Protocol Village: Arta Collaborates With Chainlink for Regulated Fund Tokens

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Nov. 3: ARTA TechFin, a Hong Kong-based financial services institution, is issuing regulated fund tokens on major chains. According to the Chainlink team: “These fund tokens are being supported by Chainlink’s industry-standard decentralized computing platform, which will provide the fund tokens with cross-chain interoperability via Chainlink CCIP, hourly net asset value (NAV) reporting through Chainlink Data Feeds and transparent reserve data using Chainlink Proof of Reserve. The collaboration aims to provide clients with seamless and transparent access to blockchain markets, as well as token-native functionality like programmable payments and atomic settlement.”

Render Moving to Solana From Ethereum, Allocates $2.6M to Cover Fees

Nov. 2: Render Network, a decentralized GPU rendering platform for 3D content creation, will officially move from Ethereum to Solana, becoming one of the chain’s largest projects, according to the team. “Render has allocated 1.14M RNDR, which equates to $2.6 million at current token prices, in grants to subsidize user fees during the upgrade and is leveraging Wormhole to facilitate the transfer of assets between chains. This move allows Render to take advantage of Solana’s higher throughput and lower transaction cost for their decentralized global network of GPUs.” $RNDR $ETH $SOL

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Unstoppable Domains Teams With Web3 Compass

Nov. 2: Unstoppable Domains has teamed with Web3 Compass to change how people browse the decentralized web, according to the team: “Web3 Compass is a search engine that focuses on enabling users to navigate and find information exclusively on the Web3 network, such as decentralized websites, while providing users with relevant and accurate search results.”

Sending Labs Announces SocialScan

Nov. 2: Sending Labs in partnership with W3W, announced the launch of SocialScan, an innovative upgrade to the blockchain explorers such as Etherscan, according to the team: “What makes it unique is the cross-app wallet-to-wallet chat feature. SocialScan combines the essence of Web3 social media with wallet addresses as unique handles and enables direct wallet-to-wallet chat. SocialScan is far more affordable than the industry standard that costs blockchains nearly $1M/year. The teams also added a chat feature to PolygonZKScan, an explorer tailored for the rollup ecosystem. Sending Labs raised $12.5M in a seed round in 2022.”

Huma, On-Chain Credit Platform, Deploys on Celo

Nov. 2: Huma, an on-chain credit platform facilitating more than $10M on-chain loans per month, has deployed on Celo, according to the team: “Along with the deployment, Huma brings cross-border payment liquidity platform Jia to Celo, providing on-chain loans to small businesses in emerging markets such as Kenya and the Philippines. This follows real-world assets (RWA) marketplace Untangled Finance’s Oct. 10 deployment on Celo after raising $13.5M in funding.” $CELO

Validation Cloud Unveils Staking-as-a-Service Platform for Institutions

Nov. 2: Validation Cloud, a crypto node infrastructure provider, has enabled on-demand non-custodial staking-as-a-service for institutions, according to the team: “The company’s technology will be dramatically improving the speed, cost, and reliability of Ethereum validators through (1) UI and API-based deployments, (2) automatic rewards management and (3) SOC2 compliance.”

Privacy Technology Firm Nym Plans Early 2024 Rollout of ‘Decentralized VPN’

Nov. 2: Nym Technologies, a privacy infrastructure project backed by Binance Labs and the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), said its “decentralized VPN” called NymVPN would launch in the first quarter of 2024.

Toposware, Specialist in Zero-Knowlege Cryptography, Raises $5M

Nov. 2: Toposware, a specialist in the technology of zero-knowledge cryptography, announced the completion of a $5 million strategic seed extension round. “This latest funding round was purposefully constructed to bring key VCs and industry leaders on board with direct experience in building global standards, scaling ubiquitous products to massive market share, and aligning access and utility within target market sectors,” according to a press release. Investors included Evolution Equity Partners, Triatomic Capital, K2 Access Fund and Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal.

Layer N Announces Strategic Investment from BlackPine

Nov. 2: Layer N, a rollup network designed to scale financial applications on Ethereum, announced that it closed a strategic investment from BlackPine, a private investment company based in Hong Kong. According to a message from the team: “This investment signifies Layer N’s official entrance into the Asian market, with the aim of expanding the native Web3 offerings available in the region. Additionally, Layer N also entered into a strategic partnership with VSFG (Venture Smart Financial Holdings), an asset management firm with a strong digital asset presence in Hong Kong.”

Io.net Announces Beta Launch of ‘World’s Largest Decentralized AI Compute Cloud’

Nov. 2: Io.net, a decentralized computing network for AI startups, is announcing this week the beta launch of what it describes as the world’s largest decentralized AI compute cloud. According to a press release, the announcement will be made at the main stage of Solana’s Breakpoint conference in Amsterdam.

Aleph Zero Says Deutsche Telekom Joins Network of Validators

Nov. 2: Deutsche Telekom MMS is joining Aleph Zero’s network of validators, according to a message from the Aleph Zero team. “This is the first time Deutsche Telekom provides infrastructure for a privacy-enhancing blockchain network. This collaboration highlights Aleph Zero’s credibility, enterprise-grade potential and the trust Deutsche Telekom has in the blockchain for its over ~245 million customers worldwide.”

Space and Time Joins Blockchain Rush Onto Google Cloud’s BigQuery

Nov. 2: Google Cloud’s BigQuery is integrating Space and Time’s (SxT) novel zero-knowledge (ZK) proof for SQL operations, according to the SxT team: “SxT is the first AI-powered decentralized data warehouse that joins tamperproof on-chain and off-chain data to deliver enterprise use cases to smart contracts. Their ZK-protocol allows developers to cryptographically verify query accuracy and data integrity, particularly valuable for blockchain applications.” (Note CoinDesk reported Sept. 22 that the Google Cloud Big Query program had added 11 networks in addition to the 11 already incorporated.)

Edited by Bradley Keoun.