BlonkFi, a currency market protocol on the Solana blockchain, has completed its pre-seed funding round.
In a recent post on X, the platform revealed that the funding round was led by UOB Venture Management and Signum Capital, with additional support from Manifold Trading, Kyros Ventures, and Hypotenuse Labs.
The amount raised has not been disclosed.
BlonkFi Aims to Tackle Liquidity Challenges for Volatile Assets
BlonkFi is a liquidity infrastructure protocol. It aims to tackle the challenge of illiquidity for volatile long-tail mid-market capitalization assets, such as memecoins.
By allowing these assets to be collateralized for liquidity, BlonkFi addresses a critical need in the market.
BLONK ALERT!
BlonkFi is excited to announce it has successfully closed its pre-Seed fundraising, led by UOB Venture Management and @Signum_Capital .
Investors in this round include @ManifoldTrading , @KyrosVentures , @hypotenuse_labs and other strategic partners.
BlonkFi is a… pic.twitter.com/uo8BoVieBc
— BlonkFi – Collateralize Your Memes (@BlonkFi) July 29, 2024
“The goal is to build a money-making economy around memecoins, a new and untapped $46B+ market category, in a manner that fundamentally solves the pain points outlined above,” the project’s website reads.
“By allowing users to safely utilize volatile assets as collateral, BlonkFi serves as a Core Liquidity Infrastructure Layer that unlocks additional composability for high-attention, high-volatility assets.”
Solana, a blockchain platform known for its low transaction costs, has emerged as a preferred venue for trading meme coins.
According to data from CoinGecko, the Solana meme coin sector has surged by 4.3% over the past day.
The platform has seen a wave of new coins featuring caricatures of public figures like Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
The Solana blockchain’s red-hot meme coin dogwifhat (WIF) has also recently become the fourth-largest meme coin by market capitalization.
This came after community members raised over $690,000 in USDC stablecoin donations to showcase the dogwifhat mascot on the Sphere, a renowned entertainment venue in Las Vegas.
Crypto Startup Funding Surpasses $100 Billion
Crypto startups have experienced a significant surge in funding over the past decade, surpassing the impressive milestone of $100 billion since May 2014.
The peak of cryptocurrency startup funding was reached in October 2021, with over $7 billion raised during that month.
The second-highest recorded funding occurred in February 2022, totaling $3.67 billion.
Recent research indicates that nearly half of all cryptocurrency funding originates from investors in the United States.
The remaining investments are distributed among various countries, with the United Kingdom accounting for 7.7% and Singapore for 5.7%, based on figures from the second quarter of 2023.
Notably, a series of high-profile funding deals have taken place between late 2023 and the first half of 2024.
Together.AI and cross-chain protocol Wormhole secured investments of $225 million each, while open-source cloud storage firm Totter and Eigenlayer raised $101 million and $100 million, respectively.
Other notable funding rounds include Swan Bitcoin’s $165 million raise and Blockchain.com’s $110 million.
More recently, Galaxy Asset Management raised $113 million for a cutting-edge crypto venture fund in order to inject fresh capital into cryptocurrency startups.
The fund is dubbed Galaxy Ventures Fund I LP and aims to kickstart investments in approximately 30 companies.
