The Protocol: Side-Dealing Accusations Put Crypto VC Funding in Spotlight

As a researcher delving into the latest developments in the blockchain sphere, I’ve come across an intriguing piece of news. CoinDesk’s Sam Kessler broke the story about a well-known figure in our community being accused by Polychain Capital, a reputable crypto venture firm, of going against their ethics policies. Specifically, this person is said to have secretly obtained an unspecified amount of tokens from a project that Polychain had invested in. The details of this allegation are still unfolding.

ALSO:

Network news

Polychain says Ritual co-founder Niraj Pant, an ex-general partner, broke its policies. (Ritual)

IS THERE A SECRET AGREEMENT BETWEEN NIRAJ PANT AND ECLIPSE? Two months ago, the blockchain community was shaken by the revelation that Neel Somani, founder of the innovative blockchain project Eclipse, had resigned due to sexual misconduct allegations. Recently, new accusations have emerged regarding Eclipse’s fundraising process. According to reports from CoinDesk’s Sam Kessler and three sources close to the situation, as well as internal Eclipse documents reviewed by CoinDesk, Niraj Pant, a former general partner at Polychain Capital, allegedly received a 5% allocation of Eclipse’s forthcoming crypto token in September 2022. This came just days after Polychain led the company’s $6 million pre-seed funding round. However, the allocation was later reduced to 1.33%, worth approximately $13.3 million at the token’s most recent valuation in a private investment round.

The Republican Party, previously led by Former President Donald Trump, has endorsed a party platform that advocates for the advancement of cryptocurrencies as per the document unveiled on Monday by the Republican National Committee. Meanwhile, Multicoin Capital, a prominent US investment firm specializing in cryptocurrency, has pledged up to $1 million to aid Senate candidates who hold positive views towards the industry.

The inhabitants of the tranquil town of Granbury, Texas, have expressed concerns over experiencing unexplained bodily discomforts caused by a persistent low-frequency sound coming from a nearby Bitcoin mining establishment. According to Time’s report, this noise exceeded the legal decibel limits set by local regulations every day. A Marathon Digital Holdings spokesperson spoke to Time but declined to discuss potential health implications of the noise. However, they mentioned that the company was taking steps to eliminate the noisy fans from the site.

As a crypto investor, I’m always keeping an eye out for updates from key figures in the industry, like Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. Yesterday, at the Ethereum Community Conference (EthCC) in Brussels, Buterin delivered a keynote address to an engaged audience of around 1,100 developers. Throughout his presentation, he discussed the merits and challenges of the Ethereum blockchain as the foundation for smart contracts, addressing concerns such as transaction censorship and proposing a quorum threshold increase from 75% to 80%. Buterin highlighted the strengths of the Ethereum ecosystem, which includes its substantial and reasonably decentralized staking community and its diverse and intelligent global user base. (I assume he was referring to the Ethereum community as a whole, not just Crypto Twitter.)

At the EthCC conference in Brussels on Wednesday, Ethereum co-creator Vitalik Buterin will deliver a speech. (Paraphrased by me, your knowledgeable guide)

Protocol Village

“Each week, we showcase noteworthy advancements and developments in the blockchain technology sphere from our ‘Protocol Village’ section.”

Schematic illustrating how Combinder works (Combinder)

Trilitech, a company specializing in the Tezos blockchain, unveiled an significant advancement: the arrival of Jstz, a “smart rollup” driven by JavaScript. This upcoming layer-2 solution on Tezos will empower developers to utilize JavaScript and its extensive resources. Jstz stands out not only for allowing JavaScript but also for adhering to standard JavaScript APIs. This feature grants access to an expansive ecosystem of well-known, proven JS tools and libraries. (For more information on Tezos’s “canonical rollup” plan, please refer to our recent article here.)

Union Labs, the interoperability solution provider, has announced the addition of Arbitrum, the prominent layer-2 platform by Total Value Locked (TVL), to its list of supported networks. This integration enables Arbitrum Orbit chains to communicate with IBC-enabled blockchains and other networks like Polygon, Scroll, and Movement, bringing about unparalleled liquidity exchange between these ecosystems. The team at Union Labs asserts that “this connection will pave the way for a significant increase in cross-chain transaction volumes. Furthermore, it will minimize the latency encountered during optimistic cross-chain operations while preserving the security and reliability of transactions within the Arbitrum ecosystem.”

As a crypto investor, I’ve noticed an intriguing trend emerging in the market. Private equity firms, who haven’t previously delved into data centers, are now considering entering this space. According to Adam Sullivan, CEO of Core Scientific (CORZ), he’s seen this firsthand. In a recent exclusive interview with CoinDesk, Sullivan shared that his company has observed this trend and is not alone in the industry.

Read the full article by Will Canny and Aoyon Ashraf

Money Center

Fundraisings

Rome co-founders Anil Kumar (right) and Sattvik Kansal (Rome)

Deals and grants

Data and Tokens

Regulatory, Policy and Legal

Calendar