DeFi: Wallet-as-a-service provider Magic raises $52MM for enterprise growth; Solana blockchain launches ChatGPT plugin
AI and Web3 hype is starting up
Gm Fintech Futurists —
Today we highlight the following:
BLOCKCHAIN PROTOCOLS: Solana Launches ChatGPT Plugin (link here)
DEFI AND DIGITAL ASSETS: Magic announces $52MM Strategic Funding Round led by PayPal Ventures (link here)
CURATED UPDATES
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DeFi Short Takes
BLOCKCHAIN PROTOCOLS: Solana Launches ChatGPT Plugin (link here)
The Solana Foundation, the entity behind Layer-1 blockchain Solana, has integrated into conversational AI through a ChatGPT plugin. When GPT-4 was announced, we described how the large language model (LLM) could produce basic Solana smart contracts. And shortly after, Solana released its Solana Audits AI, an LLM that tries to detect smart contract vulnerabilities. While the ChatGPT plugin focuses more on the end-user, we like the direction of bringing emerging technologies together.
Solana has integrated ChatGPT into a Remote Procedure Call (RPC) node, which allows users to access blockchain data and execute transactions across various networks. Notably, RPCs enable features such as account information retrieval (e.g., balance, owned assets), transaction reading, access to the floor price of NFT collections, and token purchases, listings, and transfers.
The chain has been on the decline, with shrinking developer interest. Its monthly NFT sales volume reached its lowest point in 21 months at just under $43MM. To put this into perspective, Bitcoin's Ordinals sales volume was nearly 5x that last month.
While the integration may be a way to try and get new attention to the ecosystem, we still like it. Experiments like this mark the start of an extraordinary collision, where the gravitational forces of blockchain and AI intertwine, igniting a burst of innovation. Other companies, like Omni, have also been plugging in chatbot into DeFi functionality.
AI could help Web3 build more reliable and resilient smart contracts, generate better interfaces for NFT design and minting. In turn, Web3 offers to AI decentralized storage and computation, as well as an economic chassis for ownership, financial services, and digital property rights. These changes may take some time, but — you know — time is relative.
👑Related Coverage👑
DeFi and Digital Assets: Magic announces $52MM Strategic Funding Round led by PayPal Ventures (link here)
Magic, a non-custodial wallet-as-a-service provider (WaaS), has raised $52MM in a round led by PayPal Ventures and joined by Volt Capital, Cherubic, Synchrony, KX, and Northzone. Since launching in 2018, the Web3 player has raised over $80MM, acquiring enterprise customers like Macy's, Deloitte, Mattel, and Immutable.
Magic's value proposition is to help users interact with Web3, without any of the frictions of non-custodial wallets. Typically, non-custodial wallets require their owners to safeguard a seed recovery phrase, as well as a fair amount of technical expertise.
Instead, a vendor can use Magic's SDK to spin up addresses on behalf of users. This allows wallets to be created instantly using emails, SMS, social accounts, or federated logins, with the wallet acting as an extension of the enterprise company’s (e.g., Starbucks or Apple) standard login interfaces. These firms can then offer Web3 propositions like NFTs / tokens for ticketing, memberships, collectibles, and customer loyalty programs without requiring their users to go through a Web3 onboarding process.
This works. Magic has created over 20MM unique wallets, with over 130,000 developers using its SDK. It can support the production of over 2,000 wallets per second, as compared to 80-100 by its competitors. This scalability is an important selling point for major brands looking to provide Web3-based perks to their customers during product promotions or seasons where surges in adoption may occur.
This is a new commercial market segment, and therefore does not pose a competitive threat to leading non-custodial wallets like MetaMask. Unlike MetaMask and other general-purpose wallets, Magic's wallets are not meant to act as a single interface for managing all your digital assets. Instead, they are brand-specific, much like a retailer’s iPhone or Android app, and designed to simplify interactions with company-specific Web3 features. Magic wallets are important because they open Web3 accessibility, removing the technical barriers too often associated with the space, and can be a significant unlock for growth.
👑Related Coverage👑
Curated Updates
Here are the rest of the updates hitting our radar.
Financial Institutions and Adoption
⭐ Proposed 30% Crypto Mining Tax Dropped In US Debt Ceiling Deal - Blockworks
Fahrenheit Wins Bid For Bankrupt Celsius, Will Acquire Up To $500MM In Liquid Crypto - Blockworks
Digital Currency Group Pulls The Plug On its Institutional Trading Platform - Blockworks
Cronos Labs Launches Second Cohort Of $100MM Web3 Accelerator - Cointelegraph
DeFi and Digital Assets
⭐ Etonec And Mina Foundation To Create ZK-Powered Compliance Tool By Year's End - CoinDesk
Crypto Lender Compound Deploys On Ethereum Layer-2 Arbitrum - Decrypt
Crypto Storage Firm Qredo's Revamped Self-Custody Wallet Goes Live - CoinDesk
Tornado Cash Governance Control Set To Be Restored As Voters Approve Proposal - Cointelegraph
Stargate Community Proposes Removal Of Fantom USDC Pool To Mitigate Risks - Cointelegraph
Blockchain Protocols
⭐ BNB Chain Expected To Undergo ‘Luban’ Upgrade in June. Here’s all You Need to Know - CoinDesk
Panic Over $1.5B DeFi Bridge Multichain Shifts To Fantom - Decrypt
NFTs, DAOs and the Metaverse
⭐ BNB NFT Marketplace Tabi Raises $10MM In Angel Funding - Cointelegraph
MakerDAO Mulls Proposal To Boost DAI Savings Rate - The Defiant
F1 Ticket Provider Platinum Group Introduces NFT Tickets for Global Racing Event - CoinDesk
Core DAO Is Using Bitcoin To Solve the Blockchain Trilemma - Blockworks
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