News linked to both this project and an event.
Odaily News: The Smarter Web Company has announced plans to launch the UK's first Bitcoin-backed preferred shares, subject to shareholder approval. The company expects to raise $20 million to $34 million through a potential IPO, to be used for increasing its Bitcoin holdings and acquiring cash-flow-generating operating businesses.
According to Bloomberg, venture capital firm 1789 Capital is leading a new funding round for prediction market platform Polymarket, with the round reaching a size of $1 billion and a post-money valuation of $21 billion. 1789 Capital plans to contribute approximately $300 million.
According to The Block, crypto investment firm RockawayX announced the acquisition of crypto hedge fund Relayer Capital to integrate long/short and pairs trading strategies into its existing business and expand its presence in the U.S. market. Relayer will be renamed the RockawayX Liquid Opportunities Fund, focusing on investments in undervalued liquid tokens and crypto-related stocks; its founder, Austin Barack, will serve as the fund's CIO. RockawayX currently manages approximately $2 billion in assets, and the new fund plans to raise $150 million.
Odaily News: RockawayX, which manages approximately $2 billion in assets, is seeking to raise $150 million for a new liquidity opportunity fund. RockawayX has previously acquired the crypto hedge fund Relayer Capital. Austin Barack, founder of Relayer Capital and former Partner at CoinFund, will continue to work at RockawayX and manage this fund. The fund will focus on investing in undervalued tokens and crypto-related stocks. Recently, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana have all risen more than 20% over the past week. Meanwhile, crypto venture capital firms such as Paradigm and Framework Ventures are incorporating fields like AI and robotics into their investment strategies.
Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) CEO Michael Saylor denied reports that the company sold Bitcoin due to financing pressures, clarifying instead that it maintains ample cash reserves and continues to steadily increase its holdings.
XPeng (NYSE: XPEV)'s robot subsidiary has signed a stock purchase agreement with investors, planning to raise over $900 million at a post-money valuation exceeding $6.3 billion. XPeng stated that this is the largest single funding round for a Chinese company in the robotics sector to date. IDG Capital led the round, with Tencent and Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) participating as strategic investors.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday proposed new rules that would allow crypto projects to raise funds without full securities registration. The proposed "crypto asset regulation" includes two exemptions: projects raising no more than $5 million over a 4-year period, and issuers raising no more than $75 million every 12 months, subject to filing financial statements and ongoing reports. Both exemptions require information disclosure and remain subject to federal anti-fraud and anti-manipulation rules. The proposal also includes a conditional safe harbor, allowing issuers to "decouple" crypto assets from the investment contracts under which they were issued, provided SEC conditions are met. SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce stated that the exemptions will not cover all types of crypto projects, and the Commission will refine the rules based on market developments. The SEC canceled a related meeting last week citing "unforeseen scheduling issues," and resumed advancing the proposal days later. (Decrypt)
According to Bloomberg, Google's parent company Alphabet launched its inaugural Australian dollar bond issuance on August 18, planning to raise approximately 5 billion Australian dollars (approximately 3.6 billion US dollars), with the funds raised to be used to address continuously rising AI infrastructure expenditures. The issuance is underwritten by institutions including Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ), offering Australian dollar notes with four maturities, with the longest maturity reaching 20 years.
According to Bloomberg, Lightspeed Venture Partners is seeking to raise approximately $600 million through secondary transactions to extend its investment exposure to OpenAI and other artificial intelligence companies, and to make additional investments in AI model company Anthropic. According to people familiar with the matter, the internal codename for Lightspeed's fundraising transaction is "Project Mercury", involving multiple secondary funds under Lightspeed, including the Select V Fund, the Opportunity II Fund, and portions of assets in a separately managed account. Lightspeed hopes to provide liquidity for investors through secondary market transactions while continuing to maintain long-term holdings in leading companies in the AI sector.
Odaily News: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will hold a public meeting on August 14 to consider proposing a "Regulation Crypto" rule framework that would allow certain crypto projects to raise funds without completing full securities registration. If public comment is initiated, this would mark the SEC's first formal, long-term crypto industry rulemaking. The framework is expected to establish a pathway for exiting SEC oversight: after project developers raise funds, if they no longer actively manage the project and the project achieves decentralization, it may fall outside SEC jurisdiction. SEC Chair Paul Atkins has previously stated that the exemption period could last up to four years, though the announcement did not disclose funding amount thresholds. The U.S. Senate did not advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act before entering its August recess. The final rule will still take several months to complete, and the meeting will be held at 10:00 a.m. ET on August 14. (Decrypt)
Odaily News: Crypto-friendly bank Erebor Bank is in talks to raise $1.5 billion at a target valuation of $9.5 billion. The funds will be used to meet the 12% mandatory leverage ratio requirement and support loan business expansion, including a $200 million credit facility to Valar Atomics. Erebor Bank's total deposits grew from $1.1 billion in March to $4.6 billion in July, with customer growth primarily coming from the crypto, AI, and defense sectors. (CoinDesk)
According to Bloomberg, Singapore data center operator DayOne has confidentially filed an initial public offering (IPO) application with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), planning to list in the U.S. as early as the next quarter of this year. The company plans to raise approximately $5 billion, with a listing valuation of around $20 billion. However, relevant details are still under discussion, and the offering size and timing may change.
以太坊机构（Ethereum Institutional）宣布完成初始生态系统融资轮，获得逾 100 位生态参与者支持，锚定投资方包括 BitMNR、Sharplink 及以太坊联合创始人 Joseph Lubin、Mihai Alisie，参与者涵盖加密原生机构及个人投资者。 后续，该组织将加速与银行、资产管理公司、托管机构、金融科技及主权机构的直接接触，并联合 L2、应用团队、基础设施及托管服务商等推进以太坊机构化进程。目前该组织已开放招聘。
according to sources familiar with the matter, AI robotics startup Genesis AI is in talks with investors for a new funding round, planning to raise approximately $500 million, corresponding to a pre-money valuation of around $3 billion. Existing investor Premji Invest is in discussions to lead the round, while HSG (formerly Sequoia China) and Northzone Ventures are also discussing additional investments.In June this year, Genesis AI launched an AI industrial robot named Eno. The company stated that Eno is capable of reasoning "beyond predefined tasks" and adapting based on different outcomes. (Bloomberg)
Figure Technology Solutions, a Nasdaq-listed blockchain financial platform, announced plans to issue senior secured notes to qualified institutional investors to raise $600 million, subject to market conditions. The proceeds from this financing will be primarily used for the cash consideration to acquire Kiavi, as well as for general corporate purposes and related issuance expenses. (Globenewswire)
AI data center Crusoe Energy Systems is in talks for a new round of financing worth approximately $3 billion. Upon completion of this round, the company's valuation is expected to roughly triple from the previous round, reaching the $30 billion range.Founded in 2018, Crusoe initially started with crypto-related businesses before transitioning into an AI infrastructure and data center service provider. It is currently categorized as one of the "neocloud" firms, a new type of cloud computing company focused on providing computational power support for generative AI. The company has signed compute supply contracts with tech giants including Meta and Oracle. As demand for AI infrastructure construction surges, the scale of its compute business continues to expand.According to previously public information, Crusoe completed a funding round of approximately $1.38 billion last year, with a valuation exceeding $10 billion. If this new round is successfully completed, it would become another large-scale capital move in the AI infrastructure sector.Market sources estimate that the final valuation for this round could be around the $30 billion level, but the deal is still in progress and has not yet been finalized. (Reuters)
According to Bloomberg, private market investment management giant Hamilton Lane is preparing its first RMB-denominated fund, targeting to raise approximately 1 billion to 1.5 billion RMB (approximately $150 million to $220 million), with plans to complete by the end of this year; insiders revealed that the fund will raise capital from investors within China. Hamilton Lane previously raised USD funds through the Qualified Foreign Limited Partnership (QFLP) mechanism and converted them into RMB capital to invest in assets within China; its direct equity strategy fund Hamilton Lane Equity Opportunities Fund VI (EO VI) has completed fundraising of $3.8 billion. Hamilton Lane has already established a presence in the crypto sector, strategically investing in the on-chain investment platform Republic this March; its tokenized credit fund is already custodied on-chain, and the Senior Credit Opportunities Securitization Fund HLSCOPE has a total asset value of approximately $9 million on the Polygon network, primarily investing in senior secured private credit and senior secured loans in North America and Europe.
Odaily Bitcoin mining company and data center Hive Digital Technologies has announced it will raise $100 million through the issuance of zero-coupon exchangeable senior notes due in 2031, aiming to further expand its computing infrastructure. Additionally, the company has signed a non-binding letter of intent (LOI) with a Swedish sovereign technology firm possessing an investment-grade credit rating, intending to lease approximately 30MW of computing capacity at its data center for a term of up to 10 years. Under the agreement, Hive will deploy approximately 25MW of IT computing capacity and plans to utilize up to 10,000 Nvidia GB300 GPUs. However, the LOI currently remains subject to further negotiations and the signing of a final definitive agreement. (DataCenterDynamics)
On-chain analyst Ember posted on X platform, stating that Strategy currently has $2.55 billion in dollar reserves, which can support interest payments for one and a half years. Strategy may sell some BTC at any time soon, raising up to $1.25 billion to replenish dollar reserves, which equates to approximately 20,600 BTC at current prices. Strategy may also conduct share buybacks of up to $1 billion.
Framework Ventures has announced the completion of a $400 million fundraising for its fourth fund, FVIV. The fund will focus on the frontier intersection of blockchain, AI, robotics, energy, and fintech.