Worldcoin Open-Sources Core Components of Orb Software

March 25: The Worldcoin Foundation open-sourced core components of the orb’s software, now publicly available on GitHub under an MIT/Apache 2.0 dual license, according to a blog post dated March 22: “These new open components complement the previously-released hardware and iris recognition repositories, and their public availability marks significant progress in making the Orb’s image processing transparent and its privacy claims verifiable.” (WLD)

March 25: Dominic Williams, chief scientist at Dfinity Foundation, posted a video on X of what he claimed was the world’s first “demonstration of AI running *on* blockchain as a smart contract.” According to Williams: “Code will follow shortly. This is running on Dfinity’s Internet Computer testnet, but you’ll be able to take the code and run it on the public network as the NNS is expected to up the per-transaction instruction limit in the coming days.” (ICP)

March 25: OKX and Immutable have entered a strategic partnership, “which includes the introduction of a GameFi NFT launchpad and integration of Immutable’s gaming-focused zkEVM chain into OKX Marketplace and OKX Wallet,” according to the team: “This partnership will benefit game studios, players, and gaming ecosystem participants with:

March 25: Binance Academy and BNB Chain, the largest layer-1 blockchain by user count, have partnered to launch a new online course, “BNB Chain Developer Specialization,” which aims to equip future Web3 software developers with the skills needed to encourage more building in the Web3, crypto and technology industry, according to the team: “Each course features between two to six videos, exploring topics like Blockchain Basics, BNB Chain, Smart Contracts, Solidity, Web3, Decentralized Applications (DApps), Oracles and DeFi. It requires no prior knowledge of blockchain fundamentals and is free of charge.”

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March 22: Web3 infrastructure provider Entangle, powered by underlying primitive “liquid vaults,” announced that it has received strategic investment from Consensys, the Ethereum-focused developer. According to the team: “The funding provided by the blockchain incubator takes the total funding received by Entangle to $4M. The Entangle mainnet is on course to launch in April. A large and engaged community has coalesced around the infrastructure project, resulting in the Entangle testnet attracting 250,000 users. The community has completed 1.5M testnet transactions, allowing developers to assess the network’s performance ahead of mainnet deployment.”

March 22: Rollie Finance, describing itself as “the first one-swipe AI trading perpetual exchange on Scroll,” announced that it has raised a seed round of funding from Animoca Ventures; M77 Ventures; Sandy Peng, co-founder of Scroll; Alex Lee, founder of Wombat Exchange; and Kate Wong, COO of RSS3. According to the team: “Inside the simple one-swipe-trading interface, numerous trading algorithms, years of trading experience, real-time on-chain data, AI analysis and more are simultaneously implemented in the background to ensure the trade is both simple and sophisticated.”

March 22: Succinct, developer of a zero-knowledge virtual machine and a decentralized prover network, announced a fundraise of $55M led by Paradigm. According to the team: “The total raised comes across a Seed and Series A round, with participation from Robot Ventures, Bankless Ventures, Geometry, ZK Validator and angels including Sreeram Kannan from Eigenlayer, Sandeep Nailwal and Daniel Lubarov from Polygon and Elad Gil.”

March 22: GAM3S.GG, a Web3 gaming platform with a “superapp,” raised $2 million and is preparing to launch its $G3 token, according to the team: “The round featured a host of leading VCs iincluding Merit Circle, WWVentures, Cogitent Ventures, P2 Ventures, Cypher Capital, Acheron, Basics Capital, OIG Capital, BreederDAO, Hercules Ventures and angels like Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal, YGG co-founder Gabby Dizon, Sky Mavis & Ronin co-founder Jiho Zirlin.”

March 21 (PROTOCOL VILLAGE EXCLUSIVE): The team behind Fluence network, which describes itself as “a decentralized serverless platform and computing marketplace powered by blockchain economics,” announced that the Fluence Cloudless Platform is now live, “offering a cloudless and decentralized alternative to enterprise cloud computing providers such as AWS and Google Cloud,” according to the team: “The platform leverages a decentralized serverless compute network to provide a solution that is resilient and auditable while offering flexibility and cost-efficiency to providers and users.”

March 21: Movement, a network of Move-based blockchains, announced that it’s planning to expand the Move DeFi ecosystem through a collaboration with Thala, a leading Move DeFi platform, according to the team. “Movement will bring Thala’s DeFi suite, including its DEX, stablecoin and launchpad, to the Ethereum ecosystem via M2. This will allow Thala to tap into the vast EVM user base and liquidity pool, while still leveraging the security and speed of the Move language.

March 21: Morph, a fully permissionless Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) layer 2 for value-driven dApps, announced the close of a $19 million seed round, led by DragonFly Capital with additional participation from Pantera Capital, Foresight Ventures, The Spartan Group, MEXC Ventures, Symbolic Capital, Public Works, MH Ventures, Everyrealm, with an additional $1MM raised in an angel round. According to the press release: “The innovative technology is built within three key pillars – decentralized sequencer, optimistic zkEVM integration and modular design.”

March 21: Elastos, a blockchain project, announced BTC Oracle, “a radical new solution that will enable every EVM-compatible blockchain to be a Bitcoin L2, the most comprehensive solution for cross-chain operability involving Bitcoin and EVM blockchains yet.” According to the team: “The BTC Oracle is part of Elastos’s BTC L2, ‘BeL2,’ the first BTC L2 to enable the direct development and management of Bitcoin-native smart contracts. Elastos’ BTC Oracle acts as a zero-knowledge proof data feed that provides real-time Bitcoin information to EVM smart contracts. A prototype is now available to illustrate how you can stake ELA in return for Bitcoin rewards.”

March 21: Espresso, a leading specialist in the emerging blockchain field of “shared sequencing,” has raised $28 million in a series B round led by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz’s a16z Crypto, according to a press release. The investment round closed in February, and the funding will be used to continue to build out Espresso’s products, invest in the broader rollup ecosystem, and hire additional people for Espresso.

March 21: Babylon and Nubit announced a collaboration to integrate Babylon’s Bitcoin staking and timestamping protocols, to enhance Nubit’s Bitcoin-native data availability layer. According to the team: “Through this collaboration, Bitcoin L2s, DeFi, indexers and other systems that want to use Bitcoin for security and data availability will find a native and efficient solution. The partnership will leverage tech advancements to improve Bitcoin’s utility and accessibility, aiming to inherit Bitcoin’s complete censorship resistance and economic security to ensure a robust and resilient infrastructure for Bitcoin’s future growth.” Nubit claims on its website to be the “first Bitcoin-native data availability layer.”

March 21: Core Foundation has unveiled Core Venture Network (CVN), “comprising a community of 50 venture capitalists and other investors dedicated to offering resources, funding and strategic counsel for dApp development on Core Chain, the blockchain secured by Bitcoin and EVM-compatible (Ethereum Virtual Machine). Alongside its launch, the Core Venture Network announces $15M in regional ecosystem funds. Notable members of the Core Venture Network include Foresight Ventures, Marin Digital Ventures, Brinc VC, Mexc Ventures, CoinSwitch and others.”

March 21: XPLA, a gaming-focused blockchain based on the Tendermint consensus engine, and Matter Labs, a software development, engineering, and cryptography company developing software for zkSync, announced a collaboration designed to advance the development and deployment of Web3 games through the newly created zkXPLA ecosystem. According to a press release: “The zkXPLA mainnet is designed to support Web3 games and projects expanding to the Ethereum ecosystem while offering interchain integration, as well as facilitating the onboarding of new gaming titles, entertainment experiences, as well as public projects with financial companies and government agencies. The hyperchain infrastructure on zkSync will further optimize the deployment of games by publishers and developers via zkXPLA and offer a seamless end-to-end gaming environment with enhanced security, transparency, and lower transaction fees.

March 21: Bitcoin L2 Mintlayer is announcing an upgrade to its staking program UI to make it easier to use and more accessible, according to the team: “Its simplified staking program is integrated into a combination of its block explorer and Mojito wallet browser extension, which enables Mintlayer users to stake their ML tokens and earn rewards. Aside from being used to secure the Mintlayer network through staking, the ML token is used to pay transaction fees on the Bitcoin sidechain.”

March 21: VeChain announced the winners of its most recent hackathon hosted at the University of Cambridge in partnership with EasyA and with participation from BCG. According to the team: “The hackathon encouraged the development of the VeBetterDAO platform, a sustainable ecosystem designed to incentivize enterprise and individual positive impact and resulted in 50+ X-2-Earn projects. VeChain track winner: Meatless, an app that incentivizes buying sustainable food products BCG track winner: EcoNex, an app promoting eco-friendly travel Pitch-a-thon track winner: LogiQ, an app designed to streamline trucks freight-sharing.”