Protocol Village: Gnosis DAO Spins off Karpatkey

The latest in blockchain tech upgrades, funding announcements and deals. For May 28- June 7.

The latest in blockchain tech upgrades, funding announcements and stellar performances. For May 28- June 7.

GnosisDAO Spins Off Karpatkey

June 4: Members of GnosisDAO voted to spin off Karpatkey as a separate entity governed by the KPK token. Since its launch, Karpatkey has managed over $2.6 billion in treasuries, providing risk management and on-chain financial services to its clients. These clients include Uniswap, GnosisDAO, CoW, MakerDAO, Safe, and Arbitrum, among others, according to a representative for Gnosis.

Mantle EcoFund Deploys $5M

June 4: Seven Mantle Ecosystem SocialFi and gaming projects have received fresh funding from the Mantle EcoFund, which has a capital pool of $200 million. MetaCene, Blade Games, Co-Museum, Fingerlabs, L3E7, and DreamOS are among the projects to join the fund's portfolio in its second capital call, according to Mantle. "The newly inducted projects within the Mantle EcoFund portfolio underscore Mantle’s belief in the transformative power of SocialFi and gaming applications to onboard the next billion users to Web3," the company said in a statement to CoinDesk.

Everclear Launches Clearing Layer for Web3

June 3: Connext has rebranded to Everclear to build a Clearing Layer for Web3, aiming to solve liquidity fragmentation for modular blockchains. Everclear has secured $5 million from Pantera Capital and launched its testnet to reduce liquidity management costs across chains. According to Everclear, their system "can reduce the cost and complexity of solving and liquidity management across chains by as much as 90%."

Nuklai HelixVM Early Testnet Launches

June 2: Layer-1 blockchain Nuklai, built for artificial intelligence, has launched the first phase of its HelixVM Early Testnet, introducing core functionalities for developers and users. The testnet allows for transferring tokens, minting and other interactions, to support developers building on HelixVM.

Celo Integrates Chainlink CCIP

May 29: Layer-2 blockchain for Ethereum, Celo, has integrated Chainlink’s CCIP for cross-chain interoperability. This integration aims to enhance cross-chain security and reliability, supporting various token transfer mechanisms and positioning Celo for on-chain innovation.

SCRYPT Funding Round

May 29: SCRYPT, a provider of crypto asset financial services, has closed a $5 million strategic funding round, led by Braza Bank. This funding will support SCRYPT’s expansion in LATAM and enhance its product offerings.

JOJO Implements ZK-Proof for Funding Rates

May 29: Perpetuals exchange on Base blockchain, JOJO, is partnering with Brevis to implement ZK-proof technology for funding rates. This aims to bring price stability and better liquidity for traders by efficiently calculating funding rates. "A precise funding rate is essential to perpetual futures, as it keeps contract prices aligned with spot prices," the company said. "Even so, it's computationally intense. With Brevis' ZK Coprocessor technology, the funding rate can be calculated efficiently and quickly, creating an accurate funding rate to benefit all traders."

Helix 2.0 by Injective Launches

May 29: Decentralized spot and derivatives exchange on Injective, Helix, has released Helix 2.0, featuring new trading tools and support for new perpetual futures contracts. "Helix 2.0 broadens DeFi trading capabilities by offering TradFi market-making tools and opens new gateways to capitalize on RWAs in decentralized markets," Injective shared with CoinDesk.

API3 Strategic Funding Round

May 28: API3 has completed a strategic funding round, led by DWF Labs, raising $4 million to enhance liquidity and support API3’s growth strategy, according to the company. API3’s Total Value Secured (TVS) has increased substantially to over $1 billion, the team says, as it has integrated with new chains like Optimism Superchain and Worldcoin.

The Graph Demos AI Chatbot

May 28: Semiotic Labs has released a whitepaper on AI services and launched a demo of Agentc, a ChatGPT-like tool built on The Graph, the blockchain indexing platform. The chatbot aims to facilitate blockchain data access via natural language, and a demo will be available for two weeks.

Sam is CoinDesk's deputy managing editor for tech and protocols. He reports on decentralized technology, infrastructure and governance. He owns ETH and BTC.