Crypto News

Venture capital investment in crypto startups increased by 32% during the first quarter of 2024, reaching a total of $2.5 billion, according to data from PitchBook.

This figure is roughly the same as the amount invested during the same period last year. Additionally, crypto startups are raising more capital, while venture firms are launching new digital asset funds.

PitchBook crypto analyst Robert Le has said that “investors are spending money again,” adding that over the past 18 months, they had been holding onto the capital they raised.

Le believed that this renewed enthusiasm for crypto is partly due to the approval of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in January and interest in the intersection of crypto and artificial intelligence. During the crypto market’s downturn in 2023 and late 2022, VCs hesitated to tap into the funds they raised during the last bull market. However, this year, that has started to change.

Anand Iyer, the managing general partner of early-stage venture fund Canonical Crypto, has recently observed increased funding activities.

He mentioned that some founders currently raising funds have previous experience in the industry, having built something during the last cycle that was unsuccessful. Certain features of the crypto market that were prominent during the last bull run have also made a comeback.

For example, the latest memecoin frenzy has similarities with past crazes. Websites like a pump.fun has made it possible for anyone with an internet connection to create tokens without any real value, inspired by animals, pop culture, or virtually any other subject. “They’re amusing and all, but it’s a part of crypto culture,” said Iyer. Other venture capitalists are also noticing signs of maturity in the industry.

John Lo, a managing partner at Recharge Capital who oversees digital asset investment, was previously a part of the leadership team at decentralized crypto exchange, Sushi, under the pseudonym “Omakase.” He even used an Anime character filter during a webinar appearance to conceal his identity.

Amid ongoing tensions between Gaza and Israel, a member of the Ethereum community named Kat has launched a campaign powered by ETH to assist in evacuating families in the region to safety.

The ETH Evacuations campaign has raised over $55,000 in the past 24 hours to support families attempting to flee the Gaza Strip. The campaign was launched in response to the intensified fighting in the region, which has left hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced after Hamas-aligned militants stormed into Israel on October 7.

The campaign is spearheaded by @Katalunia030, who previously served as the head of product at Zora, a creator-focused platform on the Ethereum network. It was launched on March 10 with the unveiling of evacuations. XYZ allows donors to send donations in ETH directly to families in Gaza.

The campaign has gained significant momentum, with the crypto community actively participating in spreading the word. Kat, who has been involved in multiple charitable initiatives since her visit to the troubled nation in June 2023, has donated to the campaign.

According to Kat, it costs approximately 1.5 ETH (roughly $5k) for an adult and 0.5 ETH (approximately $2k) for a child to safely cross the Gaza border via the Rafah crossing, the sole crossing point between Egypt and Palestine. Supposedly, anyone crossing via that route must pay the “coordination fees,” which the campaign funds.

The campaign initially began to help Kat’s friends and colleagues who were struggling to evacuate. The campaign was extended to the broader community as the donations picked up pace. By March 13, the campaign had successfully evacuated two families away from harm.

Several NFT artists have supported the campaign by listing collections to raise funds. One artist, troels_a, launched the EVAC open edition project on Coinbase’s base network, with all funds going towards the education campaign. Another artist, who goes by ‘brian is online’ on X, launched three more NFTs and pledged to match all the proceeds generated.

As of the latest update, the campaign has been live for 3.5 weeks and has raised over $100,000 in ETH. The donations were received in multiple cryptocurrencies, indicating that the efforts were not limited to the Ethereum community.

The most recent donation to the campaign was a whopping 10 ETH, valued at approximately $32,868 at the time of receipt. However, the donor’s identity remains unknown.

The campaign is also a testament to the transparency offered by blockchain technology, which is crucial in philanthropic campaigns. This is especially important, given that there have been several cases of fraud in the name of charity.

The cryptocurrency industry experienced a 23% reduction in losses due to hacking and scams in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023, a recent report revealed.

According to a research report published by blockchain security firm Immunefi, the total amount lost to hacking and fraud incidents in Q1 of 2024 was approximately $336.3 million, a decrease from the $437.5 million lost in the same quarter of 2023. The report identified 46 hacking incidents and 15 cases of fraudulent activities.

Hacking incidents remained the leading cause of losses, accounting for 96%, while scams comprised the remaining 4%. DeFi, which had almost $100 billion of total value locked in web3 protocols, was the primary target of successful exploits.

“While it’s positive that overall losses have decreased, it’s essential to note that DeFi faced significant challenges, accounting for 100% of total losses in Q1 2024,” Immunefi founder and CEO Mitchell Amador said. “Particularly, the ecosystem witnessed a considerable volume of losses due to private key compromises, emphasizing the critical need to secure both code and protocol infrastructure.”

In the first quarter of 2024, Ethereum was the most targeted platform, with 33 incidents accounting for 51% of the losses. BNB Chain was also attacked 12 times, which led to 22% of the exploited funds. Other affected platforms include Arbitrum, Solana, Optimism, Bitcoin, Blast, Polygon, Conflux Network, and Base.

The two most significant attacks were carried out against Orbit Bridge and Munchables, resulting in about $82 million and $63 million stolen, respectively. These two attacks accounted for 43% of the total losses in the first quarter. Immunefi, however, reported that about $74 million, or 22% of the stolen funds, were recovered. This includes all the funds taken from Munchables, an NFT game on the Ethereum layer 2 Blast.

South Africa is expected to become one of the first countries in Africa to require licenses for cryptocurrency exchanges, with around 60 digital asset platforms anticipated to receive their permits by the end of March.

This move will ensure that these exchanges operate in compliance with regulatory standards. The Commission of the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) disclosed this information in an interview with Bloomberg.

According to Reuters, the FSCA has received 262 applications for licenses from cryptocurrency exchanges out of a total of 355 applicants. The FSCA divisional executive, Felicity Mabaso, revealed that 59 approvals were granted on March 12th. The deadline for the crypto companies to apply for a license is November 30, 2023, and they will be subject to regulation under the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act (FAIS).

The act enables the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) Financial Surveillance Department to supervise and enforce new customer protections.

FSCA Commissioner Unathi Kamlana told Bloomberg: “As we license and supervise, we will discover that perhaps there are gaps that cannot be closed by the existing regulatory framework, the FAIS Act. And we might need to build on that as we discover what those are.”

In 2021, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) started the process of setting up a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies. Initially, it had planned to create a separate regulatory framework for crypto. The plans were still in place in 2022, and the regulations were expected to be finalized that year.

Later, in 2022, the SARB announced that cryptocurrency would be classified as a financial asset instead of currency, and the regulations were due to be released in 2023. However, in the end, the FSCA declared cryptocurrency to be a financial product.