The Block
Telegram lets users buy channel advertisements with Toncoin. The platform plans to share 50% of ad revenue with owners of public channels.
Quick Take Memecoin trading activity has exploded on Degen, a Layer 3 network that runs on Base, which in turn runs on Ethereum. Polygon Labs’s CEO has criticized L3 chains for drawing value and security away from Ethereum, stating that the company has no plans to work on its own L3 network.
Quick Take The first deal has closed on Echo, a new angel investment platform currently in beta that was created by crypto trader Jordan Fish, best known by his alias Cobie. The deal, spearheaded by crypto trader Ser Shokunin, allowed Echo users to invest in synthetic dollar protocol Ethena at similar terms as large VCs.
Mark Yusko, CEO of Morgan Creek Capital Management, said on CNBC that he expects Bitcoin’s price to go “parabolic” later in the year, hitting $150,000 as a result of the upcoming halving event.
Quick Take In the first meeting of FTX Digital’s Joint Official Liquidators in the Bahamas, the liquidators outlined the timeline for repayment to customers that was coordinated with the Chapter 11 bankruptcy estate. The liquidators and Chapter 11 Debtors have a “shared goal” to distribute the first funds to creditors by the end of 2024.
Quick Take Doodles NFT project co-founder Jordan Castro, known online as Poopie, announced a surprise airdrop to the Doodles community of a new token called Poopcoin ($poop). Snipers spent millions moments after the coin’s release to snap up over 36% of the supply, according to blockchain analytics firm Bubblemaps, with one realizing $450,000 in profit so far.
Quick Take Roman Storm, the cofounder of Tornado Cash who was charged with several crimes related to his role in writing code for the service, has filed a motion to dismiss the charges against him. The motion outlines several possible legal justifications for dropping the charges, including a First Amendment defense.
The developers of popular Web3 social media protocol Farcaster and its client Warpcast are raising a new round that would value the company at over $1 billion, according to a report in Bloomberg. Daily posts and reactions on Farcaster have nearly doubled in the past week to reach all-time highs, according to The Block’s data.
One of the wallets connected to the recent $11 million hack of Prisma Finance has demanded that the protocol’s team publicly identify themselves and apologize before the hacker will consider returning some of the funds. Prisma Finance, a liquid staking protocol, was drained of $11 million following a flash loan attack on Mar. 28.
Total funding for crypto or blockchain companies surpassed $1.4 billion for the month of March, the highest monthly level since September 2022, according to The Block Deals Dashboard. A considerable uptick in early-stage investments helped power funding volumes in March, with more than 20 Series A deals.
