Cointime

Download App
iOS & Android

Crypto Evening Briefing: Crypto Startups Raise Approx $52 Million in the Past Week

Cointime Official

Top Stories

Liechtenstein Considers Enabling Bitcoin Payments for Government Services

The government of Liechtenstein is exploring the use of Bitcoin and considering enabling its citizens to pay for government services with the cryptocurrency, according to Prime Minister Daniel Risch. Among the possible uses of Bitcoin is enabling citizens to make deposits in Bitcoin and immediately exchange them for the national currency of Liechtenstein, the Swiss franc.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong Heads To UAE For Strategic Developments

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and VP of International & Business Development Nana Murugesan are in the UAE for strategic developments in the region, seeking to establish the country as a hub for Coinbase. The company is working with Abu Dhabi Global Market regulators for licensing and availability for Coinbase International Exchange after launching the derivatives exchange in Bermuda last week. 

Pepecoin Drops Nearly 50% From Highs as Traders Likely Taking Profits for Ether

Pepecoin (PEPE) has seen a significant drop of nearly 45% after hitting a peak of $0.00000431 on Friday with a market capitalization of $1.8 billion. This drop is likely due to traders taking profits on their positions or using advanced trading strategies following the introduction of pepe-tracked futures.

BRC-20 Meme Coin Craze Overwhelms Bitcoin Network, Minting Fees Reach Record High

Meme coins are shifting to the BRC-20 standard, taking over the Bitcoin network as Ethereum faces congestion from new tokens. Daily minting fees on BRC-20 reached a record high of 247 BTC on May 7, and the total fee for these Bitcoin Ordinals was 641 BTC. BRC-20 tokens have a market cap of $541 million, with 14,079 tokens, many of which are meme coins.

Ripple CEO Reveals $200 Million Spent Defending SEC Case

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse revealed that the company has spent $200 million defending itself against the lawsuit brought by the SEC. He expressed regret about the US falling behind in crypto regulation compared to the UAE and Europe.

Market Watch 

As of press time, according to Cointime data:

BTC 's live price is $27,948.55 USD, dropped by 3.48% in the last 24 hours;

ETH’s live price is $1,867.03 USD, dropped by 2.50% in the last 24 hours;

BNB’s live price is $317.55 USD, dropped by 2.15% in the last 24 hours;

XRP's live price is $0.4370 USD, dropped by 4.90% in the last 24 hours.

Fundraising News

Webb Protocol Raises $7 Million for Privacy-Focused Cross-Blockchain Asset Transfers

Webb Protocol, the creator of zero-knowledge infrastructure for private cross-blockchain asset transfers, has raised $7 million in a seed funding round led by Polychain Capital and Lemniscap. The funding will be used to expand the team and develop new privacy-focused tools. 

Hong Kong NFT Firm Artifact Labs Raises US$3.25 Mln in Seed Round

Artifact Labs, a Hong Kong-based non-fungible token (NFT) company, has raised $3.25 million in its seed financing round led by Blue Pool Capital and Animoca Ventures. The company, which is a spinoff of Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post, plans to use the funds to expand operations and increase its technical headcount. 

Crypto Startups Raise Approx $52 Million in the Past Week

Last week, crypto startups raised approximately $52 million, with Fedi raising $17 million and zkLink raising $10 million. Fedi is a developer of financial data technology that allows users to create federations for payments between friends and family using Bitcoin.

Siphon Lab Has Successfully Closed a $1.2M Seed Round Fundraising

Crypto DeFi startup Siphon Lab has recently closed a successful $1.2 million fundraising seed round ahead of its beta launch. The funding was led by Kima Ventures, with participation from Waveline Capital, BT Growth Capital, Uno Ventures, Quidnet Ventures, and Mava Ventures, among other notable angel investors in the web3 and web2 industry. The seed round funding will be used to accelerate Siphon’s development, expand its team and scale its operations to meet the increasing demand for its services.

Comments

All Comments

Recommended for you

  • A Total of 37,212.18 DMD Permanently Burned Over the Past 7 Days

    July 9, 2026 — According to the latest on-chain data released by DMDAO, a total of 37,212.18 DMD has been permanently burned over the past seven calendar days through the protocol's predefined trading and wealth management burn mechanisms.

  • Whale Transfers 1,133 BTC to Coinbase Prime, Valued at $71.48 Million

    According to Onchain Lens monitoring, a whale transferred 1,133 BTC from Coinbase to Coinbase Prime through an intermediary wallet, valued at $71.48 million.

  • U.S. AI Chip Stocks Decline Before Market Open, Intel Falls Over 3%

    On July 7, U.S. AI chip stocks experienced widespread declines before the market opened. Intel dropped over 3%, while AMD, Qualcomm, and NXP fell more than 2%. TSMC, Broadcom, and Tesla decreased by over 1%, and NVIDIA declined by 0.7%.

  • China's Central Bank Increases Gold Reserves for the 20th Consecutive Month

    As of the end of June, China's gold reserves stood at 75.44 million ounces (approximately 2,346.446 tons), an increase of 480,000 ounces (about 14.93 tons) from the end of May, which reported 74.96 million ounces (approximately 2,331.52 tons). This marks the 20th consecutive month of gold accumulation.

  • China's Foreign Exchange Reserves in June at $341.6262 Billion

    On July 7, China's foreign exchange reserves for June stood at $341.6262 billion, a decrease of $26 billion from the end of May, representing a decline of 0.75%, with expectations set at $343.2 billion.

  • U.S. Storage Stocks Drop Pre-Market, SanDisk and Micron Down Over 4%

    On July 7, U.S. storage concept stocks collectively fell in pre-market trading. Western Digital dropped over 5%, SanDisk and Micron Technology fell over 4%, Seagate Technology declined over 3%, Rambus fell over 2%, and SMI fell over 1%.

  • U.S. Stocks in Optical Communication Sector Drop Pre-Market

    On July 7, stocks in the optical communication sector of the U.S. market collectively fell pre-market. Astera Labs dropped over 4%, while Marvell Technology, Credo Technology, and AXT Inc. fell more than 3%. Tower Semiconductor, MaxLinear, Corning, Applied Optoelectronics, GlobalFoundries, Lumentum, and Qorvo all declined by more than 2%. Coherent, Nokia, Amphenol, and Broadcom dropped over 1%.

  • Pre-market Decline in U.S. Storage Stocks

    In pre-market trading, U.S. storage concept stocks experienced a widespread decline, with Micron Technology falling by 4.8%, SanDisk dropping over 4%, Corning down more than 2%, and Intel decreasing by over 3%.

  • Two Departments: Support for Reinsurance Institutions to Increase Capital and Issue Supplementary Capital Tools

    On July 7, the National Financial Supervision and Administration Bureau and the Shanghai Municipal Government released several measures to accelerate the construction of the Shanghai International Reinsurance Center. Among these measures, they proposed to enhance the quality and efficiency of the reinsurance industry, support reinsurance institutions in increasing capital and expanding shares, and issuing supplementary capital tools to improve the capacity for internal capital accumulation and external capital supplementation, thereby strengthening the reinsurance industry's capabilities. The initiative aims to guide the insurance industry to focus on major national projects, strategic emerging industries, and livelihood security, consolidating insurance and reinsurance underwriting capabilities to enhance risk protection levels. It also supports reinsurance institutions in leveraging their professional technical advantages to assist the insurance industry in reducing risk.

  • Sources: Saudi Arabia Plans to Expand Oil Pipeline to Red Sea, Increasing Capacity by 2 Million Barrels Daily to Bypass Strait of Hormuz

    On July 7, five informed sources revealed that Saudi Arabia is considering expanding the crude oil pipeline capacity to its western coast on the Red Sea, allowing Saudi Arabia and its neighbors to transport more oil without passing through the Strait of Hormuz. This east-west pipeline, built in the early 1980s, has gained strategic importance since the outbreak of the Iran war in February and the disruption of shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. The pipeline can deliver up to 7 million barrels of crude oil per day to the Red Sea port. The CEO of Saudi Aramco stated in May that approximately 2 million barrels are supplied to west coast refineries, while about 5 million barrels are for export. Sources indicate that Saudi Arabia is in preliminary discussions with some neighboring countries regarding the pipeline expansion, aiming to add about 2 million barrels of pipeline capacity per day. It remains unclear whether Aramco's planned expansion involves upgrading existing infrastructure or constructing new pipelines. One source mentioned that the expansion plan also includes a smaller refined oil pipeline. Two sources indicated that the expansion scale could range from 1 million to 2 million barrels per day, with refined oil also being considered. Another source stated that the project would take several years and cost billions of dollars, requiring adjustments to Saudi crude pricing mechanisms.