Latest news with #Berachain
Yahoo
05-08-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Why Mode Network's investor deposits dropped 99% in one year
Mode Network is just 1% of what it once was. Its total value locked, or TVL — a metric for how much investor funds are in a blockchain or DeFi protocol — has fallen to just under $4 million, a 99% from its May 2024 peak, according to onchain data from DefiLlama. The onchain data contradict Mode's own website, which still touts that it has more than $500 million in TVL and hundreds of thousands of users, which would make it a DeFi mammoth. Mode Network didn't return several requests for comment. The network's native token, Mode, has also declined massively, down more than 98% from its all-time high price from a year ago, according to DefiLlama. Mercenary capital Mode Network is an Ethereum layer 2 blockchain that aims to use artificial intelligence for DeFi applications. Mode's TVL pumped last year amid its turbo-points airdrop campaign after securing a $5.3 million grant from Optimism, an Ethereum layer 2 blockchain, in January 2024. At its May 2024 peak, it boasted a $582 million TVL. That period coincided with a hyped buzz for DeFi projects that offered similar rewards in exchange for liquidity provision. But like other incentive-style growth campaigns in crypto, the liquidity bump that came Mode's rewards programme did not last long. It's a familiar pattern. DeFi projects juiced on token emissions alone enjoy sudden user volume and TVL spikes. But the growth is usually ephemeral, and they eventually flame out when the drip stops and they're unable to pivot to another growth strategy. Berachain, a once-promising layer 1 blockchain, has lost more than $3 billion in investor funds since March amid a massive decline in yield-based incentives that drove user capital to other blockchains. Even with more than 50 DeFi projects on the blockchain, Mode is now a user engagement desert with hardly any onchain revenue being generated. Osato Avan-Nomayo is our Nigeria-based DeFi correspondent. He covers DeFi and tech. Got a tip? Please contact him at osato@
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Smokey The Bera to Make Berachain More Resilient to Crypto Volatility
Berachain is focused on building 'decorrelated populations' of users to guard against market reflexivity, said Smokey the Bera, theblockchain's pseudonymous founder, onstage at CoinDesk's Consensus 2025 event in Toronto. Reflexivity is a big concern in decentralised finance and crypto. It refers to the self-reinforcing effect of market sentiment. Rising prices often attract buyers and create a positive feedback loop. However, the same process can operate in reverse leading to a catastrophic collapse in prices. Berachain's plan for the second and third quarters is to support profitable businesses that exist in web2 and are uncorrelated to the existing DeFi and crypto markets. Doing so will help Berachain guard against reflexivity, helping it weather market volatility and retain deep liquidity, Smokey said. Smokey was joined by Jason Atkins from market making firm Auros, when they discussed all things to do with liquidity — essentially how easily and quickly a crypto asset can be bought or sold without a significant impact on its price. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Crypto Investment Firm Dao5 Raises $222M Fund to Back Institutional Blockchain Adoption
Crypto investment firm dao5 raised a $222 million fund to invest in blockchain projects targeting institutional and government adoption. The fund brings the firm's total assets under management to $550 million. Founded in 2022 by Tekin Salimi, a former partner at Polychain Capital, dao5 made early bets on projects including Story Protocol, Bittensor, Berachain and EigenLayer. The firm's first fund, launched during the final days of the last bull market three years ago, was fully deployed and has already returned 'the vast majority of commitments to its limited partners,' according to a press release shared with CoinDesk. 'Crypto is entering its adolescence phase. The industry's dependency on pure speculation as the driver of growth is no longer as effective as it once was,' Salimi said. Future success will be a product of 'the real integration of blockchain technology into global financial, governmental, and private sector systems,' he said. The new fund's focus is on-chain public infrastructure, novel stablecoin systems and 'state-sovereign artificial intelligence.' In tandem with the fundraise, the firm plans for its dao5 fund to convert into a decentralized autonomous organization later this year. To support its expansion, the firm added George Lambeth, who previously backed projects like Avalanche and Celestia, as General Partner. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Exclusive: Crypto venture firm dao5 closes $222 million second fund after investments in Berachain and Bittensor
Even as global investors face macro headwinds and the evaporation of initial public offerings, crypto venture capital continues to attract major funding. The blockchain-focused venture firm dao5 recently closed a $222 million second fund, Fortune can exclusively report. Founded in 2022 by Tekin Salimi, a former corporate lawyer and alumnus of the crypto venture giant Polychain, dao5 previously raised a $125 million debut fund, which it has fully deployed into crypto startups, including the layer-1 blockchain Berachain and the decentralized AI project Bittensor. In an interview with Fortune, Salimi said that dao5's edge in the crowded crypto venture market comes from his long track record in the industry, as well as the firm's ability to serve as an adviser, especially to early-stage startups. "Sometimes the job [of VC] can range from everything to investor to close friend and then therapist of these young founders," Salimi said. "So I just try to be very ingrained in the relationship." In the often Wild West world of crypto, Salimi came into the industry through an untraditional path: corporate law. He grew up in Toronto, which has its own storied place in the blockchain annals as the hometown of Ethereum inventor Vitalik Buterin, and found crypto when he was looking for interesting areas to build a practice around. This was the "initial coin offering" era around 2017, and Salimi recalls being one of the "few suits" at blockchain meetups, trying to meet as many founders as he could. He decided to quit his white-shoe law firm job and set out on his own, helping projects with everything from raising capital to restructuring, often receiving payments in Bitcoin or pre-launch tokens in return. Salimi joined Polychain, the venture firm founded by early Coinbase employee Olaf Carlson-Wee, in late 2017. Though he worked on the investment team, he also helped with legal work, such as assisting in building novel deal structures at the time, such as token warrants, which give investors the right to purchase future cryptocurrencies from projects they're backing. After working on some of the biggest deals in crypto during that era, such as the layer-1 blockchain Avalanche, Salimi decided to start his own venture fund in late 2021 as Polychain grew into a megafund, with billions of dollars worth of assets under management. "I really just missed the early startup feel," he told Fortune. "Frankly, there are benefits to having a smaller pool of capital as well." Salimi's first fund out of dao5 was a 2022 vintage—the tail of a boom period that capped off with the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX at the end of the year. Still, Salimi fully deployed the fund, including becoming one of the first venture backers of the decentralized AI project Bittensor, as well as investing in the seed round of Berachain, whose valuation later topped $1 billion. According to Salimi, dao5 has begun to harvest positions from the first fund with a 1x DPI, meaning it has already paid back its investors the capital they originally put in. "I credit that to a big part of why we're able to have a successful fundraise in this market," Salimi said, adding that the new fund is concentrated in around 15 limited partners, mostly from family offices and high net worth individuals. An LP from dao5's first fund, the crypto angel investor George Lambeth, is joining the firm as a general partner. Despite crypto's ascendancy under President Trump, who has embraced the industry and helped shepherd key policies such as a strategic government Bitcoin reserve, prices of top assets have remained relatively stagnant due to macroeconomic concerns, including Trump's trade war. Salimi said that after previous cycles centered around what he described as "extremely sci-fi projects" with long-time horizons, such as NFTs or even Bittensor, his current focus is on institutional adoption of blockchain technology, including stablecoins and tokenization. "It's almost like the less sexy products are now more important," Salimi told Fortune. This story was originally featured on Sign in to access your portfolio
Business Upturn
24-04-2025
- Business
- Business Upturn
BYDFi Launches DOLO/USDT and INIT/USDT with a $10,000 Prize Pool
VICTORIA, Seychelles, April 24, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The global crypto exchange BYDFi announced the official listing of Dolomite and Initia tokens, now available for spot trading under the pairs DOLO/USDT and INIT/USDT. To celebrate the launch, BYDFi has introduced a $10,000 prize pool, giving all participants the opportunity to earn rewards by trading. $DOLO: A Core Asset in the Berachain Ecosystem $DOLO is the native token of the Dolomite protocol, serving key functions in governance, liquidity incentives, and risk hedging. Dolomite is a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform built on Berachain that integrates a DEX module, enabling users to stake, lend, vote, and earn yield — all while maintaining full control of their assets, even when borrowing. Since its inception in 2018, Dolomite has become one of Berachain's leading lending protocols, known for its virtual liquidity model, multi-layered reward system, and cross-protocol compatibility. Its co-founder, Corey Caplan, now serves as the Head of Technical Strategy for the Trump-affiliated DeFi initiative World Liberty Financial (WLFI), helping evolve Dolomite's technical framework. The project has raised over $3.4 million from prominent investors, including Coinbase Ventures, NGC Ventures, and Polygon. $INIT: A Modular Layer 1 Built for the Future Initia ($INIT) is a modular Layer 1 blockchain powered by the Omnitia Consensus mechanism and built using the Initia Interwoven Stack. It is designed to overcome scalability limitations in traditional blockchains and enable seamless cross-chain interoperability and resource sharing. With innovations like Gas Abstraction and a dual-deflationary token model, Initia enhances overall performance and security while significantly lowering the user barrier to cross-chain operations. With innovations like Gas Abstraction and a dual-layer deflationary mechanism, INIT enhances performance, security, and cross-chain interoperability. Backed by leading VCs like Delphi Digital, Hack VC, and Theory Ventures, Initia has attracted over 5,000 developers, with a project valuation of $250 million. Multiple Rewards Now Live on BYDFi Starting today, users who trade DOLO/USDT and INIT/USDT on the BYDFi platform will not only have a chance to share in the $10,000 prize pool, but can also participate in the following limited-time bonus campaigns: More details are available on BYDFi's official platform. About BYDFi Founded in 2020, BYDFi has been recognized by Forbes as one of the Top 10 Global Crypto Exchanges and is officially listed on CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko. Serving users in 190+ countries, the platform is trusted by over 1,000,000 users worldwide. As an official sponsor of Token2049 in Dubai, BYDFi welcomes users and partners from around the world to connect in person and discuss the future of Web3. BYDFi is committed to delivering a world-class crypto trading experience for every user. BUIDL Your Dream Finance. Twitter( X ) | LinkedIn | Facebook | Telegram | YouTube Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with GlobeNewswire. Business Upturn takes no editorial responsibility for the same.
