Highlights of this episode
According to incomplete statistics from PANews, there were 16 investment and financing events in the global blockchain sector last week (March 30 - April 5), with a total funding scale exceeding US$264 million. A summary is as follows:
- Two investment and financing events were announced in the DeFi sector. Among them, RWA infrastructure company Midas completed a $50 million Series A financing round, led by RRE and Creandum.
- In the AI+Web3 sector, one investment and financing event was announced: ARO Network, a decentralized AI agent network, completed a $5 million strategic financing round.
- The Infrastructure & Tools sector announced four investment and financing events, among which OpenFX, a startup focusing on foreign exchange market making and cross-border remittances, completed a $94 million financing round led by Accel and others.
- Five investment and financing events were announced in the centralized finance sector, including Valinor completing a $25 million seed round led by Castle Island Ventures;
- In the prediction market , two investment and financing events were announced: Pump.fun led a $1 million pre-seed funding round for Pumpcade;
- Two other investment and financing events were announced in the Web3 application field: Pixie Chess, a Web3 chess project, completed a $5.2 million seed round of financing, led by Paradigm.
DeFi
RWA infrastructure company Midas has completed a $50 million Series A funding round, led by RRE and Creandum, with participation from Framework Ventures, Franklin Templeton, and Coinbase Ventures. Midas will use the funds to expand its "Midas Staked Liquidity" (MSL) system. This system enables instant redemption of on-chain yield tokens by setting up a separate liquidity layer alongside products and using pre-allocated funds to meet redemption demands, solving the liquidity problem of traditional "vault-style" structures that require queuing for redemptions. Midas stated that it has issued $1.7 billion in tokenized assets since 2024, distributing $37 million in yield to investors.
RWA tokenization platform Brickken completes €3 million Pre-A funding round, with GRX and others participating.
Brickken, a Barcelona-based RWA tokenization platform, announced the completion of a €3 million Pre-A funding round, with participation from Dedagroup and GRX. The new funds will be used to strengthen the compliance of its RWA tokenization infrastructure, enabling the tokenization of assets such as stocks, debt, bonds, funds, real estate, and commodities, and to expand into the EU and UAE markets.
AI
Decentralized AI agent network ARO Network completes $5 million strategic funding round
Decentralized AI agent network ARO Network has completed a $5 million strategic funding round, co-led by NoLimit Holdings and an undisclosed Asian data center operator. The project aims to build a decentralized, shared network that deploys AI agents directly in users' homes, leveraging local resources to deliver personalized, privacy-preserving AI experiences. As of March 2026, its decentralized residential network will have over 1.18 million active nodes. Simultaneously, ARO Network has officially launched its Testnet Sprint 2 testnet, further simplifying the user experience.
Infrastructure & Tools
OpenFX, a startup focused on forex market making and cross-border remittances, has raised $94 million in funding. The round was led by Accel, Lightspeed Faction, M13, Northzone, and Pantera, valuing the company at approximately $500 million post-money. OpenFX bridges the banking system with blockchain infrastructure using stablecoins, providing faster and lower-cost settlement services for large cross-border transactions. The company claims that over 98% of transactions on its platform are settled within 60 minutes, and its annualized payment processing volume has increased from approximately $4 billion to approximately $45 billion. OpenFX plans to use the funds to expand into Southeast Asia and Latin America.
Paris-based stablecoin card issuance infrastructure platform Kulipa has raised $6.2 million in seed funding, co-led by Flourish Ventures and 1kx, with participation from White Star Capital and Fabric Ventures. The company helps fintech platforms and crypto wallets issue white-label stablecoin payment cards, handling complex back-office processes such as payment processing, fraud management, pre-funding, and settlement. Since launching its infrastructure in February 2025, Kulipa has issued over 120,000 cards and signed 20 clients, including Flutterwave, Solflare, and Ready, with monthly transaction volume growing by 70% month-over-month. Kulipa currently operates in the EU, Argentina, and Nigeria and plans to expand into the US market through a bank identification number sponsorship model.
Blockchain infrastructure platform Uniblock announced the completion of a new $5.2 million funding round, bringing its total funding to $7.5 million. Investors include SBI, AllianceDAO, CoinSwitch, Blockchain Founders Fund, Hustle Fund, AAF Management, NGC Ventures, Alchemy, and MoonPay. This funding will be used for platform expansion, market development, and team building.
According to reports, Uniblock connects over 300 blockchains and 55 data partners through a single API, providing services such as automatic routing, failover, and data standardization. Currently, the platform is used by 3,000 projects and 4,000 developers, with clients including Plume Network, Stellar, Hypernative, Oku Trade, nReach, and Apechain. Uniblock has also launched AI-native development tools, including the MCP server, llms.txt documentation, and Agent Skills, supporting AI coding environments such as Claude, Codex, and Cursor.
Diamante Financial Technologies, a quantum-safe Layer 1 blockchain developer, has completed a $1.5 million strategic funding round, with Khofiz Shakhidi, founder of Jefferson Capital, as the investor. Diamante reportedly uses post-quantum cryptography (FIPS 204) certified by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Simultaneously, Diamante has partnered with Minexx to tokenize Minexx's rare earth element business, becoming the first institutional-grade commodity tokenization project on a quantum-resistant blockchain.
Centralized Finance
Crypto-friendly bank Cross River Bank completes $50 million in new funding.
Crypto-friendly bank Cross River Bank has raised $50 million from existing investors, led by a fund managed by T. Rowe Price, valuing the bank at slightly over $3 billion. The new funds will be used to accelerate product launches, deepen partnerships, and expand internationally, with a focus on artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency. Founded in 2008, Cross River provides banking infrastructure to over 100 technology and fintech companies, including Stripe, Coinbase, and Affirm. This month, it also partnered with the X platform for payments. The bank has garnered attention for its Solana blockchain integration and participation in the Visa USDC stablecoin settlement pilot program.
Valinor raises $25 million in seed funding, led by Castle Island Ventures.
Valinor, a startup founded by former Blackstone private lending team members, announced the completion of a $25 million seed funding round led by Castle Island Ventures, with participation from Susquehanna's crypto division, the founders of Maven11 and TeraWulf, among others. Co-founded by Connor Dougherty and Lily Yarborough, Valinor plans to migrate private lending to the blockchain, replacing traditional loan processes that rely on forms and manual reviews with smart contracts to improve the efficiency of "rules-driven" loans, such as a $50 million revolving credit line. The company currently has six employees and has already issued loans to a small number of fintech and crypto companies. In the future, it plans to expand its lending scale and focus on "real economy lending" scenarios.
The Better Money Company, founded by former a16z crypto investor Sam Broner and partner Adam Zuckerman, announced the completion of a $10 million seed funding round. The round was led by a16z crypto, with participation from BoxGroup, Sunflower Capital, Circle co-founder Sean Neville, and former Microsoft executive Charlie Songhurst, among others. The project plans to build a stablecoin clearing platform, providing centralized exchange and liquidity services for compliant stablecoins such as USDC and USAT that comply with the Genius Act. By establishing direct subscription and redemption accounts with issuers such as Paxos, Stripe Bridge, and MoonPay, the project aims to reduce the cost for institutions buying and selling stablecoins on the open market.
Latitude, a cross-border payments startup founded by former Stripe and Coinbase employees, announced the completion of an $8 million funding round led by NEA, with participation from Lightspeed Faction, Coinbase, Paxos, and the Solana Foundation. Latitude's core product, "Global Payouts," targets US businesses, enabling payments from USD to personal accounts in over 50 countries via stablecoins, automating the conversion from USD to stablecoins to local fiat currencies. It already serves content creator platforms like Zencastr. The company also provides stablecoin deposit infrastructure for crypto-native applications such as prediction markets, helping them convert local currencies into stablecoins in markets like Mexico and the Philippines. Currently in its testing phase, Latitude monetizes through transaction fees. The team consists of 11 people, and they consider traditional banks' SWIFT-based foreign exchange payments their main competitor.
Belgian digital asset services company Keyrock has completed a Series C funding round led by Standard Chartered's SC Ventures, valuing the company at $1.1 billion. Ripple participated as an existing investor. The round is still open for investment, with a maximum size of $100 million. The new funds will be used to strengthen the balance sheet, expand the product line, and pursue acquisition opportunities. Founded in 2017, Keyrock provides market-making, asset management, OTC trading, and options services, operating on more than 80 centralized and decentralized exchanges, and employs over 200 people worldwide. Last September, the company expanded its asset and wealth management business through the acquisition of Turing Capital.
Prediction Market
Solana platform Pump.fun led a $1 million pre-seed funding round for live prediction market platform Pumpcade, with participation from Foundation Capital and angel investor RadioSolace. Pumpcade, integrated into Pump.fun's chat system, allows users to create prediction markets with a single click within a live stream, compressing the entire market cycle to approximately 60 seconds to 30 minutes, covering a variety of topics including crypto assets, stocks, and sports events. The project launched its private beta in January, with approximately 500 users creating thousands of markets on the testnet. Public beta and mainnet launch are planned for Q2 2026. This funding round will primarily be used to expand the engineering team and advance commercialization.
YZi Labs Makes Additional Investment in On-Chain Predictive Market Predict.fun
Following its Q2 EASY Residency investment, YZi Labs made a strategic investment in the on-chain prediction market Predict.fun, with Susquehanna Crypto also participating. The announcement stated that Predict.fun has accumulated over $1.8 billion in trading volume and facilitated over 4 million orders. In March, it completed the acquisition of Probable to strengthen its position within the BNB Chain prediction market ecosystem.
other
Web3 chess project Pixie Chess raises $5.2 million in seed funding, led by Paradigm.
Web3 chess project Pixie Chess has raised $5.2 million in seed funding, led by Paradigm, with participation from SEED CLUB and some angel investors. Pixie Chess is described as a magical, encrypted chess game where each piece possesses unique abilities, combining collecting, crafting, and competitive elements into a Web3 chess game.
DeSci's NanoVita project has completed its seed round of financing, with participation from institutions such as CGV.
NanoVita, a DeSci project, has announced the successful completion of its seed round of financing. This round was led by Cryptogram Venture (CGV), UNIVERSE-DIMENSIONAL SPACE PTE. LTD. (Singapore), Candaq Fintech Group, and Susie Ventures (BVI). NanoVita is a decentralized science (DeSci) protocol that integrates nanotechnology, AI bio-intelligence, and real-world health data, aiming to build an open and transparent infrastructure for health research.
The completion of this round of financing marks an accelerated phase in NanoVita's strategic deployment in the fields of nanotechnology, AI bio-intelligence, and blockchain health. The project will further advance the construction of a decentralized health research ecosystem, leveraging blockchain technology to reconstruct the value of health data and achieve open sharing.
DAT
(These types of financing events are not included in the weekly report statistics)
MetaPlanet completes $255 million funding round, potentially to acquire over 3,800 Bitcoins.
Japanese listed company MetaPlanet has received $255 million in funding from global institutional investors, as previously announced. Based on current prices, this funding could potentially be used to acquire over 3,800 bitcoins. If all of it is used to purchase bitcoins, MetaPlanet could become the world's third-largest publicly traded company with significant bitcoin holdings. Previously disclosed by relevant parties, the financing structure stipulated that warrants would only be exercisable if the share price exceeded 1.01 times the adjusted net asset value, and any newly issued shares would require each share to hold an additional number of bitcoins, with no dilutive issuance permitted.
ZeroStack has reached a $107 million 0G token funding agreement, locking up nearly 21% of the 0G supply.
Nasdaq-listed ZeroStack Corp. announced that it has reached a definitive agreement for a $107 million funding round pegged to the 0G token. Upon completion of the transaction, ZeroStack will hold approximately 21% of the total 0G token supply.
According to the financing terms, ZeroStack will establish a Texas-based company, Texas Blocker, to facilitate this transaction. Investors plan to contribute 142,232,948 native 0G tokens (worth approximately $107 million). Texas Blocker will become a wholly owned subsidiary of ZeroStack after the share exchange is completed. The share exchange is expected to be completed around July 5, 2026, subject to customary closing conditions and shareholder approval.
