Maincard.io, a Web3 sports fantasy manager that allows users to potentially earn rewards by playing, has entered the esports arena by formalizing a contract with Community Gaming and signing an ambassador agreement with B8, a prominent Ukrainian esports organization founded by Danil “Dendi” Ishutin. Maincard.io aims to allocate up to $500,000 to engage with the world of esports in 2024 and establish a notable presence in the industry. The partnership with B8 is a strategic move for Maincard.io, as it positions the company to leverage Dendi’s influential presence and the collective achievements of his entire team. Maincard.io also plans to collaborate with renowned celebrities from the esports world and create a special collection of game cards featuring all esteemed ambassadors.

AI-driven Web3 tracking platform TrendX announced the completion of a $1 million seed round of financing, with participation from Foster Labs, Web3Link, Coresky, Tripod Capital, CatcherVC, MIIX Capital, and others.

Binance has announced that its Web3 wallet has introduced new chains and enhanced exchange options, including access to 29 DEX and 15 bridges. The wallet now also has 19 new integrated dApps, offering extended access to services in the DeFi, gaming, and other fields. This update also includes optimized home and exchange pages, and simplified UI experience.

Payment giant Visa announced on Thursday that it will launch a Web3 loyalty service, which includes gamified rewards and immersive treasure hunt activities. The customer engagement platform, called the Visa Web3 Loyalty Participation Solution, will allow brands to create digital wallets to store reward points and experiences on behalf of consumers.

The a16z crypto Regulatory Update is a series that highlights the latest crypto regulation and policy happenings relevant to builders in web3 and crypto, as tracked and curated by the a16z crypto regulatory team. The roundups are based on recent news, the latest updates, new guidance, ongoing legislation, and frameworks released by regulatory agencies/bodies, industry consortia and professional associations, banks, governments, and other entities as they impact the crypto industry (or applications) around the world. We also occasionally include select other resources such as talks, posts, or other commentary – from us or from others – with the updates.

CertiK stated on social media that there were 751 security incidents in Web3 in 2023, resulting in losses of approximately 1.84 billion US dollars, a 51% decrease from 2022. Among them, the total loss of private key leakage incidents in 2023 exceeded 880 million US dollars, which was the highest among all types of incidents. The total loss of security incidents on Ethereum was 686 million US dollars, which was the highest among all chains. In addition, 35 cross-chain security incidents caused huge losses of nearly 800 million US dollars, highlighting the need to pay attention to interoperability vulnerabilities.

“When you’re young, you look at television and think, There’s a conspiracy. The networks have conspired to dumb us down. But when you get a little older, you realize that’s not true. The networks are in business to give people exactly what they want. That’s a far more depressing thought. Conspiracy is optimistic! You can shoot the bastards! We can have a revolution! But the networks are really in business to give people what they want. It’s the truth.” - Steve Jobs

Hong Kong Polytechnic University officially announced that two of its projects have received a total of approximately HKD 17.36 million in funding from the Intelligent Transportation Fund. Among them, the digital twin-based long-span bridge health monitoring project received approximately HKD 13.4 million in funding, while the blockchain information physical system for managing urban berths received HKD 3.95 million in funding. This project uses Web 3.0 and blockchain technology to establish decentralized identities for drivers, realize intelligent access control for parking lots, and develop spatiotemporal aggregation analysis systems, using artificial intelligence technology to evaluate the supply and demand of parking spaces.

Mantle Stake has now integrated with the OKX Web3 wallet. Users can stake ETH on Mantle Stake through the OKX Web3 wallet plugin, participate in network staking through validator nodes, receive tokens corresponding to their staked amount in mETH form, and earn profits. Mantle Stake is an Ethereum-based, permissionless, non-custodial liquidity staking protocol launched by the Mantle DAO team, focusing on providing liquidity staking derivatives for ETH stakers.It is reported that the OKX Web3 wallet is a one-stop Web3 gateway that supports 85+ public chains, with unified apps, plugins, and web interfaces covering five major areas: wallets, DEX, DeFi, NFT markets, and DApp exploration. It also supports Ordinals market, MPC and AA smart contract wallets, gas exchange, and hardware wallet connection.

According to a recent report by blockchain security firm Beosin, there has been a 53.9% decrease in total losses from hacks, phishing scams, and rug pulls in 2023 compared to the previous year. However, there has been an alarming surge in offline crypto crimes, with global losses increasing by 377% to $65.68 billion. DeFi projects faced the highest number of attacks, with 130 causing approximately $408 million in losses, while Ethereum experienced a substantial reduction in losses. The decline in cross-chain bridge attacks is a positive trend, responsible for only 7% of total losses. The report highlights significant attacks, including Mixin Network's cloud provider breach resulting in $200 million losses, Euler Finance's $197 million loss due to a contract vulnerability, and Poloniex's $126 million breach linked to a private key compromise.