Crypto Daily Digest - April 8th

DeFi

• Crypto Insiders founder says NEAR may launch native stablecoin $USN. Source
• Maker plans to increase the protocol's System Surplus to 300 million $DAI in the coming weeks. Source
• Frax Finance plans to buy large amounts of major cryptos to back Its stablecoin. Source
• Terra founder Do Kwon announced that $UST will support native minting on Avalanche. Source
• Cross-chain bridge protocol Synapse now support $UST. Source
• Digital Currency Group currently has the third largest position in $NEAR. Source
• Polygon will launch Avail testnet in Q2. Source
• Starstream Finance was hacked, about $8.2 million worth of assets lent out in Agora DeFi. Source
• Former Citi Execs launch crypto investment management company. Source
• Gravity DEX rebranded as Crescent and moves chains. Source
• Phala Network completed Gemini Tokenomics Upgrade. Source
• REI Network improves cross-chain user experience by co-mint with Multichainc & CelerNetwork. Source
• zkSync will upgrade V2 testnet on April 12, V2 will be offline for about 2 hours. Source
• 2,800 $ETH of Ronin Network's stolen funds transferred to Tornado.Cash. Source
• With over 150,000 Bitcoin, Celsius holds more than MicroStrategy, Galaxy Digital, and Coinbase. Source
• veDAO plans to launch an upgraded version of Solidly AMM on Optimism. Source
• National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) clarifies partnership with Coinbase: no crypto exchange using its UPI. Source
• Cosmos Ecosystem L1 Network Juno announced the re-launch of its mainnet. Source
• Robinhood to use lightning network for Bitcoin transactions. Source
• The UFC, the world's mixed martial arts organization, has partnered with Crypto.com to pay bitcoin bonuses to athletes. Source

Policy & Regulation

• EU bans high-value crypto services to Russia. Source
• Direxion has reapplied with SEC for its Bitcoin strategy bear ETF. Source
• The Korean government will invest 17.9 billion won to support the content development and overseas expansion of Woniverse companies. Source
• Russian prime minister said that Russians have spent close to 10 trillion rubles ($130 billion) on cryptocurrency. Source
• South Korean authorities plan to add three to four new cryptocurrency exchanges with real bank accounts later this year. Source
• Slovenia introduces 5% flat crypto tax. Source
• Russia Prime Minister said Russia will continue to ban cryptocurrency payments and can explore matters related to crypto mining. Source

NFT

• Meta plans to be first to launch NFT pilot on Facebook this May. Source
• Ripple will launch Michael Jordan NFTs. Source
• AR game developer DEFY Labs raised $3.5m in seed round co-led by Animoca Brands and others. Source
• AC Milan football club launches its first NFT priced at €45. Source
• Tom Brady purchased Bored Ape #3667 for 133 $ETH. Source
• Robinhood officially launches crypto wallet with support for NFT purchase transactions. Source

Fundings

• Metaverse project The Kingdom raised $3.6M in funding with participation from Alameda Research and others. Source
• DAO credit marketplace Porter Finance raised $5m in funding participated by Dragonfly Capital. Source
• The Fabricant, a digital fashion house for the metaverse, has raised $14 million in a round of funding led by Greenfield One. Source
• Newman Capital launches $50 million Web3 investment fund. Source
• Ex-Blockstream Exec Samson Mow raises $21m for Bitcoin startup JAN3. Source
• AI Voice NFT startup LOVO closes $6.5M in funding led by Hashed. Source
• Iskra, the stealth Web3 game community platform scores $34 million USD led by a Korean online giant. Source
• Solana ecosystem decentralized asset management protocol Investin closes $1.2M in strategic funding led by GSR and 3KVC. Source
• Web3 media collaboration platform Joyn raises US$3.5m. Source