Magic Eden Launches $ME Token

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Good Morning.

August and September are historically slow months in crypto, but so far we have Trump supporting his sons’ DeFi project, Justin Sun making money moves, and CZ going out fairly soon. Onwards and upwards!

In Today's Email:

• What Matters: Magic Eden’s Token 🪙 

• Founders Highlight: Tang & Xu of Rabby 🐇 

• Deal Flow: Story’s 80M Series B 💰️ 

You read and share. We listen and improve. Send us feedback at [email protected].

TOGETHER WITH

NPC Labs

NPC Labs is building the Amazon of the Passion Economy - on blockchain rails. NPC Labs’ infrastructure enables artists, creators, & brands with product content fit to scale and outperform legacy Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) players, through leveraging Web3 tools for community alignment & onchain provenance to eliminate counterfeit goods. 

NPC Labs provides a sophisticated platform that leverages secure databases, blockchain technology, and NFC/RFID tags. This comprehensive system provides vetted, authenticated item manufacturing & fulfillment for phygital products, ensuring authenticity.

Each product is equipped with an NFC-enabled digital experience that provides unique, customizable utility according to each creator’s needs. Our network of top-quality manufacturers has worked with top-tier brands such as Amazon, Lululemon, Sony, Puma, Tesla, Urban Outfitters, Universal, and more.

NPC Labs just launched its first NFT series for Base Onchain Summer with a series of notable artists including NYGILIA, Gabe Weis, JaneDoe, Kevin Genido, K.O, Jordan Donald, Sam Tavill, Qing The Creator, and other talented creators. Redeem the NFTs for limited-edition physicals, including exclusive merch, prints, wall art, toys, custom sneakers, and more surprises. 

Learn how to participate below.

Access the mints here and here.

WHAT MATTERS

Magic Eden Introduces $ME Token

State of play: Magic Eden (ME) will adopt $ME as its official ecosystem token, serving as an incentive as the platform expands into mobile dApps.

• $ME tokens will enable cross-chain trading on the Solana-based Magic Eden platform.

• $ME tokens will be integrated into third-party protocols and dApps as interest in NFTs and Bitcoin-based Runes increases.

• The token's launch date is unclear, but the ME Foundation announced it will be available via the Magic Eden desktop and mobile wallet.

Why it Matters: Magic Eden has surpassed $6B in trading volume, representing 60% of all NFT revenue and 80% of Bitcoin Ordinals and Runes trading volume.

For builders and investors: Tokens are superpowers. OpenSea missed its chance and got butchered by Blur. Magic Eden is smart and realizes the importance of having tokens.

BUILDER-INVESTOR HIGHLIGHT

Tang Hongbo & Xu Yong of Rabby Wallet

Intro: Tang Hongbo & Xu Yong are the co-founders of DeBank, the developer of Rabby Wallet, an open-source crypto wallet for Ethereum and all EVM chains.

Previous background: Both Tang and Xu graduated from Tongji University. They also worked together on a Chinese food delivery platform before founding DeBank.

• Xu also founded a data analysis tool for investors before founding DeBank in 2018.

The big idea: Tang & Xu, through DeBank, aims to make it easier for users to manage their DeFi assets across multiple protocols and wallets in one place with a user-friendly interface, such as in their app, Rabby.

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

Monad vs MegaETH - Full Nodes Debate

Credits to 0xalank for the original commentary

State of play: 0xalank criticizes a recent Bankless podcast discussing Monad vs. MegaETH, highlighting misconceptions about scalability and censorship resistance in L2 solutions.

• He argues that the debate on full nodes was flawed, with Keone Hon correctly defining a full node while Lei Yang confused it with a snap sync definition.

• 0xalank agrees with points made about latency improvements in L2s due to centralized sequencers but believes the MegaETH team overemphasizes propagation latency while neglecting bandwidth.

• 0xalank questions the practicality of MegaETH's claim that Raspberry Pi verifiers can handle fraud proofs at 100,000 TPS, pointing out that data constraints would exceed the 7-day fraud-proof window.

• He emphasizes the importance of realistic benchmarks and encourages more industry-wide discussions on technical challenges while noting that meaningful debates require actual code and testing.

DEAL FLOWS

PIP Labs’s $80M Series B

Deal flows soared this week, we saw $230M+ in deals 💼 

PIP Labs, the main developer of the Story blockchain, announced an $80M Series B funding round led by a16zcrypto.

• Other investors in the Series B raise include Polychain Capital, Scott Trowbridge, and Cozomo de’ Medici.

• The round was for equity in PIP Labs, not future tokens.

• In September, PIP Labs announced raising over $54M in a round led by a16z, with contributions from Balaji Srinivasan, Paris Hilton’s 11:11 Media, and ex-Microsoft executive Charlie Songhurst.

• The announcement combined $30M in seed funding and $24M from a Series A raise.

• An additional $6M was raised afterward, bringing PIP Labs' total funding across three rounds to $140M.

Deal flows in the past week:

• g8keep, $1.25M Pre-Seed Round

• SatLayer, $8M Pre-Seed Round

• BSX, $4M Seed Round

• zkME, $4M Seed Round

• Stork, $4M Seed Round

• Holonmym, $5.5M Seed Round

• GenLayer, $7.5M Seed Round

• Sorella Labs, $7.5M Seed Round

• Skyfire, Undisclosed $ Seed Round

• Fabric Cryptography, $33M Series A

• PIP Labs, $80M Series B

• Corn, Undisclosed $ Strategic Round

• GAMEE, Undisclosed $ Strategic Round

• Rivalz Network, $9M Private Round

• Arch, $75M Private Round (equity and debt)

• Vool, Undisclosed $ Private Round

• Aggregata, Undisclosed $ Private Round

• Opinion Labs, , Undisclosed $ Private Round

• SideKick, Undisclosed $ Private Round

• Credbull, $5.2M Unknown Round

QUICK BITES

• SunPump flips PumpFun in daily revenue.

• Conduit launches marketplace for rollups.

• Trump endorses crypto project 'The DeFiant Ones.'

• Worldcoin faces scrutiny from Columbia authorities.

• Binance plans to hire 1,000 as it ramps up compliance.

• Kamala’s advisor says the VP is open to crypto growth.

• Australia's fed court rules against Kraken operator Bit Trade.

• Sony Group teases launch of Ethereum L2 with Startale Labs.

• Justin Sun's USDD stablecoin is no longer backed by bitcoin.

• Franklin Templeton brings its tokenized MM fund to Avalanche.

• MakerDAO plans to redenominate 1 MKR to 24,000 NGT tokens.

• Grayscale adds Avalanche Trust alongside BTC and ETH Products.

• Coinbase & Ripple become largest corporate political contributors.

NOTEWORTHY READS

• Bridget & Gaby’s read on a crypto whitepill.

• ParaFi Capital’s read on post-EIP-4844 Ethereum activity.

• Klya Scanlon’s read on home insurance as a really big problem.

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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.