Friday, 30th of September. As the week comes to an end, we can focus on the highlights of the crypto industry.
Microsoft M12 made a $20M investment in Space and Time in a strategic funding round
Space and Time, a Web3 data warehouse, brought in $20 million in strategic funding from major investors, led by the Microsoft M12 Foundation. This was reported by the company representatives themselves.
Other participants in the round include Framework Ventures, HashKey, Foresight Ventures, SevenX Ventures, Polygon, Blizzard, Stratos, Hash Capital, Coin DCX, as well as a number of leading Web3 communities and business angels.
Space and Time automates business logic with proprietary Proof-of-SQL cryptography. According to the project devs, the direct connection of smart contracts to the platform’s decentralized data storage provides extensive options for use in Web3.
Space and Time’s planned integration with Microsoft Azure will provide the tech giant’s customers with access to analytics based on blockchain data.
The project also has plans to collaborate with the Chainlink platform to expand the capabilities of hybrid smart contracts when operating in a trustless environment. Developers will be able to create multichain dApps and generate analytics data in a decentralized, cost-effective way.
Space and Time uses the received funds for further design and development of products.
Earlier, the company raised $10 million in a seed round of funding led by Framework Ventures.
As you may remember, last week, a crypto startup called Immunefi, which helps DeFi projects run bug-finding software on their platforms, raised a Series A round of financing totaling $24 million.
Cosmos devs unveil Cosmos Hub white paper
Ethan Buchman and Jae Kwon, founders of Cosmos, have published a white paper that outlines the new features of the project’s ecosystem.
One of the key solutions is the Interchain Scheduler, a crosschain marketplace focused on Miner Extractable Value (MEV) capabilities. It will be linked to a multichain transaction relay service (similar to Flashbots in the context of Ethereum).
“By purchasing synchronous regions of block space on different chains, users can lock-in arbitrage opportunities or schedule cross-chain settlement transactions with strong execution guarantees,” the paper says.
Interchain Scheduler will redirect the fees received from the MEV Marketplace to the Cosmos Hub treasury, the developers noted.
The other solution is called the Interchain Allocator. It is a software module that allows Cosmos-based chains to achieve “economic coordination” to create applications focused on the creation of public goods. This approach, the developers are sure, will increase the value of the ATOM token.
The solutions described above can be implemented in addition to the previously announced Cosmos Hub functions related to internetwork security and ATOM liquid staking.
Prior to that, dYdX, a decentralized derivatives exchange, announced the launch of its own network in the Cosmos ecosystem.
Brett Harrison resigns as FTX US president
Brett Harrison, U.S. president of the crypto exchange FTX, tweeted on his resignation on Tuesday.
“Over the next few months I’ll be transferring my responsibilities and moving into an advisory role at the company,” Harrison claimed.
The executive joined FTX US in May 2021, having moved from market maker Citadel Securities (a Citadel hedge fund subsidiary).
Since then, he said, the office of the Chicago-based crypto exchange has grown to more than 100 employees, with LedgerX and Embed being bought, and steps being taken to shape policy regarding cryptocurrencies in the U.S.
The head of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, confirmed the transfer of Harrison to the position of consultant and announced the relocation of the deparment to Miami. Mayor Francis Suarez welcomed the exchange’s decision.
The Block’s source said that Harrison’s replacement will be Zach Dexter. He led LedgerX, then headed the platform’s derivatives department after it was acquired by FTX US. The company itself has not yet provided any comment on the matter.