News linked to both this project and an event.
despite the continued downturn in the crypto market, Coinbase Ventures led the venture capital rankings in the first half of 2026 by completing 30 investments.Animoca Brands followed closely with 19 investments, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) completed 18 investments, and stablecoin issuer Tether participated in 15 deals.Over the past 12 months, Coinbase Ventures has completed 75 investments, continuing to lead the industry. Animoca Brands, YZi Labs, GSR, and a16z have completed 40, 39, 31, and 30 investments, respectively.However, the overall crypto fundraising market remains in a bear market cycle. In June, the total amount raised by crypto companies fell to $1.4 billion, a 63% decrease from $3.8 billion in April. The number of funding rounds also decreased from 89 in May to 61. In comparison, fundraising in April this year was only $698 million, hitting a new low in nearly two years.So far in July, the crypto industry has completed 12 financing rounds, totaling approximately $456 million.In terms of investment focus, Coinbase Ventures has primarily invested in payment protocols, DeFi, and infrastructure over the past six months. This includes participation in seven funding rounds for payment projects, four rounds for DeFi, and three rounds for infrastructure and Real World Asset (RWA) tokenization projects.By sector, the areas that attracted the most capital over the past year were DeFi, payments, and AI. DeFi projects completed 216 funding rounds, the payment sector completed 131 rounds, AI and crypto combination projects completed 128 rounds, and infrastructure projects secured 110 rounds.It is worth noting that while top institutions remain active, the overall number of market participants is decreasing. The number of independent investment institutions in June dropped to 242, nearly halved from 452 in October 2025, reflecting a concentration of capital in the bear market environment. (Cointelegraph)
Odaily News Analysts believe that SpaceX's upcoming IPO could become a new source of short-term pressure for Bitcoin and the crypto market. As the company is reportedly set to open up to 30% of its IPO shares to retail investors, some investors may sell high-risk assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum to free up capital to participate in this high-profile offering.SpaceX plans to issue shares at $135 each, aiming to raise $75 billion, with a valuation of approximately $1.77 trillion. A GSR trading executive noted that crypto assets could become one of the funding sources for some investors looking to raise capital for the IPO.Recently, there have been views suggesting that hot IPOs like SpaceX, and potentially future ones such as OpenAI and Anthropic, could drive capital outflows from the crypto market, putting pressure on Bitcoin and Ethereum prices.However, SpaceX's listing could also conversely boost on-chain trading activity. Currently, platforms like Hyperliquid and Binance already offer SpaceX-related perpetual contracts and tokenized stock products, and trading activity for these assets may increase further with the IPO.
According to The Block, crypto market maker GSR has received approval from the U.S. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) to formally complete its acquisition of Portland-based SEC-registered broker-dealer Equilibrium Capital Services, which has now been renamed GSR Securities. Xin Song, CEO of GSR, stated that this acquisition will strengthen its compliant broker-dealer platform in the U.S., with a focus on serving institutional clients. GSR previously disclosed plans to position its business as a “Web3 investment bank”; following the acquisition, it will further expand its tokenized financing services. Additionally, GSR has been highly active this year: in April, it launched the GSR Crypto Core3 ETF on Nasdaq; in March, it acquired token advisory firms Autonomous and Architech, and invested in Libeara—the tokenization platform under SC Ventures; last month, SC Ventures—the fintech investment arm of Standard Chartered Bank—became GSR’s first external shareholder and completed its investment.
Nova Markets has announced the completion of a new funding round, with participation from Wintermute Ventures, Robot Ventures, Big Brain VC, Cumberland, GSR, Greenfield Capital, Hash3, Bodhi Ventures, Kairos Research, and others. The project primarily focuses on on-chain capital and prediction market infrastructure, and the funds will be used to migrate more perpetual contracts and prediction markets on-chain.
SC Ventures, the venture capital arm of Standard Chartered, has invested in GSR, a crypto trading and market-making firm, valuing it at over $1 billion in this round. Founded in 2013 by former Goldman Sachs traders, GSR is currently in talks with strategic investors for further financing, potentially raising up to $150 million to expand its business operations.This investment marks SC Ventures' first time becoming an external shareholder of GSR. The two parties plan to collaborate on integrating traditional finance with the crypto market and enhancing the accessibility of tokenized products. GSR's business encompasses crypto trading, market making, advisory services, asset management, and venture capital. (Bloomberg)
This investment further strengthens the partnership established between the two companies last month. GSR previously invested in Libeara, a tokenization platform backed by SC Ventures, as a key move to expand its crypto capital markets business. Earlier this year, GSR also acquired Autonomous and Architech to broaden its token lifecycle management services. Recently, GSR launched its first fund—the GSR Crypto Core3 ETF—the industry’s first actively managed, multi-asset crypto fund to enable staking.
blockchain trading platform Ekiden has announced the completion of a $2 million seed funding round, led by Unicorn Factory Ventures and P2 Ventures. The round also attracted participation from angel investors who have previously invested in projects such as GSR, Pyth, Aptos, LayerZero, and Cube Exchange. It is reported that Ekiden is valued at $20 million. The company is dedicated to bringing institutional-grade trading on-chain, providing efficient and secure trading solutions through blockchain technology. (TechFundingNews)
According to official announcements, Legend, a decentralized exchange protocol, has completed a $3.5 million seed funding round led by Electric Capital, with participation from Amber Group and GSR. Its total funding has now exceeded $5 million.
RWA leveraged solution 3F has completed a $4 million seed funding round, led by Maven 11, with participation from F-Prime, Metalayer Ventures, GSR, Susquehanna Crypto, Gate Ventures, and others.
Odaily reports: 3F, a vault protocol built on the decentralized lending protocol Morpho, has completed a total of $4 million in funding. The round was led by Maven 11, with participation from F-Prime, GSR, Gate Ventures, and other institutions. The company did not disclose its specific valuation.Built on top of Morpho, 3F aims to provide users with leveraged exposure to RWAs through a "one-click" operation. Users simply select their target asset and desired leverage multiple, and the protocol automatically executes the entire position-building process: purchasing the underlying asset via short-term bridge financing, depositing it as collateral on Morpho, and borrowing stablecoins to repay the financing.Essentially, this mechanism simplifies the traditional "looping" process in DeFi, which involves repeatedly buying assets, depositing them as collateral, borrowing, and reinvesting. While this process can be executed efficiently via flash loans in purely crypto-native assets, it is typically more complex and less efficient in the RWA context due to issues like settlement delays.3F is expected to officially launch in the second quarter of this year.
According to Decrypt, Enhanced Labs Inc., an on-chain structured yield protocol, has announced the completion of a $1 million strategic pre-seed funding round, led by Maximum Frequency Ventures, with participation from GSR, Selini, Flowdesk, and several angel investors. The funds raised will be used for product development and operational infrastructure. Enhanced’s product strategy centers on three key directions: optimizing auction mechanisms to enhance yield competitiveness; extending options-based yield strategies to a broader range of on-chain assets—including tokenized real-world assets (RWAs); and simplifying complex strategies into goal-oriented user experiences that allow users to directly define desired outcomes such as yield targets, hedging objectives, or structured exposures. Enhanced positions itself at the intersection of the on-chain yield and options narratives—a sector currently experiencing an unusually active cycle in DeFi options since 2024.