Layer-1 blockchain Berachain — which is yet to announce its mainnet — has raised a $100 million Series B funding round.
Venture firms Framework Ventures and Brevan Howard Digital led the round, with contributions from Hack VC, Animoca Ventures and Polychain Capital, among others, Berachain said in an April 12 X post.
It will use the money to expand in multiple regions, including Singapore, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America, Bloomberg reported on April 12.
Berachain’s investors backed the blockchain through a simple agreement for future tokens (SAFT) — where the investors gave money for a future Berachain token.
The blockchain’s testnet has reportedly processed 100 million transactions, and it is aiming to launch its mainnet in the second quarter of this year, which has been created for compatibility with Ethereum-based applications.
Anonymous Berachain co-founder “Smokey The Bera” said in a funding announcement seen by Bloomberg that the raise was “a major validation of our approach to building a blockchain that’s built on feedback from real users and developers.”
In mid-March, Bloomberg reported that Berachain was raising a $69 million round at a valuation of $1 billion, citing people familiar. The firm didn’t share its new valuation.
Trading of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) spruiked by former United States President Donald Trump has tanked 99% as his New York criminal trial begins.
The 45,000-strong Trump Digital Trading Cards NFT collection — the first ever NFTs that Trump licensed his image to — was seeing hundreds of weekly sales in early February, then sank to just a handful of sales since early March, according to OpenSea.
The collection hasn’t seen a sale since April 2. The second version of Trump’s NFTs has fared better, with 966 sales in the past 30 days compared to the original’s 16.
Jury selection begins on Monday, April 15, for Trump’s trial — he’s facing 34 felony charges filed by the Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg for allegedly faking business records to cover up a $130,000 payment he made to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about an alleged affair.
Newsweek reported last month that the NFT collections were pulled from sale until the end of 2024, according to an OpenSea source that didn’t explain why.
The former president doesn’t own or control the NFT collection but instead licenses his image to a company that does called NFT International, LLC.
Advertising and creative giant Dentsu partnered with the Chiru Labs, the firm behind the NFT collection Azuki to make an anime series using characters from Azuki’s NFTs.
On April 11, Dentsu said it would help make the three-part anime series called Enter The Garden, with episodes to be released throughout 2024.
The first will drop on April 30, with a trailer for the episode released alongside the partnership announcement.
Azuki is an NFT collection that features anime-style art characters — to which the holders own the intellectual property rights. Some have built businesses off their NFT, including a skateboard and a tea shop.
The series will include cameo appearances of the characters and product placement of the businesses owned by NFT holders, Dentsu said.
Dentsu’s head of anime operations Yusuke Nii said in the announcement that anime has grown into a “global phenomenon” and claimed the firm would “continue to pursue this partnership even further.”
Bitcoin (BTC) will shake off its slump and is set to “trend higher” after a shaky trading weekend following Iran’s attack on Israel, says Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz.
Cointelegraph Markets Pro shows Bitcoin dropped over 8% to a three-week low of $61,918 on April 13 after Iran launched hundreds of strikes against Israel for the first time, with Israel reporting one serious injury of a seven-year-old.
“After the risk flush, [Bitcoin] will resume its trend higher, Novogratz wrote in an April 13 X post. The price drop saw around $964 million worth of liquidations in the 24 hours over April 13.
“I pray cool heads prevail and this is not the start of a major regional conflict,” he added.
Bitcoin has already started to gain, seeing a 1.5% bump in the past day to $65,407.
Nigeria traced local Binance executive Nadeem Arjarwalla to Kenya after he escaped custody and is taking steps to extradite him.
Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission could approve the first batch of spot Bitcoin ETFs on Monday, April 15, which market watchers say could spark another post-halving price rally.
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