Protocol Village: Tate Berenbaum Launches ‘AO Ventures,’ With $35M for Arweave Development

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April 11: Tate Berenbaum, who reportedly raised $30 million while still a teenager for crypto startup Community Labs, has launched of AO Ventures, a 10-week incubator program dedicated to fostering development on Arweave and AO, according to a message from Berenbaum. “Over $35 million in capital has already been committed to the investment pool. The program will start in April and culminate in a Demo Day in June.” AO is described on the Community Labs website as a “hyper parallel computer” with a core objective of “merging the benefits of trust minimization with the speed and traditional computing environments.” The Arweave network is for “permanent information storage,” according to its website. (AR)

QED Launches L2O Consortium to Develop Bitcoin Layer 2 Solutions

April 11: QED Protocol, the world’s first zk-native blockchain protocol, together with StarkWare, zkLink, Mina Protocol, O(1) Labs, announced the launch of the L2O Consortium, a group of projects and protocols committed to bringing Bitcoin’s native security, internet scale, and interoperability to applications and Layer 2 solutions. According to a press release: “The consortium is developing reference implementations, tools, and resources for developers looking to build DApps or deploy Layer 2s on top of Bitcoin and enable trustless interoperability between applications by coordinating standards across solutions, leveraging ordinals and zero-knowledge proofs to bridge the technical gaps that previously hampered smart contract-like functionality on Bitcoin.” The reference implementations are here in the project documentation.

DLC.Link Uses Discreet Log Contracts to Create ‘Safer Wrapped Bitcoin’

April 11: DLC.Link, describing itself as the “self-wrapping trustless bridge to DeFi,” announced the release of dlcBTC, “a safer wrapped Bitcoin alternative, built utilizing discreet log contracts (DLCs).” According to the team: “DLC.Link created a trustless bridge between Bitcoin and Ethereum, transforming Bitcoin’s role in DeFi. DlcBTC represents a significant advancement in this transformation, allowing users to seamlessly utilize bitcoin across the Ethereum ecosystem while retaining full ownership of their assets. The newly launched dlcBTC enables depositors to engage in trading, lending and hedging while maintaining self-sovereignty.”

Auradine, Bitcoin Mining Rig Maker, Raises Series B Round of More Than $80M

April 11: Auradine, a maker of Bitcoin mining rigs, announced its Series B round of over $80 million. According to the team: “The Series B follows Auradine’s $81 million Series A, which was led by Celesta Capital and Mayfield in 2022.”

Galxe Identity Protocol Launches its Mainnet

April 11: The Galxe Identity Protocol has launched its mainnet, utilizing zero-knowledge proofs to grant users “autonomy over their digital identity and private data.” The protocol, which offers a rewards program and web3 “reputation” system, aims to extend user credentials and identity data across blockchains.

AI Data Network Masa Deploys its Mainnet

April 11: Masa Network has launched its AI Data Network and Marketplace mainnet, allowing users to control and monetize their digital data while contributing to AI model training. The network ensures privacy and encryption of user data through “Zero-Knowledge Soulbound Tokens.”

Zest Protocol Brings On-Chain Lending to Bitcoin

April 11: Zest Protocol has opened its first public lending markets on the Stacks L2 platform, allowing Bitcoin holders to participate in on-chain lending. The initiative is part of the broader Nakamoto upgrade, which aims to expand Bitcoin’s utility in decentralized finance (DeFi).

EigenLayer-based Omni Network Gives Airdrop Details

April 11: Omni Network, an interoperability protocol powered by EigenLayer restaking, announced details for its OMNI Genesis airdrop program. This event will be instrumental in rewarding the Omni community and its partners across the Ethereum ecosystem. Omni has allocated 3% of its total token supply to its airdrop, which will be distributed amongst testnet users, dedicated Ethereum NFT collections and developers, investors, and others.

Diva Staking Launches “Nektar Network” to Compete with EigenLayer

April 10: Diva Staking, the liquid staking protocol on Ethereum, has introduced the Nektar Network, a “restaking” protocol that will compete with EigenLayer to let upstart networks borrow Ethereum’s security.

Ledger, Stader Labs Release “One-Click” ETH Staking on the Ledger Live App

April 10: Ledger, the crypto wallet maker, and Stader Labs, a liquid staking platform, have released a feature on the Ledger Live app allowing for “one-click ETH staking,” with extra rewards offered for early adopters.

Thiel-Backed Layer N Launches Testnet

April 10: Layer N, a layer-2 network on Ethereum, has launched its testnet, following a $5 million funding round supported by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund. Designed as a network of rollups with a unified communication and liquidity layer, Layer N aims to optimize the execution layer for numerous applications while maintaining user-friendly experiences.

Protocol Village is a regular feature of The Protocol, our weekly newsletter exploring the tech behind crypto, one block at a time. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Wednesday. Project teams can submit updates here. For previous versions of Protocol Village, please go here. Also please check out our weekly The Protocol podcast.

Edited by Bradley Keoun.