Farworld Labs, a gaming company based in Farcaster, has successfully raised $1.75 million in pre-seed funding. This funding round was co-led by Lemniscap and Variant, allowing Farworld Labs to accelerate the release of their upcoming games in the third quarter. One of the most awaited releases is the Farcade platform, which will be launched in collaboration with top-tier studios and developers. The Farcade platform is built on decentralized social media protocols, providing developers with tools to create crypto-native games that seamlessly integrate with onchain social media. This integration will allow games to be easily playable within social media feeds with just a single click.
In other news, the Celo Foundation has appointed Eric Nakagawa as the new Executive Director, while Isha Varshney has transitioned to the role of Head of Ecosystem. Nakagawa will work closely with Rene Reinsberg to oversee the Foundation’s daily operations, while Varshney will be responsible for projects building on Celo and leading business development efforts with both Web2 and Web3 firms. Additionally, Sophia Dew has joined the Celo Foundation as the developer relations lead to support builders working on the emerging Ethereum L2.
Botanix Labs, a company developing an EVM-equivalent layer-2 network on top of Bitcoin, has appointed security expert Ron Stoner as its new Head of Security. Stoner’s wealth of experience in designing and testing blockchain-based networks will help Botanix Labs develop industry-leading infrastructure for securely scaling Bitcoin-native financial tools.
POKT Network, a decentralized RPC infrastructure processing project, is expanding into AI inference services. The network’s open-source and permissionless design aims to align incentives among model researchers, hardware operators, API providers, and users. By utilizing Relay Mining algorithm, POKT creates a transparent marketplace for cryptographically verified usage, enabling AI researchers to disseminate their work and generate revenue without the need to maintain infrastructure.
ZKX, a social perp trading DEX on Starknet and Ethereum, has raised $7.6 million in funding. The protocol plans to use these funds to enhance its growth and development, with a focus on developing new products such as its native token, $ZKX. This token will offer users governance and staking features, including social copy trade pools and cross-chain interoperability.
BNB Chain has activated the BEP 336 Haber Hardfork, introducing blob-carrying transactions to optimize data storage. This upgrade is expected to reduce gas fees by up to 90% and enhance the platform’s data storage and processing capabilities. The opBNB scaling solution will see further reductions in transaction costs, benefiting the L2s operating on BSC.
Overall, these developments in the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry showcase the ongoing innovation and growth in the sector. With new projects, partnerships, and funding rounds, the industry continues to evolve and expand, offering exciting opportunities for developers, investors, and users alike.