Polychain Archives - Crypto Insider

Polychain Leads $7M Funding for Hardware Wallet Developer Foundation Devices

Linh Nguyen — Mon, 19 Dec 2022 15:12:59 +0000

@ Crypto Insider

The Bitcoin-focused startup offers the Passport hardware wallet and Envoy mobile app.

Foundation Devices, a developer of Bitcoin-centric tools that include a hardware wallet, has raised $7 million in a seed round led by crypto-focused investment firm Polychain Capital.

The announcement comes during a surge of interest in hardware wallets following the bankruptcy protection filing of centralized crypto exchange FTX, which held and misused customer funds.

The funding will help Foundation Devices continue expanding its engineering and design teams and build products, with a near-term focus on software services, according to a draft press release provided to CoinDesk.

Other participants in the round included new backers Greenfield Capital and Lightning Ventures and existing investors Third Prime, Warburg Serres, Unpopular Ventures and Bolt.

Founded in April 2020, Boston-based Foundation focuses on products that make bitcoin and decentralized technologies more accessible. The flagship product is Passport, a $259 hardware wallet that uses a camera and QR codes for more secure communication rather than a USB or wireless connection to the outside world. Foundation has also developed the Envoy mobile app, a mobile wallet that helps users set up, maintain and interact with their Passport wallet.

“Preserving freedom and privacy is more important than ever amidst worldwide censorship, privacy violations and reckless financial and monetary policies,” said Foundation Devices co-founder and CEO Zach Herbert in a statement. “As the line between the physical and digital world continues to blur, we are excited to continue delivering decentralized products that usher in a new era of freedom and prosperity for users across the globe.”

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Polychain Leads $6.85M Investment in ‘Curate-to-Earn’ Project

Linh Nguyen — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 15:26:11 +0000

@ Crypto Insider

KurateDAO is looking to use “cryptoeconomic games to curate the world’s information”. “Play-to-earn,” meet “curate-to-earn.”

KurateDAO announced Tuesday a $6.85 million seed round led by blockchain investment firm Polychain Capital. The project looks to leverage “cryptoeconomic games to curate the world’s information,” according to the KurateDAO white paper.

“Paying people is an inherent part of what we’re doing, so crypto is a natural choice for that,” CEO Michael Fischer told CoinDesk in an interview.

In the current model of internet databases, there is one moderator who decides what information gets to be published to the database. KurateDAO’s technology provides an infrastructure for content curation, with the process being divvied up into three roles: curators, scouts and viewers. Together, the three roles decide what information is added to the database, Fischer said.

Each of the datasets operates as a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) governed by the KurateDAO’s native token.

Fischer said KurateDAO seeks to work alongside emerging Web 3 applications and other crowdsourced online information hubs, such as music curation and job board sites.

It currently operates on Ethereum but plans to use the $6.85 million funding round to hire developers to build out multi-chain solutions.

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Polkadot Parachain Astar Launches $100M Boost Incentive Program

Linh Nguyen — Fri, 11 Feb 2022 13:39:38 +0000

@ Crypto Insider

Coming just weeks after a $22 million fundraise, Astar’s new fund will offer liquidity and financial support for smart contract developers.

Astar Network, a parachain or parallel chain of the Polkadot network, has announced the $100 million Astar Boost Program fund to provide liquidity and offer financial support and incentive programs to smart contract developers. The company told CoinDesk that the program was funded through $22 million in fundraising, as well as an allocation of the native ASTR token.

Last month, Astar raised $22 million in strategic funding from crypto venture capital firms Polychain and Alameda Research.

Polkadot, a framework for connecting various blockchains, does not support smart contracts on its main relay chain. Astar provides that support for smart contract developers.

Astar also lets developers earn tokens for building smart contracts or infrastructure, supported by the #Build2Earn protocol and paid out in ASTAR.

The new Astar Boost Program has already supported liquidity and incentives for decentralized finance (DeFi) applications on the protocol, including decentralized exchanges ArthSwap and PolkaEx, and Celer cBridge, a multichain asset bridge.

“Astar Network will support projects committing to Astar financially by Astar Boost Program as well as dApp Staking, our original incentive system for developers,” said Sota Watanabe, founder of Astar Network, in the announcement blog. “We expect to grow rapidly together. Through this program, our community will be extra rewarded for their on-chain activity.”

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Polkadot Parachain Astar Network Raises $22M From Polychain, Alameda Research

Linh Nguyen — Fri, 28 Jan 2022 14:10:11 +0000

@ Crypto Insider

Alchemy Ventures, Animal Ventures, Crypto.com Capital, and others also participated in the round.

Astar Network, a parachain of the Polkadot network, received $22 million strategic funding from crypto venture capital firms Polychain and Alameda Research.

Astar will use the funding for geographical expansion, the company said in a press release on Friday.

Other investors in the round were Alchemy Ventures, Animal Ventures, Crypto.com Capital, Digital Finance Group, GSR, Injective Protocol and Scytale Ventures, among others.

Astar Network is a parachain or a parallel chain of Polkadot, a framework for connecting various blockchains.

Polkadot’s main relay chain does not support smart contracts. Astar provides that support for smart contract developers.

The Astar network also allows developers to earn tokens for building smart contracts or infrastructure, which is supported by the #Build2Earn protocol and pays out in ASTR tokens.

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