Blog

New York, United States, 20th May, 2021,

After four years, the fund will open its doors to outside investors during this period of explosive growth in blockchain and DeFi

The increasing acceptance of Bitcoin as an asset class during the past year has encouraged many of the world’s largest financial institutions and companies to pour in cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology investments. Even BNY Mellon, the oldest bank in the US, recently unveiled plans to provide an integrated service for digital assets, marking a notable change in the way that long-standing financial stalwart approaches the cryptocurrency space.

A recent JP Morgan poll highlighted that 22% of the respondents said their respective organizations were likely to trade or to invest in cryptocurrencies, with family offices, private investment firms and high net worth individuals now seeking for opportunities in this rapidly evolving and highly lucrative landscape.

TRGC will open its doors to outside investors for the first time, after 4 years of operating in a closed capacity. The digital asset fund will offer its investors a generational opportunity to participate in  the historical returns that can arise from supporting early stage blockchain projects. TRGC is focused on investing in high quality blockchain project founders and teams, utilising a deep knowledge of the blockchain investment landscape and extensive industry connections.

Investing in tomorrow’s innovations

BlackRock recently announced that they have “started to dabble” in Bitcoin, confirming that even the world’s largest investors see the promise that BTC holds as a store of value. But away from Bitcoin, the potentially once in a lifetime opportunities presented by investing in blockchain infrastructure and more recently DeFi (decentralized finance) protocols are also becoming too big to ignore; TRGC fosters these cutting-edge technologies at their point of inception to add exceptional value from the earliest stages of project development, supporting the growth and innovation of trailblazing Defi projects.

“As we continue to witness an accelerated shift into the digital age, the world is starting to get a glimpse of the asymmetric opportunities that blockchain presents; with real use cases, blockchain is at the forefront of innovation” says Etiënne vantKruys, Managing Partner of TRGC. “Consider an emerging trend like DeFi, which has demonstrated beyond anyone’s expectations that financial transactions can be truly P2P and secure, removing the friction point and bias of the middlemen. Today, exceptional founders are laying the groundwork for future growth and maturity of the ecosystem.”

Supporting pioneering and driven project teams for nearly half a decade, TRGC has consistently sourced and invested in the most promising projects that deliver. By applying  a backtested and research-driven investment process, combined with fungible go-to-market strategies, TRGC’s investment portfolio has seen a number of its  projects reach token market capitalisation of $1 billion or more. The fund was recently recognized in “The Cointelegraph Blockchain Venture Capital Report” as one of the blockchain industry’s most influential digital asset funds.

Led by Managing Partner Etiënne vantKruys, the TRGC team is made up of seasoned professionals with deep rooted expertise in both the blockchain and traditional investment landscapes. 

Unmatched conviction in supporting blockchain, DeFi and Web3’s best

Supporting the blockchain and DeFi solutions of tomorrow is what will fuel the cambrian explosion of growth in the digital assets and emerging technologies space in coming years, and TRGC has invested in some of the most prominent projects to launch in recent years. Polkadot, an interoperable blockchain platform currently valued at over $36 billion, was one of several early stage investments made by TRGC,  as was the Andreesen Horowitz-backed open-source platform Avalanche. The fund has its focus set on the Web3 innovations and DeFi solutions that will become globally recognised names in coming years.

With the next wave of  disruptive projects emerging, 2021 is already shaping up to be a  landmark year for blockchain technology. Despite the immense opportunity, however,  investing in early stage projects and startups remains quite risky, especially for those not seasoned in the blockchain space. TRGC expects to be a proven and effective vehicle  for those looking to invest in the future of decentralized technologies. By welcoming outside investors, TRGC, with its considerable experience and market insight,  offers family offices, high net worth individuals, and other global investors  an entry into the nascent but most promising investment market in cryptocurrencies and  blockchain technology. 

Contacts

• Etiënne vantKruys
• hello@trgc.io

San Fracisco, California, 20th May, 2021,

APENFT will be launching NFT, a native token on May 20th, it will be the first project to go live on the new and improved Huobi Prime. APENFT was born with the mission and purpose to register world-class artworks as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the blockchain. Its aim is to establish itself as the ARK Star Fund in the NFT world, building a bridge between renowned artists and the blockchain while nurturing the growth of native crypto artists in the NFT space. 

The team behind the APENFT project is composed of experienced thought leaders from the blockchain, finance and art communities. It will be headed by Steve Liu, he has an extensive financial management background, working in Fidelity, Nomura and other top investment banks and institutions. Many of the core advisors of the project are from the traditional art world such as Christie’s and Sotheby’s and other well respected institutions. 

APENFT’s objective is to transform art pieces, which once was an elite-exclusive item, to something that belongs to everyone. APENFT is backed by the underlying technology of top-notch blockchains Ethereum and TRON with support from the world’s largest distributed storage system Bittorrent File System (BTFS). APENFT and its token NFT run on the Ethereum and TRON public chain under the ERC721/TRC721 standard and are permanently stored in the decentralized storage system BTFS.

NFT, a native token of APENFT, is proposed and governed by the community, and its features are governed by smart contracts, with all information accessible on-chain. Community members will discuss and expand the features of contracts which will be voted on through NFT and executed in accordance with the majority rule. NFT will in the future seek to expand its application in DeFi projects to boost connectivity by using smart contracts and the virtual machine on the TRON public chain. TRON currently has a total number of users exceeding 30 million, with more than 1.8 billion transactions, the world’s largest stablecoin circulation, and a rich and thriving blockchain business ecosystem.

NFT, the digital asset of APENFT, is a TRC721-based token with a total supply of 999,990,000,000,000 and an initial issuing price of $0.00000012. Users can get NFT by participating in commenting, creating, recommending, displaying works in APENFT, providing industry information, policy analysis and other behaviors, or by participating in BTC, ETH, DOGE, TRX, BTT, JST, SUN, WIN liquidity airdrop and mining. 

NFT Defi airdrop and mining will be completed in 23 months June 2021 to April 2023. The supply accounts for 19% of the total supply or 189,998,100,000,000 NFT. The Initial release will begin in June 2021, with a total supply of 19,999,800,000,000 NFT; A monthly supply of 7,916,587,500,000 NFT will be released between July 2021 and March 2023; The last release totaling 3,749,962,500,000 NFT will be made in April 2023.

The roadmap is broken down into 4 phases:

Phase 1: Build the infrastructure for the NFT ecosystem

Powered by TRON, one of the world’s top three public chains, and BitTorrent, the world’s largest distributed digital storage system, APENFT  adopts a highly-integrated and heavily-invested infrastructure to drive the implementation of ERC721/TRC721 and its supporting facilities.

Phase 2: Achieve a strong circulation of NFT

APENFT  is issuing NFT, the project’s native token, on leading exchanges like Huobi to extend and share the benefits with more users. The also implements a democratic and diversified governance through votes and mining, etc. 

Phase 3: Enrich the businesses of APENFT

To push the boundaries of the NFT space, expand “friend circles” and enrich its business, the APENFT team will promote the creation and re-creation of top-class artworks and established franchise and custom NFT works with A-list celebrities with massive followings from the entertainment circles.  

Phase 4: Secure the key to authorization and confirmation of the digital world

In an effort to promote a wider implementation of blockchain technology, APENFT will, at this stage, build on top of its NFT business, secure the key to authorization and confirmation of the digital world, and make a foray into digital entertainment and brick-and-mortar NFT projects, etc.  

About APENFT 

APENFT was born with the mission to register world-class artworks as NFTs on blockchain. We aim to build a bridge between top-notch artists and blockchain, and to support the growth of native crypto NFT artists.Like how blockchain democratizes finance like never before, APENFT, by turning top artists and art pieces into NFTs, not only upgrades the way artworks are hosted, but also transforms them from being elite-exclusive items to something that truly belongs to the people and mirrors their aspirations. APENFT is the art for everyone.

Website | Twitter

Contacts

• Anjali George
• press@tron.network

Milan, Italy, 19th May, 2021,

Luxury fashion brand Angelo Galasso is releasing its first collection of nonfungible tokens (NFT), which are designed to be sold alongside and reinforce the exclusivity of its handmade items by binding the digital and physical into a single bundle.

Through a collaboration with acclaimed digital artist Doc Lee from altered.tv, who has previously worked with brands such as Jaguar, Disney, Cartier and others, Angelo Galasso is creating the first physical and digital NFT fashion collection.

The Genesis collection will be released on OpenSea, with a total of 24 NFT items. Each NFT represents a unique digital art piece designed by Doc Lee, which are sold in addition with high quality items specifically designed by Angelo Galasso for the collection. These will include the AG City Backpack, made from personalized grain reinforced canvas and printed with a geometric motif showing Angelo Galasso’s iconic AG Dragon Logo. The key element of the backpack and other fashion items in the collection is a finely engraved egg button detail, which mirrors the NFT art associated with the items.

Other items include a finely designed crypto credit card wallet and a key or hardware wallet ring, both including the iconic egg button detail. There will be only five NFTs paired to the backpack, seven paired to the credit card wallet and 12 paired with the key ring.

The owner of the NFT is the sole registered owner of the associated physical item, creating additional value for the owner and a unique physical and digital twin.

The Genesis collection is being auctioned on OpenSea, with items expected to sell out quickly. . Winners of the auction will obtain the NFT and associated digital art, and will be able to request the delivery of the physical item to any location around the world, free of charge. Alternatively, the items can be collected  in person at the Angelo Galasso store, Knightsbridge in London. Angelo Galasso will also refund the gas costs for the purchase of the NFT for in person collections.

“We have always been regarded as pioneers in the fashion industry and with this launch we are exploring how new technologies such as blockchain and NFT’s can help the fashion industry reduce counterfeiting and give customers an even better brand experience,” says the Brand.

“I was very excited to be approached by Angelo Galasso to work on this innovative project,” said Lee Robinson, pseudonym Dr Lee, digital artist and creative director of Altered.tv. “The idea of creating an original piece of art in conjunction with an original item of luxury fashion is a unique and paradigm shifting concept. The digital art piece links the digital and the physical worlds, elements of the animation are reflected in Angelo’s designs and vice versa. This is a unique opportunity for anyone interested in NFTs art and fashion.”

A portion of the NFT sale proceeds will be devoted to an environmental charity, helping offset some of the carbon footprint associated with the NFT as the blockchain industry works for an improved platform.

The collection has been produced in conjunction with the EdenBase Innovation team, a generation 2.0 ecosystem specialising in enabling industries with frontier technologies.

About Angelo Galasso

Angelo Galasso was born in the South of Italy with design and a strong flair for tailoring in his blood. His first business endeavour was a shirt company Interno 8 founded in 1990, a brand 

Angelo founded his eponymous brand in 2009, after having founded Billionaire Couture, a 

His tremendous flair and talent for design led him to create the iconic “Polso Orologio” shirt, inspired by Gianni Agnelli, a product so innovative and groundbreaking in terms of design, that it was exhibited at the Design Museum in London, and the Financial Times dubbed Angelo the “Da Vinci of shirts.”

Contacts

• Giuseppe Galasso
• gg@angelogalasso.com

Seoul, South Korea, 18th May, 2021,

QiSwap, the leading decentralized exchange (DEX) that utilizes automated market making algorithms, is preparing to launch the second airdrop of its native token. All of the QI tokens will be distributed directly to the community members and other stakeholders that contribute to the QiSwap network.

Since we want to incentivize organic growth of the ecosystem by conducting the fairest possible distribution, we advise the community to keep their Qi tokens in the official QiSwap web wallet, or the Qtum QT Core official wallet.

The QiSwap team is working to get the QiSwap airdrop supported by a number of exchanges. But if your Qi tokens are held on an exchange that has not yet confirmed its support for this airdrop, you should withdraw them to the QiSwap web wallet or the Qtum QT Core with QRC20 support.

The Qi airdrop will go to all token holders at a 1:1 ratio, meaning that for every 1 Qi you possess you will receive an equal amount of Qi token.

All users who wish to participate in the airdrop will need to hold their Qi tokens during the snapshot time in a QRC-20 wallet or in an exchange supporting the event. The snapshot will be taken on around May 30, 12 am KST at Qtum block height #924,270.

Exact time will be announced through our social channels, and it is the Qtum block height that matters. You can watch the progress on the block explorer while the airdrop is deploying.

Remember, if you don’t control the private keys to your Qtum wallet, you mayn’t receive your airdrop tokens.

The airdrop distribution will revolve around a wallet snapshot taking place on the aforementioned calendar dates, determining the amount of tokens every user will receive. However, please note that it may take a few hours as the airdrop script takes a while to execute.

Note: since there will be a small gas fee involved in the contract call when claiming Qi, make sure to have Qtum in the wallet to pay for the gas. The gas fees shouldn’t be more than a couple of pennies and we recommend sending 0.1 Qtum for gas, then send your Qi tokens.

Liquidity providers also qualify for the airdrop to directly benefit from platform adoption and growth. This token release will establish an innovative new way for those who fund the Qtum/Qi “Qtum Beets” Nitro Pool.

Specifically, they will be eligible to share in the staked rewards that are created from the 1 million Qtum allocated to the QiSwap team for 1 year. This is partly to show appreciation for their hard work and also to ensure the growth and sustainability of the QiSwap ecosystem in a win-win kind of fashion.

Using QI, token holders will be able to vote and contribute to platform governance, a vital aspect of maintaining a decentralized application. The native token of the DEX will have large portions of its total supply distributed through multiple airdrops taking place in order to get QI into the hands of platform users.

To speak with the QiSwap community, please join our Telegram channel:

http://t.me/qiswapofficial

To see the current Qtum block height, please visit the block explorer here:

https://qtum.info/

QiSwap on CoinCheckup:

https://coincheckup.com/coins/qiswap

About QiSwap

Qiswap is a fully decentralized protocol that automatically provides liquidity for QTUM based on automated market-making (AMM) algorithms. QiSwap is a transparent, censorship-resistant financial infrastructure for QTUM. It is essentially a set of smart contracts that exist as automated market makers in the crypto economy. These contracts are based on Uniswap.

Contacts

COO

• Carl Carcia
• carl@qiswap.com

New York, USA, 18th May, 2021,

BENQI, an algorithmic money market protocol built on Avalanche’s C-Chain, is integrating Chainlink Price Feeds to ensure security of its protocol and resilience against flash loan attacks.

Using secure oracles is a key component for creating secure lending protocols, which rely on external price sources to determine collateralization rates and liquidation conditions. Relying on single source oracles, however, exposes these protocols to manipulation and exploits relying on flash loans, an instant and unlimited loan. The large pool of funds can be used by malicious actors to instantly change the price of key asset, for example a stablecoin, and conduct operations that would drain funds from the protocol due to a broken assumption.

Protocols such as Compound, Warp Finance and others all suffered unjustified losses of funds due to faulty oracle readings. For example, Compound’s oracle believed that DAI was worth $1.4 during a flash crash in November 2020, because DAI briefly traded at this price on both Coinbase and Uniswap, the two exchanges used by Compound’s oracle. This resulted in more than $50 million in unfair liquidations.

Using Chainlink’s Price Feeds enables BENQI to resist any price manipulation, be it natural or artificial. The initial price feeds to be consumed include AVAX/USD, LINK/USD, ETH/USD, wBTC/USD, USDT/USD and DAI/USD, with more expected to be added later on thanks to Chainlink’s flexible framework.

Chainlink’s Price Feeds are aggregated from hundreds of sources and reviewed by Chainlink Nodes, which ensure that the average reading is not affected by significant outliers. Thanks to Chainlink Price Feeds sourcing data on all available liquidity in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, conducting a market manipulation attack on the BENQI protocol would be prohibitively expensive, requiring to break the entirety of the crypto market first.

“Price oracles are one of the most often overlooked yet extremely important elements within decentralized protocols,” said Hannu Kuusi, Co-Founder BENQI. “After internal research and discussions, we decided to go with the industry standard oracle network, which is already securing billions of dollars within decentralized financial applications alone. Having Chainlink secure our price feeds, we have an added confidence in the security and health of our protocol.”

The Chainlink integration aligns with BENQI’s vision of building open and regulatory compliant decentralized financial applications on Avalanche and future Avalanche subnets. Additionally, given the rapid growth of the Chainlink Network and its very liquid presence in the smart contract economy, LINK will be one of the first few pools open at the launch of the BENQI protocol. 

About BENQI

Built on Avalanche’s highly scalable network, BENQI’s vision of bridging decentralized finance (DeFi) and institutional networks starts by launching BENQI on the Avalanche C-Chain. Through BENQI, Avalanche users will be able to earn interest on their assets, obtain credit through over-collateralized loans and earn QI governance tokens as rewards for providing liquidity on the protocol and Pangolin. 

Contacts

• Dan Mgbor
• info@benqi.fi

Amsterdam, Netherlands, 18th May, 2021,

SingularityNET’s first DeFi spin-off project, SingularityDAO, is announcing today their partnership with leading decentralized data provider Ocean Protocol.

The collaboration will see the OCEAN token’s inclusion in SingularityDAO’s index fund / investment portfolio. Moreover, SingularityDAO is designed to leverage AI at multiple levels: AI manages dynamic token-sets, executes predictive market-making strategies to provide liquidity for these token-sets on DEXs, and predictively models hedging strategies.

All this AI requires a lot of data to learn and improve, which is why SingularityDAO is a natural user of Ocean data sets – data sets published via Ocean Market (and other Ocean-based markets) into the Ocean ecosystem. The Ocean ecosystem is host to many diverse and varied trading and DeFi data sets. These make excellent candidates for consumption by SingularityDAO’s AI agents to enhance its financial modeling.

I’m really excited by the opportunity to work together with Ocean Protocol, one of the most respectable projects in crypto who has been constantly delivering community-driven, decentralized data solutions. SingularityDAO will constantly make use of data to train our ML and I can’t think of a better partner than Ocean Protocol. – Marcello Mari, CEO at SingularityDAO

The news follows the successful completion of a total of $5.2 million raised in three different rounds for the highly anticipated Governance Generation Event on MANTRADAO, which reached its hard cap within less than 2½ hours.

The protocol, described as ‘DeFi meets decentralized AI,’ held the event exclusively for SingularityNET $AGI holders and attracted 5,800 registrations in one week. The token sale raised $1.6 million (8,000,000 SDAO).

The successful Governance Generation Event follows a recent private sale wherein SingularityDAO raised $2.7 million of funding from a number of top-tier investors such as AlphaBit, Marshland Capita, GBV and SMO Capital. SingulariyDAO’s governance token has been generated on May 13th and distributed on the same day. It is currently trading on Uniswap.

About SingularityDAO

SingularityDAO is a decentralized platform, governed by the SDAO token, tasked with governing DynaSets. DynaSets are diversified baskets of cryptocurrency assets dynamically managed by AI and curated by the protocol. SingularityDAO brings the financial sophistication of AI-managed funds to DeFi, deploying SingularityNET’s AI technology to navigate complex markets.

About Ocean Protocol

Ocean Protocol’s mission is to kickstart a Web3 Data Economy that reaches the world, giving power back to data owners and enabling people to capture value from data to better our world.

Data is a new asset class; Ocean Protocol unlocks its value. Data owners and consumers use the Ocean Market app to publish, discover, and consume data assets in a secure, privacy-preserving fashion.

Contacts

• Marcello Mari
• marcello@singularitydao.ai