News linked to both this project and an event.
According to Wintermute's weekly market report, Bitcoin fell 2.43% last week, marking its third consecutive weekly decline, breaking below $82,500 and retesting $80,000 before closing at approximately $80,500. ETH dropped 3.40%, closing at around $2,330. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a net outflow of $636 million on Thursday, the largest single-day outflow since June, coinciding with a 2.6% drop in the Nasdaq on the same day. On the macro front, following Houthi attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure, Brent crude surged 5.66% to $116.72, with oil prices displacing AI financing as the primary market concern. Wintermute noted that as of October 18, markets price in roughly an 86% probability that the Federal Reserve will hold rates steady this Wednesday, alongside expectations for a December rate hike. The Fed's forward guidance regarding December represents the key risk. Technically, BTC must reclaim the $82,000–$82,500 zone. Should the $80,000 level fail, the next support sits at $76,000, with a breakdown likely pushing prices to just over $70,000. The firm stated it is temporarily not taking a bearish view but will remain cautious until the FOMC meeting concludes and BTC reclaims $82,500. Key upcoming events include the October 28 FOMC meeting, October 29 reports for Q3 GDP and September PCE data, and the October 30 monthly options expiration.
Odaily News: Blockchain-native fintech startup OpenReserve received preliminary conditional approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) on September 2 to establish a full-service national bank in Salt Lake City, Utah. The approval process took less than five months, with OpenReserve submitting its application on April 13.OpenReserve must raise at least $210 million in initial paid-in capital within 12 months and maintain a minimum Tier 1 leverage ratio of 12% for three years after opening. It must also commence operations within 18 months, or the approval will lapse. The relevant deadlines are September 2027 and March 2028, respectively.OpenReserve plans to offer tokenized deposits, treasury management, foreign correspondent banking, and Banking-as-a-Service for institutional clients. The full-service national bank charter, upon final approval, would allow it to accept deposits and conduct lending activities.OpenReserve previously completed a $25 million seed funding round led by a16z crypto, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Jump Capital, and Wintermute Ventures, among others. The company plans to establish a wholly-owned subsidiary to issue and redeem dollar-denominated, reserve-backed stablecoins, but that subsidiary has not yet filed an application with the OCC. (Decrypt)
GPU market data infrastructure company Silicon Data announced the completion of the first closing of its $30.5 million Series A financing round, led by Valor Atreides AI Fund, with participation from CME Ventures, DRW, Samsung Next, VanEck, Jump Trading, Wintermute, and others. The funds will be used for GPU benchmark pricing, performance measurement, institutional and alternative data, as well as derivatives, insurance, and credit market risk infrastructure.
Odaily News: GPU market data infrastructure company Silicon Data has announced the first closing of its $30.5 million Series A funding round, led by Valor Atreides AI Fund, with participation from CME Ventures, DRW, Samsung Next, VanEck, Jump Trading, Wintermute, and others. The funds will be used for GPU benchmark pricing, performance measurement, institutional and alternative data, as well as risk infrastructure for derivatives, insurance, and credit markets.Silicon Data currently collects data from approximately 100 GPU rental platforms across more than 40 countries worldwide, processing over 150,000 verified price records daily. CME Group plans to adopt Silicon Data's benchmarks as the reference price for its proposed cash-settled GPU futures contracts, pending regulatory approval.
: Prediction market platform Pascal has announced the completion of a $9 million Series A funding round. The platform aims to create a next-generation prediction market platform for professional traders and institutional users, challenging the current market landscape dominated by Kalshi and Polymarket.This funding round was led by Union Square Ventures (USV), with the specific valuation not disclosed. This financing expands on a $6 million seed round from August last year, with early investors including Wintermute Ventures and DBA.Headquartered in New York, Pascal positions itself as a prediction market platform similar to Kalshi, but aims to offer users lower fees, higher liquidity, and more specialized trading tools through a trading model closer to perpetual futures.Pascal co-founder Ivo Crnkovic-Rubsamen stated that the hope is to establish highly liquid prediction markets for real business risks in the future, allowing companies to utilize these markets for risk management and hedging. (Fortune)
Velocity, a stablecoin payment infrastructure startup, announced the completion of a $38 million Series A funding round. This round was led by crypto investment firm Dragonfly, with participation from Coinbase, Capital One Ventures, Wintermute, and other institutions. Velocity CEO Eric Queathem did not disclose the latest valuation. Founded in 2025, Velocity focuses on providing stablecoin payment solutions for enterprises, payment service providers, fintech companies, and financial institutions, helping them leverage dollar-pegged tokens to optimize cross-border payments, fund settlement, and treasury management processes.Currently, Velocity has covered markets in the United States, parts of Europe, and Australia. The company plans to use the new funds to apply for licenses, expand into Africa and Latin America, while also investing in building more secure asset custody infrastructure and developing new features, including stablecoin yield products. (Fortune)
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.
Solana ecosystem Perp DEX project BULK has announced the launch of its Season 1 points program. Pre-deposits are now open, with 1 million AURA (points) distributed weekly until the exchange officially goes live.Previously, BULK announced the completion of an $8 million seed funding round, led by 6th Man Ventures and Robot Ventures, with participation from Big Brain Holdings, Wintermute, and Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko, among others.
According to Financialit, stablecoin financial services platform UnblockPay has announced the completion of a $4.5 million seed funding round, led by Prelude, with participation from Plug and Play, Wintermute, Reverie, Signature Ventures, Triaxis Capital, Crescera Capital, and a group of angel investors. The new capital will support the development of regulated financial products, enabling businesses to integrate stablecoins into their day-to-day financial operations and facilitating seamless conversions between fiat currencies and major stablecoins such as USDC and USDT for enterprise users.