Financing Weekly Report | 10 Public Financing Events, Architect Financial Technologies Founded by Former FTX US President Raises $35 Million, to Launch New Exchange AX

marsbitPubblicato 2025-12-29Pubblicato ultima volta 2025-12-29

Introduzione

Last week (Dec 22-28) saw 10 blockchain funding rounds totaling over $419 million. Key deals include Architect Financial Technologies, founded by former FTX US president Brett Harrison, raising $35 million to launch a non-US institutional exchange for traditional asset perpetuals. Digital bank Erebor, backed by Peter Thiel, secured $350 million, doubling its valuation to $4.35 billion. In DeFi, Hyperliquid-based platforms easy.fun and Otomato each raised $2 million. Web3+AI funding included $3 million for video generator HPVideo and $1.5 million for AI-driven OS HodlHer. Infrastructure firm Coinbax raised $4.2 million for stablecoin payments. Other notable deals: Web3 social platform Crypto Life ($20 million), prediction market aggregator Rocket ($1.5 million), and iPower’s $30 million convertible note for a digital asset treasury strategy. HashKey Capital also closed $250 million for its fourth fund targeting global blockchain investments.

Highlights of This Issue

According to incomplete statistics from PANews, there were 10 investment and financing events in the global blockchain sector last week (12.22-12.28), with a total funding scale exceeding $419 million. The overview is as follows:

DeFi announced 2 investment and financing events, among which the Hyperliquid-based on-chain trading platform easy.fun completed a $2 million seed round;
The Web3+AI track announced 2 investment and financing events, among which the decentralized AI video generation platform HPVideo completed a $3 million financing, led by Helios Prime Capital;
Infrastructure & Tools announced 1 investment and financing event, the programmable trust layer for stablecoin payments, Coinbax, completed a $4.2 million seed round;
The Centralized Finance field announced 2 investment and financing events, among which the digital bank Erebor completed a $350 million financing, led by Lux Capital;
Other Web3 applications announced 3 investment and financing events, among which the Web3.0 social platform Crypto Life completed a $20 million financing

DeFi

Hyperliquid-based on-chain trading platform easy.fun completes $2 million seed round

The on-chain trading competition platform easy.fun announced the completion of a $2 million seed round led by Mirana Ventures. The funds will be used for product development, team expansion, and the upcoming global official trading championship. easy.fun is built on Hyperliquid, focusing on creating an open, fair, and transparent on-chain competitive environment with gamified mechanisms, aiming to transform trading into a playable, learnable, and winnable skill-based competition experience.

Hyperliquid ecosystem automated trading protocol Otomato completes $2 million strategic round

The Hyperliquid ecosystem automated trading protocol Otomato Protocol announced the completion of a $2 million strategic round of financing. The investor is a UK-based deep tech company, but the name has not been disclosed yet. The new funds will support Otomato in launching autonomous agent services, allowing users without coding expertise to create agents for executing and managing on-chain and off-chain trading tasks.

AI

Decentralized AI video generation platform HPVideo completes $3 million financing, led by Helios Prime Capital

The wallet-style AI video generation platform HPVideo announced it has completed a $3 million strategic financing round led by Helios Prime Capital. HPVideo is based on BNB Chain, supports wallet login and multi-model AI video generation, and emphasizes no email registration or personal information required, providing a low-cost video creation solution. Funds will be used for product R&D, infrastructure expansion, and ecosystem building.

Injective ecosystem HodlHer completes $1.5 million financing to build an AI-driven Web3 operating system

HodlHer announced the completion of a $1.5 million strategic financing round, with investors including Chain Capital, Bitrise Capital, and CGV, among others. HodlHer is the first AI smart agent-driven Web3 operating system developed based on the L1 project Injective. Its core technology, "HodlOS," will integrate emotional perception, long-term memory, and decentralized execution functions, aiming to provide users with a unified experience from information interaction to on-chain operations.

Currently, HodlHer has launched the emotional trading assistant "Sola" and plans to accelerate the development of the multi-agent assistant system "Super InternX" and the decentralized smart agent market "Agent Market," supporting users to create and trade personalized AI agents. HodlHer's long-term vision is to become the core operating system for the "personality economy" in the Web3 era, promoting collaborative symbiosis between humans and AI agents.

Infrastructure & Tools

Stablecoin payment programmable trust layer Coinbax completes $4.2 million seed round

The stablecoin payment programmable trust layer Coinbax has completed a $4.2 million seed round of financing, aiming to bring custody, strategy execution, and programmable settlement functions to digital assets. This round was led by BankTech Ventures, with participation from Connecticut Innovations, Paxos, SpringTime Ventures, and enterprises from the banking, payments, and digital asset infrastructure sectors.

Centralized Finance

Thiel-backed digital bank Erebor completes $350 million financing, valuation doubles to $4.35 billion

The digital bank Erebor, supported by Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel and Anduril CEO Palmer Luckey, has completed a $350 million financing round led by Lux Capital. Existing investors Founders Fund, 8VC, and Haun Ventures also participated in this round. The latest valuation reached $4.35 billion. Erebor positions itself as a new bank serving crypto and tech clients. It recently received FDIC deposit insurance approval and obtained a preliminary banking license, with expectations to officially launch in 2026.

Architect Financial Technologies, founded by former FTX US president, raises $35 million, to launch new exchange AX

Former FTX US president Brett Harrison has raised $35 million for his newly founded fintech company, Architect Financial Technologies, valuing the company at approximately $187 million. The exchange launched by the company, AX, focuses on perpetual contract trading of traditional assets, including stocks and foreign exchange, rather than cryptocurrency perpetual contracts. The AX platform is regulated in Bermuda and is only open to non-US institutional investors, as the US has not yet approved perpetual futures products.

DAT

Nasdaq-listed company iPower reaches $30 million convertible note financing agreement to launch DAT strategy

Nasdaq-listed e-commerce and supply chain platform iPower announced it has reached a $30 million convertible note financing agreement to launch its Digital Asset Treasury (DAT) strategy. The company disclosed that the first tranche of this financing will invest $9 million, with $4.4 million intended for purchasing Bitcoin and Ethereum. Other funds will increase working capital to strengthen the balance sheet. 80% of subsequent funds will be used for continuous acquisition of digital assets. Previous news indicated that iPower had announced a strategic shift towards crypto finance and blockchain infrastructure services in June this year.

Others

Web3 Social:

Web3.0 social platform Crypto Life completes $20 million financing, aiming to reshape data sovereignty and social value distribution

The next-generation decentralized social ecosystem Crypto Life announced the completion of a $20 million institutional round of financing. This round saw participation from multiple investment institutions including Bluemount Foundation, VEGA-Ventures, Infinite Alliance, ChainPulse Capital, UZ Capital, and others. Crypto Life aims to build a global, decentralized, user privacy-centric social network through blockchain technology, breaking the monopoly and control of traditional social giants over user data, and reshaping the social trust system and value distribution model.

Prediction Markets:

Prediction market aggregator Rocket completes $1.5 million Pre-seed round, led by Electric Capital

The prediction market aggregator Rocket announced the completion of a $1.5 million Pre-seed round of financing, led by Electric Capital, with follow-on investments from Jsquare, bodhi ventures, Tangent, Amber group, and other VCs.

Rocket is the first prediction market that distributes continuous returns based on judgment correctness. It features a non-binary betting structure, no liquidation mechanism, and the profit ceiling is completely opened at the protocol level. Users can reuse the same capital and deploy it in parallel across multiple predictions.

Coinbase to acquire prediction market startup The Clearing Company, transaction expected to complete in January

Coinbase has reached an agreement to acquire the prediction market startup The Clearing Company. Coinbase stated that the transaction is still subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to be completed in January. The Clearing Company was founded earlier this year by Toni Gemayel, who previously served as Head of Growth at Polymarket and Kalshi. The startup completed a $15 million seed round in August, with investors including Coinbase Ventures, aiming to build an on-chain, regulated prediction market platform.

Investment Institutions

HashKey Capital's fourth fund completes first close of $250 million

HashKey Capital announced that its fourth multi-strategy fund, Fund IV, has completed its first close, raising a total of $250 million, exceeding expectations. The fund's final target asset management scale is $500 million. The fund will invest in global blockchain infrastructure and large-scale application projects, with strategies covering primary and secondary markets. The general partner of the fourth fund is HashKey Capital Investment (affiliated with HashKey Capital). HashKey Capital currently manages over $1 billion in client assets, and its first fund achieved a DPI return of over 10x.

Domande pertinenti

QWhat is the total funding amount raised in the blockchain space for the week of December 22-28, as reported by PANews?

AThe total funding amount raised was over $419 million.

QWhich company, founded by the former president of FTX US, raised $35 million and is launching a new exchange called AX?

AArchitect Financial Technologies, founded by former FTX US president Brett Harrison, raised $35 million and is launching the new exchange AX.

QWhat is the name of the decentralized AI video generation platform that raised $3 million and is built on BNB Chain?

AThe decentralized AI video generation platform is called HPVideo.

QWhich digital bank, backed by Peter Thiel, secured $350 million in funding and saw its valuation double?

AThe digital bank is Erebor, which is backed by Peter Thiel and secured $350 million in funding, doubling its valuation to $4.35 billion.

QWhat type of market does the aggregator Rocket focus on, and how much did it raise in its Pre-seed round?

ARocket is a prediction market aggregator, and it raised $1.5 million in its Pre-seed funding round.

Letture associate

Not Speculation but a Necessity: The 4 Unique Values of Prediction Markets

Polymarket's recent $4 billion funding round, valuing it at $15 billion, highlights the explosive growth of prediction markets, with trading volume surging from $8.7 billion to $25.7 billion in just a few months. This article argues that prediction markets are not merely speculative gambling platforms but serve four core functions. First, they act as a form of entertainment and consumption, stimulating economic activity similar to the sports industry. Second, they provide a form of limited insurance, allowing users to hedge against specific, well-defined risks (e.g., weather events) in a transparent, cost-effective manner without traditional insurance overhead. Third, they are powerful tools for risk hedging, enabling both individuals and institutions to mitigate exposure to volatile events like commodity price swings and geopolitical crises. Finally, prediction markets can function as "truth machines," aggregating crowd wisdom to counter media narratives and biases, with some claims suggesting a 30% higher accuracy over traditional surveys. The piece concludes that the role and potential value of prediction markets are far greater than commonly perceived, positioning them as a significant future market.

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Interview with Jeff Hoffman: How Web3 and AI Are Reshaping the Trillion-Dollar Social Travel Market

Interview with Jeff Hoffman: Web3 and AI Reshaping the Trillion-Dollar Social Travel Market Jeff Hoffman, co-founder of Priceline, discusses how Web3 and AI are transforming the social travel industry. He highlights that the current travel market is fragmented and inefficient, dominated by traditional online travel agencies (OTAs) that act as intermediaries with opaque models. Web3 introduces direct connections, transparency, and faster settlements, shifting value back to travelers. Key trends driving this change include demand for flexible rewards, digital payments, and trust in communities over ads. Hoffman joined Staynex not for its Web3 label, but because it addresses industry inefficiencies by integrating booking, payments, AI-driven itineraries, and rewards into a single ecosystem. This Web2.5 model combines Web2 scale with Web3 incentives. He emphasizes the team’s focus on execution over hype as a key reason for his involvement. Looking ahead, blockchain will enable transparent rewards and seamless cross-border payments, while AI provides personalization. Together, they will turn travel into a continuous relationship rather than a transaction. Hoffman predicts traditional OTAs will persist, but value will shift to platforms that own payment, loyalty, and community networks. Social travel represents a significant, underestimated opportunity in Web3.

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Rare Evo 2026 Returns to Las Vegas as the Industry’s Premier Cross-Chain Blockchain Event, Spotlighting Policy, Regulation, and Institutional Adoption

Rare Evo 2026, one of the fastest-growing blockchain conferences, will return to the ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas from July 28–31, 2026. The event will focus on policy, regulation, and the convergence of traditional finance with blockchain infrastructure. It will bring together leaders from DeFi, Layer 1 ecosystems, institutional finance, government, and enterprise to foster crucial industry dialogue. Key themes include global regulatory frameworks, U.S. policy developments, institutional onboarding, and the role of traditional finance in Web3. With expected attendance of 3,000–4,000, the conference will feature keynotes, panels, workshops, hackathons, and networking events, serving as a neutral platform for collaboration across the digital asset ecosystem.

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Bitcoin Price Approaches $78K Amid Ongoing Bullish Momentum

Bitcoin's price is currently trading between $74,000 and $78,000, showing strong bullish momentum after recovering from a drop to $68,000 earlier this month. The cryptocurrency recently surged to $77,985, driven by increased institutional holdings and positive market sentiment fueled by scheduled US-Iran peace talks. While Bitcoin gains strength, altcoins like Ether lag due to investor caution following a $290 million hack on KelpDAO. Market dynamics remain balanced between buyers and sellers, with geopolitical events and oil prices influencing risk asset movements. The current tight trading range suggests a potential directional shift ahead.

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Who Makes Decisions for AI Is Drawing a $4 Trillion Watershed

The article argues that the future of AI agents—whether they augment or replace humans—is not determined by model capabilities but by a fundamental design choice: who bears the ultimate liability for AI-driven actions. The key distinction lies in accountability. An "augmented future" requires that every consequential decision made by an AI must be traceable to a specific, named human who had the opportunity to review and reject it. In contrast, an "automated future" emerges when this accountability is removed (e.g., via auto-approval features). The real value of AI agents is not in performing tasks but in compressing complex information into a "signable unit" that allows humans to understand and take responsibility. However, "permission fatigue" naturally pushes users toward automation, making augmentation a design choice that must be consciously enforced. The author proposes that builders of AI agents should bear liability for failures, which would incentivize safer design practices. From a market perspective, an augmentation-focused approach could tap into the $40 trillion global knowledge labor market—far larger than the enterprise software market—by enhancing human productivity rather than replacing jobs. Ultimately, the path forward depends on whether developers prioritize human responsibility or convenience in their designs.

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