Biconomy and Cere Network has announced their integration that will cut gas fees for Cere Network builders and users, as well as drive wider adoption of lower-priced NFTs.

https://cere-network.medium.com/cere-announces-gasless-integrations-with-biconomy-e31e0fdbbdc2

Meta is beginning to test tools for selling digital assets and experiences within its virtual reality platform Horizon Worlds, a key part of its plan for creating a metaverse.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/meta-start-testing-money-making-tools-its-metaverse-2022-04-11/

Sony has announced a strategic investment of approximately 1 billion U.S. dollars in Epic Games.

https://www.sony.com/en/SonyInfo/IR/news/20220411_E.pdf

Forbes expands into Metaverse with the launch of Virtual Billionaires NFT Collection on FTX.

Forbes has partnered with FTX to launch an ERC-721 token on April 13.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbespr/2022/04/11/forbes-expands-into-metaverse-with-launch-of-virtual-billionaires-nft-collection-on-ftx/

The IOST Foundation, a smart contract platform, has launched a 100 Million Dollar Exclusive Incentive Fund for EVM developers.

The leading investor of the fund is Big Candle Capital.

https://medium.com/iost/iost-unveils-a-100-million-dollar-fund-to-foster-the-growth-of-an-evm-multi-chain-ecosystem-b4b1d4748152

Coinbase has announced digital assets that are under consideration for listing in Q2 2022.

Some of them are Aleph.im, Arcblock, BiFi, Big Data Protocol, Binance USD, BitDAO, Botto, Chrono.tech, Coin98, DappRadar, DEXTools, DFX Finance, Dope Wars Paper, Gemini USD, Hopr Token, StackOS and others.

https://blog.coinbase.com/increasing-transparency-for-new-asset-listings-on-coinbase-e06f2edb095e

Circle announced it has entered into an agreement for
a $400M funding round with investments from BlackRock, Inc., Fidelity Management and Research, Marshall Wace LLP and Fin Capital.

The funding round is expected to close in the second quarter.

https://www.circle.com/en/pressroom/circle-announces-400m-funding-round

Genies, a non-fungible token (NFT) platform, raised $150 million in its recent funding round led by private equity company Silver Lake.

The investment values the company at $1 billion.

https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/04/12/silver-lake-leads-150m-round-in-nft-platform-genies-report/

BloXroute, a company that facilitates faster decentralized finance (DeFi) transactions, completed a $70 million Series B funding round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2.

Financial service provider Lightspeed, crypto investment firms Dragonfly and ParaFi Capital and digital asset trading firm GSR were among other investors that participated.

https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/04/12/defi-firm-bloxroute-raises-70m-to-fund-expansion-in-softbank-led-round/

Rappi, a delivery app, begins accepting cryptocurrency in Mexico.

Rappi teamed with cryptocurrency platforms Bitpay and Bitso to back the new service, which will let users turn crypto into credits within the app to make purchases.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/delivery-app-rappi-begins-accepting-cryptocurrency-mexico-2022-04-11/

Nomad, a novel approach to blockchain interoperability that leverages an optimistic mechanism to increase the security of cross-chain communication, has raised $22M at a $225M valuation in its seed round.

The round was led by Polychain and with participation from 1kx, Ethereal, Hack VC, Circle Ventures, and others.

https://blog.nomad.xyz/nomad-raises-22m-seed-round-for-security-first-interoperability-5d6b15c96007

Roberto Campos Neto, the president of Brazil's central bank, suggested that Brazil's central bank digital currency will likely be piloted in the second half of 2022.

cryptobriefing.com/brazil-plans-cbdc-pilot-for-second-half-of-2022/

Fidelity Investments, the asset management company, announced the launch of two new thematic exchange-traded funds (ETFs): Fidelity Crypto Industry and Digital Payments ETF (FDIG) and Fidelity Metaverse ETF (FMET).

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220412005241/en/

MoonPay, a cryptocurrency payments startup, has raised $87 million from more than 60 high-profile investors including singer Justin Bieber, rapper Snoop Dogg, tennis player Maria Sharapova and actor Bruce Willis.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/crypto-firm-moonpay-raises-87-mln-justin-bieber-maria-sharapova-others-2022-04-13/

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Binance Labs has invested in Merit Circle, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO).

https://www.binance.com/en/blog/ecosystem/binance-labs-invests-in-gaming-dao-merit-circle-to-expand-the-playtoearn-industry-421499824684903685

Nexo, a regulated institution for digital assets, has announced the partnership with Mastercard and DiPocket, a financial App, to launch the Nexo Card, a crypto-backed payment card.

https://nexo.io/blog/it-is-finally-here-the-nexo-card

Pantera Capital plans to close the Pantera Blockchain Fund, its first blockchain fund, in the next three to four weeks with about $1.3 billion in committed capital.

https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/04/12/pantera-capital-set-to-close-13b-blockchain-fund-with-follow-up-vehicle-already-in-the-works/

Binance has announced a 100 million euro ($108 million) investment in France and a partnership with Paris-based startup incubator Station F.

https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/141754/binance-announces-100-million-euro-investment-in-france

Apple is looking for specialists that have more than seven years of legal experience advising on digital identity, blockchain and digital assets, mobile wallets and payment platforms, and other related technology.

https://jobs.apple.com/en-us/details/200299999/senior-legal-counsel-apple-pay-wallet

Dfns, a crypto wallet startup, has raised $13.5 million in the seed funding to expand its offering that secures the digital assets of fintech companies and banks by safeguarding the passwords to their crypto wallets.

The funding was led by White Star Capital.

Other investors including Hashed, Susquehanna and the venture arms of crypto exchange Coinbase and Dutch bank ABN AMRO.

https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/04/13/dfns-raises-135m-to-build-out-password-protection-for-crypto-wallets/