Hello 
Welcome to the 55th edition of Sfermion’s Collider where we highlight the latest & greatest news in the world of crypto, gaming & entertainment, consumer trends, AI, macro, and more!
Bi-weekly, we aim to drop a curated list of the most exciting stories & updates that we believe are enabling the future of tech and the emergence of the metaverse. This edition covers the first 3 weeks of March 2025.
If you're looking forward to reading this edition of Sfermion’s Collider, please don't forget to subscribe below, share within your network, and follow Sfermion on Twitter to get the latest!
Crypto Updates
Trump Slated to Host Crypto Summit at the White House (link)
U.S. Senate Votes to Overturn Controversial Crypto Tax Reporting Rule (link)
Senate Banking Committee Advances Stablecoin Bill with Bipartisan Support (link)
Trump Says Crypto Reserve Will Hold XRP, Solana, Cardano—And 'Obviously' Bitcoin and Ethereum (link)
Trump Administration Plans IRS Abolition, Proposes Tariff-Funded External Revenue (link)
Trump Administration Pushes for Crypto-Friendly Banking Regulations via OCC (link)
SEC Approves First Yield-Bearing Stablecoin (link)
Sen. Lummis Reintroduces Bitcoin Act to Expand BTC Reserve Holdings (link)
Strategy Raises $21B for Bitcoin Investment (link)
Kraken to Acquire NinjaTrader for $1.5B (link)
MoonPay Acquires Stablecoin Infrastructure Firm Iron in $100M+ Deal (link)
Coinbase Acquires Iron Fish Team to Boost Privacy on Base (link)
Ripple Grants $50M to Nonprofit Aiming to Raise U.S. Crypto Awareness (link)
Coinbase Plans U.S. Market Leap With Tokenized Securities Initiative (link)
Trump-Backed World Liberty Financial Completes $550M Public Token Sale (link)
Solv (
) Raises $10M to Drive Institutional Adoption of Bitcoin Reserve Offerings (link)
Raydium is launching its own version of pump.fun, called LaunchLab (link)
Offchain Labs announces Onchain Labs: Accelerating the App Layer of Arbitrum (link)
Starknet Explores Bitcoin Scaling with New Layer2 to Unify BTC and ETH (link)
Plume and Goldfinch Partner to Expand Onchain Access to Private Credit Funds from Apollo, Ares, Golub, KKR, and More (link)
Nasdaq Joins Exchanges Seeking to Offer Bitcoin ETFs (link)
Coinbase Secures Regulatory Approval in India (link)
Solana Retracts Video Ad Amid Backlash from Crypto Community (link)
South Korea’s Central Bank Rules Out Bitcoin Reserve Possibility (link)
Hollywood Filmmaker Arrested, Charged in Alleged $11M Fraud to Trade Cryptocurrencies (link)
Snoop Dogg Says He’s Ditching Spotify for Web3 Platform Tune.FM (link)
World.org Introduces "World Chat" for Money Transfers Between Real Humans (link)
Gaming Updates
Niantic (Pokémon GO) Finalizes $3.5B Acquisition Deal by Scopely (link)
AppLovin Sells Games Business for $500M in Cash and $400M in Shares (link)
Counter-Strike 2 Skin Market Cap Hits $4.3B (link)
RuneScape Surpasses $2B in Lifetime Revenue (link)
Pokémon GO Has 20M Weekly Active Players Nearly Nine Years After Launch (link)
Skillz Announces $75M Developer Accelerator for Skill-Based Mobile Games (link)
Atari Partners with B3 () to Bring Pong to Blockchain (link)
Soneium and LINE MINI App partner to 4 mini-apps on-chain: Sleepagotchi (), Farm Frens (), Moonveil Pocket Mob (link)
LEGO Is Building an In-House Video Game Development Team (link)
Discord Launches SDK to Power Social Infrastructure and Communications for Games (link)
Roblox Releases Its Open-Source Model That Can Create 3D Objects Using AI (link)
World ID Expands Verification Into Gaming (link)
Arbitrum and Karrat Foundation Reveal Studio Chain (link)
AI Updates
TSMC Poised to Announce $100B Investment in US Plants (link)
OpenAI Invests $12B in CoreWeave in Strategic Move Against Microsoft (link)
SoftBank to Acquire Chip Designer Ampere in $6.5B Deal (link)
ServiceNow Buys AI Agent Company Moveworks for $2.85B (link)
CoreWeave Acquires AI Developer Platform Weights & Biases for $1.7B (link)
Cognition AI Hits $4B Valuation (link)
Turing, a Key Coding Provider for OpenAI and Other LLM Producers, Raises $111M at a $2.2B Valuation (link)
Perplexity Launches $50M Seed and Pre-Seed VC Fund (link)
Anthropic Co-Founders Become Billionaires After Massive Funding Round (link)
Google Co-Founder Larry Page Reportedly Has a New AI Startup - Dynatomics (link)
Eric Schmidt Joins Relativity Space as CEO (link)
Meta Begins Testing Its First In-House AI Training Chip (link)
Taco Bell Taps Nvidia AI for Drive-Thru Orders (link)
Other Updates
Trump Secures Over $1.7T in U.S. Investments in Six Weeks, Including TSMC’s $100B (link)
Elon Musk's DOGE Finds 14 'Magic Money Computers' Generating Trillions in U.S. Government (link)
Supreme Court Denies Trump’s Request to Cancel USAID Payments (link)
IRS to Cut Jobs Amid Restructuring Efforts (link)
CK Hutchison Sells Panama Ports to BlackRock Amid Trump Pressure, deal worth $19B+ (link)
Walgreens to Go Private in $10B Deal with Sycamore Partners (link)
Bill Chisholm Group Reaches $6.1 Billion Deal to Buy Boston Celtics (link)
Drone Defense Startup Shield AI Lands $5.3B Valuation (link)
Prada Moving Closer to $1.6B Deal for Versace (link)
PepsiCo Nears $1.5B+ Deal for Soda Brand Poppi (link)
Robinhood Launches Prediction Market with March Madness, Fed Rates as First Offerings (link)
Alexis Ohanian & Kevin Rose Team Up to Buy and Revive Digg (link)
SpaceX’s Starlink Factory in Texas Produces 15,000 Dishes Per Day (link)
Starlink and Verizon Secure FAA Contract for Critical Communications (link)
Meta’s Community Notes to Use Open-Source Tech from Elon Musk’s X (link)
Asana CEO Dustin Moskovitz Announces Retirement, Stock Drops 25% (link)
Microsoft Hangs Up on Skype, Service to Shut Down May 5, 2025 (link)
Wind and Solar Overtake Coal Power for the First Time in the U.S. (link)
Johns Hopkins Plans Staff Layoffs After $800M Grant Cuts (link)
Harvard to Cover Full Tuition for Families Making Under $200K (link)
Starbucks Faces $50M Lawsuit Over Hot Tea Burns (link)
Disney Announces Layoffs at ABC News, Affecting 538 Employees (link)
Research & Interesting Reads
a16z crypto | Defining Tokens: A Framework for Understanding Crypto Assets (link)
Dragonfly | Dragonfly’s State of Airdrops Report 2025 (link)
Binance | Where Are Our Airdrops Going? (link)
Forbes | Why Everyone is Wrong About Stablecoins (link)
Multicoin | Jito Asset Report: Analyzing On-Chain Yield Strategies (link)
Konvoy | Agentic Advertising: How AI is Transforming AdTech (link)
Arthur Hayes | Kiss of Death: A Deep Dive Into the Risks Facing Crypto Markets (link)
Nick Metzler | A Fork in the Road for Web3 Gaming (link)
WolvesDAO | Why Does Crypto Gaming Feel Stuck? (link)
NFT Drops & Updates
Taproot Wizards Launches Public Auction for Bitcoin Ordinals Project (link)
SEC Investigation Into Yuga Labs Dropped (link)
DraftKings Agrees to Settle NFT Lawsuit for $10M (link)
Notable Raises
Crypto Fundraising Landscape in 2024: Key Insights and Trends (link)
Amazon-Backed AI Firm Anthropic Valued at $61.5B After Latest Round (link)
MGX Backs Binance in Landmark $2B Investment, Largest Investment Ever in Stablecoins (link)
Austin VC Firm, 8VC, Raises Nearly $1B Fund (link)
Early Solana Backer Foundation Capital Raises New $600M Fund (link)
BlockTower Crypto VC Spins Out Strobe Ventures with $100M Fund (link)
Arcadia Gaming Advisors Launches $100M Fund for Mobile Game Companies (link)
Rex Woodbury’s Daybreak Ventures Unveils $33M First Fund (link)
Walrus Foundation Raises $140M to Bolster the Decentralized Data Storage Protocol Walrus (link)
Mesh Secures $82M in Series B to Build First Global Crypto Payments Network (link)
Flowdesk () Secures $52M Series B Extension to Accelerate Expansion Plans (link)
AI Firm Uthana Secures $43M to Revolutionize 3D Character Animation with Generative AI (link)
$41M Token Round for Across Protocol Led by Paradigm To Streamline Ethereum Connectivity (link)
Redotpay Raises $40M to Build Borderless Payment Ecosystem Bridging Crypto and Fiat (link)
Axelar Foundation discloses $30M in AXL token sales as it expands interoperability protocol (link)
DoubleZero Foundation, a startup building a “new internet” to improve blockchain performance, raised $28M at a $400M valuation, led by Dragonfly and Multicoin (link)
Workflow Protocol Developer Halliday Bags $20M Series A Led by a16z Crypto (link)
Utila Secures $18M Series A Funding to Power Institutional Digital Asset Operations (link)
Junction Lands $18M for Tech to Enable Decentralized Healthcare (link)
Slingshot DAO (), a Roblox AI Game Launcher, Raises $16M from Prominent Industry Players (link)
Infrared Raises $16M to Roll Out First Liquidity Staking Protocol on Berachain (link)
Prime Intellect Raises $15M, Led by Founders Fund, to Build a Peer-to-Peer AI Protocol (link)
Wallet Infrastructure Provider Privy Raises $15M to Develop Crypto Onboarding Rails (link)
Validation Cloud Raises $15M Series A to Bring Data & AI to Web3 (link)
Lingopal AI Raises $14M Series A for Speech-to-Speech Translation Platform (link)
Pragma Raises $12.75M for Backend Game Engine for Live Services Games (link)
Orochi Network Secures $12M Funding, Aims to Displace Traditional Oracles for Data Integrity (link
Peer Raises $10.5M for Metaverse Engine, Launches 3D Personal Planets (link)
Gamebeast brand updates to Ephyra and completes $10.5M Series A funding round (link)
Onyx Raises $10M to Help Teams Find Knowledge Faster with Open-Source AI Agents (link)
August Secures $10M in Series A Funding to Expand On-Chain Finance (link)
Decentralized AI startup Pluralis raises $7.6M in funding, led by CoinFund and Union Square Ventures (link)
Yeet Raises $7M for Crypto Casino (link)
Seismic, an encrypted blockchain, raises $7M in round led by a16z Crypto (link)
Uranium Digital Raises $6.1M to Speed Debut of Crypto-Powered Spot Market (link)
PoPP has completed a $6M financing round, bringing the total financing to $12 million (link)
Fastlane Labs Raises $6M for First Holistic Liquid Staking Token on Monad (link)
Blockchain Platform Acki Nacki Secures $6M in Funding (link)
Aura Raises $5.5M Seed Round to Accelerate AI Model Validation and Rental Marketplace (link)
Opinion Labs, a Prediction Markets Platform, Secures $5M Seed Round Led by YZi Labs (link)
Hibachi, decentralized trading protocol, raised $5M in a Seed funding round by Electric Capital & Dragonfly (link)
MYX Finance completes $5M strategic round of financing for derivatives trading agreement, with participation from FL Foundation and others (link)
Vest Raises $5M from Wall Street to Build the Universal Risk Engine (link)
Galaxis Lands $5M Led by Bolts Capital (link)
Reality Games Raises $4.7M for Location-Based Monopoly World (link)
Templar Protocol Secures $4M for Decentralized Bitcoin Lending (link)
Stable Sea exits stealth, raising $3.5M (link)
Web3 game developer M10 raises $3M in seed funding (link)
Rakurai Raises $3M for Solana Staking Infrastructure Project (link)
Arda Raises $3M Pre-Seed to Build Real Estate’s Operating System, Led by Ex-Goldman MD & JPMorgan Crypto Head (link)
Level Expands Its Yield-Bearing Stablecoin LVLUSD with Fresh $2.8M Raise Led by Dragonfly Capital (link)
FortyTwo Secures $2.3M in Pre-Seed Funding Led by Big Brain Holdings (link)
Auto Legends () Adds $1M to Its Funding Round in Coinbase Ventures Deal (link)
Mo & Andrew's Curated
Macro
Stock market returns are not as impressive as many had hoped.
4,935
We will look back on March 2025 and say, how was everyone not buying.
It was so obvious.
President's Council of Advisers on Digital Assets: "We want as much Bitcoin as we can get."
Crypto
The Reserve will be capitalized with Bitcoin owned by the federal government that was forfeited as part of criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings. This means it
1) Dramatically reduces the likelihood the US government will some day "ban" bitcoin;
2) Dramatically increases the likelihood that other nations will establish strategic bitcoin reserves;
3) Accelerates the speed at which other nations
The Reserve will be capitalized with Bitcoin owned by the federal government that was forfeited as part of criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings. This means it
At current prices, that's a 3,250x.
Solana was one of my first ever pitches as a junior VC, and back then I wrote memos for every deal I passed on (adorably naive and overconfident).
Re-reading this memo now is peak
US TREASURY SECRETARY JUST SAID THEY WILL DISCUSS HOW TO BUY MORE #BITCOIN AT TODAY’S SUMMIT 
IT’S HAPPENING!!!
As he said in this interview, FTX/Alameda would have ~$93B in assets if they had held their portfolio. The bankruptcy lawyers bottom
Coinbase Ventures is excited to launch the Base Ecosystem Group on @echodotxyz to support @Base builders. Like us, Echo believes in democratizing access to investing—so more people can back groundbreaking startups.
Why it matters
TLDR: w/ the new admin, crypto rails will be the home to stocks, commodities, private company shares, prediction markets, memes, RWAs -> cross- composable and available 24/7
The
My crypto career started at Coinbase in 2014, where I was lucky to work alongside a talented, mission-driven team and had a hand in scaling a small startup into a global leader. After five years at Coinbase, I transitioned into venture, first at Polychain and
Plummeting $350,000,000,000 in 24 hours
Timestamps:
0:00 – Introduction
1:06 – The intersection of AI x crypto
3:37 – New startups and models for creators
9:19 – A new economic covenant for the internet
14:37 –
1. mcaps are a meme.
2. Decentralization doesnt matter, until it does.
3. Immutability doesnt matter, until it does.
AI
I have a few friends with computer science degrees. Yesterday I asked them how they use AI. One said he uses ChatGPT “a little bit.” The others criticized AI and basically were in denial of
Announcing @robotsdotfun - a Launchpad of Robotics AI Agents built by @frodobots, powered by @virtuals_io & ruled by @SamIsMovingA thread
- 1/4
build a game using ai. submit it on bsmnt. win up to $5,000
we'll be hosting a series of workshops with amazing partners such as @atari @Farcade_AI @base, & @thirdweb to help devs and gamers build, improve & amplify their ai games.
NFTs
today we’re announcing the Taproot Wizards mint
2 years ago 2,121 Taproot Wizards brought magic back to bitcoin, and on March 25th, one of them could be yours.
read below for all the details
I'm pumped to see these Megas join Adam's already legendary collection.
Gaming
Yep, things are out of hand now. More than a million POGs across 100+ countries
No POG yet? Seriously? Mint already and autosave your legacy:
play.kgen.io/pog
Feels like wasted time. I don’t see web3 gaming happening anytime soon. I do believe social casino games will work. But otherwise nah.
I’ve been here for a lonnnggg time
A High-Signal Guide for Serious Web3 Builders
• Unlock hard-earned lessons from the rise of Axie, Pixels, and others
• Applications accepted on a rolling basis
• Created in collaboration with @crescendoweb3
Get the Playbook
:
FIFA Rivals takes over this summer, watch the trailer now! #FIFARivals
Magnus Carlsen is stepping into Web3 - LIVE in 24 hours!The GOAT, @MagnusCarlsen, enters the magical battlefield of Anichess. But who dares to stand in his way?
GM @hansenchess
@ysiu - Co-founder & CEO @animocabrands
@LucaNetz - CEO @PudgypenguinsSpells.
Other
I'm officially now one of the people trying to buy TikTok US — and bring it on-chain.
TikTok has been a game-changer for creators, and it's future should be built by them↓
E.g. 99% of libraries still have docs that basically render to some pretty .html static pages assuming a human will click through them.
- 5 days a week, 3 hours per day
- Streamed live on 𝕏
- Multiple guest call-ins per show
- Presented by @tryramp
Here’s a vibe reel.
A portion of every American's paycheck is deposited into the Social Security trust fund (OASI), which is then invested to create returns that aim to support long-term retirement payments.
Since 1941, OASI has ONLY invested in US treasuries, averaging
If the world’s most patient and calculated investor is getting out…what do you think happens next?
= Sfermion Portfolio Company
Curated by @mopat1214 + @AndrewSteinwold
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Sfermion does not offer investment advice/analysis and makes no recommendations on how to act. Information regarding any company or investment in this Newsletter, including any links to information on our website, should not be viewed as an endorsement or recommendation of that company or investment for any purpose whatsoever. Any person receiving this Newsletter is encouraged to consult with their own financial advisor, or relevant personnel, before making any investment decision.