Friend.tech hype grows, Tornado Cash founders go for a spin and FBI’s monitoring North Korean hackers

Welcome again to Chain Response.

To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s greatest and most vital crypto tales delivered to your inbox each Thursday at 12 p.m. PT, subscribe here. Observe me on Twitter @Jacqmelinek for breaking crypto information, memes and extra.

If you happen to haven’t heard about buddy.tech this week, you’re in all probability dwelling beneath a rock. However that’s okay, we dove deep into the hype and checked out what skeptics are frightened about for the brand new utility.

There was additionally numerous speak round Twister Money as the 2 founders behind the crypto mixer have been charged on Wednesday by U.S. federal companies. Particulars on that and extra under.

This week in web3

1. Two founders behind crypto mixer Tornado Cash charged by U.S. federal courts
2. FBI says North Korean hackers preparing to cash out after high-profile crypto hacks
3. Friend.tech hype is skyrocketing, but will it actually reach the stars?
4. Solana Pay integrates plug-in with Shopify for USDC payments
5. Checkout.com cuts ties with Binance, which is mulling legal action in response

The most recent pod

For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Erik Svenson, co-founder, president and chief monetary officer at Blockstream, a bitcoin and blockchain-focused infrastructure agency.

The corporate was based in 2014 and has its personal sidechain know-how, Liquid Community, in addition to bitcoin mining operations and {hardware} wallets for Bitcoin and different property. It most lately raised $125 million in January and has raised greater than $400 million so far.

Erik beforehand labored on Wall Road as a VP for AIG investments and was a co-founder and guide of different startups. The final startup he co-founded earlier than Blockstream was Dan’s Plan, a well being tech firm.

We mentioned how the present macroenvironment is impacting Bitcoin-focused companies and the place Erik sees essentially the most alternatives for startups at this time.

We additionally talked about:

• Blockstream’s mining operations
• Surviving a bear market
• Transitioning from TradFi to crypto
• Recommendation for startups

Subscribe to Chain Response on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favourite pod platform to maintain up with the most recent episodes, and please depart us a evaluate if you happen to like what you hear!

Observe the cash

1. Crypto lender Maple Finance raises $5 million to enter Asia amid regulatory readability
2. Vessel Capital emerges from stealth with $55 million fund targeted on web3 infrastructure and apps
3. Berlin-based Anytype raises $13.4 million for its open sourced device
4. Nodal Energy raises $13 million to make use of landfill to energy bitcoin mining facilities
5. Decentralized credit score protocol PADO Labs raises $3 million in a seed spherical

This record was compiled with data from Messari in addition to TechCrunch’s personal reporting.

What else we’re writing

Wish to department out from the world of web3? Listed below are some articles on TechCrunch that caught our consideration this week.

1. Nvidia’s Q2 earnings prove it’s the big winner in the generative AI boom
2. 5 trends in VC funding for pre-seed startups (TC+)
3. Chronic technical debt could be holding your company back (TC+)
4. The late-stage venture market is crumbling (TC+)
5. Introducing the Startup Battlefield 200 companies at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023