Bitpanda Partners with Visa, Near Joins Hands with WEMADE, Ethereum-Based Decentralized RPC Goes Live

Get your daily, bite-sized summary of cryptoassets and blockchain-related news – examine the stories that fly under the radar of today’s crypto news.
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Payment news

• Bitpanda announced its collaboration with Visa when Bitpanda Technology Solutions joined Visa’s Fintech Partner Connect. Through this partnership, “Visa’s partners will have the opportunity to access Bitpanda’s comprehensive investment infrastructure solutions. This enables financial institutions, banks and fintechs to rapidly provide trading and investment services for asset classes such as crypto, stocks/ETFs, precious metals and commodities to their end customers,” the press release said. Bitpanda Technology Solutions will also begin expanding its investment infrastructure outside of Europe, it said.

Blockchain News

• The NEAR blockchain and the creator of Blockchain operating system (BOS) announced a strategic partnership with the blockchain gaming company WE MADE to support the development of blockchain apps in Korea and other markets. According to the announcement, Near and WEMADE will jointly support initiatives to increase mutual brand awareness; invest in research and collaboration across chains; host more community events such as hackathons and boot camps; scouting for potential Web3 business opportunities; and nurture the next generation of Web3 developers.

DeFi news

• DRPC, an Ethereum-based decentralized RPC (remote procedure call) network that “improves security, reliability and cost-effectiveness for Web3 projects of all sizes,” launched today, according to a press release. An RPC is the communication protocol used by decentralized apps (dapps) to interact and send information such as transaction details to and from blockchains. DRPC currently supports projects built on Ethereum and will expand to other EVM-based networks, including Arbitration, Polygon, BSCand Optimism in the coming months, it added.
• Quasar Finance launched its mainnet, introducing a dedicated blockchain for digital asset management, allowing investors to manage their decentralized finance (DeFi) investments across multiple chains, enabled by Inter-Blockchain Communication Protocol (IBC). According to the press release, Quasar works by allowing investors to deposit funds into vaults, which are optimized to work across multiple blockchains. This advance follows the announcement of Quasar’s latest bridge round of $5.4 million. In total, the team has raised more than $11.5 million from such investors such as Polychain Capital, Blockchain Capitaland Shima capital.

Investment news

• Bra Digitalthe crypto arm of hedge fund manager Alan Howard, raised $9 million from investors for its floating token strategy, Nova digital possibilities fund, launched in 2022. The fund has three investors, according to a regulatory filing.

Wallet news

• Crypto lender Nexo has won “Best Cryptocurrency Wallet” in the annual FinTech Breakthrough Awards for the second year in a row. The award program is carried out by an independent market information organisation FinTech breakthrough, says the press release. The award, it added, “came amid some of the most challenging times in recent memory for centralized entities in the digital asset space, and served as a true testament to Nexo’s commitment to adapting to market needs with flexible, user-oriented solutions.”

Game news

• Immutable gamesa Web3 game publisher and the game-focused arm of Immutableannounced new partnerships with three studios – Bazooka Tango, Bit Fry Game Studiosand Studio 369 – to “expand the family of high-quality web3 games”, says the press release.

Metaverse news

• Metaverse platform RLTY announced a collaboration with Klar plays me, a cross-platform avatar builder. The press release said the integration of Ready Player Me will allow RLTY users to create and customize a new avatar or bring an existing one from Ready Player Me’s platform. To further simplify the process for newcomers, the team has created 30 pre-designed full- and half-body avatars, ranging from cyberpunk to professional, it added.