Yesterday, crypto exchange edgeX announced an investment from Circle Ventures, the company behind USDC. They won this deal because they built what pro traders actually want: A fast, traditional trading feel, right on the blockchain. For years, traders had a tough choice. Use a centralized site (like Binance) for fast trades, or use a decentralized site (DEX) to keep control of their own money. But DEXs were usually slow and clunky. edgeX fixed this by building a lightning-fast DEX that uses a real order book. It feels just like a top-tier exchange, but you keep your own keys. Circle invested because they want USDC to be the main money used for fast, global trading. Backing edgeX helps make that happen. If you want big money, stop forcing pros to use clunky apps.

This Thursday, Anchorage Digital announced a massive $100M strategic investment from Tether. They won this deal because they possess the one thing Tether couldn't build for itself - Access to the U.S. Banking System. Anchorage isn't just a tech startup though. They are a Federally Chartered Bank 🏦 They can hold assets for regulated institutions and issue compliant products in ways that offshore entities are banned from doing. For years, Tether has been profitable but locked out of this mainstream machinery. By partnering with Anchorage, they finally get a bridge to the U.S. economy. Anchorage proved that Compliance is a fortress. By embracing strict regulations, they became the only viable partner for a giant looking to "go legit". Source: https://tether.io/news/tether-announces-100-million-strategic-equity-investment-in-anchorage-digital/

Yesterday, prediction exchange Opinion defied the weak crypto cycle with a $20M Series A. They secured capital by solving the "Trader’s Nightmare" and having a business model that survives bad market. ❌ The Problem: You predict inflation will rise, so you Short Bitcoin. Inflation does rise, but Bitcoin pumps anyway. You lose money despite being right. ✅ The Solution: They let you trade the Inflation Rate itself. You don't need to guess how the market will react. You just trade the fact. Crypto trading volume is down, but Real World Volatility (Elections, Wars, Rates) never stops. Opinion offers revenue that doesn't depend on a bull run. In a downturn, capital flows to "Counter-Cyclical" products. If your product works when the market is crashing, you will always find funding. Source: https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/02/04/opinion-raises-usd20-million-as-prediction-markets-draw-capital-in-a-weak-crypto-market

Yesterday, betting platform BLUFF announced a $21M raise led by 1kx, by showing impressive numbers on a 3-month beta (125 million bets) Here's how they did it: Usually, new casinos face a "Liquidity Trap." High-rollers won't switch because they don't want to lose their VIP status elsewhere. Bluff bypassed this with a strategic "Vampire Attack" on user loyalty. ✅ Standard Playbook: New platforms force users to start from zero, slowly grinding up loyalty tiers. ⚡ Bluff’s Playbook: They introduced "VIP Status Matching." If you are a VIP on Stake or Rollbit, you are a VIP on Bluff - instantly. They realized that for high-value users, Time > Bonuses. By removing the friction of "starting over," they converted their competitors' most valuable asset (long-term whales) into their own immediate traction. Don't just build a better product; build a better migration path. The biggest barrier to entry isn't feature parity - it's the switching cost. Lower that, and you unlock growth. Source: https://chainwire.org/2026/02/03/bluff-raises-21-million-to-power-betting-innovation/

Today attackers drained $3 million by exploiting a critical oversight in CrossCurve's bridge. They sent "spoofed" messages - basically fake deposit receipts - to the bridge's expressExecute function. The smart contract had no access control on that specific function. It failed to verify who was sending the message. ✅ Intended Behavior: Only the official Axelar Gateway should trigger a transfer. ❌ Actual Behavior: The contract accepted commands from anyone, allowing the hackers to bypass security entirely. And this could've been avoided with a simple Sender Validation. The contract needed a check ensuring that msg.sender == AxelarGateway. Without this verify-sender check, the door was left wide open. Source: https://decrypt.co/356599/crosscurve-legal-action-3m-cross-chain-bridge-exploit