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Project Overview
Abstract is a consumer-focused blockchain powered by cutting-edge ZK cryptography for consumer crypto, pioneering culture, community, and creativity onchain. Its mission is to build the world's biggest onchain community, driven by the culture economy, leveraging ZK Stack and EigenDA to provide cheap, fast, and secure transactions. Abstract was invented by individuals who launched and scaled Pudgy Penguins, Ethereum, and Kubernetes.
AI compute company General Compute completes $100 million Series A funding, led by Abstract Ventures and others
Odaily reports: AI compute startup General Compute has completed a $100 million Series A funding round, led by Blackbird Ventures and Abstract Ventures, with a post-money valuation of $800 million, a significant increase from the $60 million valuation after its seed round in May this year. The funding was driven by an order from a large customer with $100 million in annual recurring revenue.General Compute focuses on AI inference compute, using specialized chips from NVIDIA competitors, and has reached a $400 million chip procurement agreement with SambaNova, with suppliers also including Positron and Cerebras. Unlike the traditional approach of building large data centers, the company deploys AI compute by leasing data center space, utilizing smaller-scale power resources, and retrofitting Bitcoin mining farms, with plans to deploy 75 megawatts of compute capacity by 2027. Amid CoreWeave's stock falling to near a 12-month low and Elon Musk's prediction that more than 200 new cloud service providers will undergo elimination and consolidation, General Compute co-founder and CEO Finn Puklowski believes that market fears of a chip-induced industry collapse are severely exaggerated, and customer demand for various chips and compute remains strong.PANews, October 27: According to reports, AI compute startup General Compute has completed a $100 million Series A funding round, led by Blackbird Ventures and Abstract Ventures, with a post-money valuation of $800 million, a significant increase from the $60 million valuation after its seed round in May this year. Currently, General Compute focuses on AI inference compute, using specialized chips from NVIDIA competitors, and has reached a $400 million chip procurement agreement with SambaNova, with suppliers also including Positron and Cerebras. (TechCrunch)
Cumulative losses in the tens of millions of dollars, Abstract is gradually shutting down, Igloo Inc. pivots to Pudgy Penguins and PENGU
Luca Netz posted on X that Abstract is gradually shutting down, and its parent company Igloo Inc. will shift all of its focus to Pudgy Penguins, Pudgy NFTs, and PENGU. Igloo has continued to provide funding support for Abstract over the past 18 months. Over its two years of operation, the project has accumulated losses in the tens of millions of dollars and has still not found product-market fit (PMF).He said that Abstract had previously processed over 300 million onchain transactions, launched Portal and AGW, and attracted multiple global brands to join, but issues such as an insufficient DeFi ecosystem, limited liquidity, low institutional participation, high costs, and declining demand for related products continued to constrain growth. In the end, Igloo Inc. could no longer continue diverting funds from the Pudgy Penguins business to support Abstract, and it did not choose to raise funds through token issuance or an ICO.
Atum Closes $13.5 Million Seed Round Led by Variant
Atum has announced the end of its stealth phase and completed a $13.5 million funding round backed by investors including Variant, PayPal Ventures, and Abstract Ventures. Atum connects payment companies, developers, and enterprises through a unified coordination layer, responsible for payment authorization, routing, and confirmation, but does not issue currency, operate a blockchain, or hold customer funds. Its network supports cross-chain and stablecoin settlements and is compatible with agent payment protocols such as x402 and MPP.
Coinbase Founder's New Company NewLimit Raises $435 Million in Series C Funding, Valued at $3.1 Billion
: NewLimit, a longevity technology startup co-founded by Coinbase founder Brian Armstrong, announced the completion of a $435 million Series C funding round, achieving a valuation of $3.1 billion. The round was led by Peter Thiel's fund, Founders Fund, with continued participation from Abstract Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, NFDG, Eli Lilly Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, and others. New investors introduced in this round include Thrive Capital, Greenoaks, and Quiet Capital.In 2021, Brian Armstrong, along with former GV partner and bioengineer Blake Byers and stem cell biologist Jacob Kimmel, jointly invested $110 million to establish NewLimit in South San Francisco.
AI social app Status AI completes $17 million seed and Series A funding round, with General Catalyst among participants
AI social app Status AI has announced the completion of a $17 million seed and Series A funding round, with participation from General Catalyst, Y Combinator, LightShed Partners, and Abstract.The project primarily focuses on developing a gamified AI social media application that allows users to play any role in a virtual world, transforming social media into an interactive entertainment experience. (TechCrunch)
Former OpenAI Engineer Founds Blackstar, Completes $12 Million Seed Funding Round
Odaily News: Daniel Edrisian, a former engineer from the OpenAI Codex team, has announced his departure to found AI hardware company Blackstar Computers. The company has completed a $12 million seed funding round led by Abstract, with participation from SV Angel, Naval Ravikant, Chapter One, and Timeless.Blackstar positions itself as a new type of computing device, aiming to redefine the computing experience from the hardware, software, and interaction levels. Edrisian stated that while current software development is mature, further enhancement of human-AI interaction requires innovation at the operating system level. The company currently has a team of about 8 people, distributed between San Francisco and Shenzhen, and has not yet launched a public product.
AI compute company General Compute completes $100 million Series A funding, led by Abstract Ventures and others
Odaily reports: AI compute startup General Compute has completed a $100 million Series A funding round, led by Blackbird Ventures and Abstract Ventures, with a post-money valuation of $800 million, a significant increase from the $60 million valuation after its seed round in May this year. The funding was driven by an order from a large customer with $100 million in annual recurring revenue.General Compute focuses on AI inference compute, using specialized chips from NVIDIA competitors, and has reached a $400 million chip procurement agreement with SambaNova, with suppliers also including Positron and Cerebras. Unlike the traditional approach of building large data centers, the company deploys AI compute by leasing data center space, utilizing smaller-scale power resources, and retrofitting Bitcoin mining farms, with plans to deploy 75 megawatts of compute capacity by 2027. Amid CoreWeave's stock falling to near a 12-month low and Elon Musk's prediction that more than 200 new cloud service providers will undergo elimination and consolidation, General Compute co-founder and CEO Finn Puklowski believes that market fears of a chip-induced industry collapse are severely exaggerated, and customer demand for various chips and compute remains strong.PANews, October 27: According to reports, AI compute startup General Compute has completed a $100 million Series A funding round, led by Blackbird Ventures and Abstract Ventures, with a post-money valuation of $800 million, a significant increase from the $60 million valuation after its seed round in May this year. Currently, General Compute focuses on AI inference compute, using specialized chips from NVIDIA competitors, and has reached a $400 million chip procurement agreement with SambaNova, with suppliers also including Positron and Cerebras. (TechCrunch)
Polygon's official X account appears to mock Abstract's shutdown, sparking controversy: Founder clarifies it was the marketing team's self-deprecation
Odaily reports: Polygon's official X account today posted a "Polygon is not dead" announcement, seemingly mocking Abstract's shutdown. In response, Polygon founder Sandeep posted a statement saying that the content did not achieve the intended传播 effect, and many community users interpreted it in a completely different way. He himself was also confused when he saw the content, but it was clearly the Polygon marketing team's self-deprecation, because some people had always said that Polygon was already dead, while Polygon's fundamentals were steadily rising.Sandeep added that the content was not intended to allude to Abstract's shutdown, and emphasized that he deeply respects Abstract founder Luca Netz and his team, and would not mock Abstract. Polygon had also terminated the zkEVM project, so he knows that pain well. He hereby clarifies the misunderstanding and would not make fun of them over this, and wishes Luca and the Pudgy Penguins team all the best.
Cumulative losses in the tens of millions of dollars, Abstract is gradually shutting down, Igloo Inc. pivots to Pudgy Penguins and PENGU
Luca Netz posted on X that Abstract is gradually shutting down, and its parent company Igloo Inc. will shift all of its focus to Pudgy Penguins, Pudgy NFTs, and PENGU. Igloo has continued to provide funding support for Abstract over the past 18 months. Over its two years of operation, the project has accumulated losses in the tens of millions of dollars and has still not found product-market fit (PMF).He said that Abstract had previously processed over 300 million onchain transactions, launched Portal and AGW, and attracted multiple global brands to join, but issues such as an insufficient DeFi ecosystem, limited liquidity, low institutional participation, high costs, and declining demand for related products continued to constrain growth. In the end, Igloo Inc. could no longer continue diverting funds from the Pudgy Penguins business to support Abstract, and it did not choose to raise funds through token issuance or an ICO.
Atum Closes $13.5 Million Seed Round Led by Variant
Atum has announced the end of its stealth phase and completed a $13.5 million funding round backed by investors including Variant, PayPal Ventures, and Abstract Ventures. Atum connects payment companies, developers, and enterprises through a unified coordination layer, responsible for payment authorization, routing, and confirmation, but does not issue currency, operate a blockchain, or hold customer funds. Its network supports cross-chain and stablecoin settlements and is compatible with agent payment protocols such as x402 and MPP.
Related news
AI compute company General Compute completes $100 million Series A funding, led by Abstract Ventures and others
Odaily reports: AI compute startup General Compute has completed a $100 million Series A funding round, led by Blackbird Ventures and Abstract Ventures, with a post-money valuation of $800 million, a significant increase from the $60 million valuation after its seed round in May this year. The funding was driven by an order from a large customer with $100 million in annual recurring revenue.General Compute focuses on AI inference compute, using specialized chips from NVIDIA competitors, and has reached a $400 million chip procurement agreement with SambaNova, with suppliers also including Positron and Cerebras. Unlike the traditional approach of building large data centers, the company deploys AI compute by leasing data center space, utilizing smaller-scale power resources, and retrofitting Bitcoin mining farms, with plans to deploy 75 megawatts of compute capacity by 2027. Amid CoreWeave's stock falling to near a 12-month low and Elon Musk's prediction that more than 200 new cloud service providers will undergo elimination and consolidation, General Compute co-founder and CEO Finn Puklowski believes that market fears of a chip-induced industry collapse are severely exaggerated, and customer demand for various chips and compute remains strong.PANews, October 27: According to reports, AI compute startup General Compute has completed a $100 million Series A funding round, led by Blackbird Ventures and Abstract Ventures, with a post-money valuation of $800 million, a significant increase from the $60 million valuation after its seed round in May this year. Currently, General Compute focuses on AI inference compute, using specialized chips from NVIDIA competitors, and has reached a $400 million chip procurement agreement with SambaNova, with suppliers also including Positron and Cerebras. (TechCrunch)
Polygon's official X account appears to mock Abstract's shutdown, sparking controversy: Founder clarifies it was the marketing team's self-deprecation
Odaily reports: Polygon's official X account today posted a "Polygon is not dead" announcement, seemingly mocking Abstract's shutdown. In response, Polygon founder Sandeep posted a statement saying that the content did not achieve the intended传播 effect, and many community users interpreted it in a completely different way. He himself was also confused when he saw the content, but it was clearly the Polygon marketing team's self-deprecation, because some people had always said that Polygon was already dead, while Polygon's fundamentals were steadily rising.Sandeep added that the content was not intended to allude to Abstract's shutdown, and emphasized that he deeply respects Abstract founder Luca Netz and his team, and would not mock Abstract. Polygon had also terminated the zkEVM project, so he knows that pain well. He hereby clarifies the misunderstanding and would not make fun of them over this, and wishes Luca and the Pudgy Penguins team all the best.
Abstract Shutdown Announcement: A Newly Created Address Withdrew $1 Million to Buy 25 Pudgy Penguins NFTs
Odaily News: According to on-chain data, shortly after the Abstract shutdown announcement, a newly created address withdrew $1 million from Kraken and then quickly bought 25 Pudgy Penguins NFTs on the market. As of press time, the address still holds $766,000 worth of ETH in its wallet. As of press time, the Pudgy Penguins NFT floor price stands at 3.3 ETH, up 6.8% in 24 hours. Pudgy Penguins CEO Luca Netz posted that Abstract is gradually shutting down, and its parent company Igloo Inc. will from today shift all of its focus to the development of Pudgy Penguins, Pudgy NFTs, and PENGU.
Cumulative losses in the tens of millions of dollars, Abstract is gradually shutting down, Igloo Inc. pivots to Pudgy Penguins and PENGU
Luca Netz posted on X that Abstract is gradually shutting down, and its parent company Igloo Inc. will shift all of its focus to Pudgy Penguins, Pudgy NFTs, and PENGU. Igloo has continued to provide funding support for Abstract over the past 18 months. Over its two years of operation, the project has accumulated losses in the tens of millions of dollars and has still not found product-market fit (PMF).He said that Abstract had previously processed over 300 million onchain transactions, launched Portal and AGW, and attracted multiple global brands to join, but issues such as an insufficient DeFi ecosystem, limited liquidity, low institutional participation, high costs, and declining demand for related products continued to constrain growth. In the end, Igloo Inc. could no longer continue diverting funds from the Pudgy Penguins business to support Abstract, and it did not choose to raise funds through token issuance or an ICO.
Abstract announces gradual shutdown, users must migrate assets by December 15.
According to official announcements, Ethereum L2 Abstract will gradually cease operations after nearly three years of service, with the network officially scheduled to shut down on December 15, 2026. Abstract warned that users who have not bridged their on-chain funds across chains before the deadline will no longer be able to access their assets.
Rising Community Skepticism Over Abstract Chain: Founder Removes Related Identifiers, Core Developers Accused of Transferring Funds
Luca Netz removed the Abstract badge from his X account, and core developer Cygaar was linked to transferring funds from an associated wallet. The project team has not responded as of yet.