Crypto Startup School is an accelerator program designed around the specific needs of web3 startups. The 2023 cohort of twenty-six startups, selected from more than 8,000 applicants, spent 12 weeks in Los Angeles receiving mentorship and lectures from industry experts, founder talks, and access to the a16z network.

Since 2014 Protocol Labs has been a prolific incubator and backer of leading web3 startups, supporting hundreds of founders in raising more than $1B in external capital.  Crypto Startup School participants receive access to the Protocol Labs Founders community, a network of web3 founders building the resilient, democratized, and open-source web.

Also Read: Magic Eden Introduces Launchpad for Bitcoin Ordinals Creators 

Juan Benet, Founder of Protocol Labs, said: “Equipping Web3 founders with the knowledge, network and capital required to enable them to succeed has long been a priority of Protocol Labs. Our partnership with Crypto Startup School doubles down on helping builders succeed in their projects, providing them hands-on support to build products users love from the ground up.”

Jeff Amico, Director of a16z Crypto Startup School, said: “Crypto Startup School provides promising web3 startups with expert guidance and resources to overcome challenges and grow their business. Protocol Labs shares our commitment to helping web3 startups thrive, and we’re grateful for their contributions to the founders in our CSS cohort.”

Ruben Amenyogbo, of Protocol Labs, said: “We are excited to work with our close partners and friends at a16z and meaningfully contribute to Crypto Startup School. CSS is a strong forum for the best founders to create, collaborate, and get face time with the leading investors and builders in the space. In sharing our learnings of what it takes to launch and scale sector-leading companies, we empower builders looking to turn their vision of a resilient, open, and democratized web into reality and push humanity forward.

The 26 teams on the CSS program received access to:

• Privileged Engineering Support: Cohort teams are granted unrivaled access to engineering support across the Protocol Labs stack including the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS), Filecoin Protocol, libp2p and the Filecoin Virtual Machine (FVM) to take their builds to the next level
• Decentralized Storage Credits: teams will benefit from best-in-class Filecoin storage by Web3.storage/ NFT.storage Pro and also receive one-year free performant retrieval of data uploaded to Filecoin from Estuary
• Talent support:  CSS participants will receive support from the PL Talent team to recruit key roles from across the PL Network and beyond

SOURCE: PRNewswire

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Bitcoin inscriptions have seen a major uptick in popularity throughout Q1 2023 and while technology continues to catch up with demand, Magic Eden is stepping in to offer a way for creators to easily launch their collections. The Launchpad will bring together a community of enthusiasts from other native chains and foster the growth of a growing Ordinals society.

Also Read: Axes.AI Passes Government Blockchain Association Bmm L1 Rating

Since the launch of its marketplace on March 21, 2023, Magic Eden has become the top marketplace for trading Bitcoin inscriptions. Leading with up to 70% market share, the platform is actively looking to introduce new projects to collectors in a safe and secure way. The Magic Eden Launchpad now supports four blockchains, including Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, and Bitcoin, and is the premier destination for creators to launch their projects. To date, Launchpad has served over 500 creators and raised over $150 million on behalf of creators.

Zhuoxun Yin, COO and co-founder of Magic Eden, commented on today’s news: “We’re excited to expand our creator capabilities to Bitcoin and offer easy ways for creators to get started and launch. Bitcoin is the grandfather of all blockchains, and we believe it can be the home to pure digital artifacts. With Ordinals, content can be preserved forever, and we’re proud to be helping creators and the Ordinals community grow together.”

A growing Bitcoin Ordinals ecosystem means that digital asset collectors and traders are interested in the value the digital artifacts provide and are looking to experience a smooth and user-friendly encounter when first interacting with inscriptions. Magic Eden looks forward to being the first to provide a Launchpad experience for Bitcoin. Its launch partner, Godjira, an established ETH collection, is scheduled to go live on Magic Eden on April 7 with their (Dead)jira Legacy mint. Additionally, four other creators including Genopets, Lazy Lions, Lil Durk, and Humanoids will be launching Ordinals on the platform within the first week of it being live. Genopets will be the first game to launch Ordinals on the platform.

“We chose to work with Magic Eden because they are a team of experts who can provide advice and guidance and have a reputation for quality and trustworthiness. We believe this launch is not only beneficial to [our community] but also the entire Ordinals space,” stated Godjira co-founder. The team aims to educate and raise awareness about Ordinals through its collections to a wider audience.

Creators interested in inscribing ordinals on Bitcoin through the Magic Eden Launchpad should get in touch here.

SOURCE: PR Newswire

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HAG will offer eligible investors a brand-new option to invest in Bitcoin through hashrate ownership with the security and compliance of the INX.One’s regulated platform.

In addition, HAG’s anticipated monthly dividends policy allows every token holder to receive Bitcoin returns in a timely fashion. Such dividend policy will be audited by a third party and coded on a smart contract. By offering this raise in reliance on an SEC specific exemption that complies with the US Securities laws, HAG is providing added protection – ensuring investors’ rights and interests.

“We are excited to offer HAG’s security token on the unified INX.One platform. HAG is delivering access to the Bitcoin mining sector – doing it in a secure and regulated way,” said Shy Datika, CEO of INX. “Until now, only a selected group of investors could reap the benefits from these types of opportunities. By democratizing alternative investments, investors from all over the world are able to take advantage of the wealth of opportunities that are available through digital assets like HAG.”

INX provides regulated trading platforms for digital securities and cryptocurrencies, combining traditional market expertise with an innovative fintech approach. For security token issuers, INX.One offers a true Token-as-a-Service (TaaS) platform designed for capital raise purposes. The unified, regulated hub streamlines the issuance process by providing everything needed to quickly and easily issue a digital security token to raise capital. An end-to-end solution for issuers, INX.One Issuance Services includes transfer agent, broker/dealer, and ATS licenses to raise capital and list the token for secondary trading, smart contract design, and marketing and promotion support. INX holds all of the necessary licenses issuers need, along with a global team of experts to offer guidance along the way.

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“As more regulators actively engage with the crypto market after the recent crisis, fully compliant products such as security tokens will emerge as the biggest winners since they combine the best of both worlds – traditional and digital,” said Chia-Ching Su, a TSMC veteran and CFO of HAG. “At the same time, Bitcoin has always held an irreplaceable position in the crypto world and is one of the crypto assets with the most investment potential. HAG hopes to provide greater access for investors to the Web3 field and enjoy the appreciation of Bitcoin through mining. We believe that the INX platform is the very best place to help us achieve this remarkable milestone.”

INX made history in 2021, when it became the first SEC-registered digital security IPO – closing with $84 million in gross proceeds from over 7,250 retail and institutional investors. 92.9 million INX Tokens were sold in the IPO.

The HAG and INX alliance will provide investors on the INX.One platform with another SEC-filed security token, but the very first using Bitcoin mining with an opportunity for monthly WBTC dividends.

SOURCE: PR Newswire

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This year’s event features major categories such as “Executive of the Year” and “Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Trailblazer,” with an impressive list of finalists.

Executive of the Year finalists include:

• Luvleen Sidhu, BMTX

• Zach Perret, Plaid

• Chris Britt, Chime

• Raina Succar, Intuit

• Jennifer Tescher, Financial Health Network

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Trailblazer finalists include:

• Katie Barnes, BHG

• Raul Vazquez, Oportun

• Wemimo Abbey, Esusu

• Nicole Casperson, Fintech is Femme

The awards also recognize other key categories such as Fintech Innovator of the Year, Emerging Fintech Innovator, Innovation in Lending, Innovation in Payments, Innovation in Digital Banking, Excellence in Financial Inclusion, Top Service Provider, and Best of the Blockchain in Financial Services.

Also Read: RTA Reveals Launch Plans of Gigfast Internet® in Smithville and Nearby Areas

The Fintech Nexus Industry Awards is the premier awards event for the fintech community, and is the culmination of Fintech Nexus USA, the largest fintech conference in New York City bringing together 5,000 attendees and more than 250 sponsors. The awards gala provides a platform for industry players to come together, network, and celebrate their achievements.

“We are excited to host the Fintech Nexus Industry Awards for the sixth year in a row,” said Peter Renton, Co-founder & Chairman, Fintech Nexus. “The fintech space continues to evolve and grow, and it’s an honor to recognize the individuals and organizations that are driving the industry forward.”

SOURCE: BusinessWire

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The launch of Bitcoin Blocks marks an important milestone in the development of THNDR’s mobile gaming platform. This will be their first game to showcase THNDR’s social competitive layer and features. The first of which is Leagues, THNDR’s massively popular, and addicting, levelling system that pits community members against each other to climb to the top of the Leagues.

Also Read: Digital.ai Promotes Derek Holt to Chief Executive Officer

Alongside this release, THNDR announced the Gaming Graph, their first experiment with Nostr, an open, global, decentralized social protocol. The first feature release is a badging and reputation system (using Cameri’s NIP-58) for players that is easily transferable to other environments and clients. As players advance through THNDR Leagues and achieve gaming milestones, badges will be issued to their Nostr pubkey and tied to their identity (and are easily viewable on badges.page), allowing users to build a virtual reputation.

THNDR Badges are the beginning of a persistent gaming identity that is transferable to other ecosystems and communities. Reputations established and built in THNDR will be tied to their Nostr identity and may have merit or value in other communities. In the coming weeks, users will also be able to ‘zap’ (or send small amounts of bitcoin) the THNDR Nostr account which will be automatically added to the hourly prize pools in the games for players to win.

THNDR will continue rolling out competitive gaming and social features to the platform throughout the year, making it easy and fun for users to earn their first bitcoin playing games.

SOURCE: PR Newswire

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River now has direct integration into the new Bitcoin Magazine app, which allows users to create an account on River and buy Bitcoin. River and Bitcoin Magazine Announce Lightning Partnership to Drive the Adoption of Bitcoin Additionally, users will earn Bitcoin when they read an article on the Bitcoin Magazine app. This allows users to earn free satoshis for learning about the digital asset. These sats can be withdrawn using the Lightning Network to their River wallet, or another wallet of their choice.

Also Read: Viasat Launches Cybersecurity Service Using Classified Threat Intelligence to Help Protect U.S. Businesses and Critical Infrastructure

“Bitcoin Magazine does an incredible job spreading the message that Bitcoin stands for economic freedom and prosperity,” says River CEO Alex Leishman. “River shares this mission and serves as a gateway for people who want to learn about and invest in Bitcoin.”

While the broader crypto industry has suffered from bad actors in recent months, there are still innovative, mission-focused companies like River and Bitcoin Magazine that are working to cultivate a more fair and just financial system. This starts by increasing knowledge.

“We see River as one of the best exchanges in the world and the strongest partners for the Bitcoin Magazine app,” says Bitcoin Magazine CEO David Bailey. “This new partnership provides the onramp for millions of people to not only buy Bitcoin, but actually earn it by learning. It enables them to enjoy the educational content while stacking sats.”

SOURCE: PR Newswire

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BitPay users can sync wallet transactions directly from within the app to ZenLedger’s intuitive tax software. With just a few taps from the BitPay app, ZenLedger will automatically calculate cost basis, fair market value, gains/losses and tax-loss harvesting for a user’s transaction history.

New and current BitPay app users will also receive 20% off their annual subscription to ZenLedger tax software services. Included in the subscription is free access to ZenLedger’s tax-loss harvesting tool. Tax-loss harvesting is the process of selling crypto that experienced a loss and using those losses to reduce ordinary taxable income by up to $3,000 per year.

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“Our partnership with ZenLedger offers a simple solution to the sometimes complex process of calculating tax liabilities associated with spending cryptocurrency,” said Stephen Pair, CEO of BitPay.

ZenLedger is the IRS’ sole source provider of forensic accounting and taxation software for cryptocurrencies. It is designed specifically for crypto users to calculate tax liability for every crypto transaction. With an easy three step process, crypto users can import transactions, ensure reports are accurate and download tax forms to make filing simple and thorough.

“Crypto payments are a leading driver of industry adoption, which is why we launched a partnership with BitPay to accept crypto at ZenLedger,” said Pat Larsen, CEO and Co-Founder of ZenLedger. “Being able to come full circle and offer our services to Bitpay customers makes the entire end to end user experience faster, easier, and helps to save users money on their taxes.”

SOURCE: PR Newswire

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Lukka’s acquisition of Venato’s capability and employees allows Lukka to have access to an intelligent framework to tag and identify DeFi transactions, an analytical engine with innovative profit and loss tracking, as well as a search and aggregate feature for blockchain transactions. By acquiring Venato, Lukka can provide further clarity to its DeFi data sets, enabling more advanced risk processes supporting its current data collection and reporting capabilities because of the 90+ protocols Venato supports.

Also Read: Expedient Announces Expedient Edge

“This acquisition marks an important milestone for Lukka. It will allow us to further grow our Web3 and decentralized capabilities, as well as strengthen our commitment to provide innovative and secure solutions for our customers. We are excited about the potential this partnership brings and look forward to the opportunities it presents for our business and the industry as a whole.” – Kinga Bosse, Global CFO of Lukka

The acceleration of institutional demand for reporting that touches both on-chain and off-chain data sources continues to drive significant transaction volumes across the ecosystem while creating complexities in the middle and back-offices of businesses. Lukka will continue to grow its on-chain services to meet the needs of its institutional customer base worldwide. Lukka is a global company with offices around the world, including Zug, Switzerland, and Singapore, allowing them to offer best-in-class technology wherever its customers need them.

SOURCE: PR Newswire

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Yuga Labs’s Punks Legacy Project aims to bring awareness to the provenance and cultural relevance of CryptoPunks, one of the first NFT projects, by donating Punks to leading art institutions around the world and ensuring Punks hang on the walls among other exemplary examples of contemporary and modern art. Yuga Labs is devoted to helping guide institutions through this new space, and the project offers resources to these institutions regarding web3 education, crypto art history, and NFT security best practices.

CryptoPunk #110 is the second Punks Legacy Project donation from Yuga Labs. CryptoPunk #305 was donated to the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami at Art Basel 2022. Partnering with Centre Pompidou, one of the most iconic contemporary art museums in the world, signifies that CryptoPunks are rightfully being recognized as an important art movement by the industry.

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10,000 CryptoPunks were created as individual pieces of generative art inspired by the London punk scene. CryptoPunks remains one of the most popular NFT collections to date due to its historic nature as one of the earliest examples of NFTs back in 2017 – well before the explosion of popularity of NFTs in 2021. CryptoPunks continue to be the leading example of NFTs as contemporary art – known widely as the intellectual and philosophical icons of web3.

“With the entry of CryptoPunk #110, from one of the most popular NFT series of its kind, into the collection of the National Museum of Modern Art, the Centre Pompidou is pursuing its interest in digital art, in connection with the blockchain,” said Xavier Rey, Director of the National Museum of Modern Art. “Web3 is an innovative territory that artists have now seized upon to create original and daring work, and this collection reaffirms our support for artists in their conquest of new means of expression, which is the foundation of modern art.”

“The Punks Legacy Project is designed to be a cultural bridge between the traditional art world and web3 industry, paving the way for a collective understanding of how digital art can be accepted and appreciated for its impact and modern relevance. This next installment is further proof that CryptoPunks belong on the walls of global art institutions,” said Greg Solano, Co-Founder of Yuga Labs. “Seeing CryptoPunk #110 displayed in the Centre Pompidou, arguably the world’s most prestigious contemporary art museum, is a great moment for the web3 and NFT ecosystem, and we’re honored to help drive this cultural conversation.”

SOURCE: PR Newswire

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OpenAI launched a text-based AI tool, ChatGPT that is capable of handling a wide range of activities with tremendous data resources. It provides human-like answers on the basis of the question asked to it. It can generate blogs, and articles, write letters, share new interior decoration ideas, and write codes for making trades. The crypto industry is also affected by the language model by making predictions on future trends, market analytics, and identifying opportunities for traders. Paybito has integrated the AI tool into its trading platform to help beginners understand the different trading aspects.

Also Read: Ansys Expands Cloud-Based Simulation Solutions Through Extended Collaboration with Microsoft

Blockchain pioneer and CEO of PayBito, Raj Chowdhury asserts, “Integrating ChatGPT will augment customer support experience by helping the traders to access information and make informed trading decisions.” he has previously highlighted the importance of advanced law enforcement, and crypto security in the industry.

PayBito launched a white-label crypto brokerage platform, aiming to play a bigger role in promoting mainstream crypto adoption and trading. The exchange secured the top spot among white-label crypto exchange providers in 2023 by a tech-research firm. PayBito-designed crypto solutions have been utilized in excess of 26 nations across 6 mainlands including Australia, South Korea, and more. Its offerings also include white-label crypto payment gateways, portfolio management systems, and more.

The AI-based chatbot has generated several articles, dating-app texts, letters, and real estate listings. The tool is already used by people all over the world and has proven its capability to impact the crypto space.

SOURCE: PRWeb

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