Katherine Ross

Texas

news editor @Blockworks_ & co-author @theempirepod newsletter. ig & telegram: byKatherineRoss 📨 [email protected]. dm for signal.

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Articles

How Arch Labs plans to deploy $13M raise

8 hours ago | blockworks.co | Katherine Ross

ICYMI: Arch Labs announced a $13 million raise with the goal of launching a bitcoin virtual machine. The Series A round was led by Pantera Capital. "We're at a pivotal moment-both for Arch and for Bitcoin. Bitcoin has seen massive growth and institutional acceptance, but the mempool tells a different story: Not enough on-chain activity is driving sustained fees for miners," CEO Matt Mudano told me. "This raise allows us to scale engineering, grow our community and support a new wave of builders.
What Jesse Pollak would've done differently in launching 'Base is for everyone'

1 day ago | blockworks.co | Katherine Ross

This is a segment from the Empire newsletter. To read full editions, . Since last week, Base's Jesse Pollak has been very busy posting about content coins and prompting folks in his replies to coin everything, though that's come with some mixed results. Before we get into Pollak's bullish thought process, I asked him about the now-deleted post promoting an image of a girl from Hinge being coined.
Kado Software acquired by Swapped.com

3 days ago | blockworks.co | Katherine Ross

This is a segment from the Empire newsletter. To read full editions, . M&A szn is still going strong. Kado Software, the Web3 payments infrastructure company, was acquired by Swapped.com. The team declined to disclose the terms of the deal, but it plans to grow the US operations for Swapped.com, which is a Denmark-based firm. Emery Andrew, Kado's founder, told me that the team's been weighing its options for a while - from debating a fundraise to looking for the right fit to acquire it.
Inside a16z Crypto's $55M ZRO purchase

3 days ago | blockworks.co | Katherine Ross

"I think the industry a year ago was messy, was very competitive," LayerZero CEO Bryan Pellegrino told me. But it's been "cleared up" thanks to the friendlier environment and overall adoption. Last month, the company saw $6 billion in transfers, he added, and $100 billion worth of assets were built on LayerZero. Admittedly, Pellegrino added, he still thinks of crypto as an underdog industry, one that's fairly small.
Crypto has to be more 'efficient' with the money being used

6 days ago | blockworks.co | Katherine Ross

"Be prepared to do more with less," Framework Ventures' Michael Anderson said on this week's Empire round-up. Empire co-host Santiago Santos joined the Bell Curve round-up to chat about the cycle, and he talked a lot about what this moment means for founders, given that the overall attitude around crypto is pretty bullish...and yet it's a tough time to build in crypto.
Stablecoin transactions outpaced Visa payments last quarter: Bitwise

6 days ago | blockworks.co | Katherine Ross

Bitwise summed up last quarter beautifully in one word: "Frustrating."And it's true. We entered the quarter naive and bullish, thinking every obstacle had been moved out of the industry's way and that we were ready to really get working. Oh, how wrong we were. Everyone I speak to still says crypto's in a better place than it's ever been. Folks still think what's being built will one day change the world.
USDC's 'fueling' stablecoin market cap rise: Wintermute

1 week ago | blockworks.co | Katherine Ross

Just last week, the FT reported that Tether's considering a US-only stablecoin. Why? Because their current $144 billion-dollar stablecoin USDT may not comply with potential new US regulation (which is still making its way through the relevant checkpoints down in DC). Wintermute, in its last weekly market update, noted that some of USDT's market share had been "eroding," thanks to both the as-of-yet nonexistent US regulation and, of course, MiCA.
CeFi lending's up 73% after the sector's collapse: Galaxy

1 week ago | blockworks.co | Katherine Ross

So lending markets have yet to make a comeback this cycle - and it kinda makes sense. But Galaxy may have some good news for us all: Lending could be ready for some green shoots of its own. "The convergence of traditional financial expertise with blockchain-based innovation suggests a future where crypto lending services become increasingly sophisticated and reliable, while maintaining the unique benefits of blockchain technology," Galaxy's Zack Pokorny wrote.
Meanwhile's $40M raise was Framework Ventures' 'largest equity investment'

1 week ago | blockworks.co | Katherine Ross

Last week, Meanwhile announced a whopping $40 million raise co-led by Framework Ventures and Fulgur Ventures. However, the raise is a bit more significant than was initially reported. "This is the largest equity investment that Framework Ventures has ever made," Framework's Michael Anderson exclusively told me. If you're not familiar, Meanwhile is a bitcoin life insurance company valued at $190 million after their Series A announcement.
Nova Labs announces SEC settlement

1 week ago | blockworks.co | Katherine Ross

Nova Labs, the firm behind DePIN Helium, announced that the SEC dropped its suit against the firm just a few months after filing it (in one of Gary Gensler's final moves). Nova didn't get off scot-free; the firm still has to pay $200,000 to settle the SEC's civil securities fraud charge. Basically, the SEC accused Nova Labs of misleading institutional investors about its partnerships, per the original legal filing. Nova Labs didn't admit to or deny any wrongdoing as part of the settlement.