Highlights of This Issue
According to incomplete statistics from PANews, there were 15 investment and financing events in the global blockchain sector last week (3.9-3.15), with a total funding scale exceeding $238 million. The overview is as follows:
- DeFi sector announced 2 investment and financing events, among which the yield-generating stablecoin protocol Unitas Labs team announced the completion of a $13.33 million seed round;
- AI+Web3 sector announced 2 investment and financing events, among which VeryAI completed a $10 million seed round led by Polychain Capital;
- Infrastructure & Tools sector announced 9 investment and financing events, among which Zcash Open Development Lab (ZODL) completed a seed round of over $25 million with participation from Paradigm, a16z crypto, and others;
- Centralized Finance sector announced 2 investment and financing events, among which stablecoin payment company KAST completed an $80 million funding round co-led by QED Investors and Left Lane Capital.
DeFi
Yield-Generating Stablecoin Protocol Unitas Completes $13.33 Million Seed Round
The yield-generating stablecoin protocol Unitas Labs team announced the completion of a $13.33 million seed round with participation from Awaken Finance, Amber Group, BB Fund, Taisu Ventures, Bixin Ventures, SevenX Ventures, and others. Unitas stated that the funds will be used to build on-chain execution and strategy infrastructure for long-term capital, enhance stable asset yields through transparent market-neutral strategies, and gradually expand to various on-chain collateral assets such as BTC, tokenized commodities, and RWA under a unified custody, risk control, and monitoring framework, with a focus on strengthening compliance institution access and DeFi ecosystem integration.
DEXTools Completes $3 Million Funding to Launch Its Perpetual DEX "PerpTools"
DeFi data analysis platform DEXTools announced the completion of a $3 million funding round to launch its perpetual DEX "PerpTools". This round was led by DEXForce and Orderly. PerpTools is planned to launch a public beta by the end of Q2 2026, with trading volume reaching $150 million during the closed beta phase. PerpTools will integrate AI-driven analysis, prediction markets, and real-time execution functions, and plans to add features such as copy trading, rule-based automation, and prediction market integration. The CEO of DEXTools stated that PerpTools aims to integrate analysis, AI strategy tools, and deep liquidity into a single community-governed product.
AI
Palmprint Authentication Company VeryAI Completes $10 Million Seed Round Led by Polychain Capital
Palmprint authentication startup VeryAI completed a $10 million seed round led by Polychain Capital, with participation from Berggruen Institute, Anagram, and several angel investors in the crypto space. VeryAI provides a palmprint scanning SDK based on mobile phone cameras, which partners can integrate into existing applications to combat bot accounts and multi-factor authentication fatigue. Its system analyzes palmprint textures and requires users to perform random gestures to prevent screenshots, screen recordings, and AI forgery. The company claims a false recognition rate of about one in ten million for single-hand scans, higher than Apple's official Face ID level. VeryAI currently focuses on serving crypto platforms, has partnered with exchange MEXC for withdrawal verification, and charges based on registration and re-verification counts. Future plans include expanding to bank and government clients and adding more risk control tools.
AI Entertainment Platform NEXST Completes Over $3 Million Strategic Round with Participation from Castrum Capital, TBV, etc.
Japanese AI comprehensive entertainment platform NEXST announced the completion of a strategic round of over $3 million with participation from Castrum Capital, TBV, M2M Capital, Becker Ventures, and other institutions, raising approximately $3 million in seed funding. It is reported that NEXST integrates artificial intelligence, RWA, and blockchain technology to enable global fans to enjoy entertainment more conveniently and with a more immersive experience. It is committed to reshaping the global entertainment industry landscape through innovative models using cutting-edge technology.
Infrastructure & Tools
Crypto Accounting Platform Cryptio Completes $45 Million Series B Round Led by BlackFin Capital Partners and Sentinel Global
Digital asset accounting startup Cryptio completed a $45 million Series B round led by BlackFin Capital Partners and Sentinel Global, with participation from 1kx, BlueYard Capital, and Ledger Cathay Capital. The company primarily provides software for large institutions to manage digital asset positions, custody locations, crypto loans, and on-chain asset management. It is reported that this funding round was completed three weeks ago, and the valuation was not disclosed. The company currently has about 110 employees and serves over 450 clients, including stablecoin issuer Circle and the blockchain subsidiary of BNP Paribas.
Zcash Development Lab ZODL Completes Over $25 Million Seed Round
Zcash Open Development Lab (ZODL) announced the completion of an over $25 million seed round with investment from multiple institutions including Paradigm, a16z crypto, Winklevoss Capital, Coinbase Ventures, and several industry investors. ZODL was founded by former Electric Coin Company (ECC) head Josh Swihart. Its team previously launched the Zcash wallet Zodl (formerly Zashi), which has driven a growth of over 400% in Zcash privacy pool size since its launch in 2024 and facilitated over $600 million in ZEC exchanges since last October. The entire former ECC team has joined ZODL, continuing to be responsible for Zcash protocol development and self-custody privacy financial platform construction.
Solana Ecosystem AI Data Marketplace Kled AI Completes $5.5 Million Seed Round
Solana ecosystem AI data marketplace Kled AI announced the completion of a $5.5 million seed round with participation from Waymo founder Sebastian Thrun, Bernard Arnault's fund Aglaé Ventures, K5 Global, Diplo, Parable VC, Cox Exponential, and others, bringing the total funding to $9 million. Kled AI aims to build a human data marketplace where users contribute data by uploading files through its consumer application. The platform has collected over 12,000 structured datasets, covering egocentric data, medical data, urban travel data, etc., for AI labs and enterprises to purchase for model training.
Bitcoin L1 Smart Contract Platform OP_NET Completes $5 Million Funding Led by Further
Bitcoin L1 native smart contract platform OP_NET announced the completion of a $5 million funding round led by Further, with participation from ANAGRAM, Arcanum Capital, Humla Ventures, Morningstar Ventures, G20 Ventures, and UTXO Management. According to the introduction, the core function of OP NET is to transform the programmability of the Bitcoin blockchain into the programmability of smart blockchains like Ethereum. It plans to launch on the Bitcoin mainnet on March 17.
Bittensor Infrastructure Startup General Tensor Completes $5 Million Funding
Bittensor infrastructure startup General Tensor announced the completion of oversubscribed seed and pre-seed rounds, totaling $5 million. The seed round was led by Goldman Sachs-backed venture capital firm Good Morning Holdings, and the pre-seed round in December 2024 was led by Lvna Capital, with participation from DCG, X Ventures, Proof of Talk, and Outliers Fund. General Tensor was founded in early 2024, focusing on building and operating mining, validation, and subnet infrastructure for the decentralized AI network Bittensor. The company claims to generate TAO tokens at an efficiency approximately 1/40th of the "buy and hold" cost. In addition to infrastructure operations, General Tensor also builds consumer DeFi applications and incubates subnets.
Bitcoin Infrastructure Company Ark Labs Completes $5.2 Million Seed Round with Participation from Tether
Bitcoin infrastructure company Ark Labs completed a $5.2 million seed round with participation from institutions including Tether, Ego Death Capital, Epoch VC, etc. Anchorage Digital and former PayPal finance vice president Ralph Ho also participated.
P2P Web3 Application Engine MarsCat Completes $3 Million Funding Led by Animoca Brands, etc.
P2P Web3 application engine MarsCat completed a $3 million funding round with investment from Animoca Brands, Cogitent Ventures, Cryptogram Venture (CGV), tbv, BD Ventures, and Becker Ventures.
MarsCat is a decentralized Web3 platform and application engine based on a P2P network. It provides infrastructure for decentralized applications to run in a privacy-first, serverless environment without relying on centralized servers, aiming to achieve secure communication, scalable application deployment, and censorship-resistant interactions.
Crypto Bank Anchorage Digital Makes Strategic Investment in Immunefi
Cryptocurrency financial service provider and the first federally chartered crypto bank in the U.S., Anchorage Digital, is making a strategic investment in Immunefi and purchasing the native token IMU of this security infrastructure company. Immunefi will simultaneously provide security services for Anchorage's non-custodial wallet Porto, supporting institutional clients to directly participate in DeFi protocols and on-chain investment strategies. Currently, Immunefi protects over $180 billion TVL of on-chain protocols and has distributed over $130 million in bug bounties to white-hat hackers.
Private Markets Blockchain Infrastructure Corastone Completes New Funding Round with Participation from Fidelity, Future Standard, etc.
Private markets blockchain infrastructure Corastone announced that it has received investment from Fidelity, Future Standard, and Hamilton Lane. The specific amount has not been disclosed. The new funds will support its construction of a proprietary permissioned blockchain network to provide unified infrastructure and data standards for the private markets, supporting higher transaction volumes and more complex transaction structures.
Centralized Finance
Stablecoin Payment Company KAST Completes $80 Million Funding Round at Approximately $600 Million Valuation
Stablecoin payment company KAST completed an $80 million funding round co-led by QED Investors and Left Lane Capital. The funds will be used for expansion in North America, Latin America, and the Middle East, as well as for hiring, license applications, and product development. The new round valuation is approximately $600 million. Insiders said the terms of this funding round were finalized in October, and the company's annualized revenue is expected to rise to $100 million this year.
Stablecoin Company MetaComp Completes Pre-A+ Round, Accumulating $35 Million in Funding Over Three Months
Singapore digital financial platform MetaComp completed a Pre-A+ round. Combined with the Pre-A round completed three months ago, the cumulative funding reached $35 million. This round saw participation from a well-known internet giant, Spark Venture, and other institutional investors, with existing shareholders also participating. MetaComp and its affiliates aim to build a Web2.5 payment and wealth group-level platform, providing stablecoin/fiat hybrid payment and securities/RWA token hybrid wealth management services. The new funds will be used to accelerate the expansion of the StableX network in high-growth corridors in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America, as well as to develop an AI strategic architecture supporting agent-based Web2.5 payment and wealth services.
DAT
Eightco Holdings Completes $125 Million Funding Led by Bitmine, with Ark Invest and Others Participating
Crypto asset treasury company Eightco Holdings announced the completion of a $125 million funding round to support its布局 in blockchain and artificial intelligence. This round was led by bitcoin treasury company Bitmine with $75 million, and Ark Invest and Payward, the parent company of Kraken, each invested $25 million. Bitmine Chairman Tom Lee will join the Eightco board, and Ark Invest Chief Futurist Brett Winton will serve as a board advisor. Eightco also announced the completion of a $50 million strategic investment in OpenAI and a $25 million investment in YouTuber MrBeast's Beast Industries. Affected by this news, Eightco's stock price rose 12% on Thursday.
(This funding event is not included in the weekly report statistics)
