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The private digest for entrepreneurs, operators, and investors shaping the future with technology.

In this industry, the ceiling isn't talent, it's access.

Success is defined by the hands you shake and the company you keep.

We exist to streamline that proximity, ensuring the "best of the best" are never more than one connection away.

Join a private network of leaders from a16z, Goldman, NBA, Coinbase, Stripe, and more.

Meet Luca Ioannis 👋

Over the past two years at Animoca Brands, Luca has steadily grown through the ranks through consistent execution and expanding responsibility. Starting as Portfolio Associate, he quickly advanced to Portfolio Manager, earning trust inside one of the most active ecosystems in Web3.

In that role, Luca helped build and lead Frens Network, Animoca’s in house creator program, connecting 700+ creators while delivering value across 600+ portfolio companies.

Now he’s stepping into his next chapter.

Huge congrats to Luca on becoming Ecosystem Lead at Animoca Brands 🚀

In this role, Luca will help expand Animoca’s ecosystem efforts across partnerships, media formats, venture opportunities, and deeper collaboration across the network.

Luca represents the Introduction.com community at its best. Consistent execution, steady growth, and proof that access is earned.

Congratulate Luca on the role 👇

Back in New York for summit week, and back to what we do best: two private, invite-only dinners in the West Village for the founders, allocators, and operators who define the industry.

Dinner I: occupies an intimate West Village cocktail bar, co-hosted with Aptos & GSR and powered by Arcadia. We’ve curated a room where the leadership of a16z, Pantera, and Framework meets the heads of digital assets from Fidelity, WisdomTree, and J.P. Morgan — the kind of people who don't do panels. Expect real conversations: capital formation, go-to-market, and the moves being made by the few who shape the many.

Dinner II: moves to a premier Italian landmark in the West Village, co-hosted with The Graph, Edge & Node, & Diamante and powered by Arcadia. This is a capital-heavy environment designed for alignment over optics. With key decision-makers from Stripe, Visa, and Mastercard dining alongside the visionaries from Circle, Nvidia, and Palantir.

Strictly Invite-Only, intentional seating, zero "tourists," and the kind of candid, high-alpha dialogue that converts into rounds and long-term leverage. In a week of noise, these are the only two rooms that matter.

Access is earned. Take the first step.

We are proud to introduce the newest innovators and leaders joining our community; please take a moment to connect with them and welcome them to the inner circle 👇

VIP Only: Institutions & Introductions with Introduction.com, The Graph, & Diamante

Crossover Markets

Crossover Markets secured $31 million in Series B funding at a $200 million valuation in a round led by Tradeweb Markets.

The proceeds will be used to enhance the technology stack of its execution-only ECN, CROSSx, while expanding global operations and deepening integrations with institutional partners.

Huge shoutout to Aytzhan Belyalov (Ayt) and the team at Wintermute for their participation in this milestone raise!

Seed / Pre-Seed

ZODL

Zcash Open Development Lab (ZODL) secured $25 million in seed funding led by Paradigm, a16z crypto, and Coinbase Ventures.

The capital will be used to scale the Zodl self-custodial wallet and accelerate core protocol development to bring shielded ZEC transactions to the global mainstream.

Major credit to the team at a16z crypto for their essential role in anchoring this pivotal privacy infrastructure round!

Kash

Kash raised $2M in pre-seed funding led by The Spartan Group and Big Brain Holdings to integrate prediction markets directly into social media ecosystems.

The protocol allows users to create and trade markets on real-world events through simple interactions with an X-native bot.

Pre-Seed

Axiym

Tether made a strategic investment in Axiym to integrate stablecoin settlement natively into global merchant payment ecosystems.

The partnership utilizes Tether’s infrastructure to enable real-time, compliant "Pay Now, Settle Later" models across 140 countries.

Massive win for Marco Dal Lago and the team at Tether for their relentless focus on expanding the utility of stablecoin rails!

Omnipact

Omnipact completed a $50 million private funding round to scale its on-chain escrow and trust infrastructure. The protocol enables secure, decentralized P2P transactions by bridging off-chain legal intent with on-chain settlement logic.

Seed

JPYC

JPYC Inc. secured $11.9 million in Series B funding to accelerate the adoption of its JPY-pegged stablecoin. The capital will be used to expand merchant integrations and deepen liquidity within the Japanese and broader Asian markets.

Public Sale

idos

The identity operating system idos launched its $2 million public sale to decentralize its governance and utility layer. Funds are earmarked for the development of its identity-management toolkit, allowing users to control their data across multiple chains.

M&A

izumi Finance

izumi Finance entered an MOU for a core asset acquisition by CIMG Inc. (Nasdaq: IMG) to integrate its DeFi technology into institutional services. The move aims to utilize izumi’s multi-chain liquidity solutions to enhance CIMG’s broader digital asset offerings.

Kutt

Bitcoin Depot (Nasdaq: BTM) acquired social betting platform Kutt to bridge traditional consumer fintech with crypto-native wagering. The acquisition allows Bitcoin Depot to leverage Kutt’s social-first betting architecture across its global ATM and kiosk network.

Bitcoin jumped 3% to over $71,000 after President Trump signaled a potential end to the Iran conflict. This news caused Crude Oil to plunge 12% to $83 and the U.S. Dollar (DXY) to drop from 99.69 to 98.70, ending the recent price hikes tied to Middle East tensions. As oil and the dollar fell, investors quickly shifted money into growth-focused assets, driving the Nasdaq up 1.38% and Asian markets up 3.1%. The move confirms that Bitcoin now acts as a direct mirror to the administration's foreign policy, moving rapidly whenever political news impacts the cost of energy and cash.

Prediction markets have become a multi-billion dollar asset class, but their success has enabled the monetization of sensitive geopolitical secrets by high-level insiders. This creates a direct conflict of interest where officials can financially gain from their own non-public decisions, such as the account that turned $32,000 into $400,000 just before the Maduro capture, or the "Magamyman" account that netted over $500,000 by perfectly timing wagers on U.S. and Israeli strikes.

The ethical risk peaked when Polymarket pulled nuclear detonation contracts to avoid incentivizing catastrophic escalation for profit. To combat this, Polymarket partnered with Palantir to deploy a system that identifies the "digital signatures of intent" left by institutional traders. This shift toward automated surveillance aims to prevent leaders from prioritizing personal windfalls over the security of the global institutions they represent.

U.S. Unemployment Rises to 4.4% as Job Market Stalls

The U.S. economy unexpectedly lost 92,000 jobs in February, missing forecasts for a gain and pushing the national unemployment rate up to 4.4%. Steep cuts in the health care and hospitality sectors drove the decline, marking a sharp reversal from the labor market's early 2026 resilience.

Sugar Prices Surge Alongside Record Crude Oil Spikes

Sugar futures jumped over 3% this week as crude oil prices surged past a 2.5-year high following tensions in Iran. Higher energy costs are incentivizing sugar mills to divert sugarcane toward ethanol production instead of sweetener, tightening global sugar supplies.

Nasdaq and Kraken Partner to Launch Tokenized Stock Trading

Nasdaq has teamed up with Kraken’s parent company, Payward, to develop a gateway for trading tokenized versions of public stocks and ETFs by 2027. The initiative aims to enable 24/7 trading and modernized corporate actions, allowing blockchain-based shares to maintain 1:1 parity with traditional securities.

Nintendo and 24 States Sue for Refund of "Illegal" Tariffs

Nintendo and a coalition of 24 states have filed lawsuits against the U.S. government seeking the "prompt refund" of billions in tariffs recently invalidated by the Supreme Court. The filings follow a landmark court ruling that found the administration's use of emergency powers to impose global trade fees was unconstitutional.

Florida’s Pioneer Stablecoin "Genius" Act

Florida has become the first state in the nation to pass a dedicated stablecoin framework, SB 314, establishing a legal structure for payment stablecoin issuers. The bill aligns with federal "GENIUS Act" standards and revises state anti-money laundering laws to include stablecoins while explicitly clarifying that qualified payment tokens are not classified as securities.

The Kansas City "Skinny" Fed Account

In a historic shift for U.S. financial plumbing, the Kansas City Fed has granted Kraken a limited-purpose Master Account, marking the first time a digital asset bank has direct access to the Fedwire system. This one-year pilot allows Kraken to settle payments directly with the Federal Reserve, bypassing the traditional commercial banking intermediaries that have historically acted as gatekeepers for crypto firms.

Strike’s New York "Empire State" Expansion

Jack Mallers’ Strike has officially secured the prestigious New York BitLicense and a money transmitter license from the NYDFS, ending the state's long-standing drought for top-tier Bitcoin services. New York residents can now access Strike’s full suite of Lightning-powered tools, including the ability to convert up to 100% of direct-deposited wages into Bitcoin with zero conversion fees.

International 🌏

The Bank of England’s £20k "Stablecoin Ceiling"

During a House of Lords hearing, Coinbase executives formally urged UK regulators to scrap proposed holding limits that would cap individual stablecoin balances at £20,000. The industry warned that these "bank run" protection measures, while well-intentioned, risk driving innovation offshore and hampering the UK’s ambition to be a global hub for programmable sterling.

Japan’s "Reserve Sandbox" Breakthrough

The Bank of Japan has launched a technical verification project to test blockchain-based settlement for the reserve deposits held by financial institutions. This "sandbox" move signals a strategic shift from theoretical CBDC research to practical infrastructure testing, aiming to modernize the country’s core financial plumbing through 24/7 atomic settlement.

Canada’s "Project Samara" Digital Bond

The Bank of Canada, in coordination with RBC and TD Bank, has successfully completed its first trial of a tokenized bond using a wholesale digital Canadian dollar. The pilot, dubbed Project Samara, demonstrated that a single distributed ledger can manage the entire lifecycle of a $100M bond—from issuance and secondary trading to coupon payments—with simultaneous clearing and settlement.