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.
