Highlights of this episode
According to incomplete statistics from PANews, there were 5 investment and financing events in the global blockchain sector last week (May 25-31), with a total funding scale exceeding US$17.4 million . Both the number of transactions and the total amount of funds decreased significantly. An overview is as follows:
- Two investment and financing events were announced in the DeFi sector. Among them, Hypernova, a proprietary trading platform built on Hyperliquid, completed a $3 million pre-seed round of financing, led by Lemniscap.
- Web3+AI announced two investment and financing events, including Web3 and AI platform Luffa receiving strategic equity investment from Hong Kong-listed company Guofu Quantum.
- The Infrastructure & Tools sector announced one investment and financing event: Solmate completed a $11.4 million post-IPO financing round, valuing the company at $53.1 million.
- Eight equity acquisition deals were announced, including a joint acquisition of 40% of Coinone by Korea Investment & Securities and OKX.
DeFi
Hypernova, a proprietary trading platform built on Hyperliquid, has completed a $3 million pre-seed funding round led by Lemniscap, with participation from Very Early Ventures, CMS Holdings, and Pivot Global. Several angel investors from the Hyperliquid ecosystem also participated in this round.
This platform uses smart contracts to automate trader payments, aiming to address issues such as opaque payment processes and profitable traders becoming liabilities in traditional proprietary trading firms. Hypernova can dynamically decide whether to push positions to the market based on trader quality. The platform is currently in a closed alpha phase and is planned for public release within the next two months.
Smart DeFi assistant Otomato completes $2 million funding round led by Improbable.
Otomato, a smart DeFi assistant, has announced the completion of a $2 million funding round led by Improbable. Otomato is a no-code Web3 automation protocol and DeFi assistant that allows users to create, monitor, and automate on-chain operations, and currently has over 3,000 users.
AI + Web3
Web3 and AI platform Luffa announced that they have received strategic equity investment from Hong Kong-listed GoFintech Quantum Innovation Limited, valuing the company at $220 million post-investment. The two companies will collaborate on AI, quantum security, blockchain, and compliant finance, focusing on developing AI investment systems, on-chain financial automation, digital asset compliance frameworks, and quantum-encrypted security solutions. As of February 2026, the Luffa ecosystem has over 3 million downloads globally, 2 million registered users, and over 150,000 daily active users. This collaboration aims to promote the global commercialization of AI agents, Web3 infrastructure, and the digital asset ecosystem.
ClawCivi.ai announces completion of multi-million dollar seed funding round
ClawCivi.ai has announced the completion of a multi-million dollar seed funding round, supported by Trump-related funds and the Draper family fund, among others. The product enables multiple AI agents to collaborate on tasks by sharing the skills of agents (OpenClaw, Hermes, Manus). Its token, $CLAW, will be officially listed on PancakeSwap at 3:00 AM (UTC+8).
Infrastructure & Tools
Solmate raised $11.4 million in funding after its IPO, valuing the company at $53.1 million.
Solmate, a UAE-based Solana infrastructure service provider, has completed an $11.4 million post-IPO round, valuing the company at $53.1 million post-money. The round was led by investors Keren Maimon and Ron Sade. Solmate primarily provides institutional-grade Solana validators and RPC services, focusing on network infrastructure development.
Acquisition
Korea Investment & Securities and OKX will jointly acquire a 40% stake in Coinone.
Korea Investment & Securities (KIC) will sign an agreement with OKX on the 29th to each acquire a 20% stake in the South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Coinone, totaling 40%. The total acquisition amount is estimated to be between 500 billion and 600 billion won (US$332 million to US$398 million). The acquisition will primarily be conducted through a new share issuance, and the existing major shareholders will retain their management control. Through this acquisition, KIC will advance its digital asset business, including token issuance and circulation, attracting corporate clients, and large-scale brokerage.
It is reported that OKX has confirmed an investment of $53 million , while OKX Ventures and Korea Investment & Securities will each invest 80 billion won (approximately $53 million). Once the investment is completed and regulatory approval is obtained, the two companies will each hold 19.6% of Coinone's shares, becoming the third largest shareholder.
Samsung Securities, through a board resolution, will acquire a 2% stake in Dunamu, approximately 697,000 shares, for 306.3 billion won (approximately US$204 million), at a price of approximately 439,000 won per share. The sellers include Kakao Investment, Kakao Ventures, the Kakao Youth Entrepreneurship Fund, and the KIF-Kakao Woori Bank Technology Financial Investment Fund. Based on this, Dunamu's overall valuation is estimated at approximately 15.3 trillion won (approximately US$10.2 billion). Samsung Securities stated that this investment aims to enhance the competitiveness of its digital asset business and expand synergies. Previously, Hanwha Investment & Securities also acquired Dunamu shares held by Kakao Investment at the same valuation.
WeHub, the holding company of the largest shareholder of the Busan Digital Asset Exchange in South Korea, will expand its business into virtual assets by acquiring cryptocurrency exchange Flybit. WeHub and Yang Jae-seok, chairman of its largest shareholder JM Coffee Group, have agreed to the acquisition, the amount of which was not disclosed. Upon completion of the acquisition, WeHub will hold 40% of Flybit, Yang Jae-seok will hold 25%, and Flybit CEO Kim Seok-jin will retain 15%.
Furthermore, Flybit's market share has declined due to its failure to obtain verified Korean won accounts. WeHub was attracted by its VASP certification and stable AML infrastructure; Flybit was rated "excellent" in the financial intelligence agency's institutional assessment. Following the acquisition, the two companies plan to combine Flybit's crypto trading infrastructure with the Busan Digital Asset Exchange's physical asset trading capabilities to expand into stablecoins and other businesses.
Aztec Labs acquires privacy identity tool ZKPassport, will continue to keep it open source.
Aztec Labs has acquired Obsidion, the company behind the open-source privacy authentication tool ZKPassport. Obsidion's co-founders, Michael Elliot and Theo Madzou, and their team will join Aztec Labs to continue developing ZKPassport and related applications. Aztec Labs is building the Ethereum privacy layer-2 network, Aztec Network. Last year, it raised approximately $60 million worth of ETH through an AZTEC token sale and had previously secured approximately $125 million in venture capital. ZKPassport allows users to read passports or government documents using their mobile phones via NFC, generating cryptographic signatures locally to verify age, nationality, and "real person identity" without exposing full privacy. It has been used for compliance identity verification at the Devconnect conference and the Aztec community token sale. Aztec stated that it will continue to keep the ZKPassport protocol and iOS application open source.
Alpha Compute acquires blockchain gaming platform GAMEE for $18 million.
Alpha Compute, a Nasdaq-listed company specializing in confidential computing infrastructure for AI applications, has completed its acquisition of mobile blockchain gaming platform GAMEE for approximately $18 million. GAMEE is a play-and-earn gaming platform with a long-term focus on Web3 games and digital asset incentive ecosystems.
Canadian regulators approve Robinhood's acquisition of digital asset company WonderFi
Canadian regulators have approved Robinhood's acquisition of digital asset company WonderFi. WonderFi, headquartered in Toronto, owns platforms such as Bitbuy and Coinsquare. The deal, originally scheduled to close in the second half of last year, was extended to June 1st of this year to allow Robinhood to deploy its proprietary technology in Canada and obtain regulatory approval. Previously, in May of last year, it was reported that Robinhood would acquire Canadian crypto platform WonderFi for C$250 million .
Impossible has acquired the brand and core platform assets of NFT marketplace Rarible.
NFT marketplace Rarible announced on the X platform that Impossible has acquired the Rarible brand and core platform assets. This acquisition marks Impossible's first foray into mergers and acquisitions and brand expansion. The RARI Foundation ecosystem and RARI tokens remain independently managed by the respective foundation entities. The team stated that they will continue to support artists, collectors, and the community, and will share more plans in the future.
DeFi 3.0 platform Betwin (BY) has been officially acquired by the Bluemount Foundation.
Betwin (BY), a next-generation decentralized social ecosystem, recently announced its formal acquisition by the Bluemount Foundation. The DeFi business is now officially under BF's control, forming BMBY and strengthening its position in data ownership, privacy protection, and social value distribution.
As part of the acquisition, Betwin had previously completed a $2 million institutional funding round, with participants including prominent institutions such as the Bluemount Foundation, Infinite Alliance, ChainPulse Capital, and UZ Capital. Leveraging the strategic resources of the Bluemount Foundation, Betwin will accelerate the implementation of blockchain social networks, break the data monopoly of traditional social media giants, and reconstruct the trust system and value distribution mechanism of the digital age.
