Gryphon’s rising share price comes as more crypto companies go public and digital asset regulation in the United States has progressed. Gryphon Digital Mining is set to merge with Trump-linked American Bitcoin in September, with its shares already up 231% since the May announcement. Gryphon’s shares jumped 42.1% on Thursday to $1.75 from $1.35, according to Google Finance. The rally came as American Bitcoin’s largest investor, Hut 8 CEO Asher Genoot, told Reuters the merger between American Bitcoin and Gryphon is expected to be finalized soon, with trading set to begin in early September. According to the Reuters report, the merger will be all-stock. The new entity will retain the name American Bitcoin, and its two founders — Eric Trump and Donald Trump, Jr. — and Hut 8 will own 98% of the entity. Read more
Web3 startup aPriori has raised a total of $30 million to expand its onchain trading platform as institutional DeFi demand grows. Web3 startup aPriori has raised $20 million to expand its trading infrastructure platform, which aims to bring high-frequency trading (HFT) onchain and address technical and market challenges in decentralized finance (DeFi). The raise comes as institutional investors show growing interest in DeFi as an alternative source of yield. The round included participation from Pantera Capital, HashKey Capital, Primitive Ventures, IMC Trading, Gate Labs and others, bringing the company’s total funding to $30 million. Founded in 2023, the San Francisco–based company was started by former quant traders and engineers with experience at Coinbase, Jump Trading and Citadel Securities. Read more
The same day stablecoin capitalization reached $280 billion, startups M0 and Rain announced nearly $100 million in new funding rounds for programmable money. Venture investors have poured nearly $100 million into stablecoin startups, backing new infrastructure for programmable money. M0, a Switzerland-based platform that lets developers issue custom stablecoins, announced a $40 million Series B raise on Thursday led by Polychain Capital and Ribbit Capital. Founded in 2023, the company has partnered with projects including MetaMask and Playtron to integrate its infrastructure into consumer-facing apps. Another stablecoin infrastructure raise came from Rain, a US startup developing tools for banks to issue regulated stablecoins. The company secured $58 million in a Series B funds led by Sapphire Ventures, with backing from Dragonfly, Galaxy Ventures and Samsung Next, bringing its total funding to $88.5 million. Read more