Crypto Daily Digest - March 17th

DeFi

• Coinbase announces the launch of Coinbase Pay. Source
• Ripple to launch grant program of up to $1 billion in $XRP. Source
• Astar Network TVL has surpassed $800M. Source
• Binance App launches its first DeFi project PancakeSwap as well as the DeFi Wallet applet. Source
• Synapse Protocol will soon integrate Terra to bridge $UST to other EVM chains. Source
• Anchor Protocol is now live on Avalanche. Source
• Multichain announces the creation of a security fund. Source
• Cosmos Test Network to implement Theta upgrade. Source
• Ripple and Individual Defendants Request Delay in Responding to SEC's Letter Response. Source
• Ethereum metaverse hackathon BuildQuest has closed with a total of 10 winning projects. Source
• Aussie fintech to offer mainstream direct access to DeFi with a fixed rate. Source
• 'We're already buying:' Terra founder plans to obtain $10B BTC for reserves Source
• Fantom protocol will upgrade soon. Source
• Polygon Heimdall will urgently upgrade and involve a hard fork, and nodes will need to upgrade by March 18. Source
• $Elona liquidity pool on PancakeSwap was de-liquidated by the deployer and the $BNB gained was transferred to Tornado.Cash. Source
• Cryptocurrency is considering buying Brazilian banks and payment processors. Source

NFT

• ApeCoin ($APE), a token associated with the BAYC ecosystem, is officially launched. Source
• Animoca Brands' handheld game Benji Bananas will transition to a P2E model where players earn tokens that can be redeemed for $APE. Source
• Animoca Brands will introduce $APE in a secret project developed in partnership with BAYC. Source
• RSS3's first Genesis avatars are now open for minting. Source
• NFT Trading Marketplace X2Y2 launched a free shopping cart plugin for OpenSea. Source
• Polygon becomes NFT marketplace Rarible’s fourth supported blockchain. Source

Funding

• Galaxy Interactive, Republic Crypto and Alameda Research join together to form the Web3 video game investment consortium NG+. Source
• Blockchain game studio Third Time closed a $3.5m seed round with Coinbase Ventures and others. Source
• Crypto venture capital firm Spartan Group launches $100m Web3 fund. Source
• Wombat Exchange closes $5.25m Series A round led by Animoca Brands and others. Source
• Gaming startup Lava Labs closes $10m Series A round with Dragonfly Capital and others. Source
• NFT rental protocol Double Protocol closed $1.5m seed round with Shima Capital and others. Source

Reading

• The $APE airdrop could be worth $100k? A quick calculation Source