Aquarius was established in 2018 by venture capitalist Lin Yang in Singapore. Lin Yang has backed notable projects such as Conflux. He also invested in emerging Web2 sectors, including new energy, advanced manufacturing, and finance. On May 8, the firm relocated its headquarters to New York.
Meanwhile, crypto ecosystem projects receive significant funding as the bull market gains momentum. On May 6, crypto VC funding surpassed $1 billion for the second consecutive month this year. In April, investors allocated $1.02 billion in funding across 161 investment rounds, compared to $1.09 billion in March.
Securitize Raises $47M
Earlier this month, digital securities platform Securitize raised $47 million in a strategic funding round led by BlackRock. Other investors included blockchain developer Aptos Labs and stablecoin issuers Paxos and Circle. Joseph Chalom, BlackRock’s global head of strategic ecosystem partnerships, is set to join the Securitize board of directors. He described the investment as “another step in the evolution of our digital assets strategy […] that will help meet the future needs of our clients.
Puffer Finance Nets $18M
In April, Puffer Finance secured $18 million in a Series A funding round for its mainnet launch. Puffer built its liquid staking project on the Ethereum layer-2 solution EigenLayer. Investors included Coinbase Ventures and Kraken Ventures.
Puffer Finance’s technology allows Ethereum validators to reduce their initial capital requirement to just 1 Ether, compared to the 32 ETH required for individual stakers. Moreover, the protocol surpassed a total value of $1.4 billion shortly after its debut in February.
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