Blockchain research startup Four Pillars snags $527k investment

NEAR Foundation and Dongdaemun District of Seoul Forge MOU to Boost Web3 IndustryThe NEAR Foundation, the organization behind blockchain network NEAR Protocol, announced today its memorandum of understanding (MOU) agreement with Dongdaemun District of Seoul, the South Korean capital, to promote the Web3 industry.Photo by Farrel Nobel on UnsplashMutual support and growthIn this collaborative partnership, both parties aim to establish a framework that fosters mutual support, growth, and development. Their joint efforts will encompass initiatives such as streamlining administrative processes, introducing tax benefits, implementing talent incubation programs, and creating communication channels to ensure a seamless workflow.One-stop administrative hubProjects entering the NEAR ecosystem will have access to a convenient one-stop administrative hub responsible for regulatory approvals. They will also benefit from local tax exemptions for a specific period and receive a dedicated workspace for project operation and development. These supportive measures are anticipated to play a significant role in facilitating their entry into the Web3 sector.NEAR Protocol stands out as a layer-1 blockchain that lowers the barriers to Web3 adoption. This is achieved through its FastAuth feature, which enables users to effortlessly create accounts for any website or application that integrates with the Blockchain Operating System (BOS). BOS is a solution that enables developers to build on any blockchain using familiar programming languages.Business and job opportunitiesLee Pil-hyeong, Head of Dongdaemun District, expressed his enthusiasm for the partnership with the NEAR Foundation, highlighting its potential to offer innovative business opportunities to the younger generation in the district. He emphasized Dongdaemun’s commitment to consistently creating jobs and delivering job support programs.Use cases in public-private sectorsMarieke Flament, CEO of the NEAR Foundation, shared a similar sentiment, expressing her excitement about the chance to nurture the Web3 industry in South Korea, a country renowned for its world-class talent pool. She outlined NEAR’s plans to offer education and support with the goal of cultivating a sustainable ecosystem. Flament believes that NEAR’s collaboration with Dongdaemun will lead to the discovery of valuable use cases in areas where the public and private sectors collaborate.

Turkey has decided not to tax profits from stocks and cryptocurrencies but is considering implementing a “very limited” tax on transactions, according to Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek. In a recent interview in Ankara, Şimşek stated the government's intention to ensure every financial sector contributes to the national revenue without specifying the size of the potential tax. He emphasized that the approach aims to enhance fairness and effectiveness in the taxation system. Historically, in 2008, Turkey lowered its tax rate on stock market profits from 10% to 0%, promoting investment in the stock market. Despite earlier reports from Bloomberg suggesting new taxes on gains from stock and cryptocurrency trading, the government has clarified its position to only consider transactional taxes.Photo by Engin Yapici on UnsplashCrypto tax regulationsCurrently, Turkey lacks specific regulations for taxing cryptocurrencies but is actively working to establish a comprehensive legal framework for digital assets. A bill introduced by Turkey’s ruling party on May 16 mandates crypto businesses to obtain licenses and adhere to international standards. This includes regulation by capital markets boards and mandatory revenue collection from crypto service providers. The bill also aims to ban foreign crypto brokers, fostering a locally regulated ecosystem and addressing concerns from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to remove Turkey from its "gray list." According to a report by Chainalysis, a blockchain analytics firm, Turkey ranks fourth globally in cryptocurrency market activity, with an estimated trading volume of $170 billion between July 2022 and June 2023, surpassing countries like Russia, Canada and Germany. Since 2021, Turkish regulations have prohibited the use of cryptocurrencies for payments, reflecting a cautious approach towards the integration of digital assets into the financial system.   

Singapore-based decentralized liquidity infrastructure and on-chain funding project Solv Protocol has raised $11 million in funding, bringing its total inward investment to date to $25 million. Taking to Medium on Oct. 14, the project outlined that in this most recent funding round, $11 million had been raised with participation from Nomura subsidiary Laser Digital, Blockchain Capital, gumi Cryptos Capital, OKX Ventures and CMT Digital. Angel investors associated with a number of blockchain projects such as Berachain, Ethena, Mezo, Core, GMX, Curve and EigenLayer also invested. $200 million valuationThis latest funding round was carried out while placing a $200 million valuation on the company. Going forward, the company plans to roll out additional products over the course of the next few weeks, with a view towards further expanding yield opportunities for Bitcoin (BTC) holders. Solv Protocol’s leading product, SolvBTC, was introduced to the market last March as the world’s first-ever yield-bearing Bitcoin. The protocol initially ran on Ethereum, Arbitrum, BNB Chain and Merlin Chain. Since launch, it has been expanded across 10 blockchain networks. The product claims to enable BTC holders to earn additional BTC all the while maintaining Bitcoin exposure. In excess of 20,000 BTC is currently staked within Solv Protocol’s SolvBTC product, accounting for around $1.3 billion in value. The project claims to have 400,000 users, with 80% of their assets allocated to yield-generating strategies.Photo by Traxer on UnsplashMarket opportunitySolv Protocol’s Co-Founder Ryan Chow spoke to the market opportunity that Bitcoin staking presents. Chow stated: “With a market cap of over $1.2 trillion, Bitcoin holds immense growth potential, Bitcoin’s staking rate is currently much lower than Ethereum’s 28%. If we can unlock similar levels of participation, Bitcoin staking could unlock $330 billion in value. We believe BTCFi will drive the next wave of innovation in the blockchain space.” In a series of X posts published on Oct. 14, the project pointed out that the lack of a native yield, limited integrations with core DeFi primitives and fragmented BTC liquidity relative to DeFi are key challenges for Bitcoin, which Solv claims to have resolved. Staking Abstraction Layer (SAL)Earlier this month, Solv, alongside BNB Chain, Ceffu and Chainlink, launched the Staking Abstraction Layer (SAL). SAL is a framework which has been designed to simplify and standardize Bitcoin staking across a number of blockchain networks. Key SAL features include cross-chain compatibility with Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible chains, support for liquidity staking tokens (LSTs) and a focus on security and custody with the involvement of crypto custodian Ceffu deemed to ensure that the user’s underlying Bitcoin is secure. Solv has launched three LSTs. These include SolvBTC.BBN, an LST representing staked Bitcoin on Babylon, another Bitcoin staking platform. SolvBTC.ENA is a trading strategy involving Ethena’s basis trading. Meanwhile, SolvBTC.CORE focuses on providing Bitcoin liquidity on CoreDAO, a Bitcoin-aligned EVM-compatible layer-1 blockchain. Bitcoin staking is a more recent development which appears to have considerable potential. As Solv pointed out on X, Ethereum has a 28% staking rate right now, with Bitcoin not coming anywhere close to this figure. Staking platforms on Ethereum like Lido has $23.7 billion in total value locked (TVL) while EigenLayer weighs in at $10.9 billion.