Sharding Weekly (2025/5/12-5/18)
Twitter: @ShardingCapital
Sharding Capital is an early-stage web3-native VC firm based in the UAE.
Welcome to the 79th edition of Sharding Weekly, which highlight the News, Narratives, and Fundraising!
Highlights:
🔸U.S. cuts China tariffs to 30% (from 145%) and China to 10% (from 125%) for 90 days
🔸SEC Chair Paul Atkins aims to build a rational crypto regulatory framework
🔸U.S. CPI rose 2.3% YoY (below 2.4% est), while Core CPI matched expectations at 2.8%
🔸April PPI +2.4% y/y (vs 2.5% est, 3.4% prior); Core PPI +3.1% (vs 4% prior)
🔸Coinbase to join S&P 500
🔸FTX to distribute over $5B to creditors in second round on May 30, 2025
🔸Moody’s downgrades U.S. credit rating for first time ever
🔸@Mantle_Official Yapperboard Challenge Phase 2 is live (May 6–June 4), with 50,000 $MNT up for grabs for the top 50 content creators
🔸@mETHProtocol Join Season 3: Methamorphosis by June 10 for a shot at $1,500 and the exclusive “Restaking Alchemist” role!
🔸@SpheronFDN $SPON Road to TGE is LIVE on @Galxe
📰 News
•MicroStrategy buys 13,390 BTC for $1.34B at ~$99.9K avg (May 5–11)
•Metaplanet Acquires Additional 1,241 $BTC
•David Bailey’s Nakamoto raises $710M, merges with KindlyMD to form Bitcoin Treasury
•American Bitcoin, supported by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, will go public through an all-stock merger with Gryphon Digital Mining
•Jack Mallers' Twenty One Capital buys 4,812 BTC for $458M
•JPM settles first tokenized treasuries trade on Ondo public ledger
•UK’s Coinsilium Group raises £1.25M for Bitcoin treasury strategy
•CoinMarketCap launches CMC Launch, a Pre-TGE project platform
•Mastercard teams up with MoonPay to launch stablecoin cards
•Sonic Labs wins court order to liquidate Multichain Foundation over $210M exploit
•Coinbase estimates $180–$400M in losses from today's cyber attack
•SEC is investigating if Coinbase misstated user numbers before and after its 2021 IPO
•Abu Dhabi's Sovereign Fund invests $408M in BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF
•Meliuz buys $28.4M in Bitcoin, becoming Brazil’s first BTC treasury firm
•Basel Medical Group plans to acquire $1B in Bitcoin
📖 Narratives
•@DeFi_Cheetah - the Fastest EVM L1 Ever Built: @monad_xyz
•@virtuals_io - Monthly Update April 2025
•@Mr_Gorilla_eth - @OstiumLabs is emerging as the on-chain PerpDEX challenger, bringing $SPX500 and RWAs to Arbitrum
•@Prateek0x_ - @launchcoin @believeapp coins meta
•@hmalviya9 - Internet Capital Markets
•@eli5_defi - The Intelligence Layer Powering the Agentic AI Economy: @arbusai
•@RayDalio - The Art of the Deals and the Forces Behind Them
•@kenodnb - Solving Rollup Fragmentation and Unlocking True Ethereum Interoperability: @Calderaxyz
•@sandraaleow - The Kaito Effect
•@NousResearch - Psyche: An Open Infrastructure that Democratizes AI Development
•@FireblocksHQ - State of Stablecoins 2025
•@Shoalresearch - @fragmetric: Unlocking Composable Restaking with Solana’s Token-2022 Standard
•@DeFiMinty - Toolbox for the Trenches
•@cbventures - The Rise of Onchain AI: Agents, Apps, and Commerce
•@Citrini7 - Humanoid Robots
💰 Crypto Fundraising
Blockchain Service
•@CodeAntAI - 2m Seed led by @ycombinator Uncorrelated Ventures VitalStage Ventures
•@go_quant - 4m Seed led by @GSR_io
•@SquadsProtocol - $TBD Strategic investment from @HaunVentures
•@KYDLabs - 7m Seed led by @a16zcrypto
•@gizatechxyz - 5.2m
•@xpticket - 6.2m Seed led by @BlockchangeVC
•@TrendX_official - 5.2m Strategic
•@hedra_labs - 32m Series A led by @a16zcrypto
Blockchain Infrastructure
•@SpaceComputerIO - $TBD Pre-Seed led by @primitivecrypto
•@nirvanalabsai - 6m Extended Seed led by @jump_ @CrucibleCap
DeFi
•@turtleclubhouse - 6.2m Seed led by @TheiaResearch
•@perpltrade - 9.25m led by @dragonfly_xyz @ErgoniaTrading
•@xsy_fi - 5m Pre-Series A led by @borderless_cap @ProtagonistXYZ
Chain
•@SonicLabs - 10m Strategic led by @galaxyhq
•@TREX_chain - 17m
NFT
•@TakerProtocol - $TBD Strategic investment from @071_labs
Social
•@UXLINKofficial - $TBD Strategic investment from @animocabrands
GameFi
•@doubleup_app - 4m Seed led by @Karatage_
CeFi
•@Securitize - $TBD Strategic led by @jump_
Curated by＠cchungccc
About Sharding Capital
Sharding Capital is an early-stage web3-native VC firm based in the UAE, aiming to supporting aspiring founders from day one. Veteran GPs hence hands-on post investment support and strong roots in the Middle Eastern and Asian crypto market.
About Shard Labs
A crypto native marketing firm. Shard is a marketing powerhouse driving global traction with innovative narratives for web3. We help build narratives and craft masterful multilingual campaigns for EN, CN, KR, and JP markets. With our marketing expertise and KOL network, we strive for local impact, global growth and sustainability for our portfolio.
About Shard Dubai
A premier web3 event in MENA. We connect promising builders with industry leaders, explore emerging narratives, and witness the future of web3 while building a strong community in the Middle East.
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