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Pudgy Penguins firm secures $11m to build new L2 project

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Igloo, Inc., the company behind the non-fungible token Pudgy Penguins, has announced it raised $11 million in funding to build its latest blockchain project.

Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund led the fundraising round, which Igloo says will fund a new Ethereum (ETH) based consumer Layer 2 solution to bolster crypto adoption.

Igloo eyes consumer-focused blockchain

The press release on Tuesday highlighted that Igloo will use the funds to support a new venture dubbed Cube Labs. Igloo seeks to use Cube Labs to research and develop Abstract, a new L2 platform targeted for mass adoption of cryptocurrencies.

According to Igloo, Abstract targets new opportunities for crypto developers and major brands worldwide. The consumer-facing platform aims to tap into digital ownership technology and integrate everyday life activities such as work, social interaction, and play.

Cube Labs is taking the user-first approach in building Abstract and will soon deploy in testnet ahead of supporting the next wave of consumer crypto products and users’ onchain experience.

Zero-knowledge powered

Abstract will leverage zero-knowledge (ZK) proof technology to power its functionality and use. In addition to security, users will benefit from ZK-powered fast and low-cost transactions.  

The platform will also integrate ZK Stack and use EigenLayer’s data availability layer, EigenDA, to enhance its decentralized finance ecosystem.

“Our mission is to build infrastructure to power the next wave of consumer crypto applications,” Cube Cygaar, chief technology officer at Cube Labs, said in the news release.

The Cube Labs CTO noted that collaborating with platforms and other stakeholders who want to see crypto users enjoy better UX is, therefore, crucial to Abstract’s development.

Igloo’s flagship NFT product, the Pudgy Penguins, has seen huge success since the new team took over from its original creators. Its brand focus has seen it achieve milestones such as the launch of Pudgy Penguins-branded toys that have since launched across Walmart and Target.

The fundraiser also attracted investment from Fenbushi Capital, Everest Ventures Group, 1kx, and Selini Capital.



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Sui Network blockchain down for more than two hours

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The Sui Network is suspected to be down for more than two hours. The protocol has not produced any new transaction blocks since Nov. 21 UTC 9:15.

Sui Network blockchain down for more than two hours - 1
Data from the Sui Vision explorer shows that the protocol has not produced any new transactions since 9:15 am UTC | Source: Sui Vision

Based on the latest data from Sui Network’s explorer site Sui Vision, the decentralized layer-1 blockchain has stopped producing blocks for more than two hours.

At the time of writing, the last transaction block took place on Nov. 21 at 9:15 am UTC. Since then, no new blocks have been produced on the blockchain.

The Sui Network confirmed the outage on its official X account, stating that the blockchain is currently unable to process transactions. However, it claims that the problem has been identified and will be back to normal soon.

“We’ve identified the issue and a fix will be deployed shortly. We appreciate your patience and will continue to provide updates,” wrote the protocol on X.

Sui’s blockchain outage has seemingly impacted the SUI token price. According to data from crypto.news, the Sui token has gone down by nearly 2% in the past hour. It is currently trading hands at $3.41. In the past 24 hours, SUI has plummeted by 7.29%.

Even though, the token has gone up by nearly 75% in the past month.

SUI currently ranks in the 18th place in the lineup of cryptocurrencies, holding a market cap of $9.7 billion and a fully diluted valuation of $34 billion. The Sui token has a circulating supply of $2,8 billion tokens.

The South Korean crypto exchange, Upbit, announced it will be temporary suspending deposits and withdrawals for the Sui token due to its block generating outage.

The notice informs users that if they deposit or withdraw Sui tokens after the announcement was posted, then there is a chance that their funds cannot be recovered.

Several crypto industry figures took to X to comment on the recent Sui Network outage. Most of them teased Sui’s goal of becoming Solana’s biggest competitor. Ironically, the Solana blockchain also has a track record of outages in the past, with the latest one recorded in February this year.

“Sui [is] just repeating Solana history,” said one X user.

“Hasn’t Solana gone down multiple times?” asked another X user.

“SUI blockchain is down. And they claimed to be a Solana Killer,” wrote crypto YouTuber Ajay Kashyap on his X post.





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SBI, UBS and Chainlink complete pilot for automated tokenized fund solution

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SBI Digital Markets, UBS Asset Management, and Chainlink have successfully completed a pilot program showcasing the use of smart contracts to manage tokenized funds.

The companies announced this on Nov. 18, noting that the solution brings automated tokenized fund management to the market and leverages the Chainlink (LINK) infrastructure. With this solution, users can automate their tokenized fund management processes, unlocking blockchain capabilities for the world’s $132 trillion assets under management market.

urrently, the total real-world assets on-chain represent a market of around $13.2 billion.

Solution allows for efficient scaling of tokenized funds 

According to a press release, the tokenized fund pilot demonstrated how fund managers can leverage smart contracts and Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol to efficiently scale their products on-chain and across distributors.

Central to this initiative is the Digital Transfer Agent smart contract model, a novel fund administration system that utilizes multiple Chainlink oracle networks. SBI’s custodian and fund distributor successfully deployed this model to enable multi-chain subscriptions and redemptions.

As the tokenized funds industry evolves to attract the world’s top players, the demand for on-chain administration is increasing. Notably, a recent report revealed that 93% of fund services providers do not offer full automation for their data inputs and workflow processes. This lack of automation creates key bottlenecks for traditional fund operators.

However, smart contracts, oracle networks, and tokenized funds provide the asset management industry with a pathway to full automation.

“This new way of launching fund structures and administering them via smart contracts empowers both fund managers and their service providers to deliver new on-chain financial products and lower operational costs to investors, both things they are actively looking for,” said Winston Quek, chief executive officer at SBI Digital Markets.

The solution, currently live on various blockchain testnets, will soon go to mainnet.

SBI Digital Markets, UBS Asset Management, and Chainlink announced the solution at the Singapore Fintech Festival, launching it as part of the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s ‘Project Guardian.’

This development follows a partnership between Swift, UBS Asset Management, and Chainlink aimed at bridging tokenized assets with legacy payment systems. UBS also recently unveiled a pilot for cross-border payments called “UBS Digital Cash”.



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Bitcoin

Institutional Investors Go All In on Crypto as 57% Plan to Boost Allocations as Bull Run Heats Up, Sygnum Survey Reveals

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“This report tells the story of progress and calculated risk, the use of a diverse set of strategies to leverage opportunities and most of all, the continued belief in the market’s long-term potential to reshape traditional financial markets” Lucas Schweiger, Sygnum Digital Asset Research Manager and report author, said in the press release shared with CoinDesk.



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