Highlights of this episode
According to incomplete statistics from PANews, there were 11 investment and financing events in the global blockchain sector last week (November 24-30), with a total funding scale exceeding US$572 million; in addition, listed companies raised over US$235 million in cryptocurrency asset reserves. A summary is as follows:
- In the DeFi sector, four investment and financing events were announced, including Paxos's acquisition of New York-based DeFi wallet startup Fordefi for over $100 million;
- One investment and financing event was announced in the Web3+AI sector, in which decentralized AI computing network Gonka AI received a strategic investment of $12 million from Bitfury;
- Three investment and financing events were announced in the infrastructure & tools sector, including SpaceComputer completing a $10 million seed round of financing to run secure blockchain computing from space;
- In the centralized finance sector, one investment and financing event has been announced: Exodus will acquire W3C Corp, the parent company of Baanx and Monavate, for $175 million.
- In the area of other Web3 applications, two investment and financing events were announced, including WorkQuest, a decentralized job market and workforce automation protocol, which announced the completion of a $1.16 million seed round of financing.
- In addition, two publicly traded companies announced plans to raise funds for their crypto treasury strategies: Upexi plans to raise $23 million through a private placement to strengthen its SOL treasury strategy.
DeFi
Paxos acquires DeFi wallet company Fordefi for over $100 million
Paxos has announced the acquisition of Fordefi, a New York-based DeFi wallet startup, for over $100 million. Founded in 2021, Fordefi has approximately 40 employees and 300 customers, and its previous valuation was $83 million. Following the acquisition, Fordefi will continue to operate independently, and Paxos plans to integrate its technology into its own system. This transaction marks Paxos' second acquisition within a year, further expanding its reach after acquiring EU stablecoin issuer Membrane Finance in February to comply with MiCA regulations.
Nexton Solutions, a native AI-based restaking and arbitrage execution protocol, has completed a $4 million strategic funding round led by South Korean payment company Danal, with participation from Amber Group, Value Systems, Metalabs Ventures, Vista Labs, Outlier Ventures, Kaia Foundation, TON Foundation, STON.fi, and PayProtocol. Nexton's unified AI execution layer comprises two core components: the Nexton-ai cross-DEX/CEX arbitrage routing engine and the Nexton-re automatic restaking module.
Pruv Finance has completed a Pre-A round of financing of approximately $3 million, led by UOB Venture Management, with participation from Saison Capital, Taisu Ventures, Ascent, Spiral Ventures, and Royal Group. Pruv claims to be the first digital finance platform to receive approval from the Indonesian OJK regulatory sandbox, resolving the "compliance and liquidity" conflict of RWA, supporting asset lock-up without whitelists, free cross-chain transfer, and native compatibility with DeFi.
Digital asset lending platform CreatorFi secures $2 million in strategic investment.
Digital asset lending platform CreatorFi announced a strategic partnership with the Aptos Foundation and Aptos Labs. As part of the partnership, CreatorFi will launch its platform on Aptos and receive a total of $2 million in strategic funding to accelerate its development. Developed by Insomnia Labs, CreatorFi is a fintech platform that transforms digital media revenue into loanable assets, providing risk-adjusted pre-approved financing for creators, studios, and media companies.
AI
Decentralized AI computing network Gonka AI receives $12 million strategic investment from Bitfury.
Bitfury Group, a leading global cryptocurrency mining company, recently completed a $12 million strategic investment in Gonka.ai, a decentralized AI computing network, purchasing 20 million GNK tokens at $0.60 each. Founded by the Lieberman brothers, serial entrepreneurs, Gonka.ai aims to build a blockchain-based distributed GPU computing power market. This investment is Bitfury's first publicly disclosed investment since establishing its $1 billion ethical AI fund, indicating that traditional mining companies are systematically deploying in the decentralized AI infrastructure sector. According to public data, the Gonka network already has over 5,000 equivalent NVIDIA H100 series GPUs in computing power, and supports nearly 20 mainstream AI devices, including the 3080, 4090, H100, and H200, forming a distributed computing power cluster.
Infrastructure & Tools
London-listed private equity firm Bridgepoint announced the acquisition of a majority stake in ht.digital, a digital asset auditing and technology services provider, for approximately £200 million. HT boasts over 700 clients, including major global cryptocurrency exchanges, asset managers, and banks, and benefits from rising institutional demand for cryptocurrency allocations.
SpaceComputer raises $10 million in seed funding to support secure blockchain computing from space.
Space computing startup SpaceComputer has raised $10 million in seed funding, co-led by Maven11 and Lattice, with participation from Superscrypt, the Arbitrum Foundation, Nascent, Offchain Labs, Hashkey, and Chorus One. Individual investors include Marc Weinstein, Jason Yanowitz, and Ameen Soleimani. The company plans to build a satellite network to provide secure computing services for blockchain from space.
SpaceComputer will use its funding to launch satellites equipped with SpaceTEE secure computing hardware, building an orbital network capable of enabling privacy-preserving computing and secure record-keeping. Its co-founder stated that the opportunities space presents for decentralized technologies are undeniable, and an increasing number of applications will incorporate space computing layers. Previously, JPMorgan Chase's digital assets division successfully tested tokenized value transfer using low-Earth orbit satellites. The company is known for its satellite tests on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets and is currently collaborating with universities such as the Technical University of Munich and Cornell Technology to explore extraterrestrial blockchain computing.
Cryptocurrency payment solutions provider Alchemy receives investment from C1 Fund.
Crypto fund C1 Fund has invested in Alchemy, a cryptocurrency payment solutions provider, though the specific amount has not been disclosed. Alchemy is a core infrastructure layer in the Web3 market, providing transaction support for Robinhood, Stripe, JPMorgan Chase, and Coinbase. C1 Fund has previously invested in Chainalysis and Ripple.
DAT
(These types of transactions are not included in this week's financing report statistics)
Nasdaq-listed biopharmaceutical company Enlivex Therapeutics announced it will raise $212 million through a PIPE private placement to purchase Rain tokens as the core reserve for its Digital Asset Vault (DAT), claiming the project is the first DAT built around a prediction market token. Rain is a decentralized prediction market protocol on the Arbitrum blockchain. Following the completion of this fundraising, former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi will join the Enlivex board of directors.
Nasdaq-listed Upexi (UPXI) announced a private placement of up to $23 million in shares and warrants to support its core Solana treasury strategy. The offering price is $3.04 per share including warrants, initially raising $10 million, with an additional $13 million if all warrants are exercised. Despite recent market corrections causing its Solana holdings to lose over $200 million in value, Upexi remains committed to a long-term cash holding strategy and will use the proceeds for general operations and further Solana accumulation.
Centralized Finance
Exodus will acquire W3C Corp, the parent company of Baanx and Monavate, for $175 million.
Crypto wallet company Exodus Movement (NYSE American: EXOD) is acquiring W3C Corp, the parent company of cryptocurrency card and payment companies Baanx and Monavate, for $175 million. The deal is funded by the company's existing cash and financing provided by Galaxy Digital, secured by Exodus's Bitcoin holdings. Baanx and Monavate have been working with institutions such as Visa, Mastercard, and MetaMask to develop cryptocurrency cards and user-controlled Web3 payment services. Overall, this transaction will make Exodus one of the few self-custody wallet providers capable of controlling the entire payment experience from wallet to card.
Exodus stated that it will take over the underlying card and payment technology stack, enabling it to issue payment cards through networks such as Visa, Mastercard, and Discover. It will also expand its operations to the US, UK, and EU to support new products and partnerships. Exodus further stated that this infrastructure is expected to enhance the capabilities of enterprise clients whose customers transact through Exodus' XO Swap application. The transaction is subject to standard adjustments and approval processes and is expected to close in 2026.
other
WorkQuest, a decentralized job marketplace, has raised $1.16 million in seed funding.
WorkQuest, a decentralized job marketplace and workforce automation protocol, announced the completion of a $1.16 million seed funding round led by Black Dragon Capital, with participation from Prometeus Labs, TrustDAO Capital, Chain Ridge Capital, Kyros Ventures, Magnus Capital, Titans Ventures, and Matrix Ventures. The new funds will be used to upgrade its platform, enabling employers and employees to interact through smart contracts, stablecoin payments, and on-chain reputation scoring.
Nad.fun has announced that it has raised $1.1 million to date, with its most recent seed round led by Neoclassic Capital. Angel investors include Monad community members, developers, and on-chain traders. Nad.fun is a native launchpad platform on the Monad chain, designed around community-driven meme mining and leveraged price prediction markets.
Venture capital firms
Entrée Capital announced the successful raising of a new $300 million fund focused on early-stage investments. This brings the company's total assets under management to $1.5 billion. The new funds will primarily be deployed in pre-seed, seed, and Series A investments in Israel, the UK, Europe, and the US. The fund will target founders in the following areas: Artificial Intelligence (covering native AI applications, vertical AI, and enabling infrastructure); Deep Technology and Quantum Computing (including computing technologies, science-driven systems, and advanced materials); Software, Data, and B2B Productivity Enhancement; Cryptocurrency (primarily focusing on infrastructure and security); and unconventional cutting-edge innovation.
It is understood that Entrée Capital has previously invested in Web3 domain registrar Freename and Bitcoin payment startup Breez, among others.
European venture capital firm Índico Capital Partners officially announced the launch of its sixth venture capital fund, Indico VC Fund III, totaling €125 million. The European Investment Fund (EIF) plans to commit €30 million. The fund's individual investments will reportedly range from €10 million to €10 million, focusing on sustainable economic models in areas such as artificial intelligence, deep technology, blockchain/Web3, fintech, and digital markets. Índico Capital Partners' Web3 portfolio includes luxury NFT platform Exclusible and metaverse startup Sound Particles.
DWF Labs launches $75 million DeFi investment fund
Crypto market maker DWF Labs has announced a new $75 million decentralized finance (DeFi) fund focused on projects built on Ethereum, BNB Chain, Solana, and Base. This expands DWF's "incubation and venture capital building efforts," specifically seeking to invest in the next wave of founders focused on "solving real structural problems in areas such as liquidity, settlement, credit, and on-chain risk management, rather than incremental improvements to existing protocols." This includes tools like perpetual DEXs with dark pools, on-chain money markets, and fixed-income or yield-generating products—areas poised for significant growth as liquidity continues to migrate to on-chain structures. The new fund is funded by DWF's own capital and is not currently accepting new investors.
