financing

The crypto derivatives trading protocol Variational has announced the completion of a $1.5 million strategic financing, with investments from Mirana Ventures, Caladan, and Zoku Ventures. Variational is a peer-to-peer trading protocol specifically designed for perpetual contracts and general derivatives. Previously, in October last year, it was reported that Variational completed a $10.3 million seed round financing, with participation from Coinbase Ventures and others.

Sui Ecosystem DEX Momentum Completes Strategic Round Financing, Led by OKX Ventures

Sui Eco DEX Momentum announced the completion of a strategic round of financing with a valuation of $100 million. The round was led by OKX Ventures, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Gate Ventures, MEXC Ventures, KuCoin Ventures, and strategic partners Protagonist and DNA Fund. The funds will be used to expand the DeFi business of the Sui ecosystem. Momentum uses the innovative ve(3 and 3) models to achieve $3 billion in trading volume, $69 million in TVL, and more than 420,000 users within two months of its launch. Its co-founder, ChefWEN, was involved in the development of the Meta Libra project, which ensures security through smart contract auditing and real-time monitoring. Previously, Momentum received a $10 million funding round led by Varys Capital in March 2025.

Web3 games

Launcher Capital completes $4 million seed round financing, led by a16z CSX

AI gaming startup Launcher has completed a $4 million seed round of financing, led by a16z Crypto Startup Accelerator (CSX). The project aims to reconstruct the gaming industry ecosystem through AI and on-chain IP, lowering the barriers for story creators and developers, supporting the rapid building of AI-driven multiplayer immersive gaming experiences, empowering users to become creators, and promoting the globalization of creative expansion.

AI

Decentralized AI company RabitiAI completes $5 million financing, led by Nortiyus

Decentralized AI company RabitiAI announced the closing of a $5 million funding round led by Nortiyus, with the new funds intended to support its efforts to build tools and infrastructure that enable users to deploy and manage AI models on a cross-blockchain-based architecture, with its solutions currently being used in healthcare, finance, and logistics, and is expected to release an enterprise-grade commercial version of decentralized AI tools in Q3 this year.

DeFAI project HeyElsaAI completes $3 million financing

The DeFAI project HeyElsaAI has announced the completion of a $3 million financing round, led by M31 Capital, with participation from Coinbase Ventures’ Base Ecosystem Fund, MH_Ventures, AbsolutaDigital, 2sharesfund, levitate_labs, and others. According to reports, the core of HeyElsa is a proprietary natural language interface built on open-source LLMs such as DeepSeek, LLaMA, and Mistral. These models continuously improve by utilizing real-time blockchain, market, and sentiment data, as well as user feedback from the applications themselves.

Decentralized AI computing network AINX completes $2 million seed round financing

Decentralized AI computing network AINX announces the completion of a $2 million seed round financing, led by Alpha Gamma.

AINX is developed by Helioq Labs, a research-driven protocol team dedicated to building censorship-resistant, user-sovereign infrastructure for Web3. AINX’s upcoming roadmap includes the launch of NodeX 100, the launch of a multi-chain computing rental marketplace, and the release of customizable AI agents and multimodal content generation tools. In the future, the team also plans to achieve cross-chain compatibility, release SDKs for integration, and build a decentralized AI model marketplace.

Infrastructure & Tools

Web3 security solution provider Dedge Security completes €4 million seed round financing, led by Tritemius

Web3 security solution provider Dedge Security announced the completion of a €4 million seed round financing, led by venture capital firm Tritemius. The new funds will be used to build an ASPM (Application Security Posture Management) platform specifically designed for the Web3 environment, aimed at providing protection from code to nodes and offering real-time risk visibility throughout the dApp lifecycle.

DA Layer Interoperability Protocol Sunrise Completes $3 Million Seed Round Financing, Participated by Decima and Others

The DA layer interoperability protocol Sunrise has completed a $3 million seed round of financing, with participation from Decima, Animoca Brands Japan, Hyperithm, Cogitent Ventures, MZ Web3 Fund, V3V Ventures, Connectico Capital, and MH Ventures. The new funds are intended to support its integration of data availability layer and liquidity center functions into a single platform supported by Proof-of-Liquidity for liquidity sharing.

Web3 identity protocol Shards Protocol completes $2 million funding, with participation from Animoca Brands and others

Web3 identity protocol Shards Protocol has completed a $2 million financing round, with participation from institutions such as Animoca Brands, Kyber Ventures, and Yield Guild Games. The funds will primarily be used to develop its flagship product Aura—a system that transforms user on-chain activities into verifiable reputation and rewards. As a reputation layer for Web3, Aura allows users to showcase their reputation scores and badges earned from on-chain activities through the X platform. The system plans to launch its token and expand functionalities within the year, allowing users to unlock rewards by minting more badges. This financing will accelerate the integration process of the protocol within the Web3 ecosystem.

YZi Labs announces it has invested in hardware wallet company OneKey

YZi Labs announced its investment in the open-source hardware wallet company OneKey, aimed at strengthening global crypto asset security and promoting self-custody. OneKey was established in 2019 and has seen rapid growth in regions such as China, Japan, South Korea, and Europe, with hardware wallet sales growing by an average of 300% annually. The new funds will be used for developing the next generation of hardware, enhancing on-chain threat detection, expanding compliance operations in the US and Europe, and strengthening the security testing capabilities of its “Anzen Lab.” The recently launched USDC yield module by OneKey has attracted over $62 million in subscriptions.

Other

Crypto Reserve:

SharpLink Gaming Completes $425 Million Private Placement Financing Led by Consensys

SharpLink Gaming completed a $425 million private placement financing, led by Consensys. It is reported that SharpLink plans to use this funding to purchase Ethereum’s native asset ETH and will use it as its primary reserve asset.

centralized finance

Digital wealth management platform Scalable Capital, covering cryptocurrency business, completes €155 million Series E financing

German digital wealth management platform Scalable Capital has closed a €155 million Series E funding round led by Sofina and Noteus Partners, with participation from existing investors Balderton Capital, Tencent and HV Capital, bringing Scalable’s total investment to more than €470 million. This round of financing will be used to upgrade technology and launch family investment features, including children’s portfolio services. Scalable Capital will enhance its AI-powered portfolio management tools and expand API integrations to create a more personalized experience for retail and B2B customers. Clients can invest in 8,000 stocks, 2,500 ETFs, 3,500 funds, as well as cryptocurrencies, with ETFs accounting for more than two-thirds of the invested capital.

(This financing is not included in the current financing weekly report statistics)

Digital asset bank group Sygnum completes $58 million strategic growth round financing, with a post-investment valuation exceeding $1 billion

Sygnum, a digital asset banking group, announced the completion of a $58 million strategic growth round of financing, with a post-investment valuation of more than $1 billion. This round of financing was led by Fulgur Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on Bitcoin technology, with the participation of new and existing investors and company employees, and the founding team still maintains a controlling position. The funds will be mainly used for EU/EEA market expansion and Hong Kong compliance business layout in 2025. Sygnum plans to strengthen the development of products related to Bitcoin technology and pursue strategic acquisition opportunities. At the same time, the company will increase investment in compliance and risk management to cope with the tightening of industry regulations. According to the performance data, Sygnum’s 2024 trading product revenue has surpassed the level of the whole year of 2023 in the third quarter, and the annual transaction volume has increased by more than 1,000% year-on-year. Its B2B platform provides crypto services to more than 20 institutions, including Swiss Post Bank, covering more than one-third of the Swiss population.

Tether announces investment in the digital asset exchange Orionx

Tether announced its investment in the Chilean digital asset exchange Orionx. Orionx’s business covers multiple countries including Chile and Peru, and is dedicated to integrating cryptocurrencies into B2B and retail systems, providing low-cost financial tools. This investment will help Orionx complete its Series A funding, strengthen its regional operations, enhance technological capabilities, and expand infrastructure for stablecoin-driven remittances.

A joint study by Chainplay and Strorible shows that among the 1181 crypto projects that received venture capital between January 1, 2023, and December 31, 2024, nearly 45% have ceased operations, and 77% have monthly revenues of less than $1000.