Ethena & Securitize Set Q2 Mainnet Launch for Converge

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Good Morning.

Happy good Friday to y’all — may we all be blessed and escape this tariff war asap so we can go back to Valhalla. Cheers

In Today's Email:

• What Matters: Ethena & Securitize Set Q2 Mainnet Launch for Converge 🚀 

• Founders Highlight: Behrin Naidoo of Neutrl 👨 

• Deal Flow: DWF Labs’ $25M Investment in WLFI 💰️ 

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TOGETHER WITH

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WHAT MATTERS

Ethena & Securitize Set Q2 Mainnet Launch for Converge

State of play: Ethena and Securitize are launching Converge, a new Ethereum-compatible blockchain focused on RWA, with a mainnet target set for Q2 2025.

• Built using Arbitrum for scalability and Celestia for data availability, Converge will support both permissionless DeFi apps and permissioned institutional products.

• Users can pay gas fees in Ethena’s USDe and USDtb stablecoins.

• Security will be maintained through a Converge Validator Network (CVN), requiring ENA staking.

What’s next: The project aims to onboard tens of billions in institutional capital on-chain while bridging TradFi with DeFi.

For builders and investors: 

BUILDER-INVESTOR HIGHLIGHT

Behrin Naidoo of Neutrl

Intro: Behrin Naidoo is the Co-Founder and CEO of Neutrl, a high-yield synthetic dollar protocol bringing tokenised access to OTC delta-neutral trading strategies.

Previous background: Before Neutrl, Behrin had a strong background in finance and fintech. He was the co-founder of Fyde Treasury, served as an investment executive at RMI and RMB Holdings, and held board roles at Prodigy Finance and Entersekt.

• Earlier, he worked in equity research at J.P. Morgan and started his career at PwC, auditing major financial institutions.

The big idea: By leveraging OTC arbitrage and perpetual funding markets, Neutrl aims to create a synthetic dollar that captures untapped yield opportunities while maintaining market neutrality.

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

Janover Buys $10.5M SOL & Rebrands to DeFi Corp

State of play: Janover, a Nasdaq-listed firm soon to be renamed DeFi Development Corporation, has doubled down on its Solana-focused treasury strategy by purchasing 80,567 SOL (~$10.5M), bringing its total to over 163,000 SOL valued at $21.2M.

• The move follows its recent acquisition by former Kraken executives, now leading the company.

• Janover also announced a strategic staking partnership with Kraken, which will delegate a portion of its 4.5M SOL to Janover-operated validators.

• Backed by a $42M raise from top crypto investors, Janover is shifting to a SaaS model while aggressively expanding its digital asset holdings.

DEAL FLOWS

DWF Labs’ $25M Investment in WLFI

Deal flows slowed down this week - we saw $450M in deals 💼 

DWF Labs has invested $25M in World Liberty Financial (WLFI), gaining a governance stake and pledging liquidity support for its stablecoin USD1.

• DWF Labs will provide liquidity for USD1 across both centralized and decentralized platforms.

• The firm also opened a New York office to strengthen ties with US institutions and regulators, marking its strategic push into the American crypto market.

• USD1 aims to be an institutional-grade stablecoin backed by US Treasury bills and cash equivalents.

Deal flows in the past week:

• Embr Labs, $1.8M Pre-Seed Round

• Glider, $4M Seed Round

• Rekord AG, $4.5M Seed Round

• Neutrl, $5M Seed Round

• ORO AI, $6M Seed Round

• Resolv, $10M Seed Round

• Optimum, $11M Seed Round

• BugsCoin, $12M Series A

• Auradine, $153M Series C

• OpenZK, $6M Strategic Round

• APX Lending, $20M Strategic Round

• WLFI, $25M Strategic Round

• ZenMEV, $140M Strategic Round

• LayerZero, $55M Private Token Sale

QUICK BITES

• DeFi TVL shed $48B in Q1.

• DWF Labs invests $25M in WLFI.

• Spot Bitcoin ETFs see $169M exit.

• Janover buys $10.5M SOL & rebrands to DeFi Corp.

• Ethena & Securitize set Q2 mainnet launch for Converge.

• a16z urges the SEC to allow RIAs to self-custody crypto assets.

• VanEck aims to launch crypto-related investments ETF next month.

• Base scrutinized over promotion of token that briefly crashed 95%.

• eXch to close down under money laundering scrutiny tied to Lazarus.

• South Korean presidential candidate aims to relax crypto regulations.

• Fed Chair Jerome Powell signals potential loosening of crypto rules for banks.

• Panama City to accept crypto for taxes, permits and fines via bank conversion.

NOTEWORTHY READS

• Lauris’ read tokenizing babies.

• Jeff Morris’ read on the operator VC trap.

• 3 sigma’s read on how stablecoins profit from US debt.

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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.