Highlights of this episode

According to incomplete statistics from PANews, there were 15 investment and financing events in the global blockchain sector last week (March 9-15), with a total funding scale exceeding US$238 million. An overview is as follows:

Two investment and financing events were announced in the DeFi sector, including the announcement by the team of the yield-generating stablecoin protocol Unitas Labs that it had completed a $13.33 million seed round of financing.
In the AI+Web3 sector, two investment and financing events were announced, including VeryAI completing a $10 million seed round of financing led by Polychain Capital;
Nine investment and financing events were announced in the infrastructure & tools sector, including Zcash Open Development Lab (ZODL) completing a seed round of more than $25 million, with Paradigm, a16z crypto and others participating;
Two investment and financing events were announced in the centralized finance sector. Among them, stablecoin payment company KAST completed an $80 million financing round, co-led by QED Investors and Left Lane Capital.

DeFi

Unitas, a yield-based stablecoin protocol, has raised $13.33 million in seed funding.

Unitas Labs, a yield-generating stablecoin protocol, announced the completion of a $13.33 million seed funding round, with participation from Awaken Finance, Amber Group, BB Fund, Taisu Ventures, Bixin Ventures, and SevenX Ventures. Unitas stated that it will use the funds to build on-chain execution and strategy infrastructure for long-term capital, improve stable asset returns through transparent market-neutral strategies, and gradually expand to multiple on-chain collateralized assets such as BTC, tokenized commodities, and RWA under a unified custody, risk control, and monitoring framework, with a focus on strengthening compliant institutional access and DeFi ecosystem integration.

DEXTools raises $3 million to launch its perpetual DEX, "PerpTools".

DeFi data analytics platform DEXTools announced the completion of a $3 million funding round to launch its perpetual DEX, "PerpTools." The round was led by DEXForce and Orderly. PerpTools plans to launch its public beta by the end of Q2 2026, having already achieved $150 million in trading volume during its closed beta phase. PerpTools will integrate AI-driven analytics, prediction markets, and real-time execution capabilities, and plans to add features such as copy trading, rule-based automation, and prediction market integration. The CEO of DEXTools stated that PerpTools aims to integrate analytics, AI strategy tools, and deep liquidity into a single community-governed product.

AI

Palmprint authentication company VeryAI has raised $10 million in seed funding, led by Polychain Capital.

VeryAI, a palmprint authentication startup, has raised $10 million in seed funding, led by Polychain Capital, with participation from Berggruen Institute, Anagram, and several crypto angel investors. VeryAI provides a palmprint scanning SDK based on mobile phone cameras, which partners can integrate into existing applications to combat bot accounts and multi-factor authentication fatigue. Its system analyzes palmprint texture and prompts users to make random gestures to prevent screenshots, screen recordings, and AI forgery. The company claims a false recognition rate of approximately one in ten million for single-hand scanning, higher than Apple's official Face ID rate. VeryAI currently focuses on serving crypto platforms, having partnered with the exchange MEXC for withdrawal verification, charging based on registration and re-verification counts. Future plans include expanding to banks and government clients and adding more risk control tools.

AI-powered entertainment platform NEXST has completed a strategic funding round of over $3 million, with participation from Castrum Capital, TBV, and others.

Japanese AI-powered integrated entertainment platform NEXST announced the completion of a strategic funding round exceeding $3 million, with participation from Castrum Capital, TBV, M2M Capital, Becker Ventures, and others, raising approximately $3 million in seed funding. NEXST integrates artificial intelligence, RWA, and blockchain technologies, aiming to provide global fans with easier access to entertainment and a more immersive experience. It is committed to reshaping the global entertainment industry through innovative models and cutting-edge technology.

Infrastructure & Tools

Cryptocurrency accounting platform Cryptio has raised $45 million in Series B funding, led by BlackFin Capital Partners and Sentinel Global.

Digital asset accounting startup Crypto has raised $45 million in Series B funding, led by BlackFin Capital Partners and Sentinel Global, with participation from 1kx, BlueYard Capital, and Ledger Cathay Capital. The company primarily provides large institutions with software for digital asset staking, custody, crypto lending, and on-chain asset management. The funding round was reportedly completed three weeks ago, and the valuation was not disclosed. Currently, the company has approximately 110 employees and serves over 450 clients, including stablecoin issuer Circle and BNP Paribas' blockchain subsidiary.

Zcash development lab ZODL raises over $25 million in seed funding.

Zcash Open Development Lab (ZODL) has announced the completion of a seed funding round exceeding $25 million. Investors include Paradigm, a16z crypto, Winklevoss Capital, Coinbase Ventures, and numerous industry investors. Founded by Josh Swihart, former head of Electric Coin Company (ECC), ZODL's Zcash wallet, Zodl (formerly Zashi), launched in 2024, has driven over 400% growth in the Zcash privacy pool and facilitated over $600 million in ZEC exchanges since October of last year. The entire former ECC team has joined ZODL to continue overseeing Zcash protocol development and the construction of its self-custodied privacy finance platform.

Solana's AI data marketplace, Kled AI, has raised $5.5 million in seed funding.

Kled AI, the AI data marketplace within the Solana ecosystem, announced the completion of a $5.5 million seed funding round. Participants included Waymo founder Sebastian Thrun, Bernard Arnault's Aglaé Ventures, K5 Global, Diplo, Parable VC, and Cox Exponential, bringing its total funding to $9 million. Kled AI aims to build a human data marketplace where users contribute data by uploading files through its consumer app. The platform has collected over 12,000 structured datasets, covering egocentric data, medical data, and urban travel data, which are available for purchase by AI labs and companies for model training.

Bitcoin L1 smart contract platform OP_NET raises $5 million, led by Further.

OP_NET, a Bitcoin L1 native smart contract platform, announced the completion of a $5 million funding round led by Further, with participation from ANAGRAM, Arcanum Capital, Humla Ventures, Morningstar Ventures, G20 Ventures, and UTXO Management. OP_NET's core function is to transform the programmability of the Bitcoin blockchain into the programmability of smart blockchains such as Ethereum. It is scheduled to launch on the Bitcoin mainnet on March 17th.

Bittensor infrastructure startup General Tensor raises $5 million in funding.

Bittensor infrastructure startup General Tensor announced the completion of an oversubscribed seed and pre-seed funding round, totaling $5 million. The seed round was led by Goldman Sachs-backed venture capital firm Good Morning Holdings, while the pre-seed round was led by Lvna Capital in December 2024, with participation from DCG, X Ventures, Proof of Talk, and Outliers Fund. Founded in early 2024, General Tensor focuses on building and operating the mining, validation, and subnet infrastructure for the decentralized AI network Bittensor. The company claims to generate TAO tokens at approximately 1/40th the cost of a "buy and hold" strategy. In addition to infrastructure operations, General Tensor also builds consumer DeFi applications and incubates subnets.

Bitcoin infrastructure company Ark Labs has raised $5.2 million in seed funding, with Tether participating.

Bitcoin infrastructure company Ark Labs has completed a $5.2 million seed funding round, with participation from Tether, Ego Death Capital, Epoch VC, Anchorage Digital, and former PayPal CFO Ralph Ho.

MarsCat, a P2P Web3 application engine, has raised $3 million in funding, led by Animoca Brands and others.

MarsCat, a P2P Web3 application engine, has raised $3 million in funding from investors including Animoca Brands, Cogitent Ventures, Cryptogram Venture (CGV), tbv, BD Ventures, and Becker Ventures.

MarsCat is a decentralized Web3 platform and application engine based on a peer-to-peer network. It provides the infrastructure for decentralized applications, enabling them to run in a privacy-first, serverless environment without relying on centralized servers, and is designed to achieve secure communication, scalable application deployment, and censorship-resistant interaction.

Crypto bank Anchorage Digital makes strategic investment in Immunefi

Anchorage Digital, a crypto financial services provider and the first US federally chartered crypto bank, is making a strategic investment in Immunefi and purchasing the security infrastructure company's native token, IMU. Immunefi will simultaneously provide security services for Anchorage's non-custodial wallet, Porto, enabling institutional clients to directly participate in DeFi protocols and on-chain investment strategies. To date, Immunefi has protected over $180 billion in TVL for on-chain protocols and has distributed over $130 million in bug bounties to white-hat hackers.

Corastone, a blockchain infrastructure company in the private equity market, has completed a new round of financing, with participation from Fidelity, Future Standard, and others.

Corastone, a blockchain infrastructure provider for the private market, announced that it has received investment from Fidelity, Future Standard, and Hamilton Lane, with the specific amount undisclosed. The new funding will support the company in building a proprietary permissioned blockchain network, providing a unified infrastructure and data standards for the private market to support higher trading volumes and more complex transaction structures.

Centralized Finance

Stablecoin payment company KAST has raised $80 million in funding, valuing the company at approximately $600 million.

Stablecoin payment company KAST has raised $80 million in funding, co-led by QED Investors and Left Lane Capital. The funds will be used for expansion in North America, Latin America, and the Middle East, as well as hiring, licensing applications, and product development. The new round values the company at approximately $600 million. Sources familiar with the matter said the terms of the funding round were finalized in October, and the company's annualized revenue is expected to reach $100 million this year.

Stablecoin company MetaComp completes Pre-A+ round of financing, raising a total of $35 million in three months.

Singapore-based digital financial platform MetaComp has completed its Pre-A+ funding round, bringing its total funding to $35 million, including its Pre-A round completed three months ago . This round was led by a well-known internet giant, Spark Venture, and other institutional investors, with existing shareholders also participating. MetaComp and its affiliates aim to build a Web 2.5 payments and wealth management platform, offering hybrid stablecoin/fiat currency payments and hybrid security/RWA token wealth management services. The new funds will be used to accelerate the expansion of the StableX network in high-growth corridors in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America, as well as to develop an AI-powered strategic architecture to support proxy-based Web 2.5 payments and wealth management services.

DAT

Eightco Holdings has raised $125 million in funding, led by Bitmine, with participation from Ark Invest and others.

Crypto asset treasury company Eightco Holdings announced the completion of a $125 million funding round to support its investments in blockchain and artificial intelligence. The round was led by Bitcoin treasury company Bitmine with a $75 million investment, with Ark Invest and Kraken's parent company Payward each contributing $25 million. Bitmine Chairman Tom Lee will join Eightco's board of directors, and Ark Invest's chief futurist Brett Winton will serve as a board advisor. Eightco also announced a $50 million strategic investment in OpenAI and a $25 million investment in Beast Industries, the company of YouTuber MrBeast. Following this news, Eightco's stock price rose 12% on Thursday.

(This financing event is not included in the weekly report statistics)

Payment gateway Inflow completes $1.1 million seed round of financing, with participation from Rockstart and others

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