But Karma3 Labs is hoping to change that with $4.5 million in fresh capital backing its decentralized reputation protocol OpenRank.
This is the protocol’s first capital raise, Sahil Dewan, founder and CEO of Karma3 Labs, told TechCrunch exclusively.
“We are really obsessed with solving trust and safety issues for crypto,” Dewan said.
“We wanted to create a protocol and generalized system, not as a source of trust, but for anyone to come and build reputation systems,” Dewan said.
The OpenRank protocol allows any developer to use its “Reputation Graphs” for ratings, ranking or recommendations for applications or communities.
Bitcoin jumped and Coinbase’s app crashed, while Aptos eyes Hong Kong and Telegram rolls out rewards with TONWelcome to TechCrunch Crypto, formerly known as Chain Reaction.
This week in web3Crunching numbersThis week the crypto market was very hyped up as the two biggest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, bitcoin and ether, both jumped about 23.6% and 18%, respectively, on the week, according to CoinMarketCap data.
The total crypto market cap increased 19.4% over a seven-day period to $2.34 trillion.
Our favorite ‘Crypto Twitter’ postICYMI, last week a lot of crypto people were tweeting about emails from Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin.
In June 2022, Magic Eden raised $130 million in a Series B round that granted it unicorn status.
Ever since Hong Kong legalized cryptocurrency trading last June, blockchain projects from the West have been paying more attention to the Asian financial hub.
Aptos, the a16z-backed blockchain network developed by a group of former Meta employees, is one of them.
Started by some of the original creators of Meta’s abandoned crypto payment project Diem, Aptos is set to host a DeFi event in Hong Kong this April.
When asked when users in Hong Kong will get access to Aptos-based DeFi services, the founder said he cannot speculate on regulation.
“I do think Hong Kong regulators are moving things in the right direction and forward and providing clarity for entrepreneurs to build.
Bitcoin’s rally is turning out to be bad news for Coinbase, the crypto trading app that has just confirmed some of its customers are seeing a zero balance across their Coinbase accounts.
The price of Bitcoin climbed in the wake of U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs, driving a 42% price rally this month.
Users of the Coinbase app grew concerned on Wednesday as they logged in to find their accounts showing a zero balance, despite owning crypto assets.
We are aware that some users may see a zero balance across their Coinbase accounts & may experience errors in buying or selling.
Remarked one user on X, who shared a picture of a zero balance, “My mom called and asked me and mine was at zero also,” they said.
It’s hard to keep track of crypto’s technical development, but one thing hasn’t changed much: blockchain applications are notoriously hard to build.
This stems in part from their decentralized nature, resulting in a lack of uniform standards across different infrastructure pieces.
Initia, founded by a group of developers in their late 20s, is trying to bring more interoperability to multi-chain networks and simplify the process of creating app-specific blockchains, or app chains.
In layman’s speak, Initia is abstracting away app chains’ technical complexity, aiming to make them more friendly to both end users and app developers.
They paused the project after the FTX implosion and eventually changed tack to work on blockchain infrastructure.
Crypto fund Asymmetric Financial is creating its Bitcoin DeFi Venture Fund I to focus on investing in the blockchain’s nascent space with a target raise of $21 million.
The fund will be spearheaded by general partner Dan Held, former director of growth at Kraken and long-time Bitcoiner.
Many Bitcoin-focused VCs ignore DeFi because it’s speculative, and broader crypto VCs see it as a “dead boomer rock,” he added.
Much of this activity has centered on the Ethereum blockchain, but Held believes Bitcoin’s blockchain has tons of future potential as an ecosystem.
“It will be a Bitcoin DeFi renaissance.”“Bitcoin is worth more than every other crypto asset combined,” Held added.
Some cryptocurrency exchanges in Nigeria faced accessibility issues for users, prompting speculation of imposed restrictions on crypto sites, the Financial Times reported.
On Wednesday, local media reported that Nigeria’s telecom regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), received instructions from the country’s apex bank to suspend access to crypto websites, including Binance, Coinbase and Kraken.
According to Bloomberg, a presidential spokesman confirmed Nigeria’s issuance of a directive instructing telecoms and internet service providers to block access to cryptocurrency trading platforms.
Only users attempting to access the website are impacted, although the app is currently available,” Binance stated.
While several Binance users in Nigeria reported difficulties accessing the site in the early hours of Thursday, it appears that the directive to restrict access has been temporarily halted, as these cryptocurrency trading platforms, including Kraken and Coinbase, are currently accessible.
“It’s the single best time to invest in [crypto] companies,” according to 10T Holdings and 1RoundTable Partners’ CEO, Dan Tapiero.
Crypto reporter Jacquelyn Melinek has the inside scoop on why his firm is taking the long view to ride out the volatility of the web3 landscape as it raises its fourth fund.
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I’m interested in working in space technology and will be applying for jobs in that field while I’m on OPT.
I’ve heard that most space tech companies are reluctant to hire individuals on F-1 student visas due to export rules and other compliance issues.
Worldcoin to launch new Orb to make its eyeball scanning device look “more friendly” The next iteration will look similar to an “Apple product,” CEO saysIt’s been a little over 180 days since Worldcoin publicly launched – and its futuristic looking Orb device is getting an upgrade, Alex Blania, CEO and co-founder of Tools for Humanity, shared exclusively with TechCrunch.
“The new orb is coming” and the “next iterations will look quite different,” Blania said during a fireside chat at a StrictlyVC event on Wednesday.
The next Orb will roll out the first half of this year and will have alternative colors and “form factors,” in an effort to look “much more friendly,” Blania shared.
Tools for Humanity is the company that created Worldcoin, the crypto project co-founded by Blania, Sam Altman and Max Novendstern.
Its flagship device is a five-pound chromatic bowling ball-sized device that looks like something out of a sci-fi movie.
Worldcoin to launch new Orb to make its eyeball scanning device look “more friendly” The next iteration will look similar to an “Apple product,” CEO saysIt’s been a little over 180 days since Worldcoin publicly launched – and its futuristic looking Orb device is getting an upgrade, Alex Blania, CEO and co-founder of Tools for Humanity, shared exclusively with TechCrunch.
“The new orb is coming” and the “next iterations will look quite different,” Blania said during a fireside chat at a StrictlyVC event on Wednesday.
The next Orb will roll out the first half of this year and will have alternative colors and “form factors,” in an effort to look “much more friendly,” Blania shared.
Tools for Humanity is the company that created Worldcoin, the crypto project co-founded by Blania, Sam Altman and Max Novendstern.
Its flagship device is a five-pound chromatic bowling ball-sized device that looks like something out of a sci-fi movie.
