25 projects raised $1.5 billion; Hidden Road received $1.3 billion in financing

Compiled by Golden Finance

This week, 25 blockchain startups raised a total of $1.5 billion in funding.

The largest financing round this week

Hidden Road raised $1.3 billion from Ripple in a round of M&A financing.

Hidden Road is a global credit network that provides institutional-grade prime brokerage, self-clearing and financing services to traditional and digital asset markets. As a non-conflicting counterparty, Hidden Road ensures neutrality between clients, custodians and trading venues. The platform provides real-time risk management and seamless access to a wide range of products and asset classes, relying on a solid capital base and self-developed infrastructure. Hidden Road recently launched its fixed income prime brokerage platform to further provide repo and global financing services. The company also obtained a MiCAR license in the Netherlands, enabling it to conduct digital asset services in compliance throughout the European Economic Area.

Pre-Seed and Seed Round Investment

Sats Terminal raised $1.7 million in a pre-seed round of financing from investors including Coinbase Ventures*, Draper Associates*, Draper Dragon, BitcoinFi, UTXO Management, Core Ventures, Sats Ventures, Delta Blockchain Fund, Tenzor Capital, 3Commas Capital, MH Ventures, domo, Paul Taylor, Franklin Bi and Danish Chaudhry.

Sats Terminal is a Bitcoin DeFi aggregation protocol that aims to simplify users' access to decentralized financial services on the Bitcoin network. The platform integrates decentralized exchange (DEX) services, cross-chain bridging solutions and revenue aggregation functions to provide users with a unified entry point to improve liquidity and user experience.

Octane Security has raised $6.8 million in a seed round from investors including Archetype*, Winklevoss Capital*, Druid Ventures, Circle, Gemini Frontier Fund, Legion Capital, Duke Capital Partners, Balaji Srinivasan and Sina Habibian.

Octane is an AI-driven cybersecurity platform that focuses on continuous, real-time vulnerability analysis of blockchain smart contracts to detect and remediate security risks before deployment. By seamlessly integrating with developers’ CI/CD processes, Octane accelerates the release of secure code while reducing reliance on traditional audits.

Firefish has raised $1.8 million in a seed round from investors including MitonC Fund and Braiins.

Firefish is an open lending marketplace focused on Bitcoin-collateralized lending, connecting borrowers and investors directly without intermediaries. Borrowers can use Bitcoin as collateral to obtain fiat or stablecoin loans without having to sell assets. Investors fund these loans and earn a fixed interest, with the loans secured by excess Bitcoin. The platform is based on a peer-to-peer structure, ensuring transparent and secure transactions through an on-chain custody system.

Lyzi raised $1.4 million in a seed round of financing, with investors including Tezos Foundation, NYX Ventures, Christopher Grilhault des Fontaines and Jean-Luc Bernard.

Lyzi is a France-based crypto payment platform built on the Tezos blockchain that supports online and offline payments using more than 21 cryptocurrencies. Consumers can pay with cryptocurrencies, and merchants receive fiat currency directly in their bank accounts. The platform supports instant euro settlement, POS integration, and has compliance functions, and is committed to connecting daily consumption with the world of digital assets.

Cap Labs has raised $8 million in a seed round from investors including Franklin Templeton*, Triton Capital*, GSR Markets LTD, Flow Traders, Laser Digital, IMC, RockawayX, Superscrypt, CMCC Global, Selini Capital, Caladan, Paper Ventures, Presto Labs, Fasanara Capital, Auros Global, Breed VC, Curved Ventures, Nonce Classic, Flowdesk and Spencer Noon.

CAP Labs is a DeFi protocol that provides a stablecoin mechanism designed to generate high and sustainable returns. The platform focuses on improving capital efficiency and is committed to providing decentralized yield options that are not possible in traditional finance. By integrating advanced DeFi strategies, CAP Labs maximizes the yield potential and accessibility of stablecoins.

Libraro has raised $1.3 million in a seed round from Ayre Ventures.

Libraro is a Web3-based content creation platform that provides a decentralized space for authors, readers and publishers to connect, discover and share stories. The platform ensures that authors have control over their works, readers can explore diverse themes, and publishers can discover emerging talents. By implementing copyright protection through blockchain, Libraro promotes deep interaction between authors and community audiences, bringing new opportunities for security and collaboration to digital publishing.

Other financing rounds

LiveArt received an undisclosed amount of investment from Jets Capital in a round of financing.

LiveArt is a global platform that uses AI and blockchain technology to make the $2 trillion art and luxury goods market more accessible to the public. The platform provides tokenization, fragmented ownership of real-world art assets (RWA) and data-based market insights to empower collectors, investors and artists in the Web3 ecosystem.

BugsCoin raised $12 million in Series A funding from investors including Becker Ventures, Castrum Capital, BullPerks, The DuckDao and Maxx Capital Official.

BugsCoin is a digital token that transforms the traditional points system by introducing blockchain technology, turning points into tradable assets. The token is used as a reward mechanism on platforms such as AntTalk, a virtual investment community that increases user engagement through transparent and fair reward accumulation.

OpenZK raised $6 million in a round of funding from investors including Animoca Brands and Coinstore Labs.

OpenZK is a Layer 2 network built on zero-knowledge rollup (ZK Rollup) technology, designed to improve the scalability and efficiency of Ethereum. The platform uniquely integrates native ETH staking, liquid re-staking and stablecoin staking to provide users with multiple ways to earn. Its dual-gas mechanism allows users to pay transaction fees in ETH or platform tokens, improving flexibility and user experience.

APX Lending raised $20 million in a round of funding from Cypress Hills.

APX Lending is a Canada-based crypto-mortgage platform that allows individuals and institutions to borrow without selling Bitcoin or Ethereum. The platform is registered with FINTRAC in Canada and FinCEN in the United States, and provides personal and business loans with loan-to-value ratios of up to 60%, interest rates starting at 13.99%, and repayment terms ranging from 3 to 60 months. APX also provides white-label SaaS solutions for financial institutions to integrate crypto-mortgage services.

Meanwhile raised $40 million in a Series A round of funding from investors including Framework Ventures*, Fulgur Ventures* and Wences Casares.

Meanwhile is a Bitcoin (BTC)-denominated life insurance company that provides policyholders with a tax-advantaged way to pass on Bitcoin wealth. Its policies have the advantages of value preservation, liquidity options and generational wealth transfer, and are committed to introducing innovative solutions for digital currency in the insurance industry.

Mind Network raised $750,000 in a public sale.

Mind Network is a decentralized platform that uses adaptive fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) technology to protect user data, smart contracts and AI security in the Web3 environment. The platform launched a zero-trust data lake to achieve end-to-end encrypted secure storage, computing and access control, and improve data privacy and availability in the Web3 ecosystem.

Towns Protocol raised $10 million in Series B financing, with investors including a16z crypto*, Coinbase Ventures and Benchmark.

Towns is a decentralized communication protocol and application that aims to empower communities to build, own and govern their digital public spaces. The protocol uses Ethereum smart contracts to provide end-to-end encrypted messages, decentralized storage on distributed streaming nodes, and programmable space to achieve customized functions for access, profitability and governance. Communities can sell exclusive group access, gain full control over data, and create an on-chain immutable membership system.

Gunzilla Games receives an undisclosed amount from 1kx in a funding round.

Gunzilla Games is a game development studio known for its innovation in the multiplayer space. It is developing Off The Grid, a Battle Royale 2.0 game set in a cyberpunk dystopia. Through the GunZ platform, Gunzilla gives players ownership of in-game assets and the ability to trade items using blockchain technology.

DashFun receives an undisclosed amount from Metalpha, HTX Ventures (formerly Huobi Ventures), tbv, Neo Ledger Capital, and Fides Capital Group Limited in a funding round.

DashFun is a Web3 gaming platform that combines AI-driven game development with blockchain technology, offering over 200 games accessible via Telegram MiniApps. The platform supports credit card payments and wallet-free access, lowering the threshold for Web2 players, and establishes a sustainable token economy system through its native Dash Token, supporting cross-game NFT interoperability and social and competitive mechanisms such as guild battles and PVP leaderboards.

Slingshot received an undisclosed amount of investment from MagicEden in a round of M&A financing.

Slingshot is a decentralized, non-custodial trading platform that allows users to exchange millions of cryptocurrencies and tokens between multiple blockchains such as Solana, Ethereum, Base and Avalanche. Its mobile app supports instant exchange, real-time price charts, and supports multiple payment methods including credit cards, PayPal and crypto transfers.

Wunder Social raised $50 million in a round of financing, with investors including Rollman Management Digital*.

Wunder is a SocialFi platform that combines Web3 technology with Web2 user experience to create a real social environment without robot interference. The platform prevents content theft and data abuse by verifying identity and blockchain-minted digital assets. Wunder shares ad revenue with users and supports the tokenization of real-world assets (RWA), helping creators realize revenue and fund the causes they care about.

Solix DePIN raises $29.5 million in a round of funding from Eclip Foundation*.

Solix is ​​a decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN) that allows users to monetize unused network bandwidth through a browser plugin and earn SLIX points. Solix uses its proprietary Model Context Protocol (MCP) to leverage AI-driven optimization to achieve dynamic bandwidth allocation and improve sharing efficiency without affecting user experience.

Blackbird raises $50 million in Series B funding from investors including Spark Capital*, Coinbase Ventures, a16z crypto, Union Square Ventures (USV) and American Express Ventures (Amex).

Blackbird is a restaurant discovery and rewards platform that allows users to explore restaurants, book seats and earn rewards for dining. The platform provides curated restaurant lists, reviews, online reservations, and rewards users with cashback, which can be used for the next meal or other benefits.

Plume Network received an undisclosed amount of investment from Apollo Global Management in a round of financing.

Plume Network is a public chain focused on RWA expansion, providing full-stack infrastructure for the compliant deployment of various assets. The platform supports yield collection, lending, trading and leverage operations, and integrates compliance mechanisms such as KYC and AML. Currently in the private beta stage, more than 80 RWA and DeFi projects have been built on its network. Plume uses Arbitrum Orbit as the EVM chain foundation and achieves data availability through Celestia, ensuring fast transactions and low fees.

DecentralGPT raised $3 million in Series A financing, with investors including AGICrypto Capital*, Cherry Ventures, DePIN X, Aethir and BTR Capital.

DecentralGPT is a decentralized large language model (LLM) inference network that supports a variety of open source and closed source models. The platform uses a globally distributed network of GPU nodes to improve computing efficiency and reduce operating costs, while processing data locally to protect user privacy. Its decentralized architecture promotes democratized access to AGI resources, allowing global users to participate in AI development and innovation. DecentralGPT also integrates DeepBrain Chain's distributed computing infrastructure to provide high-performance, low-cost and privacy-secure AI inference services.

MetaEra received an undisclosed amount of investment in its Series A financing, and investors include Fenbushi Capital*, Amber Group, Solowin, FOMO Ventures and Klickl Labs.

MetaEra is a Web3 resource aggregation platform headquartered in Hong Kong, dedicated to providing one-stop services for blockchain and metaverse explorers. The company focuses on providing professional, comprehensive and reliable information and data support to the Web3 community.

FastLane Labs Receives Undisclosed Amount from Jets Capital in Round of Funding.

FastLane is a hybrid Maximum Extractable Value (MEV) protocol that aims to improve the health and efficiency of blockchain networks by reducing transaction spam and increasing validator rewards. Initially implemented on the Polygon network, the protocol provides an auction system that allows validators to earn additional revenue without sending spam transactions. Its system distributes revenue to participating validators by monetizing the bottleneck of P2P network propagation.

**Flashy Finance (formerly Life DeFi)** Receives Undisclosed Amount from Quantum Fintech Group in Round of Funding.

Flashy Finance is a DeFi platform reshaped by Life DeFi and Flashy Cash, providing a complete range of decentralized financial services including staking, lending, token exchange, security tokenization, and fiat currency on-ramp and off-ramp. The platform supports more than 100 assets, operates across multiple blockchains, and integrates gamified user experience, mobile top-up and gift card features. As the only fiat currency gateway for the Lif3 blockchain, Flashy connects traditional finance with Web3 and provides DeFi infrastructure as a service for applications, games and social platforms. At the same time, the platform also operates verification nodes on Lif3 to strengthen its role in the ecosystem.