Crypto Research

NOT-SO-PRIVATE KEYS This week started with a pair of high-profile exploits – the first of which came in the form of a bridge hack, as interoperable bridging protocol Nomad was hacked for $200 million. Ironically, the vulnerability appeared to stem from a known bug highlighted in a previous audit. Despite this, the Nomad hack furthered widespread skepticism surrounding multichain bridge security. To seemingly one-up Monday’s hacker, an entity on Tuesday...

Venture funding fell to its lowest level all year at $212M, down over 50% from $503M last week. Total deals also nearly got cut in half, falling from 47 to 22. The largest drops in funding came in the infrastructure and Metaverse/Gaming segments, which were each particularly high last week. Surprisingly, NFT funding increased to its highest level in weeks at $81M. There were four NFT deals, the largest of...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARYCARDANO (ADA) is an open-source blockchain founded in 2015 that leverages a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism through a protocol known as Ouroboros. It supports the development of decentralized applications (dApps) through a multi-asset ledger and smart contract functionality. ADA is the native token on Cardano and is used to transact, pay network fees, and provide security via staking.PEER-REVIEWED RESEARCH – IO Global (IOG) is a technology consulting company and the...

DATA DUMP Last week, we discussed the market’s positive reaction to the deluge of negative economic data. Despite a continued murky economic outlook, risk assets performed well. This was an encouraging sign that gave us confidence that we have seen the market put in this year’s lows. We also mentioned that this past week would be another crucial week of data, with an expected negative real GDP report, a consequential...

Funding has remained relatively stable all month at around ~$450M per week. While funding is up from last week, the total deal count dropped from 36 to 32. Infrastructure deals have led for the second week in a row. There were four infrastructure deals, the largest of which was a $150M in Series A funding for Aptos, an Alternative Layer 1 blockchain that we discuss in more detail later in...