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Good Morning.

The Bitcoin halving is happening in 8 hours. At the same time, Runes protocol, which aims to enable fungible tokens trading on BTC, will also be launching on the same day. Are we seeing a BTC renaissance? We shall see…

In Today's Email:

• What Matters: Worldcoin’s L2 👀 

• Founders Highlight: Berachain’s co-founders 🐻 

• Deal Flows: Hidden Road eyes $120M 💰️ 

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TOGETHER WITH

Lightlink

LightLink is an Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain that offers dApps and enterprises the ability to provide instant, gasless transactions. 

• Its unique architecture allows for gas fees under $0.01 and enables completely gasless operations via Enterprise Mode, regardless of network activity. 

• LightLink has formed a partnership with Animoca Brands and is integrating Celestia to enhance data availability while boasting 115,000 daily transactions on its Mainnet.

• The platform has launched its $LL token through a Liquidity Bootstrapping Pool (LBP) on Fjord Foundry, aimed at ensuring a fair token distribution. 

Fjord Foundry is known as the best platform to launch tokens. In Q1’24, projects launching on Fjord collectively raised over $131M, raising over $35M more than all the other top 15 leaders combined.

• LBPs, a specialized DeFi mechanism, adjust prices based on demand, preventing dominance by whales and bots and ensuring a fair purchase price for all participants.

• The $LL LBP, running from April 18 to April 23, will release 50 million tokens with starting weights of 99% LL and 1% ETH, adjusting dynamically based on demand to prevent market manipulation. 

• Following the sale, $LL tokens will be accessible on Ethereum and can be bridged to LightLink.

Learn more about $LL’s LBP and sign up for updates on LightLink's official website.

WHAT MATTERS

Worldcoin Foundation Launches L2: World Chain

State of play: Worldcoin Foundation announced World Chain, an Ethereum L2 set to launch in mid-2024. It will be deeply integrated with the Worldcoin protocol, aiming to accelerate the adoption of "World ID."

• Worldcoin transactions are primarily on OP Mainnet, representing nearly half of network activity and sometimes peaking at over 80%.

• World Chain aims to boost capacity to facilitate scalable onboarding while ensuring World ID and $WLD remain deployable across different blockchains.

• Worldcoin isn’t abandoning Optimism, instead, its L2 will be built on top of Optimism’s Superchain network, where Base was also built.

Why it Matters: The L2 and L3 wars are developing and Optimism Superchain has proven to be quite the favorite for builders — it seems to be providing enough customization for end users while also sustaining the interoperability across fellow Superchains.

For builders and investors: The trend for successful projects is to launch their own L2, either for valuation purposes or because of scalability constraints.

BUILDER-INVESTOR HIGHLIGHT

Dev Bear, Smokey the Bera, Homme Bera of Berachain

Intro: Dev Bear, Smokey the Bera, and Homme Bera are the co-founders of Berachain, a high-performance EVM-compatible blockchain built on Proof-of-Liquidity consensus.

Previous background: There is no information regarding the co-founders of Berachain.

• The Berachain Co-Founders are anons.

• Based on Homme Bera’s X profile, there is an indication that he might be also involved in TempleDAO and Liquid Driver.

• However, Dev Bear’s X profile shows that Dev Bear previously worked at Apple.

The big idea: Berachain not only ensures EVM compatibility but also supports a modular framework for separating the EVM runtime layer.

• This enables the creation of smarter and more effective contracts, with stateful precompiles and unique modules.

Take a peek at our referral reward at the bottom of this issue. Share this newsletter and receive our list of 500 crypto VC individuals 👇

INSIGHTS

Heroglyphs: Decentralizing Ethereum Validation Contributions (Again)

A white paper co-authored by @mrinconcruz, @0xMaki, and @Glovin_ for a new protocol called Heroglyphs was introduced on Wednesday.

• Heroglyphs aims to incentivize Ethereum solo stakers with new tokens by mimicking elements of PoW systems.

• The white paper argues that fair crypto token distribution mechanisms have been absent since Ethereum shifted away from the PoW consensus mechanism to PoS in September 2022.

• The white paper also argues that LST may concentrate control among a few, possibly undermining network decentralization.

• Heroglyphs aims to solve the decentralization issue through proof-of-work-esque token rewards.

• Heroglyphs will enable users to create tokens with specified total supply, emission schedule, and initial distribution.

By allowing only complete validators to mine those tokens, Heroglyphs will foster a level playing field, reducing the dominance of large node operators and supporting smaller validators.

DEAL FLOWS

Hidden Road Partners Eyes $120M Funding

Deal flows remain strong this week, we saw $210M+ in deals 💼 

Hidden Road Partners, a startup prime brokerage specializing in crypto and foreign exchange, is in the process of raising ~$120M in a Series B equity round valuing the company at ~$1B.

• Hidden Road raised $50M in a Series A funding round in 2022, led by Castle Island Ventures. Investors in that round included Citadel Securities, FTX Ventures, Wintermute, and Coinbase Ventures.

• Crypto prime brokers like Hidden Road and competitor FalconX have garnered increased attention following the FTX exchange's collapse, as they assume counterparty risk on behalf of clients.

• Hidden Road and FalconX, among others, were requested by Binance to conduct stricter checks to prevent US investors from accessing the exchange following its plea deal with US authorities.

Deal flows in the past week:

• Nebra, $4.5M Pre-Seed & Seed Round

• CVEX, $7M Pre-Seed & Seed Round

• Ord.io, $2M Pre-Seed

• Interference Labs, $2.3M Pre-Seed Round

• Zeko Labs, $3M Pre-Seed Round

• Runes DEX, $2M Seed Round

• Multisynq, $2.2M Seed Round

• Aligned Layer, $2.6M Seed Round

• Aark, $6M Seed Round

• Thruster, $7.5M Seed Round

• SendingNetwork, $7.5M Seed+ Round

• Homium, $10M Series A Round

• Centrifuge, $15M Series A Round

• Puffer, $18M Series A

• Berachain, $100M Series B Round

• Gull Network, $1.6M Private Round

• Saakuru Protocol, $2.4M Private Round

• YieldNest, $5.2M Private Round

• Avalon, $10M Private Round

• Merlin Chain, Undisclosed $ Private Round

• Usual Labs, $7M Strategic Round

QUICK BITES

• IBIT inflows top $15.3B.

• BitMEX offers 250x leverage.

• Avail confirms token airdrop plans.

• Jamie Dimon still says Bitcoin is a fraud.

• Binance secures full VASP license in Dubai.

• Kraken acquires TradeStation’s crypto arm.

• Blur remained the top NFT marketplace in Q1.

• US Senators renew push for stablecoin legislation.

• Google searches for 'Bitcoin Halving' hit a new ATH.

• Binance seeks to re-enter India by paying $2M in penalty.

• Tether announces plan to reorganize into four new divisions.

• Binance converted its emergency insurance reserve to USDC.

• Avi Eisenberg convicted for the $110M Mango Markets exploit.

• Aptos strikes DeFi partnership with MSFT, Brevan Howard, and SK Telecom.

NOTEWORTHY READS

• Chris Dixon’s read on crypto regulation.

• Decentralised’s read on MEV on Solana.

• Archetype’s read on ERC:7683 the cross-chain intents standard.

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Disclaimer: All the information presented in this publication and its affiliates is strictly for educational purposes only. It should not be construed or taken as financial, legal, investment, or any other form of advice.