10 projects raised $266 million; Gauntlet raised $130 million

Compiled by Jinse Finance

This week, 10 blockchain startups collectively raised $266 million.

This week’s largest funding round

Gauntlet raised $130 million in a funding round led by SBI Holdings (SBI Group).

Gauntlet builds a blockchain simulation and testing platform for financial systems.

Pre-seed and Seed round investments

QIZ Security raised $17 million in a seed round led by Bessemer Venture Partners* and Evolution Equity Partners.

QIZ Security provides encryption posture and post-quantum cryptography management services for enterprise environments. It helps organizations continuously discover crypto assets, model risks, execute remediation, align encryption strategies, maintain inventories and governance, and supports planning for migration to crypto agility and quantum security—covering hybrid and complex infrastructure.

M1X Global raised $5.5 million in a seed round led by Paradigm* and Breed VC.

M1X Global builds proprietary financial infrastructure and, in collaboration with the Republic of the Marshall Islands, issues USDM1, a USD-denominated tokenized sovereign debt instrument supported 1:1 by U.S. Treasury bonds and natively issued on public blockchains by sovereign states. USDM1 is usable on Stellar, Canton, and Solana, and is intended for government assistance grants as well as institutional uses as collateral in regulated financial markets.

Other funding rounds

TrueDAO raised $10 million in a strategic funding round led by Brevan Howard Digital*, Zee Prime Capital, and Jump Capital.

TrueDAO is an AI-driven decentralized finance infrastructure project built on smart contracts, on-chain reserves, dynamic adjustment mechanisms, and community governance. It provides modular financial infrastructure for ecosystem projects, including liquidity management, reserve management, risk alerting, revenue distribution, and governance support. The project also includes AI-driven risk monitoring and stress testing, protocol operations information disclosure, and staged reserve data reporting.

01 Exchange raised an undisclosed amount in an M&A financing round led by N1 Chain.

This is a full-stack financial network that operates trading venues and a margin engine/order book. The network states that all trading activity will migrate to app.n1.xyz, with no need to migrate assets, and user funds will not be affected. It plans to add deeper liquidity, more markets, RFQ (request for quotation), vaults, stocks, additional on-chain financial products, and native iOS and Android applications.

Cypher Wallet raised an undisclosed amount in an M&A financing round led by Nium.

Cypher is a Web3 wallet that solves the complexity of capital flow in Web3 by providing the world’s first comprehensive, integrated Web3 financial ecosystem: one wallet can handle all transactions in Web3. Users can easily buy and manage crypto assets across multiple chains and seamlessly connect any Web3 applications within multiple ecosystems without needing separate wallets.

Elliptic raised an undisclosed amount in a funding round led by Circle.

Elliptic is a blockchain analytics and crypto compliance platform that helps financial institutions, exchanges, regulators, and Web3 companies detect and prevent illegal activity across blockchain networks. Founded in 2013, it provides anti-money-laundering monitoring, wallet screening, transaction tracing, forensic investigations, and risk intelligence tools powered by large-scale blockchain data analytics and AI. Elliptic supports dozens of blockchains, enabling organizations to manage crypto compliance, sanctions screening, and financial-crime investigations in real time.

Mercado Bitcoin raised $20 million in a funding round led by Tether.

Mercado Bitcoin is the largest crypto platform in Latin America and the only Latin American crypto unicorn, offering a diverse curated selection of cryptocurrencies, digital assets jointly launched with global partners, and assets created based on its own strategies—aimed at popularizing access to cryptocurrencies and digital assets so users can diversify and reshape their investment portfolios. It is Brazil’s leading crypto exchange and one of the most trusted exchanges globally in 2020.

EDX Markets raised $76 million in a Series C round led by SBI Holdings (SBI Group)*.

EDX Markets is a platform providing a trusted, efficient, and liquidity-rich trading experience for cryptocurrencies and other digital assets, combining the best practices of traditional finance, offering competitive quotes and a unique non-custodial model.

KOR Protocol raised $7.5 million in a Series A round led by 1kx*, Blockchain Capital*, Republic Crypto, Sfermion, Alumni Ventures (AVG), and SevenX Ventures.

KOR Protocol is a decentralized intellectual property infrastructure that empowers creators and rights holders in music, film, games, and art to register, license, and monetize their works on-chain. It offers IP tokenization tools, automated licensing, royalty distribution, dispute resolution, and AI-driven metadata management. The protocol is built on a Layer 2 that supports zero-knowledge proofs and is backed by partners such as Animoca Brands, Pixelynx, and Beatport, providing SDKs and developer tools to enable interactive forms, AI-driven mixing, and transparent fan participation, aiming to build the largest on-chain intellectual property economy.

(Note: Investors marked with an asterisk (*) typically indicate the lead investors.)