This week in Web3 - 116th Edition

Vivienne X Animoca, El Salvadoe bitcoin embassy, Polygon & zkSync's zkEVM, Puma PFP, Shopify blockchain suite, Fundraises, REKTs, Bounties, Jobs, and much more 🤯

Major Highlights  🤯

• Vivienne’s collection blends Animoca Brands (Bored Ape Yacht Club, Cool Cats, Meebits and more) NFTs at NYFW23. Learn more

• El Salvador steps forward to open a second Bitcoin Embassy in Texas. Learn more

• Binance upgrades Proof of Reserves verification to include zk-SNARKs. Learn more

New Launches 🚀

• Polygon sets launch date for ZkEVM beta network. Learn more

• Matter Labs rebrands zkEVM and opens the mainnet for developers. Learn more

• Shopify launches a comprehensive Blockchain Suite for merchants. Learn more

• PUMA announced the launch of the PFP NFT project for their mascot, ‘Super PUMA.’ Learn more

• GQ Magazine to launch its first NFT collection linked to real-world rewards. Learn more

Fundraises 💰

• Taurus raises $65M Series-B round. Learn more

• Optimized EVM blockchain Monad raises $19M seed funding. Learn more

• Crypto index platform Alongside raises $11M seed funding. Learn more

• Blockchain security platform Ironblocks raises $7M seed funding. Learn more

• Orb Labs completed a $4.5M seed round. Learn more

• Aura Network raises $4M pre-series A round. Learn more

• Web3 meet and chat platform Salsa raises $2M pre-seed round. Learn more

Rekt 🚨

• Stablecoin trading platform Platypus attacked via flash loans, losing about $9 Million. Learn more

• DForce Network was hit for $3.65M on both Arbitrum and Optimism. Learn more

• MetaMask issues a scam alert as a NameCheap hacker sends unauthorised emails. Learn more

Read &Listen🎙

• Why decentralization matters by Chris Dixon. Read here

• Network state podcast by Balaji with Vitalik Buterin. Listen here

• Tokenized Communities Year in Review, 2022 Edition. Read here

• Is CC0 the future of web3? Read here

• Account abstraction by Safe. Read here

Bounties 💸

• Davos bug bounty: $500K. Learn more

• MagpieXYZ bug bounty: $200K. Learn more

• DFX Finance bug bounty: $100K. Learn more

• xNFT track for the Solana Hackathon: $20K. Learn more

Jobs 👨‍💻

• Research Director (Cryptoeconomics) at Smith + Crown. Apply here

• Partnership Director at Neon Labs. Apply here

• Front-end engineer at GFX labs. Apply here

• Technical Lead at Upshot. Apply here

• DeFi Analyst at Notional Finance. Apply here

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