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      <p>
        Architect, a blockchain-based trading infrastructure provider, raised USD 5 million in &ldquo;pre-product financing&rdquo; from Circle Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, SV Angel, SALT Fund, P2P, and Third Kind Venture among others.
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        The company plans to use the funding to expand its team and invest in product development. 
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  <p>
    <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/architect-announces-5m-funding-round-to-develop-trading-infrastructure-for-global-digital-asset-markets-301726504.html">
      Press release
    </a>
  </p>
  <p>
    <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2023/01/20/ex-ftx-us-head-raises-5m-for-startup-months-after-exchange-collapse/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=rss&utm_campaign=headlines">
      Coindesk
    </a>
  </p>
</div>


Decentralized Finance (DeFi)

Architect raises USD 5 million in pre-product funding

ANALYST_QUICK_TAKE

PROMINENT_CATEGORY

<div>
 <p>Securitize and Elixir have formed a partnership to introduce liquid staking tokens for tokenized securities such as BlackRock's BUIDL. They are launching an sToken, based on Ethereum's ERC-4626 standard, enabling investors to convert real-world assets into deUSD, meanwhile continuing yield earnings.</p>
 <p>In the initial phase, the program will focus on BlackRock's BUIDL token holders but will eventually extend to other assets like Hamilton Lane's SCOPE fund. As part of the collaboration, Elixir will possess sBUIDL, a derivative of BlackRock's BUIDL minted by Securitize users. The objective is to raise the Total Value Locked and improve liquidity across various blockchain networks.</p>
</div> <p><b>Analyst QuickTake:<br>
 </b> Securitize has been steadily building on its collaborations with institutional players within the RWA space over the last year. With this development, Securitize will expand its partnership with Blackrock, which <a href="https:<br>
//finance.yahoo.com/news/blackrock-launches-first-tokenized-fund-222700828.html"> launched its first tokenized fund on Ethereum </a> , the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), via a partnership with Securitize in March. Notably, it also led Securitize's <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/29051"> USD 47 million funding round in May </a> , which was earmarked to bolster its partnerships across the financial services industry.</p>

Securitize partners with Elixir to launch deUSD RWA institutional program for tokenized assets

<div>
 <p>DeFi liquidity solver system, Barter, has successfully gathered USD 3 million in a seed funding round. The notable contributors were Maven 11, Lattice, Anagram, Heartcore, DCG, and Daedalus Angels.</p>
 <p>With this new financing, Barter aims to expand its team, accelerate its research, and further develop its DeFi tool, AppChain. This company tool is dedicated to connecting liquidity and order flow.</p>
 <p>Barter, established in 2023, operates as a decentralized protocol and solver system. It propels intent-based trading on decentralized exchanges (DEXs). The protocol conveniently aggregates liquidity from a range of sources and employs smart order routing to offer traders the most favorable platform rates. Through this protocol, Barter can handle up to USD 20 million worth of daily transactions across various Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible blockchains.</p>
</div>

Barter raises USD 3 million in seed funding

<div>
 <p>Folks Finance, a platform providing decentralized finance (DeFi) services, has secured $3.2 million in a Series A funding round. The round was led by Borderless Capital and saw participation from investors including Algorand Ventures, Mapleblock Capital, and Sovo Ventures. With this, Folks Finance's total funding has reached $6.2 million and its valuation stands at $75 million.</p>
 <p>The company intends to use the funding to grow its team. It will be hiring backend and frontend developers and also professionals who specialize in regional community growth.</p>
 <p>As a non-custodial DeFi protocol, Folks Finance enables its users to deposit assets for borrowing, lending, and earning yields. The protocol, which is built on Algorand, operates a lending system that allows users to collateralize and borrow several assets in a single loan while maintaining overcollateralized positions to prevent bad debt. Folks Finance currently boasts over 15,000 actively monthly wallets and a total value locked (TVL) of more than $100 million.</p>
</div> <p><b>Analyst QuickTake:<br>
</b> The DeFi lending space remains one of the most well-funded segments within the DeFi space, having seen a large influx in investor interest within the last 6 months. Folks Finance joins a number of other startups such as <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/companies/3759896"> Ammalgam </a> , <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/companies/3738389"> Echelon </a> , <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/companies/3730807"> Credbull </a> , <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/companies/2601166"> Arch Lending </a> , <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/companies/2177294"> Morpho </a> , and <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/companies/2609087"> Liquidium </a> , which raised <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/33446"> USD 2.5 million </a> , <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/32994"> USD 3.5 million </a> , <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/32868"> USD 5.2 million </a> , <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/32864"> USD 75 million </a> , <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/32244"> USD 50 million </a> , and <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/31720"> USD 2.75 million </a> , respectively. Folks differentiates itself by offering an in-house DEX aggregator for optimizing swaps on Algorand.</p>

Folks Finance raises USD 3.2 million in Series A funding

<div>
 <p>Ethereum staking infrastructure provider, Puffer Finance, has introduced UniFi testnet, a novel L2 scaling solution for Ethereum. Currently, this testnet is only available to builders but will soon be made accessible to the public. </p>
 <p>The distinctive features of UniFi include: based sequencing that empowers Ethereum validators to manage transaction sequencing, immediate transaction feedback due to pre-confirmations, ultra-fast sub-second transactions, and swift one-minute asset withdrawals from L2 to L1.</p>
 <p>According to Puffer Finance, UniFi will ensure secure transaction sequencing, with the fee revenue being redirected back to Ethereum's main network. This will not only provide new earning opportunities for validators but also successfully integrate L1 security with L2 scalability. </p>

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Puffer Finance launches UniFi testnet for Ethereum scaling

<div>
 <p>TON Foundation, a company specializing in blockchain network development, has joined forces with Curve Finance, a decentralized exchange. The goal of this partnership is to cultivate stable asset swaps and further the DeFi abilities on its network.</p>
 <p>This cooperation, solidified in September, incorporated a competition for DeFi squads to create Curve's Constant Functional Market Maker technology on the TON platform. Potential solutions proposed during this competition included lending alternatives, liquidity staking, and constant product market maker (CPMM) protocols.</p>
 <p>This initiative is set to receive additional support in the form of USD 500,000 in incentives for cross-pool chains. These are designed to facilitate stablecoin exchanges between TON and EVM networks. Furthermore, seven venture capital firms have committed to investing USD 2.3 million in the projects that prove most successful.</p>
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Curve Finance has partnered with TON Foundation to advance DeFi development

<div>
 <p>Phoenix, a cryptocurrency exchange developed by Ellipsis Labs, has managed to secure a funding of USD 21 million. This funding was led by Haun Ventures and included contributions from other existing investors such as Electric Capital, Anatoly Yakovenko, and Paradigm. With this round, the total funding secured by the company has reached USD 44 million.</p>
 <p>This recent amount of funding will speed up the development of Atlas, a new blockchain specifically designed for verifiable finance. Set to launch as a layer-2 solution on Ethereum, Atlas will connect with the liquidity pools of both Ethereum and Solana. The new solution will provide low-latency transaction processing, consistent Oracle updates, and non-custodial, on-chain price discovery sequencing.</p> 
</div>

Ellipsis Labs raises USD 21 million in funding from Haun Ventures

<div>
 <p>TRON DAO, managing the Tron blockchain protocol, has formed a partnership with Chainlink, a decentralized computing platform. This partnership establishes Chainlink Data Feeds as the primary oracle solution for TRON's blockchain ecosystem.</p>
 <p>This alliance will lead to the discontinuation of WINkLink by TRON and the adoption of Chainlink Data Feeds for securing over USD 6.5 billion in DeFi applications, including the likes of JustLend and JustStable. In the early stages of the Chainlink Scale program, the operational costs of Oracle's network will be borne by TRON, which will eventually switch to dApp user fees.</p>
 
</div>

TRON DAO partners with Chainlink to integrate secure blockchain data feeds for DeFi

DYdX lays off 35% of staff amid market share decline

<div>
 <p>Blueprint Finance, a DeFi infrastructure protocol builder, has bought Jet Protocol, a Solana-based DeFi products developer. The acquisition amount remains undisclosed. Jet Protocol is a DeFi system operating on Solana blockchain, which lets users to borrow against over-collateralized debt and earn yield through automatic quantitative methods.</p>
 <p>Through this acquisition, Blueprint Finance plans to expand to Solana and Atlas blockchain platforms. The company intends to build new features on Jet's existing system like composable margin accounts, automated yield vaults, and staking markets.</p>
 <p>As a blockchain developer, Blueprint Finance creates the Concrete Protocol, a network driving on-chain debt and credit markets. This solution provides a composable layer on top of Etherum-based lending markets and lets users manage loans and lend assets for yields through automated strategies. In addition, Concrete uses quantitative methods and smart contracts to estimate collateral depreciation possibility over time and forms automated protection agreements to fund positions when nearing liquidation thresholds. Users can buy protection from Concrete, providing a fixed-term credit facility when their position is close to liquidation.</p>
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Blueprint Finance acquires Jet Protocol for undisclosed sum; expands Solana offering

<div>
 <p>Nexus Mutual, a decentralized insurance platform, has invested USD 2.6 million in Native, a crypto insurance broker, to enhance its distribution capabilities. They aim to launch a USD 20 million on-chain risk coverage program. Nexus seeks to augment capacity by connecting companies to its capital pools, allowing them to pay premiums and receive claims in cryptocurrency. Native will also participate in underwriting as a managing general agent (MGA), operating above Nexus Mutual.</p>
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All Updates

Architect raises USD 5 million in pre-product funding

Securitize partners with Elixir to launch deUSD RWA institutional program for tokenized assets

Barter raises USD 3 million in seed funding

Folks Finance raises USD 3.2 million in Series A funding

Puffer Finance launches UniFi testnet for Ethereum scaling

Curve Finance has partnered with TON Foundation to advance DeFi development

Ellipsis Labs raises USD 21 million in funding from Haun Ventures

TRON DAO partners with Chainlink to integrate secure blockchain data feeds for DeFi

DYdX lays off 35% of staff amid market share decline

Blueprint Finance acquires Jet Protocol for undisclosed sum; expands Solana offering

Native raises USD 2.6 million in seed funding

Decentralized Finance (DeFi)

Architect raises USD 5 million in pre-product funding

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