Galaxy Raises $113M for Early-Stage Crypto Protocols
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![Galaxy raises $113 million for early-stage crypto protocols, Jersey City's pension fund to invest in Bitcoin ETFs, and TON introduces gasless transactions.](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/636e894daa9e99940a604aef/66a311af22deb4463b6b313e_galaxy%20raises%20113%20million.webp)
Galaxy Raises $113 Million for Early-Stage Crypto Protocols
Michael Novogratz's Galaxy Asset Management has raised $113 million for Galaxy Ventures, a fund aimed at investing in early-stage crypto protocols. Since fundraising began in the second quarter, the fund has attracted institutional allocators, family offices, and high-net-worth individuals, and plans to continue raising funds into next year with a $150 million target.
Galaxy Ventures aims to build a portfolio of around 30 investments under its new leadership. The fund seeks to support digital asset innovation, enhance global payments, expand financial market access, and design new economic infrastructure. Galaxy Ventures has already invested in over 100 companies, including Ethena, M^0, Monad, and Plume.
Jersey City's Pension Fund to Invest in Bitcoin ETFs
Jersey City's Mayor, Steven Fulop, revealed on X that the municipal pension fund will invest in Bitcoin via ETFs, copying a Wisconsin pension fund's move. Fulop announced that the city's pension fund is in the process of updating documents to designate a portion for Bitcoin ETFs, with the investment slated to be finalized by the conclusion of summer.
Other pension funds like Wisconsin's state pension fund have also made comparable investments, indicating a gradual yet consistent increase in public pension funds' interest in crypto investments. Fulop is optimistic about the future possibilities of blockchain technology and predicts that cryptocurrency investments will become increasingly popular in pension funds worldwide.
TON Blockchain Introduces Gassless Transactions
The TON Core team, in collaboration with the non-custodial wallet Tonkeeper, has introduced the W5 smart wallet standard, which allows gasless transactions on the TON blockchain. Initially developed by Tonkeeper and now a TON standard, W5 enables users to pay transaction fees with USDT and gas fees with Notcoin, eliminating the need to hold toncoin for payments and simplifying blockchain entry.
The W5 wallet features include 2-factor authorization, password recovery, and advanced parallel processing for up to 255 transactions simultaneously. It aims to enhance security, efficiency, and ease of use, promoting mainstream blockchain adoption. The W5 standard is now available on Tonkeeper and will soon be supported by other TON wallets.
Marathon Digital Buys $100M Worth of BTC to HODL
The Bitcoin miner MARA, which used to be called Marathon Digital, has bought an extra $100 million worth of Bitcoin. That means they now have more than 20,000 Bitcoins, which is worth about $1.3 billion and is almost 0.1 percent of all Bitcoins in circulation. Salman Khan, MARA's chief financial officer, said that the purchases were planned to take advantage of good market conditions.
Considering their balance sheet investments and recent purchases, approximately 1,500 BTC were bought within the $54,000 to $68,000 range this month. Most of MARA's Bitcoin holdings come from mining, with some acquired separately. They are dedicated to a complete "HODL" approach, retaining all mined bitcoin and occasionally making strategic purchases to expand their treasury.
Data of the Day
Venture funding for Web3 startups is stabilizing after a decline that began in 2023, with crypto ventures securing $2 billion in Q2 2024, slightly higher than the $1.8 billion in Q1, reversing last year's downward trend from $2.3 billion in Q1 2023 to $1.4 billion in Q4, according to Crunchbase.
Although funding amounts have rebounded, deal volume remains low, with only 291 rounds in Q2 2024 compared to 284 in Q4 2023. Deals are more cautiously sized, with just seven exceeding $50 million in Q2. This recovery is largely due to Monad Labs’ $225-million round led by Paradigm, alongside notable deals like Farcaster's $150 million, Berachain's $100 million, and Auradine's $80 million.
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More Breaking News
- Trading volume for the Ethereum ETF dropped to under $900 million on the third day since launch, as ether's price plunged by over 8% in the past day.
- Interpol is searching for two Hong Kong crypto influencers who promoted JPEX, a troubled Dubai-based crypto exchange.
- BlackRock head of digital assets Robert Mitchnick shows disinterest in Solana and Polygon ETFs as altocoins have low liquidity compared to BTC and ETH.
- The reason for the first move in seven years of 92,000 ETH worth $287 million and probably connected to the Ethereum Foundation, is unknown.
- A fee switch that would return a portion of the platform's remaining earnings to its primary users is a new proposal being discussed for Aave.
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