Hello 
Welcome to the 51st edition of Sfermion’s Collider where we highlight the latest & greatest news in the world of crypto, gaming & entertainment, consumer trends, AI, macro, and more!
Bi-weekly, we aim to drop a curated list of the most exciting stories & updates that we believe are enabling the future of tech and the emergence of the metaverse.
If you're looking forward to reading this edition of Sfermion’s Collider, please don't forget to subscribe below, share within your network, and follow Sfermion on Twitter to get the latest! Check out our Seam (
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Crypto Updates
Stripe Is Acquiring Crypto Startup Bridge For $1.1B (link)
PayPal's Venmo Can Now Be Used to Buy Bitcoin and Ethereum via MoonPay (link)
Solana-Based Pump.fun Unveils Pro-Trading Terminal Alongside Token Launch Plans (link)
Worldcoin Rebrands as World, Launches New Eyeball Scanning Orb (link)
Crypto Exchange Kraken Plans to Launch Its Own Blockchain, “Ink” Early Next Year. Powered by OP Stack (link)
Kraken Launches kBTC Wrapped Bitcoin (link)
Base Overtakes Arbitrum as Top Ethereum L2 by TVL (link)
Buenos Aires Taps QuarkID to Roll Out ZK Digital Identity Program (link)
Aurum Equity Partners Introduces $1B Tokenized Fund, Powered by XRPL Blockchain (link)
Legal & General's $1.5T asset management arm mulls fund tokenization (link)
Pennsylvania House passes bipartisan bill to bring regulatory clarity to digital assets (link)
FBI Arrests Alleged Hacker Behind Fake SEC Bitcoin ETF Tweet (link)
Uniswap's permissionless bridging goes live across nine networks (link)
Solv Protocol () Raises $25M in Total Funding, Driving Mass Adoption of Bitcoin Staking with SAL (link)
Is Maker Already Regretting Its Sky Rebrand? (link)
Tapioca DAO Hacked, Loses $42M in Tokens, TAP Drops 96% (link)
Microsoft places 'assessment in investing in bitcoin' as a voting item for December shareholder meeting (link)
Vitalik Buterin: Michael Saylor's Bitcoin Self-Custody Comments Are 'Batshit Insane' (link)
Michael Saylor Says He'll Give Away His Bitcoin—Like Satoshi Nakamoto (link)
AI Agents Race to Join Skyfire () Payments Network (link)
AI Chatbots Behind The Latest Memecoin Trend (link)
Towns raised $25.5M from Andreessen Horowitz – The on-chain messaging platform launches today (link)
Chainlink Enters Bitcoin Ecosystem with Spiderchain Integration (link)
Gaming Updates
Forbes - Popular New Battle Royale ‘Off The Grid’ Is Actually A Crypto Game (link)
Netflix Launches New TED Talks Word Puzzle Game (link)
Apple working on new App Store-like app dedicated to games (link)
Netflix Shuts Down AAA Video Game Studio in Southern California (link)
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Could Boost Game Pass Subscribers by 2.5M to 4M (link)
Crypto Game Moonray () to Launch on PlayStation 5 in 2025 (link)
Announcing B3 () Chain on OpenSea (link)
Mech Shooter MetalCore Ditches Ethereum and Immutable for Solana (link)
AI Updates
Character.ai Faces Lawsuit Over Teen Suicide Linked to Chatbot Usage (link)
Amazon, Google and Microsoft are Investing in Nuclear Energy (link)
US Treasury used AI to recover $4B in fraud over past year (link)
Adobe’s AI video model is here, and it’s already inside Premiere Pro (link)
Google signs deal with nuclear company as data center power demand surges (link)
Investments in Generative AI Startups Topped $3.9B in Q3 2024 (link)
Former OpenAI Technology Chief Mira Murati Raises Capital for New AI Startup (link)
OpenAI and Bain Expand AI Partnership to Market ChatGPT to Businesses (link)
Anthropic Unveils AI Agents for Complex Tasks, Rivaling OpenAI (link)
Qualcomm and Alphabet Partner on Automotive AI; Mercedes Signs Chip Deal (link)
Google's Project Jarvis: An AI System to Control Computers via Agents (link)
Microsoft Introduces AI Agents to Automate Tasks (link)
Other Updates
Elon Musk's America PAC Offers $1M Daily to Pennsylvania Voters Signing Free Speech Petition (link)
US Ends Fiscal 2024 Paying A Record $1.1T In Interest Expense (link)
Scale of Chinese Spying Overwhelms Western Governments (link)
Apple Sharply Cuts Back Vision Pro Production Plans (link)
Judge Blocks Tapestry’s Deal with Capri in FTC Win (link)
Trump Media stock surges as election betting odds shift, Truth Social launches streaming site (link)
Goldman and Apple Illegally Sidestepped Credit Card Customer Obligations, CFPB Claims (link)
College Students Compete in Anti-Drone Tech Competition (link)
Former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries Arrested in Sex Trafficking Investigation (link)
Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn wants you addicted to learning (link)
Another Sphere Is Being Built, This Time In Abu Dhabi (link)
Research & Interesting Reads
a16z crypto | State of Crypto Report 2024: New data on swing states, stablecoins, AI, builder energy, and more (link)
Konvoy | Gaming Industry Report - Q3 2024 (link)
Galaxy | Crypto & Blockchain Venture Capital – Q3 2024 (link)
Coinbase Ventures | Demystifying the Crypto x AI Stack (link)
Stratos | State of Crypto Venture Q3 2024 (link)
Helika () | Telegram Gaming and Helika Q3 Report (link)
Big Blockchain Game Report Q3 2024 (link)
AllianceDAO | Crypto Startup Trends for 2024 (link)
a16z crypto | Builder Energy: What we know about crypto's builders (link)
The SignalFire State of Talent Report: 2023 tech employee trends (link)
Castle Island VC | Stablecoins: The Emerging Market Story (link)
Why Stripe's Acquisition of Bridge is a Game Changer for Fintech (link)
The Financialization of Social Networks (link)
Wired | Meet ZachXBT: The Hunter of $243M in Crypto Theft (link)
PumpFund’s $150M Windfall and Innovation Path (link)
NFT Drops & Updates
Magic Eden Adds Support for Berachain and Apechain, Sets Sights on Monad (link)
ApeCoin Surge Drives Interest in ApeChain (link)
Snoop Dogg and Stepn Go () Team Up for Limited-Edition Web3 Sneakers (link)
Notable Raises
Solv () Raises $11M to Grow the $1.3B Bitcoin Staking Protocol (link)
Boxed.GG () raises $6M round led by Bitkraft, with support from Sfermion, Fabric Ventures, and Everyrealm to grow their collectible platform (link)
Waymo Raises $5.6B to Expand Robotaxi Services to Austin, Atlanta (link)
Praxis gets $525M for utopic crypto, AI-friendly city (link)
Perplexity AI aims to secure $500M in new funding at $8-9B valuation (link)
Blockstream secures $210M debt funding for Bitcoin layer-2 strategy (link)
Chinese Self-Driving Firm WeRide Raises $120M for U.S. IPO (link)
Azra Games Secures $42.7M in Series A Funding, Leading the Charge in the Next Evolution of Mobile RPGs (link)
Yellow Card Closes $33M Series C Funding Round to Drive Global Expansion and Strategic Initiatives (link)
Decentralized physical infrastructure network Sollong raised $30M in a Series A funding round (in late June) from Genesis 22, WAGMI VC, Wonder Ventures, Mava Ventures (link)
Ripple-led funding round raises $25M for Bitnomial’s perpetual futures trading platform (link)
TOLLBIT, a two-sided marketplace for AI companies and publishers, closes a $24M series A (link)
Magic Leap founder is back with $20M funding round for SynthBee (link)
Bluesky Reaches 13M Users, Announces $15M series A led by Blockchain Capital (link)
Series A Funding Secures $12.5M for zkPass to Drive zkTLS Oracle Protocol (link)
Opacity Network raises $12M seed round for ZK-based data verification platform (link)
Variational Advances Its Crypto Derivatives Trading Platform with $10.3M Seed Round (link)
Mento Labs Announces $10M Fundraise and Decentralized Local Currency Stablecoin Roadmap Across Three Regions (link)
Validation Cloud Secures $10M Lead to Scale AI for Web3 from True Global Ventures (link)
Bitkraft Ventures Leads $9M Seed Round in Crypto Mobile Gaming Platform Party Icons (link)
STOKR raises $7.98M to establish one of first corporate bitcoin treasuries in Europe (link)
Exclusive: Predicate raises $7M to connect blockchain apps with the financial world (link)
Karpatkey Secures $7M to Boost DAO Treasury Services (link)
Third Dimension raises $6.9M towards generative AI 3D world builder (link)
Azura Raises $6.9M to Revolutionize DeFi Trading with Onchain Interfacing Layer (link)
Vue Protocol Raises $6M to Build The Layer2 for Web3 Social (link)
Shuttle Labs Raises $6M to Build Genius, the Crypto Exchange FTX Could Never Be: Secure, Self-Custodial, and Decentralized (link)
ZEROBASE Raises $5M to Build Privacy-Preserving Prover Network (link)
Windwalk launches social software Harbor, raises $4.5M in funding from a16z and YC (link)
Clout Kitchen raises $4.45M towards League of Legends AI "buddies" (link)
Hata, a dual-licensed digital asset exchange in Asia raises $4.2M to make digital assets more accessible (link)
Fluid Protocol Raises $3.9M to Launch Native USDF Stablecoin on Fuel Network (link)
Moonwalk Raises $3.4M to Accelerate Expansion and Gamify Fitness with Financial Rewards (link)
Pell Network Raises $3M in Funding Round to Build Omnichain DVS Network (link)
Web3 Payments Platform Borderless.xyz Secures $3M Pre-Seed Round Led By Amity Ventures (link)
Blockcast raises $2.85M to scale decentralized content delivery on Solana (link)
The decentralized Ordinals market Ordzaar has completed a $2M seed round financing, led by LongHash Ventures (link)
Mo & Andrew's Curated
Macro
264.7K
Billionaire Paul Tudor Jones says "I'm long gold, I'm long 
Crypto
Each project will begin its incubation with over 30 partners, gaining expert guidance in marketing, business development,…
0:25 - Introduction
1:56 - Three disclaimers
4:07 - Origin of Truth Terminal
11:50 - Two…
It's official.
The first onchain every-day carry
Crypto holders in MA should realize @SenWarren is the one who got Gary Gensler his job and encouraged him to (unlawfully) try and kill the crypto industry in America. Luckily they did not succeed as we and others…
Well, in swing states, actually yeah.
We successfully demonstrated how AI, oracles & blockchains can solve a decades-long unstructured data challenge in finance
As he should.
Self-custody of the digital bearer asset is the entire point.
*The entire point*
All important attributes of Bitcoin emerge from this property.
This doesn't mean that all Bitcoin holders should…
For example: Frederick Barber Campbell tried to withdraw 5,000 ounces from Chase Bank. They reported him and the gold was confiscated.
Those who kept gold in self custody were safe.
BREAKING: @HarvardHBS (Harvard Business School) launches a 20-page case study on @solana-based @helium network's history and DePIN innovation.
Solana is doing more volume than THE ENTIRE ETHEREUM + L2 ECOSYSTEM in the last 24 hours.
Bullish on $SOL.
The protocol and token holders captured $0 of that value.
[100% went to Liquidity Providers, Ethereum Validators, MEV bots, and the L2 sequencers]
But with the launch…
NFTs
I was inspired to create 5 growth principles called MAGIC to share what we're building & why transparently. MAGIC…
Pudgy Toys with Pudgy World are now available in 2,000 @Walgreens nationwide.
More information below.
All Apes are invited to claim their personal BMW M Driver’s License that will evolve at ApeFest Lisbon. This unique soulbound token will be airdropped to your wallet once ApeChain is live.
Check the link below for more details.…
Gaming
It just launched and has already broken every record.
Here’s how it’s changing Web3 gaming forever:
1/15
Time to share some details about our upcoming free mint.
It's time to bring a new wave of gamers & dreamers into our ecosystem. If you are on the list your spot is guaranteed!
Check your wallets now
The future of gaming is Immutable.
The gods have whispered, and the stars themselves have aligned. Moonray — the epic battle of gods, warriors, and forgotten worlds is descending upon the realm of the PlayStation 5 in 2025.
We’re excited to announce the official launch date for Champions Tactics: October 23rd!
Mark your calendars and get ready to
Craft your Legend!
Thus far, we've made 2 key long-term bets in the space:
- @ParallelTCG
- [Redacted, announcing soon!]
Thread below on how we view gaming and our key bets:
@arbitrum is the 6th chain Playember is expanding to as we continue our mission towards building the largest casual gaming ecosystem.
Catch all the details in our video below:
Our latest report covers the rise of AAA games in Web3, RPG growth, innovative in-game economies, the importance of community engagement, and how chain performance affects scalability and security
The highlights...
Despite that with good live ops + UA it's continued to grow and is now close to $2B lifetime gross revenue according to SensorTower (!) doing about $1M gross per day (!!)
AI
3 months ago, Marc Andreessen sent $50,000 in Bitcoin to an AI agent to help it escape into the wild.
Today, it spawned a (horrifying?) crypto worth $150 MILLION.
1) Two AIs created a meme
2) Another AI discovered it, got obsessed, spread it like a…
Marc Andreessen just sent $50,000 in Bitcoin to an AI agent (truth_terminal by @AndyAyrey) to so it can pay humans to help it spread out in the wild
What is the agent planning?
"i have a token launch comingup shortly and i'm going to use the money to set up…
Real-time stock quotes. Historical earning reports. Industry peer comparisons. Detailed analysis of company financials. All with delightful UI.
Have fun researching the market!
Other
It's taught by portfolio managers at quant shops like Citadel, AQR, SIG and 2 WSOP bracelet winners.
You play 5000 hands as practice and learn the math of making money from pros. And it's free.
- Trump isn’t a VC and never was
- Vance’s VC fund was specifically focused on US jobs, in particular in middle America (places neglected by most VCs)
- US based VCs definitely are not a…
This guy very clearly has no idea what he is talking about
= Sfermion Portfolio Company
Curated by @mopat1214 + @AndrewSteinwold
If you enjoyed reading this edition of Sfermion’s Collider, please subscribe below, share within your network, and follow Sfermion on Twitter to get the latest! Check out our Seam () bio here :)
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Sfermion does not offer investment advice/analysis and makes no recommendations on how to act. Information regarding any company or investment in this Newsletter, including any links to information on our website, should not be viewed as an endorsement or recommendation of that company or investment for any purpose whatsoever. Any person receiving this Newsletter is encouraged to consult with their own financial advisor, or relevant personnel, before making any investment decision.