Michael Bodley

<div id="highlights-block_6291134ae2622" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>The startup is run by the latest Wall Streeter to find success personally investing in crypto, before giving their own fund a shot</li>
 <li>The firm plans to kick off its fundraising efforts at a crypto conference in Miami next week </li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



A veteran stock-picker is the latest traditional financier to give crypto a try. 



Duncan Simmons, who previously spent time at equity-focused Wall Street stalwarts Coatue Management and Iridian Asset Management, is entering capital-raising mode for his Aqxa Research, the founder and CEO told Blockworks exclusively.



Simmons’ first stop: the iConnections <a href="https://iconnections.io/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Digital Assets Forum</a> in Miami next week, where institutional investors angling for crypto exposures will mingle with up-and-coming managers. The plan is to commence trading the new vehicle sometime this summer.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignright size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="260" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Headshot2-IMG_8418-300x260.jpg" alt="Aqxa Duncan Simmons" class="wp-image-22123" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Headshot2-IMG_8418-300x260.jpg?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Headshot2-IMG_8418-300x260.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Headshot2-IMG_8418-300x260.jpg?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Headshot2-IMG_8418-300x260.jpg?w=1536 1536w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Headshot2-IMG_8418-300x260.jpg?w=2048 2048w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Headshot2-IMG_8418-300x260.jpg?w=297 297w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Headshot2-IMG_8418-300x260.jpg?w=301 301w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Headshot2-IMG_8418-300x260.jpg?w=253 253w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Headshot2-IMG_8418-300x260.jpg?w=80 80w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Headshot2-IMG_8418-300x260.jpg?w=50 50w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption>Aqxa&#8217;s Duncan Simmons | Source: Aqxa</figcaption></figure></div>



While Simmons’ fundraising aspirations are unknown, he’s already assembled a staff of five professionals with crypto experience — likely a bellwether of a substantial amount of day-one capital. The portfolio manager is in the process of finalizing service providers; he’s selected Goldman Sachs vet <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/meraki-global-advisors-an-early-entrant-to-crypto/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ben Arnold’s Meraki Global Advisors</a> to handle outsourced crypto trading.



<a href="https://www.aqxa.io" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Aqxa</a> is fine-tuning a research-intensive approach to probing digital asset markets for alpha. 



The approach involves a two-tiered org chart consisting of analysts — who establish macro themes and “what the question is” — as well as so-called “community researchers,” initially a global network of contractors tasked with conducting research on the likes of Discord, Telegram, Twitter and, of course, by learning the nooks and crannies of the protocols themselves.&nbsp;



The firm also plans to invest in early-stage tokens and is testing an on-chain analysis procedure that taps quantitative algorithms to determine asset weighting, based on volatility, trading volumes and related factors. Analysts with quant experience are tasked with rating either long or short bets on a one to five conviction scale, which feeds into how much of Aqxa’s overall book each position accounts for.



Higher-conviction, more surefire wagers, however, may be downgraded below more dubious prospects, depending on market conditions.&nbsp;



Pulling the trigger on investments is done manually — not using algorithms — via Simmons’ bread and butter: discretionary, fundamental trades.&nbsp;



Those investments, primarily, are made up of long and short plays in some of the most liquid cryptocurrencies — as well as dabbling in decentralized finance (DeFi). Simmons is also considering adding private venture capital- or private equity-style opportunities to the vehicle’s investment mix down the line.&nbsp;



Simmons, who started investing personally in bitcoin in 2017, “floated the idea” of starting up a crypto trading business at a previous firm, but compliance and other back-office functions, as well as risk controls and tolerance, nixed the venture before it got off the ground.&nbsp;



“I’m adopting the value-add research model that I was trained on,” he said. “It takes using deep, fundamental research, [as well as] engaging with management teams, developers, users and other stakeholders — actually using products ourselves, as well as doing the strategic analysis of how various projects fit into the ecosystem.”



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Stock-picking Vet Rolling Out Crypto Hedge Fund With Research-Heavy Approach

Ornella Hernandez

<div id="highlights-block_628e515430c32" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>StarkWare quadruples valuation in six months</li>
 <li>Investors bet big on layer-2 solutions</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



StarkWare Industries, Ethereum (ETH) layer-2 scaling solutions developer, <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/il/news-releases/building-tech-to-make-crypto-mainstream-starkware-quadruples-valuation-to-8b-301555008.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced</a> that it has raised $100 million, bringing its valuation to $8 billion from $2 billion. Six months ago, StarkWare <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/starkware-valuation-hits-2b-after-50m-series-c-round/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">raised</a> $50 million in a Series C funding round led by Sequoia Capital.



The Series D was led by venture capital firm Greenoaks Capital and by investment management company Coatue. Tiger Global and other undisclosed investors participated as well. There is also a secondary transaction to the round, in which employees sell their stocks, according to the company.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">We are thrilled to announce our $100M Series D at an $8B valuation. We would like to thank Greenoaks and Coatue &#8211; our lead investors, Tiger Global, and many of our existing investors, for their vote of confidence in the technology, products, and ecosystem that we’re building. <a href="https://t.co/0R1e1h31HK">pic.twitter.com/0R1e1h31HK</a>&mdash; StarkWare (@StarkWareLtd) <a href="https://twitter.com/StarkWareLtd/status/1529454921451458560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 25, 2022</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



StarWare’s latest funding takes place in the middle of a bear market and follows the crash of LUNA and TerraUSD (UST) cryptocurrencies. Despite this, StarkWare co-founder and chief executive officer Uri Kolodny said the raise was “a vote of confidence” in StarkWare’s tech stack.



StarkWare has established itself as a prominent Ethereum layer-2 scaling protocol and depends on its STARKs technology to reduce the amount of information sent to the Ethereum blockchain and alleviate blockchain congestion.&nbsp;



It recently launched its StarkNet Alpha 2 scaling solution. As a permissionless validity rollup, or zero-knowledge rollup, StarkNet uses basic compression technology to boost the production and security benefits of Ethereum layer-1 (L1).



According to Kolodny’s partner, Eli Ben-Sasson, co-founder and president at StarkWare, the goal is to make blockchain apps as mainstream as smartphone apps. “Anyone who ever built a website can use StarkNet to construct a blockchain app that will be part of the Web3 revolution, pioneering new and exciting uses for blockchain,” Ben-Sasson said.



StarkWare&#8217;s scaling engine, StarkEx, compresses transactions through STARKs before adding them to the Ethereum blockchain network. About half a trillion dollars have been reportedly traded on StarkEx.



For example, gaming company Immutable X, has been using StarkEx to mint its NFTs on Ethereum for the past two years. The StarkEx engine scaled up the throughput and reduced gas costs associated with NFT minting for its Gods Unchained blockchain game.&nbsp;



Immutable X <a href="https://immutablex.medium.com/immutable-starknet-cross-rollup-nft-liquidity-b32df88cda02" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced</a> on Wednesday that it will integrate building on the StarkNet protocol in order to become a cross-rollup liquidity platform for NFTs. This will enable players to directly trade any asset matched across multiple Ethereum layer-2 and layer-3 rollups, and facilitate projects migrating from L1 smart-contract based games to Immutable instantly. 



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">The biggest games in the world will use Ethereum NFTs. Immutable will let those games build on different rollups tailored to their needs without fragmenting their assets or orders, and with full access to our platform. Next stop: StarkNet. <a href="https://t.co/7TUPQPs82D">https://t.co/7TUPQPs82D</a>&mdash; Alex Connolly (@0xConnolly) <a href="https://twitter.com/0xConnolly/status/1529430344994557953?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 25, 2022</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>

Ethereum Layer-2 Developer StarkWare Valued at $8B Following $100M Raise

Ben Strack

<div id="highlights-block_627a8bb968baa" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>The fund is the largest joint commitment made toward any blockchain ecosystem, according to the company</li>
 <li>The Flow blockchain has more than 7,000 developers </li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Dapper Labs, the Web3 platform powering blockchain-based trading card platform NBA Top Shot, unveiled a $725 million ecosystem fund in a bid to spur community growth.&nbsp;



The fund is the largest joint commitment made toward any blockchain ecosystem, the company said in a statement Tuesday. Participants include venture capital firm a16z, Coatue, CoinFund, Greenfield One, Liberty City Ventures, Digital Currency Group and Union Square Ventures.



&#8220;As [Web3] accelerates and sophisticated app developers search for the best platforms, Flow is perhaps the best decentralized blockchain built for the scale, security, and ease of use most modern startups need to succeed,&#8221; CoinFund Managing Partner David Pakman said in a statement.&nbsp;



The fund will offer existing and future developers support to build applications on Flow blockchain through investments and FLOW token grants. It will focus on support for gaming, infrastructure, decentralized finance, content and creators, and the capital may also be used for team expansion, user acquisition and general operating expenses.&nbsp;



A spokesperson for the company did not immediately return a request for comment.&nbsp;



Originally developed by Dapper Labs, Flow is a blockchain built for consumers that has had daily transactions triple since September 2021, according to the company.



Flow has more than 7,000 developers building on the blockchain. The protocol has roughly 1,000 active projects and 175,000 monthly active users. The Web3 platform powers <a href="https://nbatopshot.com/?c=BS_HP&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQjwmuiTBhDoARIsAPiv6L-FFjSIRpXDXLPG42G8C9B1eDZzbN5KHBcYDl_wgMVfAhiAYc7uxJgaAs_HEALw_wcB&amp;gclsrc=aw.ds" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NBA Top Shot</a>, which allows users to own, sell and trade NFTs of NBA and WNBA plays and players, as well as <a href="https://nflallday.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NFL All Day</a>, which offers licensed NFL video NFTs (non-fungible tokens).



FLOW has a market capitalization of roughly $1.5 billion, according to Blockworks data. The price was up 8.2% to trade at $3.999 in the last 24 hours as of midday Tuesday.&nbsp;



Dapper Labs <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/dapper-labs-closes-250m-round-bit2me-ico-raises-23-4m/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">closed a $250 million round</a> in September, which the company said would be used to support additional brand-driven sports-, entertainment- and music-based products. Coatue and a16z had invested then, as well.



The investment is the latest in a string of digital asset investments for a16z, which recently launched <a href="https://a16z.com/2022/04/21/announcing-a16z-crypto-research/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a crypto research lab</a>. The firm was <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/what-does-binances-investment-in-twitter-mean-for-the-social-networks-future/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">one of 18 investors</a> backing Elon Musk’s $44 billion bid to purchase Twitter, pledging $400 million. It also <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/a16z-leads-25m-raise-for-nft-focused-cocreate-protocol/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">led a $25 million seed round</a> to fund the launch of the NFT-focused Co:Create protocol.



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Flow Raises $725M To Fund Blockchain’s Growth

Jacquelyn Melinek

<div id="highlights-block_61f9a7df672bd" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>To date, over 10,000 analysts have created about 100,000 queries on Dune’s platform consisting of metrics on OpenSea NFTs to customized balance sheets for DAOs</li>
 <li>“It’s a clear validation of how big this opportunity is and the $1 billion displays how much the sentiment around the whole space has changed,” co-founder Fredrik Haga said</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



About two years ago, Dune Analytics co-founders Fredrik Haga and Mats Olsen took a trip to San Francisco to gather investors to close a $1 million seed round.



At the time, no one wanted to participate, Haga told Blockworks.&nbsp;



Fast forward to today, the Oslo, Norway-based company just closed its $69,420,000 Series B round, which raised its valuation to $1 billion. 



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">“It’s a clear validation of how big this opportunity is, and the $1 billion displays how much the sentiment around the whole space has changed,” Haga said. </blockquote>



Similar to <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/sam-bankman-frieds-ftx-raises-precisely-420-69m/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">FTX&#8217;s $420.69 million raise</a> in October, Dune&#8217;s funding round was totaled at those exact numbers for a playful effect, Haga said, giving homage to 420, which references the date April 20th — a holiday celebrating marijuana — and 69, which symbolizes something else you can Google.



The capital raise was led by Coatue with participation from existing investors like <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/?s=multicoin#:~:text=Multicoin%20and%20Kraken%20Invest%20Millions%20in%20Crypto%20Startups" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Multicoin Capital</a> and Dragonfly Capital. In total, Dune has raised almost $80 million, Haga said.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/20210812_Dune_18-1-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-16607" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/20210812_Dune_18-1-1024x683.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/20210812_Dune_18-1-1024x683.jpg?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/20210812_Dune_18-1-1024x683.jpg?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/20210812_Dune_18-1-1024x683.jpg?w=1536 1536w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/20210812_Dune_18-1-1024x683.jpg?w=2048 2048w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/20210812_Dune_18-1-1024x683.jpg?w=385 385w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/20210812_Dune_18-1-1024x683.jpg?w=391 391w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/20210812_Dune_18-1-1024x683.jpg?w=328 328w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/20210812_Dune_18-1-1024x683.jpg?w=80 80w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/20210812_Dune_18-1-1024x683.jpg?w=50 50w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Mats Olsen, Dune co-founder and CTO (left) and Fredrik Haga, Dune co-founder and CEO; Source: Dune Analytics</figcaption></figure>



Dune provides on-chain crypto data tools that allow users on its community-driven platform to extract and query data to create real-time dashboards on five blockchains: <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/?s=ethereum#:~:text=ConsenSys%20Acquires%20Open%20Source%20Ethereum%20Wallet%20to%20Expand%20MetaMask" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ethereum</a>, Polygon, Optimism, Binance Smart Chain and Gnosis Chain (formerly xDAI).&nbsp;



With the new capital, Dune will create an infrastructure that distributes financial rewards to content creators on the platform and attract up to 1 million additional Web3 analysts into its community.



“It’s hugely important to have the right tooling and also educate, reward and empower,” Haga said. “There are several individuals and companies building a business on top of Dune already. We want to further enable this and build the pipeline and more infrastructure.”&nbsp;



To date, over 10,000 analysts have created about 100,000 queries on Dune’s platform, ranging from metrics on <a href="https://dune.xyz/rchen8/opensea" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">OpenSea NFTs</a> to customized balance sheets for DAOs.&nbsp;



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">“This is an open opportunity,” Haga said. “Before this, data was used inside product teams or a set of analysts or banks had closed access to data. Now it’s open by default and has a public backend that people can create on.”&nbsp;</blockquote>



In the future, the platform also plans to add “all major blockchains” and incorporate layer-1 and layer-2 smart contract platforms as well, Haga said.&nbsp;



“As the space evolves, all these elements become more tangible,” he said. “So much has changed in the past year and with all the activity going on in Web3, it’s a tremendous opportunity.”



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Web3 Data Firm Dune Analytics Hits Unicorn Status

Morgan Chittum

<div id="highlights-block_619bd8a66a9be" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>This is the largest Series A funding round for any crypto company, MoonPay said in a blogpost on Monday</li>
 <li>Other participants in the financing round include Paradigm, Blossom Capital, Thrive Capital and NEA</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



MoonPay, a cryptocurrency payment services provider, raised a whopping $555 million in Series A funding, the company announced on Monday. This brings the Miami-based startup to a post-money valuation of $3.4 billion, according to a press release. 



The fresh capital will go towards expanding staff, scaling up MoonPay’s crypto payment solutions and its efforts to drive mainstream adoption of the digital asset class at-large, according to co-founder and CEO Ivan Soto-Wright. 



&#8220;The raise will provide the funds to continue with our aggressive growth ambitions in markets around the world to support our core goal of giving the next one billion people access to cryptocurrency by 2030,&#8221; Soto-Wright told Blockworks. &#8220;With this fundraise, we will also grow our world-class team and support an expanding number of innovations in the crypto economy for our partners, creators and users.&#8221;



Led by Tiger Global Management and Coatue, other participants in the financing round include Paradigm, Blossom Capital, Thrive Capital and NEA. This is the largest Series A funding round for any crypto company globally, MoonPay said in a <a href="https://www.moonpay.com/blog/funding-round" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">blogpost</a>.



&#8220;Crypto is growing rapidly, but bringing aboard the next billion people requires services that make it even easier to access,” Matt Huang, co-founder of Paradigm, said in a statement. “MoonPay has built a simple and secure way for people globally to participate in this new economy.&#8221;



MoonPay allows users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies using bank cards and mobile wallets. The company made <a href="https://www.moonpay.com/blog/post-malone" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">headlines</a> earlier this month for its feature on artists Post Malone and The Weeknd’s music video. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tc0tLGWIqxA" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">“One Right Now”</a> has racked up over 12 million views and features Malone buying a non-fungible token (NFT) via MoonPay’s platform. (Malone owns two Bored Apes, which he purchased for a combined $734,401 or 160 ether.)&nbsp;



Founded in 2019, the company has onboarded a slew of other celebrities into the crypto world, including <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K20WJixuLV0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jimmy Fallon</a>. Fallon announced that he used the startup’s services to buy his first NFT, describing “MoonPay [as] PayPal, but for crypto.” 



“This historic financing round is a vote of confidence for what we’re doing and where we’re headed next. It’s proof that people believe in our ability to bring the next billion people to crypto, a way station to our final destination: the moon,”<a href="https://www.moonpay.com/blog/funding-round" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> Soto-Wright</a> said.



MoonPay has processed more than $2 billion in transactions and accumulated over 7 million users.



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