Hello 👋
gm, we're back from our hiatus!
Welcome to the 54th edition of Sfermion’s Collider where we highlight the latest & greatest news in the world of crypto, gaming & entertainment, consumer trends, AI, macro, and more!
Bi-weekly, we aim to drop a curated list of the most exciting stories & updates that we believe are enabling the future of tech and the emergence of the metaverse.
If you're looking forward to reading this edition of Sfermion’s Collider, please don't forget to subscribe below, share within your network, and follow Sfermion on Twitter to get the latest!
Crypto Updates
Berachain Launches Mainnet and $BERA Token (link)
Unichain Mainnet is Here (link)
Story Protocol Launches Mainnet and $IP Token (link)
MicroStrategy Rebrands to Strategy (link)
Trump's Crypto Czar Sacks Says 'Golden Age' Coming (link)
Senator Hagerty to Introduce Stablecoin Legislation (link)
SEC Scales Back Crypto Enforcement (link)
Senator Warren Calls Out Banks for Crypto Debanking (link)
Trump-Backed WLFI Launches Macro Strategy Token Reserve, Collaborates with Ondo Finance to Bolster Bitcoin and Ethereum (link)
Avalanche Foundation Partners with Aethir to Fast-Track InfraBuild AI Grantees into $100M Ecosystem Fund (link)
0G Foundation Unveils $88.8M Ecosystem Fund for Decentralized AI Applications (link)
Circle’s USDC Hits Record Market Cap Over $56B as Stablecoin Demand Soars (link)
Tether Expands USDT Infrastructure to Ethereum Layer-2 Arbitrum (link)
UBS Explores Blockchain Gold Investment via zkSync on Ethereum (link)
Robinhood’s Crypto Revenue Soars 700% in Q4, Driving Record Profit (link)
Barstool Founder Dave Portnoy Promotes Jailstool Token in Response to Backlash from Memecoin Trades (link)
Gaming Updates
Gaming network B3 (💰) officially executes their airdrop and launches the $B3 token, listed on Coinbase (link)
PlayEmber (💰) and Pudgy Penguins launch “Penguin Life” mobile game on Abstract (link)
Ethereum Gaming Network Ronin Opens Up (link)
Neopets Hits 400,000 Monthly Active Users, Tripling Growth in 2024 (link)
AI Updates
OpenAI Unveils a New ChatGPT Agent for Deep Research (link)
SoftBank commits to joint venture with OpenAI, will spend $3B per year on OpenAI’s tech (link)
SoftBank Set to Invest $40B in OpenAI at $260B Valuation, Sources Say (link)
Macron Unveils a $112B AI Investment Package as France’s Answer to Stargate (link)
Sam Altman Rejects Elon Musk’s Offer to Buy OpenAI Control and Mocks X (link)
Augmented Intelligence: Christie’s AI Art Auction (link)
Other Updates
Trump Tariffs Target Mexico, Canada, and China Imports (link)
Trump Orders Creation of US Sovereign Wealth Fund (link)
Federal Workers Offered 20,000 Buyouts by White House (link)
Meta Cuts 3,600 Jobs (5% of Workforce) in AI Focus Shift (link)
Zelle Payments Top $1T in 2024 (link)
Robinhood Yanks Super Bowl Betting Contracts After Regulators’ Pushback (link)
Charles Schwab Expands 24-Hour Trading to All Its Retail Clients (link)
Olipop Prebiotic Soda Valued at $1.85B in Funding Round (link)
Daniel Penny Gets Hired by Andreessen Horowitz (link)
Research & Interesting Reads
Archetype | Crypto Rails: Superconductors for Payments (link)
Multicoin | Inverting The Human-Agent Relationship (link)
Decentralised | When DeFi Met AI: Exploring the Intersection of Decentralized Finance and Artificial Intelligence (link)
NFT Drops & Updates
OpenSea Releases OS2 NFT Platform in Beta, Teases SEA Token Airdrop (link)
NFT Brand Doodles to Launch Solana-Based Token Called $DOOD (link)
PENGU Price Falls as Pudgy Penguins Burn Over $150M in Solana Tokens (link)
Notable Raises
Mighty Bear Games (💰) raises $4M for GOAT Gaming platform where AI agents earn rewards for players (link)
Cherry Ventures Launches $500M Fund to Propel Europe’s First Trillion-Dollar Company (link)
Steve Yun, TON Foundation veteran, launches $100M VC fund TVM Ventures (link)
Türkiye’s Laton Ventures Raises $50M to Invest in Global Game and App Startups (link)
Taproot Wizards Raises $30M to Expand OP_CAT Functionality on Bitcoin (link)
HashKey Group secures $30M investment from Gaorong Ventures (link)
Plasma Raises $24M Led by Framework and Bitfinex to Build the Leading Blockchain for Stablecoins (link)
Legend, an All-in-one DeFi Superapp, secures $15M First Funding Round from a16z and Coinbase Ventures (link)
Reservoir Raises $14M to Enhance Token Trading Infrastructure (link)
Olas Raises USD 13.8M to Launch a Decentralized AI Agent Pearl (link)
Beamable Raises $13.5M, led by Bitkraft, for Decentralized Open-Source Backend for Games (link)
GameFi project GamerBoom completes $9M in new round of financing, with NVIDIA and others participating (link)
NodeGo Secures $8M to Expand Decentralized AI Infrastructure (link)
Japanese Game Maker Gumi Announces $6.6M Bitcoin Purchase (link)
Blum Raises $5M for AI-Powered Crypto Trading on Telegram (link)
Flashnet Raises $4.5M in Oversubscribed Seed Round Led by Abstract VC (link)
Mechanism Capital Leads $4M Seed Round for Consumer-Facing AI Agent Developer Mirai Labs (link)
Cabal, an Initia-based Yield-generating Governance Protocol, Raised $3M in a Funding Round from Hack VC (link)
InfiniFi, Depositor-Driven DeFi System, Raised $3M in a Pre-Seed Funding Round Led by Electric Capital (link)
Berachain Ecosystem Project Henlo Announces Completion of $3M Seed Raise (link)
Anoma Secures $2.5M Strategic Funding for Blockchain Infrastructure (link)
Mo & Andrew's Curated
Macro
Sending this money violated the law and is in gross insubordination to the President’s executive order.
That money is meant for American disaster relief…
647.4K
I look forward to working with @RepFrenchHill and @FinancialCmte to get it to the President’s desk and signed into law.
The Fed's Reverse Repo Facility (RRP) is now down ~$2.5 TRILLION from its peak in December 2022.
The US is borrowing so much debt to fund deficit spending that the RRP has been DEPLETED to a 1,386 day low.
What does it mean? Let us explain.
(a thread)
University of Austin to buy $5m Bitcoin."We don’t want to be left behind" says CIO of the university fund.
Crypto
Yes I know! This post will get a huge sigh and 2 views
But it still feels historic. Last large fintech in the world to embrace it. Someone had to be last. And that’s a milestone as well of some sort…
$IP claim and checker go live on the same day.
The world's IP, in your hands. ꧁IP꧂ is inevitable.
If enacted, they could drive $23 billion in buying, or 247k BTC.
This sum is independent of any pension fund allocations, likely to rise if legislators move forward.
Goldman Sachs - $288,172 profit per employee
Meta Platforms - $455,586
Apple - $571,341
NVIDIA - $1,006,757
Tether - $85,625,000 profit per employee
It just looks silly when you graph it
Teams need resources to build. Generally, when a team raises a Series A from VCs, they give away 10-20% and keep 80-90% of the initial capital. If the…
swing by for tacos during Solana APEX, coming to Mexico City on Feb. 7th
Back in July 2024, I mentioned it could happen by December if the supply…
Could be a narrative that people focus on later this year, when they should actually focus on monetary policy.
Thread
Never thought I'd see the day.
AI
Figure made a major breakthrough on fully end-to-end robot AI, built entirely in-house
We're excited to show you in the next 30 days something no one has ever seen on a humanoid
New @a16z thesis: building websites / apps with AIThere's been an explosion of products that help users "vibe code" a web app from text prompts.
We dove deep on these tools - who's using them, how they work, and where they might be headed.
Our market map + insights
NFT
the creative revolution is here.
10,000 NFTs, soulbound, representing meaningful ownership in the MegaETH network.
Just In: Sam Spratt's "X. Masquerade" 1/1 sells to Kanbas for $3,000,0001,158 ETH equivalent
One of the single biggest digital art sales in years...
h/t @RogerDickerman
Gaming
Why are we building gaming's first specialized LLM?
Long before X was swarmed with slop bots and ChatGPT wrappers, gaming was quietly perfecting AI. NPCs were learning player behavior,…
to usher in a new golden era of gaming, we can’t keep doing the same thing and expect different results.
B3 scales gaming on Base’s thriving ecosystem, opens doors to collaboration & brings a…
Huddle up, climb the leaderboard, and earn rewards and Abstract XP!
Links below
Here's a few highlights to wet your appetite
Other
💰 = Sfermion Portfolio Company
Curated by @mopat1214 + @AndrewSteinwold
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