Highlights of This Issue
According to incomplete statistics from PANews, there were 19 investment and financing events in the global blockchain space last week (12.8-12.14), with a total funding scale exceeding $178 million. The overview is as follows:
- DeFi sector announced 8 investment and financing events, among which the RWA tokenization network Real Finance announced it has secured $29 million in a private funding round;
- The Web3+AI track announced 2 investment and financing events, among which the crypto AI platform Surf completed a $15 million funding round led by Pantera Capital;
- The Infrastructure & Tools field announced 4 investment and financing events, among which crypto infrastructure startup LI.FI announced the completion of a $29 million funding round led by Multicoin Capital and CoinFund;
- The Centralized Finance field announced 5 investment and financing events, among which Singapore-licensed stablecoin cross-border payment and fund management service provider MetaComp announced the completion of a $22 million Pre-Series A funding round;
- Additionally, 1 listed company completed financing for its crypto treasury strategy: TenX Protocols raised approximately $24 million and was listed on the Canadian TSX Venture Exchange.
DeFi
RWA Tokenization Network Real Finance Announces $29 Million Private Funding Round
The Real World Asset (RWA) tokenization network Real Finance announced it has secured $29 million in a private funding round to build an RWA infrastructure layer. This round includes a $25 million capital commitment from digital asset investment firm Nimbus Capital, with participation from Magnus Capital and Frekaz Group. The funds will be used to expand its compliance and operational infrastructure to develop a full-stack RWA platform. The company's short-term goal is to tokenize $500 million worth of RWA, accounting for about 2% of the current tokenized asset market size. The current RWA market is primarily dominated by US Treasury products, private credit, and institutional alternative funds, with asset types like tokenized money market funds also growing rapidly. Industry insiders predict the market may see stronger growth in the coming year as the regulatory environment becomes clearer.
ETHZilla Acquires 15% Stake in Digital Mortgage Platform Zippy for Approximately $21 Million
According to an announcement on the ETHZilla website, the company acquired a 15% stake in the digital mortgage platform Zippy for approximately $21 million and reached an agreement to tokenize manufactured housing loans as on-chain RWA. Zippy focuses on the US manufactured housing market, with an annual financing scale of $14 billion. This move will expand ETHZilla's RWA strategic footprint. Over the next 36 months, Zippy's on-chain operations will exclusively use platforms under ETHZilla, such as Liquidity.io, and are expected to provide institutional investors with channels to purchase bonds on-chain.
Magma Finance Completes $6 Million Strategic Funding to Build Adaptive Liquidity Engine on Sui Network
DeFi protocol Magma Finance announced it has secured $6 million in strategic funding to build an adaptive liquidity engine on the Sui Network. This round saw participation from HashKey Capital, SNZ, SevenX Ventures, Puzzle Ventures, Topspin Ventures, among others, and received ecosystem support from Navi Protocol. Magma stated it will address capital inefficiency and liquidity fragmentation on Sui, providing better execution for traders and generating real yield for LPs. The project has already passed security audits by Zellic and ThreeSigma.
Pye Finance Completes $5 Million Seed Round Led by Variant and Coinbase Ventures
Pye Finance announced the completion of a $5 million seed round led by Variant and Coinbase Ventures, with participation from Solana Labs, Nascent, and Gemini. Pye is developing an on-chain marketplace on Solana that makes time-locked staking assets tradable, aiming to split staked SOL into independently transferable principal and reward tokens to enhance liquidity and yield management capabilities. The product is expected to enter private beta in Q1 2026.
DeFi Structured Position Tool Asgard Completes $2.2 Million Seed Round Led by Robot Ventures
Asgard Finance completed a $2.2 million seed round led by Robot Ventures, with participation from Solana Ventures, Colosseum, Primal, Presto, mtnDAO, and Dead King Society. Asgard's flagship product is Credit Backed Positions (CBP), a new type of DeFi structured position tool. Early beta users have already created over $35 million in CBP positions. The project is built on the Solana chain, aiming to enable efficient, composable on-chain structured trading.
Aptos Ecosystem Yield Optimization Protocol Goblin Finance Completes $1 Million Strategic Funding Led by OKX Ventures, etc.
The Aptos ecosystem yield optimization protocol Goblin Finance announced the completion of a $1 million strategic funding round. This round was led by OKX Ventures, Gate Ventures, and BlockBooster, with participation from Aptos, Hyperion, and Avery Ching, Co-founder and CEO of Aptos Labs. According to the introduction, Goblin Finance is a yield optimization protocol specifically built for Aptos DeFi. It can automatically execute V3 DEX and perpetual contract liquidity provider strategies and offers vaults for dynamic rebalancing or concentrated liquidity.
Incentive Completes a Seed Round, Investor is Singularity Venture Hub
Incentive is a blockchain-based DeFi claims market, aiming to turn setbacks like failed investments or protocol losses into opportunities for recovery and growth.
The platform allows users to trade, liquidate, or claim value from DeFi positions that might otherwise be locked or underutilized, essentially creating a secondary market for DeFi claims and rights. Incentive acts as a new infrastructure layer in the decentralized finance ecosystem, bridging liquidity gaps and unlocking the potential value of impaired or legacy DeFi assets.
Jupiter Exchange Acquires Lending Market Rain.fi
According to a disclosure by SolanaFloor, Jupiter Exchange has acquired the lending market Rain.fi, aiming to accelerate the development of the on-chain credit market on Solana. Rain.fi conducted a Droplets snapshot on December 10, 2025. The post-snapshot Droplets holdings will be converted into JUP token rewards, expected to be distributed in early 2026.
AI
Crypto AI Platform Surf Completes $15 Million Funding Led by Pantera Capital
The crypto AI platform Surf, led by Pantera Capital with participation from Coinbase Ventures and DCG, completed a $15 million funding round. Surf was co-founded by former UC Berkeley AI researcher Ryan Li and focuses on providing more accurate, "hallucination"-free crypto market analysis. The platform currently has over 300,000 users and annual revenue has reached millions of dollars, with a target of $10 million by the end of 2026. Surf plans to launch an upgraded model, Surf 2.0, in February 2026, strengthening its leading position in vertical crypto AI.
Pheasant Network Completes $2 Million Funding to Promote AI-Driven DeFAI Interoperability
Pheasant Network, under PG Labs, completed a $2 million seed round and ecosystem grant to advance AI×Intent-driven decentralized financial interoperability. The funding was led by mint, with support from the Ethereum Foundation, Polygon Labs, Optimism, among others. The project has processed over $200 million in cross-chain transactions and plans to expand PNT token applications, launch AI-assisted routing, and one-click cross-chain operations.
Infrastructure & Tools
Cross-Chain Protocol LI.FI Completes $29 Million Funding, Led by Multicoin Capital and CoinFund
Crypto infrastructure startup LI.FI announced the completion of a $29 million funding round led by Multicoin Capital and CoinFund. The funds will be used to build its cross-blockchain price discovery and transaction path optimization tools. This round of funding will be used to expand into areas such as perpetual contracts, prediction markets, yield strategies, and plans to grow the team. The company is currently profitable. LI.FI specializes in providing aggregated routing services for fintech companies, wallets, trading platforms, etc. Current partners include Robinhood, Binance, and Kraken, with monthly trading volume reaching $8 billion. Its platform is known as the "Google Maps for crypto," helping businesses execute multi-chain transactions at the lowest cost.
YO Labs, the Development Team Behind YO Protocol, Completes $10 Million Series A Funding Led by Foundation Capital
YO Labs, the development team behind the YO Protocol, announced the completion of a $10 million Series A funding round led by Foundation Capital, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Scribble Ventures, and Launchpad Capital. To date, its total funding has reached $24 million. The company plans to use this funding to promote its yield optimization protocol to more blockchains and improve its infrastructure.
Stripe Acquires Valora Wallet Team to Expand Its Stablecoin Services
Payment giant Stripe expanded its cryptocurrency business through an "acqui-hire" of the team from crypto startup Valora. On Wednesday, Valora founder Jackie Bona announced that the team would join Stripe to pursue the mission of expanding access to the global financial system. The specific terms of the transaction were not disclosed, including the number of Valora employees joining Stripe. According to Bona, Stripe's acquisition does not seem to include the intellectual property behind Valora's technology. She wrote that the app will "return to its origins at cLabs to continue operations, with cLabs leading its future development."
Valora was launched in 2021 and developed a mobile-first, self-custody cryptocurrency wallet app, particularly for stablecoins on the CELO blockchain. Valora aims to make sending cryptocurrency as easy as sending a text message. It previously partnered with peer-to-peer apps like M-Pesa to expand into African markets and worked with stablecoin issuer Tether to promote global stablecoin adoption.
Indian Blockchain Cross-Border Remittance Startup Frex Completes Approximately $1.05 Million Pre-Seed Round Led by Zeropearl VC, etc.
Indian blockchain remittance startup Frex announced the completion of a Pre-Seed funding round of 95,000,000 Indian Rupees (approximately $1.05 million), co-led by Zeropearl VC and White Venture Capital, with participation from a group of angel investors. The company uses blockchain technology and the advantages of local banking partners to build a real-time remittance solution, primarily targeting immigrants and overseas workers for cross-border remittance services.
Centralized Finance
Stablecoin Cross-Border Payment Company MetaComp Completes $22 Million Pre-Series A Round with Participation from Sky9 Capital, etc.
Singapore-licensed stablecoin cross-border payment and fund management service provider MetaComp announced the completion of a $22 million Pre-Series A funding round. Investors in this round include Eastern Bell Capital, Noah, Sky9 Capital, Freshwave Fund, and Beingboom Capital, with 100Summit Partners acting as the exclusive financial advisor. The new funds will be used to accelerate the expansion of its StableX Network, which integrates SWIFT and multi-stablecoin networks to provide enterprises with a real-time cross-border settlement layer. MetaComp holds a Major Payment Institution license issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Its stablecoin payment business has a monthly transaction volume exceeding $1 billion, covering over 30 markets. The company plans to deepen its business presence in Southeast Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East.
Cascade Raises $15 Million with Participation from Polychain Capital, etc.
New York-based startup Cascade has raised $15 million to date from investors including Polychain Capital, Variant, Coinbase Ventures, and Archetype. Cascade announced the launch of a new 24/7 brokerage service. The service is built on a unified margin account linked to perpetual markets covering cryptocurrencies, major US stocks, and private company-related标的 like OpenAI, SpaceX, and Stripe. Currently, some invited depositors can access the platform, which is expected to open to the public in early 2026. At launch, the platform will offer over 10 perpetual markets, with plans to gradually expand the product lineup.
Paradigm Invests $13.5 Million in Brazilian Stablecoin Project Crown
Crypto venture capital firm Paradigm announced a $13.5 million investment in the Brazilian stablecoin company Crown. This round values the company at approximately $90 million, marking Paradigm's first investment in Brazil. Crown stated that its Brazilian Real (BRL)-pegged stablecoin, BRLV, has become the "largest emerging market stablecoin globally" and is fully backed by Brazilian government bonds, currently sized at about 360 million Reais (approximately $66 million). BRLV primarily targets institutional clients, and investors can earn high interest rates (around 15%) by holding this stablecoin. Paradigm stated that Crown has established strong network effects and is poised for rapid expansion in Brazil.
AllScale Completes $5 Million Seed Round Led by YZi Labs
AllScale completed a seed round of approximately $5 million, led by YZi Labs (EASY Residency S2), with participation from GSR Ventures and Generative Ventures, and established an ecosystem partnership with BNB Chain. AllScale positions itself as a self-custody stablecoin "neobank" for global micro-enterprises and freelancers, providing stablecoin payment and receipt tools, invoicing, and settlement tools. It supports account abstraction and an LLM financial assistant, featuring a passkey wallet without seed phrases and a multi-chain "paymaster" for gas fee sponsorship, offering zero gas fees and low latency. The platform has integrated with BNB Chain and efficient Layer2s, plans to expand to Latin America next quarter, and claims to have established partnerships with freelancer communities in Africa.
African Stablecoin Payment Startup Ezeebit Completes $2.05 Million Seed Round
South African FSCA-regulated crypto payment startup Ezeebit announced the completion of a $2.05 million seed round. The funds will be used to accelerate product development and merchant expansion in South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria. The company supports instant stablecoin settlement and next-day local fiat payments, having processed over 30,000 transactions. Investors include Raba Partnerships, Founder Collective, and executives from companies like VISA, Revolut, and Talos.
DAT
(Such transactions are not included in this week's funding statistics)
TenX Protocols Raises Approximately $24 Million, Recently Listed on Canadian TSX Venture Exchange
Blockchain infrastructure company TenX Protocols was officially listed on the Canadian TSX Venture Exchange under the stock symbol "TNX". The company raised over 33 million CAD (approximately $24 million) in 2025, part of which will be used to purchase tokens from chains like Solana, Sui, Sei and participate in staking, while expanding its own infrastructure services. Investors include Borderless Capital, BONK contributors, DeFi Technologies, among others.
