LayerZero Announces Airdrop, AnimeCoin Launches 'Gacha Grab' with Azuki, A16z Invests $90M in $OP Tokens

GM Anon ☕🐺

In today’s Alpha Bytes,

LayerZero Achieves Milestone: Completes First Airdrop Snapshot for Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol.

AnimeCoin & Azuki Launch 'Gacha Grab': AnimeCoin teams up with Azuki to introduce 'Gacha Grab,' blending NFTs with gacha mechanics for the anime gaming market.

Andreessen Horowitz Invests $90M in $OP Tokens: Andreessen Horowitz asserts its crypto dominance with a $90M purchase of $OP tokens, showing bullish confidence.

BTC $58,422 (+1.1%), ETH $2,975 (+1.1%), SOL $136.52 (+10.5%)

Crypto News 📰

• LayerZero cross-chain interoperability protocol completes first airdrop snapshot

• AnimeCoin launches Gacha Grab game with Azuki 

• A16z makes $90 million private purchase of $OP 

• Bitcoin forensic analysis uncovers money laundering clusters and criminal proceeds 

• Crypto was one of the biggest money laundering risks in 2022-2023: UK Govt report 

• Nigeria’s Patricia exchange CEO rubbishes closure rumors 

• The seasonality of crypto assets returns 

• FBI busts $43M crypto and Las Vegas hospitality Ponzi scheme 

• Solana gains momentum following Solana-Bitcoin cross-chain announcement 

• Binance Labs backs Movement Labs’ mission to bring Facebook’s move to Ethereum and beyond 

• Asia crypto investing: Traders eye riches in Korea, Philippines and Hong Kong 

• Investors in SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s favorite crypto project are the biggest losers, with only 7% of them in profit 

• A vast new data set could supercharge the AI hunt for crypto money laundering 

• Federal reserve holds policy steady

• Bitfinex believes Bitcoin’s post halving price consolidation could last two months 

• Jack Dorsey’s Block facing scrutiny from federal authorities over non-compliant crypto services 

• Paradigm special counsel has left the crypto-focused VC firm 

• Eminem’s new crypto ad fails to capture the moment 

• Bitcoin dumps “bull market excess” as daily ETF outflows cross $500 million 

• Meme coins: a betrayal of crypto’s ideals or its true purpose?

• Bitcoin Layer-2s set to explode as Runes congest Bitcoin network

• The reasons why the Bitcoin price is down 11% since the halving 

• Extradition papers ready for Binance’s Anjarwalla, says Interpol Nigeria 

• Three hints that the Bitcoin price is nearing a bottom 

• Hong Kong Bitcoin ETFs not enough to absorb US ETF selling pressure 

• Indian enforcement agencies collaborate with Binance to bust scam app 

• BlackRock Bitcoin ETF sees first outflow day amid record ETF bleed 

• Bitcoin halving sees Bitfarms BTC mining earnings plummet 

• Pike Finance clarifies USDC vulnerability statement on $1.6 million exploit 

• Arkansas bill reining in crypto miners heads to governor for approval 

• Synthetix founder Kain Warwick targets Mid-May launch for Infinex DEX

• Bitcoin’s dominance has likely peaked as altcoins start to wake up 

• DeFi lending giant Aave unveils v4 protocol overhaul 

• Bitcoin’s 4% dip may panic short-term holders 

• Backlash against Binance continues as 6th US state pulls license 

• Bitcoin miner Riot platforms reports record $211M Q1 net income 

• MicroStrategy to launch Bitcoin-based decentralized ID solution 

• Jerome Powell’s pivot signals a boring summer for Bitcoin 

• Proposed US tax bill won’t allow taxing block rewards at acquisition 

• Ankr expands Bitcoin liquid staking tokens to AI blockchain 

• PEPE registers 13% surge in 24 hours 

• New US bill aims to eliminate double taxation on crypto staking rewards 

• Miner capitulation looms if Bitcoin fails to recover significantly: CryptoQuant 

• US sanctions crypto addresses tied to Russian drone developer 

• Senator Lummis challenges DOJ’s stance on private crypto wallets 

• Bernoulli is live on Scroll mainnet 

Project Updates🔥👷🏼‍♂️

• Crypto unicorns liquidity bootstrapping event 

• Blur launched on Blast 

• Hyperliquid program has concluded 

Raises🤑

• Web3 wine marketplace Baxus raises $5 million from Multicoin Capital, Solana Ventures 

• Securitize raises $47 million in strategic funding round led by BlackRock 

• Imaginary Ones secures funding to expand Web3 entertainment ecosystem 

• Agora Governance raises $5 million in seed round led by Haun Ventures 

• Blade Games raises $2.4 million 

• Backed raises $9.5 million 

• LazyBear raises $4 million

Interesting Threads🧵

• The mass adoption chain 

• Ithaca Protocol 

• A brief explanation of Calderaxyz

• Thanefield’s interoperability thesis 

• Guide to Sanctum Wonderland (KLamino, MarginFi, Meteora) 

• Cami: Account abstraction for everyone else 

• Ian Unsworth: $EIGEN and $bEIGEN 

• Keyrock: Can markets be efficient even before they exist? 

• zkSharding for Ethereum 

• Frosty: Bringing strong liveness guarantees to the Snow Family of consensus protocols 

That’s it for today, Anon. Count on us for curated crypto news and development