Pal.tech hype grows, Twister Money founders go for a spin and FBI’s monitoring North Korean hackers

Welcome again to Chain Response.

To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s greatest and most essential crypto tales delivered to your inbox each Thursday at 12 p.m. PT, subscribe right here. Observe me on Twitter @Jacqmelinek for breaking crypto information, memes and extra.

In the event you haven’t heard about pal.tech this week, you’re in all probability dwelling below a rock. However that’s okay, we dove deep into the hype and checked out what skeptics are fearful about for the brand new utility.

There was additionally numerous discuss round Twister Money as the 2 founders behind the crypto mixer have been charged on Wednesday by U.S. federal companies. Particulars on that and extra under.

This week in web3

1. Two founders behind crypto mixer Twister Money charged by U.S. federal courts
2. FBI says North Korean hackers making ready to money out after high-profile crypto hacks
3. Pal.tech hype is skyrocketing, however will it truly attain the celebrities?
4. Solana Pay integrates plug-in with Shopify for USDC funds
5. Checkout.com cuts ties with Binance, which is mulling authorized motion in response

The most recent pod

For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Erik Svenson, co-founder, president and chief monetary officer at Blockstream, a bitcoin and blockchain-focused infrastructure agency.

The corporate was based in 2014 and has its personal sidechain expertise, Liquid Community, in addition to bitcoin mining operations and {hardware} wallets for Bitcoin and different property. It most just lately raised $125 million in January and has raised greater than $400 million up to now.

Erik beforehand labored on Wall Road as a VP for AIG investments and was a co-founder and guide of different startups. The final startup he co-founded earlier than Blockstream was Dan’s Plan, a well being tech firm.

We mentioned how the present macroenvironment is impacting Bitcoin-focused companies and the place Erik sees probably the most alternatives for startups as we speak.

We additionally talked about:

• Blockstream’s mining operations
• Surviving a bear market
• Transitioning from TradFi to crypto
• Recommendation for startups

Subscribe to Chain Response on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favourite pod platform to maintain up with the newest episodes, and please depart us a assessment should you like what you hear!

Observe the cash

1. Crypto lender Maple Finance raises $5 million to enter Asia amid regulatory readability
2. Vessel Capital emerges from stealth with $55 million fund centered on web3 infrastructure and apps
3. Berlin-based Anytype raises $13.4 million for its open sourced instrument
4. Nodal Energy raises $13 million to make use of landfill to energy bitcoin mining facilities
5. Decentralized credit score protocol PADO Labs raises $3 million in a seed spherical

This record was compiled with data from Messari in addition to TechCrunch’s personal reporting.

What else we’re writing

Wish to department out from the world of web3? Listed below are some articles on TechCrunch that caught our consideration this week.

1. Nvidia’s Q2 earnings show it’s the massive winner within the generative AI increase
2. 5 developments in VC funding for pre-seed startups (TC+)
3. Power technical debt could possibly be holding your organization again (TC+)
4. The late-stage enterprise market is crumbling (TC+)
5. Introducing the Startup Battlefield 200 corporations at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023