Shalini Nagarajan

WOO Network has reached an agreement to repurchase the shares and tokens it previously sold to Three Arrows Capital (3AC).



3AC acquired these assets as part of WOO&#8217;s $30 million Series A funding round in Nov. 2021.



WOO announced the terms of its deal with Teneo, the liquidator overseeing 3AC’s bankruptcy, in a <a href="https://woo.org/blog/en/woo-successfully-repurchases-shares-and-tokens-from-collapsed-three-arrows-capital">statement</a> on Wednesday. The arrangement includes canceling 3AC&#8217;s shares and proportionally increasing ownership for all other shareholders.



WOO will send 20 million repurchased tokens, valued at about $3.4 million currently, to a burn address, according to the statement.



In late 2021, WOO <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/neon-labs-raised-40m-woo-network-closes-30m-nexo-invests-in-texture-capital">secured $30 million in a Series A round</a> with support from various companies, including Gate Ventures, QCP Capital and Crypto.com Capital.



3AC emerged as the largest investor in this round, acquiring both equity and 25 million WOO tokens. The remaining tokens were subject to vesting over the next 12 months.



WOO said it repurchased the shares and tokens as it obtained them at a discount, and that it eliminated any remaining ties with 3AC and its creditors.



A WOO spokesperson declined to disclose the details of the equity or purchase price, but told Blockworks it was glad to be past the situation “since the overhang was a potential red flag with many investors and institutions who were unclear on the potential impacts.”



“We are pleased to clear the uncertainty related to 3AC from the WOO ecosystem. We proactively collaborated with the liquidators to secure a fair deal to repurchase our shares and both vested and vesting tokens from 3AC&#8217;s estate,” WOO co-founder Jack Tan said in a statement.&nbsp;



“We are looking forward to executing our mission without further distractions from the 3AC fallout,” he added.



Launched in 2019, WOO Network developed a wide range of products and services that cater to various segments, including retail, institutions and both centralized finance (CeFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi) solutions.



The network integrates CeFi and DeFi services to boost liquidity for participants in the cryptocurrency market.



Shortly after completing its Series A funding round, WOO <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/binance-labs-led-12m-investment-round-for-woo-network">secured</a> a $12 million funding round in early 2022, with Binance Labs taking the lead.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Co-founders of defunct $10B hedge fund face market activity ban</h2>



3AC oversaw about $10 billion in assets as of March 2022, establishing itself as a significant player in the global crypto hedge fund space.



But it <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/3ac-files-for-bankruptcy-as-co-founders-location-unknown">went bankrupt</a> in July 2022 due to a mix of crypto market setbacks and a risky trading strategy that drained its funds, leaving it unable to handle debts.



3AC had numerous counterparties that were companies entangled in the firm&#8217;s financial struggles.



Both co-founders faced challenges since then, and their <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/3ac-liquidators-want-to-subpoena-su-zhu-kyle-davies-via-twitter">decision to keep their whereabouts undisclosed</a> added to their complicated situation.



Singapore ultimately <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/3ac-zhu-davies-securities-violations-monetary-authority-singapore">imposed</a> a multi-year market activity suspension on both co-founders Su Zhu and Kyle Davies, effective since Sept. 13.&nbsp;



Last month, Singapore authorities <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/three-arrows-capital-su-zhu-singapore-arrest">arrested</a> Zhu, and he now faces four months in prison.



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WOO Network severs 3AC ties with share buyback

Jacquelyn Melinek

<div id="highlights-block_61d4c705ba94f" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>“2021 showed the results, both with volumes swelling to as high as $2.5 billion in one day, 60 new team members, over 100,000 community members, and the formation of the WOO DAO,” Ben Yorke, the marketing vice president at WOO Network told Blockworks</li>
 <li>WOO Network liquidity backs a number of decentralized protocols, including: dYdX, Matcha, ParaSwap, 1inch and DODO</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



WOO Network has closed a $12 million Series A+ round just a few months after its <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/neon-labs-raised-40m-woo-network-closes-30m-nexo-invests-in-texture-capital/">$30 million</a> capital raise in November, the company <a href="https://www.binance.com/en/blog/ecosystem/binance-labs-leads--$12-million-series-a+-investment-in-woo-network-421499824684903254" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">shared</a> on Tuesday. 



The round was led by Binance Labs and will support WOO Network’s expansion for talent, research and development as well as the development of new decentralized products.



“2021 showed the results, both with volumes swelling to as high as $2.5 billion in one day, 60 new team members, over 100,000 community members, and the formation of the WOO DAO,” Ben Yorke, marketing vice president at WOO Network, told Blockworks. 



Since 2021, the network has been providing liquidity on Binance Smart Chain through its decentralized WOOFi products, which uses data feeds and hedging strategies to provide depth and spreads of centralized markets without the need for excessive on-chain capital. WOO Network liquidity backs a number of decentralized protocols, including dYdX, Matcha, ParaSwap, 1inch and DODO.



“Being recognized by a top player like Binance really validates the progress, and puts WOO Network in a strong position to grow users and volumes throughout DeFi and [centralized finance] in 2022,” Yorke said.&nbsp;



The network aims to connect traders, exchanges, institutions and DeFi platforms with access to liquidity, trading execution and yield-generating strategies at close to zero costs.&nbsp;



The deep liquidity ecosystem’s Series A round in November was oversubscribed by 200% and backed by a handful of big investors such as Three Arrows Capital, Crypto.com Capital and QCP Capital.



In early December, WOO partnered with NEAR Foundation after completing a $5 million token swap to join the two projects, Blockworks previously <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/woo-network-and-near-foundation-partner-after-closing-5m-token-swap/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>. As part of the partnership, WOO Network will become a builder in the NEAR Protocol ecosystem. The tokens have a five-year vesting period, and the platforms can collaborate to create shared value for their respective token economies, according to the announcement.



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Binance Labs Led $12M Investment Round for WOO Network

<div id="highlights-block_61aa5e86ff8f6" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>WOO Network is a liquidity ecosystem that connects traders, exchanges, institutions and DeFi platforms with access to liquidity, trading execution and yield-generating strategies</li>
 <li>NEAR is a development platform built on a proof-of-stake, layer-1 blockchain</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



WOO Network and NEAR Foundation have completed a $5 million token swap to create a partnership between the two projects, both organizations said in an announcement on Friday.&nbsp;



As part of the partnership, WOO Network will become a builder in the NEAR Protocol ecosystem.



The tokens have a five-year vesting period, and the platforms can collaborate to create shared value for their respective token economies, according to the announcement.



WOO Network’s decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) will stake the NEAR tokens to generate yield, use it in governance and retain commitment as a NEAR ecosystem stakeholder, Ran Yi, head of ecosystem at WOO Network, said in a statement. The WOO DAO will manage 300 million WOO tokens which will be used to accelerate its growth for the liquidity network.



NEAR is a development platform built on a proof-of-stake, layer-1 blockchain. In October, NEAR launched an <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/near-protocol-offers-800m-grants-130017836.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$800 million</a> grants fund with a focus on decentralized finance (DeFi).



WOO Network is a liquidity ecosystem that connects traders, exchanges, institutions and DeFi platforms with access to liquidity, trading execution and yield-generating strategies. In November, it closed a $30 million round that was oversubscribed by 200%, Blockworks previously <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/neon-labs-raised-40m-woo-network-closes-30m-nexo-invests-in-texture-capital/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>. 



The two projects have been “familiar for years” and have a lot of synergies, Ben Yorke, vice president of marketing for WOO Network, told Blockworks.&nbsp;



“NEAR&#8217;s blockchain is well-known for its technical strengths and developer-friendly design. WOO Network can provide liquidity and trading infrastructure, two of the most in-demand components for blockchain smart contract layers,” said York. “Therefore, this type of relationship can strengthen the relationship between the two projects, as a way of aligning incentives and solidifying the commitment to co-development.”



WOO Network provides liquidity used in ParaSwap’s private pools, which supports <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/paradigm-leads-65m-round-for-decentralized-exchange-dydx/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">dYdX’s</a> market maker Kronos Research. “The strategic relationship with NEAR will put us in a strong position to build the next generation of products powered by decentralized technology,” Yi said. 



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">“Integrations like these will continue to grow as multi-chain applications are able to seamlessly bridge users and assets from one network to another,” said Yorke. “Users are becoming less restricted and as a result, will flow where technology layers and application layers can combine to provide the most value with the best experience.”</blockquote>



Overall, DeFi protocols have gained traction during 2021 with the total value locked hitting new all-time highs in November, <a href="https://defillama.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">data</a> from DeFiLlama shows.



The DeFi market capitalization is around $150 billion, but could become a $15 trillion industry over the next five to 15 years if it attains the same success rate of about 50% to 70% as other disruptive technologies, according to a recent <a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/static.bitwiseinvestments.com/Research/Decentralized-Finance-DeFi-A-Primer-for-Professional-Investors-11-16-2021.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">report</a> released by Bitwise.



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WOO Network and NEAR Foundation Partner After Closing $5M Token Swap

<div id="highlights-block_618a54df7fce9" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>WOO Network’s trading volumes grew from $20 million daily in early 2020 to about $1 billion in daily volume as of October 2021</li>
 <li>Nexo’s partnership with Texture Capital will enable its expansion of institutional offerings to US-based investors</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



The digital asset industry continues to show strong signs of capital investment, with no signals for slowing down as November takes off in the venture capital world. Neon Labs is the latest among <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/vaneck-led-50m-raise-for-cadenza-ventures-crypto-fund/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">multiple companies</a> that <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/parallel-finance-valuation-rises-67-to-250m-in-three-months/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">have announced</a> significant fundraises this week, and it’s only Tuesday.&nbsp;



Neon Labs raised $40 million in a private token sale led by Jump Capital, the company shared. Additional investors include Three Arrows Capital, Solana Capital, Rockaway Blockchain Fund, Ethereal Ventures, IDEO CoLab Ventures, among others.



Proceeds from the token sale will be used to scale Neon Labs’ team for research, core development, marketing and business development, it said in a statement. The capital will also be used to create incentive programs for development and innovation within the company’s ecosystem.&nbsp;



“The successful completion of our round is proof that the community believes in our cross-chain solution,” Marina Guryeva, director at Neon Labs said in a statement.&nbsp;



This sale comes at a time when the company is preparing to launch its Neon Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) 1.0 smart contract on Solana blockchain’s mainnet. The mainnet launch will allow Ethereum developers to build on Solana’s blockchain without needing to know Rust programming language, the company said.



“When we are talking about Ethereum dApps coming to Solana via Neon EVM, it’s more than just deployment of their contracts, Guryeva said.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">“Sushi, Aave and several more dApps have confirmed their interest in deploying on Neon EVM, but they need us to enable integrations with the infrastructure providers to be able to do so.”&nbsp;</blockquote>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">WOO Network closes $30 million round</h3>



A deep liquidity ecosystem called <a href="https://woo.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">WOO Network</a> has closed a $30 million Series A on Tuesday.



The round was oversubscribed by 200% and backed by Three Arrows Capital, PSP Soteria Ventures, Gate Ventures, QCP Capital and Crypto.com Capital. Investors from AVATAR (Avalanche Asia Star Fund), AscendEX, AntAlpha, MEXC Global, LBank, Fenbushi Capital, BitMart, 3Commas Capital, TokenInsight Research and ViaBTC Capital also participated in the round.&nbsp;



&#8220;The raise is intended to fuel our global expansion effort via regional offices, talent acquisition, marketing, legal licensing, and development of new innovative products in social trading, futures, and DeFi services,&#8221; Ran Yi, Head of Ecosystem at Woo, told Blockworks.



The capital influx follows the company’s launch of its trading platform WOO X and WOOFi, a decentralized exchange platform that aims to provide better swap prices and reduced slippage at lower fees, it said.&nbsp;



In general, WOO Network connects traders, exchanges, institutions and DeFi platforms with access to liquidity, trading execution and yield-generating strategies at close to zero costs.&nbsp;



Since its initial seed funding in 2020, the company’s trading volumes grew from $20 million daily in early 2020 to about $1 billion in daily volume as of October 2021, it said. In mid-September of this year, the company hit an all-time high of $2.6 billion in daily trading volume.&nbsp;



The capital raised will be used to expand globally with new talent and opening a new research and development regional office in Warsaw, Poland, as well as allocating funds toward the development of new product lines in futures, social trading and DeFi trading and yield generating products, it said.&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Nexo acquires stake in SEC-registered Texture Capital&nbsp;</h3>



Nexo has acquired a stake in Texture Capital Holdings Corp., a parent company of Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) member and SEC-registered broker-dealer Texture Capital, it said in an announcement Tuesday.&nbsp;



Nexo is a regulated digital asset lending institution. Since it was founded in 2018, the company has processed over $50 billion for 2.5 million users across over 200 jurisdictions. Nexo made the strategic investment for an undisclosed amount as a part of Texture Capital’s seed funding round.&nbsp;



The two-year-old Texture Capital provides a regulated, blockchain-enabled marketplace for accredited and institutional investors with the addition of providing services for private capital liquidity. The company is a broker-dealer licensed for issuance and trading of Digital Asset Securities and is registered in all US states as well as a handful of territories, it said.



Nexo said the partnership with Texture Capital will enable Nexo to expand its institutional offerings to US-based investors, while possibly fostering broker-dealer licensing to help expand Nexo in the US market.



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