James Cirrone

A former FTX executive has found a new gig as head of strategy at Web3 infrastructure company Mysten Labs.&nbsp;



That would be Sina Nader, who was the head of partnerships for FTX US starting in August 2020, Bloomberg <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-08-07/former-ftx-us-head-of-partnerships-sina-nader-joins-web3-startup-mysten-labs?srnd=cryptocurrencies-v2">reported</a> Monday.



Before FTX US, Nader was the head of crypto at Robinhood. He also had stints at Morgan Stanley and the now-defunct Credit Suisse’s private banking unit.&nbsp;



Nader reportedly bagged some of the biggest sports and celebrity partnerships in FTX’s brief run as the world’s second largest crypto exchange.&nbsp;



Some of <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/ftx">FTX</a>’s biggest celebrity endorsers included football quarterback Tom Brady, comedian Larry David and former NBA player Shaquille O’Neal. <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/shaq-oneal-ftx-lawsuit">O’Neal in particular was served in April</a> for his role in promoting the now bankrupt exchange.&nbsp;



Nader, however, is leaving FTX in the rearview mirror and focusing on his new role at <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/mysten-labs">Mysten</a>, though he did say he’d draw on experience from <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/robinhood">Robinhood</a> and to a certain extent, FTX.



Mysten was founded by four former Facebook employees in September 2021 and <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/mysten-labs-launches-blockchain-platform-sui">the company later worked to create the Sui blockchain</a> in March 2022. The layer-1 platform’s mainnet went live on May 3, 2023.&nbsp;



“[Mysten has] done some amazing work that is ultra scalable and they’re looking at blockchain technology in a different way than most,” Nader told Bloomberg, speaking on Mysten’s contribution to the space so far.&nbsp;



This marks yet another former FTX executive to find alternate work. Ex-FTX chief operating officer <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/terraform-labs-gets-new-ceo">Constance Wang joined blockchain venture capital firm Sino Global Capital in July 2023</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Hiring activity in crypto mining</h2>



Crusoe Energy Systems, a company that captures flared natural gas to power bitcoin miners, appointed Patrick McGregor to serve as chief product officer.&nbsp;



McGregor will have a lot of products to manage, including the company’s initiatives for data centers and bitcoin mining, according to a <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230810970601/en/Patrick-McGregor-Joins-Crusoe-Energy-Systems-as-Chief-Product-Officer">press release</a>.&nbsp;



Prior to his hiring at Crusoe, McGregor was the head of product for Coinbase’s Web3 developer platform, a role he had for a couple of months shy of two years.&nbsp;



He was also a longtime employee at Google, leading product development for the tech company’s artificial intelligence division.



Crusoe co-founder and CEO Chase Lochmiller spoke highly of McGregor, calling him a good fit to help foster “computing-led innovations.”



“His experience overseeing product development at Google and Coinbase will help us ensure that Crusoe stays on the leading edge of technology,” Lochmiller said in a statement.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Other notable hires</h2>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Crypto hedge fund AltTab Capital hired Nick Tsui as a trader and options specialist to bolster its portfolio management team.</li>



<li>BitMine Immersion Technologies <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitmine-immersion-technologies-appoints-former-040800592.html#:~:text=BitMine%20Immersion%20Technologies%2C%20Inc.%20is,operating%20at%20optimal%20ambient%20temperature.">appointed</a> former CleanSpark Chief Financial Officer Lori Love to its board of directors. <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/q3-cleanspark-earnings-mining">CleanSpark just announced its Q3 earnings</a>.&nbsp;</li>



<li>The Fox Corporation is looking to hire a Web3 senior backend engineer. The London-based role has 57 applicants on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/sr-backend-engineer-web3-at-fox-tech-3605703017/?originalSubdomain=uk">LinkedIn</a>.</li>
</ul>



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Crypto hiring: Former FTX exec Sina Nader joins Mysten Labs as head of strategy

Ben Strack

Another crypto company is moving into the Formula 1 arena.



Web3 infrastructure firm Mysten Labs is linking up with Oracle Red Bull Racing — a team featuring drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez that has had six wins in six 2023 races.&nbsp;



The company declined to disclose the terms of the multi-year deal.



Led by former Facebook employees, Mysten Labs <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/mysten-labs-launches-blockchain-platform-sui">introduced layer-1 platform Sui</a> last year. The blockchain’s mainnet went live on May 3, 2023.&nbsp;



Adeniyi Abiodun, Mysten Labs’ co-founder and chief product officer, told Blockworks that working with the racing organization allows the company to introduce Web3 technology capabilities to an entirely new audience.&nbsp;



“Oracle Red Bull Racing, with its global fanbase, offers an excellent use case for the kind of community engagement that our decentralized technology allows,” he added.



“Immersive experiences” stemming from the partnership are set to be announced in the coming weeks.&nbsp;



“The Sui Network and the team behind it are the best possible partners to help Red Bull use the latest peer-to-peer technologies to build a deeper, more fulfilling connection with the supporters of our racing team,” Red Bull Racing Team Chief Christian Horner said in a statement.&nbsp;



The new partnership comes after a <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/formula-one-nft-tickets">new NFT ticketing system debuted</a> around last weekend’s Monaco Formula One Grand Prix — the latest example of the crypto and racing worlds colliding.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Crypto.com <a href="https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.formula-1-announce-crypto-com-as-inaugural-global-partner-of-the-f1-sprint.ozYI9zd0622tZyvroYhcM.html">became</a> the first crypto sponsor of Formula One in 2021 as part of a reported $100 million deal and became a title partner of Formula One’s Miami Grand Prix race in February 2022.



Crypto exchange OKX revealed a <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-exchange-okx-inks-f1-mega-deal">partnership with McLaren Racing</a> in May 2022 as part of a multi-year deal worth “hundreds of millions,” a spokesperson told Blockworks at the time.



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Sui Blockchain Creator Inks Deal With F1’s Red Bull Racing Team

Bessie Liu

<div id="highlights-block_631f1a3df8a2b" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Blockchain gaming and metaverse raises dominated funding discourse last week</li>
 <li>Animoca Brands raised $100 million while Mysten Labs netted $300 million</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



As traders <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/the-flippening-will-ether-flip-bitcoin-in-the-next-year/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">debate</a> whether Ethereum’s Merge represents a “buy the rumor, sell the news” event, metaverse and Web3 gaming projects continue to draw major funding.



Last week, the Hong Kong-headquartered Animoca Brands <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/singapores-temasek-aims-100m-at-metaverse-giant-animoca/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">secured</a> $100 million in a strategic funding round led by Singapore state-owned Temasek the likes of Boyu Capital and GGV Capital. Previous backers Mirae Asset Management and True Global Ventures (TGV) also participated, among others.



“Animoca Brands has grown significantly as a company in the last year, and our new investors will contribute strategic advice and perspective as we build the world’s leading company furthering digital property rights in the Web3 industry,” Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands said in a statement.



The blockchain gaming giant — the largest in Asia — appears quick to put that money to use. Word broke last week that Animoca had backed San Fransisco-based ​​Revolving Games in its <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/animoca-brands-among-backers-in-13m-raise-for-revolving-games/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">latest $13 million seed raise</a> alongside Pantera Capital, Polygon and Rockstar Games co-founder Dan Houser.



Revolving Games previously raised $12 million in pre-seed funding from backers including NBA TopShots’ Dapper Labs, Permanens Capital Partners, Kenetic, Saramayacar and DWeb3 Capital earlier this year.&nbsp;



Companies building new blockchains to underpin video games are also garnering interest.



Mysten Labs, another San Franciscan Web3 startup, in a Series B netted <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/mysten-labs-300m-fundraise-values-business-at-more-than-2b/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$300 million</a> funding from investors to scale its fledgling blockchain, Sui. FTX Ventures led the round, with prominent investors from a16z, Jump Crypto and Apollo joining in.



Although a launch date has not yet been set, Mysten Labs envisions Sui as a low-cost creator-owned network, geared specifically for games.



“We believe that Sui’s novel architecture will meaningfully improve scalability and lower transaction costs, unleashing new web3 applications and experiences for a broader audience,” Arianna Simpson, a general partner at a16z said in a statement.



Meanwhile, the NEAR Foundation — the Swiss firm behind upstart layer-1 network NEAR — has just debuted a $100 million venture capital fund in partnership with newly-launched Caerus Ventures.



The fund, which initially closed with $50 million in capital, will focus on seed to Series A investments across Web3 culture and entertainment projects.



Separate from gaming, Seattle-based Web3 startup SpiceAI, which wants to make blockchain data more accessible, received <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/web3-startup-spiceai-cooks-up-13-5m-raise-to-make-data-more-accessible/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$13.5 million</a> from Madrona Venture Group. Australian venture capital firm Blackbird Ventures and many angel investors also took part in the round.&nbsp;



In its current state, SpiceAI platform is a query interface integrated with GitHub and gives developers access to data from various protocols.



Other noteworthy raises last week include:



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Web3 UX startup Slide <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220908005232/en/Web3-UX-Startup-Slide-Raises-12.3M-Seed-Round-Co-Led-by-Polychain-Capital-Framework-Ventures" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">secures</a> a $12.5 million seed from Framework Ventures.</li><li>Software development and decentralized data storage startup Community Labs raises a $30 million Series A led by Lightspeed Venture Partners.</li><li>Gameplay Galaxy secures a $12.8 million seed from Blockchain Capital.</li><li>Synquote, a decentralized trading platform for cryptocurrency options, closed a $2.8M seed round.</li><li>Trystack.io received $2.7 million from Madrona to build crypto education trading platform.</li></ul>



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Funding Wrap: Metaverse and Web3 Gaming Still Hits With VCs

<div id="highlights-block_631a0a1f1033c" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Other participants in the funding round were a16z, Binance Labs, Franklin Templeton and Coinbase Ventures</li>
 <li>Sui, launched in March, forgoes consensus for most transactions, allowing it to speed up transactions</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Mysten Labs is putting its fresh round of funding toward powering more Web3 applications and speeding up the adoption of its new blockchain, the company revealed Thursday.



The California-based Web3 infrastructure company <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/mysten-labs-launches-blockchain-platform-sui/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">launched decentralized blockchain platform Sui</a> in March. Mysten Labs CEO Evan Cheng said in a statement Thursday that Web3 infrastructure is currently “in the dial-up era.” 



“It’s slow, expensive, capacity constrained, insecure, and simply hard to build for,” he added.



The Mysten Labs team said it can build a better blockchain. As an example of one novelty to improve scalability, Sui forgoes consensus for most transactions, allowing it to parallelize the execution of them and reduce latency, a technique known as “casual ordering.”



The project was expected to launch an incentivized testnet in August and has <a href="https://medium.com/mysten-labs/validator-registration-open-9464c31ff9f6?source=collection_home---6------2-----------------------" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">solicited prospective validators</a> to participate, but the team has not announced a launch date. A token, SUI, is also planned, which will be used to participate in the proof-of-stake network after mainnet launch, also on an unknown future date.



Cheng had spent the last 16 years at tech companies such as Apple and Facebook, which is <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/zuckerberg-says-facebooks-new-name-will-be-meta/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">now known as Meta</a>. He and three other former Facebook employees — Sam Blackshear, Adeniyi Abiodun and George Danezis — worked on Meta’s Novi Financial team to help develop <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/facebook-led-crypto-project-diem-to-be-sold-off-for-200m-report/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the Diem stablecoin</a> and <a href="https://medium.com/coinmonks/overview-of-move-programming-language-a860ffd8f55d" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Move</a> programming language.



Sui’s use cases, according to Mysten Labs, include facilitating airdrops to millions of people in a single, low-cost transaction; creator-owned decentralized social media networks; and developing blockchain gaming interactions such as equipment crafting, character leveling and battle records stored on-chain.



FTX Ventures led the Series B round. Other participants included a16z crypto, Jump Crypto, Apollo, Binance Labs, Franklin Templeton, Coinbase Ventures, Circle Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sino Global, Dentsu Ventures, Greenoaks Capital and O’Leary Ventures.



FTX Ventures Partner Amy Wu said in a statement that Sui’s parallelizable agreements and “object-centric architecture” were key technical innovations that make it a next-gen platform for Web3 builders.&nbsp;



Arianna Simpson, a general partner at a16z added: “We believe that Sui’s novel architecture will meaningfully improve scalability and lower transaction costs, unleashing new web3 applications and experiences for a broader audience.”



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Mysten Labs’ $300M Fundraise Values Business at More Than $2B

Shalini Nagarajan

<div id="highlights-block_62cd2335d4261" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>The $2 billion target valuation is said to be much higher than Mysten’s Series A round, according to The Information</li>
 <li>But that level could change if equity investors get additional rights</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/tag/mysten-labs/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mysten Labs</a>, a startup focused on Web3 and blockchain infrastructure, is reportedly in talks to raise a Series B round at a $2 billion valuation.



<a href="https://www.theinformation.com/articles/startup-founded-by-former-meta-crypto-execs-seeks-2-billion-valuation" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Information</a> reported on Monday that the startup is currently in discussions to raise at least $200 million in the round led by FTX Ventures, the venture capital arm of <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/tag/FTX/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cryptocurrency exchange FTX</a>. It’s already said to have raised $140 million by investors so far.



Mysten’s $2 billion target valuation is much higher than its previous round, two people familiar with the matter told the outlet. This is noteworthy given that some companies have recently been grappling with <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/tag/firing/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">layoffs</a>, down rounds and uncertainty. 



But that target could reportedly change depending on whether equity investors secure added rights to buy tokens compatible with Mysten’s blockchains, and the strike price to exercise those options.



The startup raised $36 million in a Series A fundraising round led by <a href="https://a16z.com/2021/12/06/investing-in-mysten-labs/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Andreesen Horowitz</a> in December, according to a <a href="https://medium.com/mysten-labs/introducing-mysten-labs-building-foundational-infra-for-web3-7e5ec3df1ccb" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">blog</a> posted by the firm, but the valuation of that round isn’t clear. Other backers include Lightspeed, Coinbase Ventures, Electric Capital, Standard Crypto, NFX and Slow Ventures.



Founded in 2021, Mysten is focused on building blockchain infrastructure to enable decentralized applications, including crypto gaming. Its co-founders — Evan Chang, Sam Blackshear, Adeniyi Abiodun and George Danezis — are former employees at Novi Research, Meta’s cryptocurrency research and development team, where they helped develop the <a href="https://techmonitor.ai/technology/emerging-technology/facebook-diem-stablecoin-cryptocurrency" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Diem stablecoin</a>. 



<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/four-former-facebook-developers-launch-web3-startup/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blockworks reported</a> in February that the one-time Big Tech personnel felt restricted at their previous employer and wanted the liberty to exercise their own vision.



Mysten didn’t return Blockworks’ request for comment by press time.



Investor anxiety within the crypto industry has ballooned as a result of plunging asset prices and the recent insolvencies of <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/3ac-files-for-bankruptcy-as-co-founders-location-unknown/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Three Arrows Capital</a> and <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/voyager-files-for-bankruptcy-days-after-freezing-withdrawals/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Voyager Digital</a>. Despite this outward backdrop of fear, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/funding-roundup-despite-bear-market-money-is-still-pouring-into-crypto/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">money is still pouring</a> into blockchain-based companies as investors seek out opportunities to capitalize on the sector-wide downturn.&nbsp;



If Mysten were to reach its fundraising goal this time around, it would suggest firm belief in not just the startup’s potential, but a turnaround for the overall crypto industry.



“In today&#8217;s bear market, you&#8217;re seeing some of the worst-case scenarios,” Daniel Tal, project lead at ICHI, told Blockworks in an interview. “From a positive side, this is the best time to build.”



“The bear market exposes these holes that we have in some of our protocols. And now we see different kinds of communities building to cover those holes and create protocols that are much more resilient,” he added.



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Startup From Ex-Meta Devs Seek $2B Valuation: Report

<div id="highlights-block_6239eac074c4c" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Sui says its use of what it calls “casual ordering” differentiates it from other blockchains</li>
 <li>Ethereum’s total value locked dominance for DeFi applications fell from 97% in January 2021 to 55% earlier this month</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



The Web3 infrastructure company <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/four-former-facebook-developers-launch-web3-startup/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">recently founded</a> by four former Facebook employees has launched a decentralized blockchain platform.



Called Sui, the layer-1 platform is designed to facilitate instant settlement and deliver the high throughput, low latency and low cost needed to power applications for billions of users, according to a Tuesday company announcement.&nbsp;



Mysten Labs CEO Even Cheng had spent the last 16 years at tech companies such as Apple and Facebook, which is <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/zuckerberg-says-facebooks-new-name-will-be-meta/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">now known as Meta</a>. He and three other former Facebook employees — Sam Blackshear, Adeniyi Abiodun and George Danezis — worked on Meta’s Novi Financial team to help develop <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/facebook-led-crypto-project-diem-to-be-sold-off-for-200m-report/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the Diem stablecoin</a> and <a href="https://medium.com/coinmonks/overview-of-move-programming-language-a860ffd8f55d" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Move</a> programming language.



Move, a bytecode language used to implement custom transactions and smart contracts, powers Sui’s programming model.&nbsp;



“Existing technology suffers from restrictive storage methods and inherently unsafe programmability models, which force developers to compromise on functionality and user experience,” Cheng said in a statement. “Sui solves the most notorious problems in blockchain by delivering unrivaled scalability, premium security, and simplified user experience at the lowest cost.”



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">How is Sui different?</h3>



Ethereum’s total value locked (TVL) dominance for decentralized finance (DeFi) applications fell from 97% in January 2021 to a record low of 55% earlier this month, according to Defi Llama data. Ethereum’s TVL is currently roughly <a href="https://defillama.com/chain/Ethereum" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$120 billion</a>.



Created to solve the most common blockchain “pain points,” Sui uses horizontal scalability to maintain low gas fees and high transaction processing capacities beyond legacy payment rails such as Visa and Swift.



One of the layer-1’s main differentiators from other blockchains is its use of what it calls “casual ordering,” according to <a href="https://docs.sui.io/learn/sui-compared" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sui’s website</a>. Unlike other blockchains, Sui forgoes consensus for most transactions, allowing it to parallelize the execution of them and reduce latency.



While Sui is designed to perform well with direct sender transactions, it comes at the cost of added complexity in what it considers to be less common use cases, the informational document adds.&nbsp;



“Sui’s system design breakthrough eliminates a critical bottleneck in existing blockchains: the need to achieve global consensus on a total-ordered list of transactions,” Mysten Labs Chief Product Officer Adeniyi Abiodun told Blockworks in an email. “This computation is wasteful given most transactions are not contending for the same resource against other transactions.”



The architecture, according to the team, will make it “the first and only permissionless blockchain that has horizontal scalability [with] no upper limit on network throughout.”



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Use cases</h3>



Sui’s use cases, according to Mysten Labs, include facilitating airdrops to millions of people in a single, low-cost transaction; creator-owned decentralized social media networks; and developing blockchain gaming interactions such as equipment crafting, character leveling and battle records stored on-chain.



A spokesperson for <a href="https://www.lucky-kat.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Lucky Kat Studios</a>, the creators of a game called Panzerdogs, said that Sui’s ability to mirror NFTs (non-fungible tokens) and handle on-chain assets opens up new options for blockchain gaming.



“Imagine importing all your NFTs into a game, upgrading them into new, usable assets and enhancing the gaming experience and the in-game economy,” the Lucky Kat representative said in a statement. “Not only do the NFTs become a part of the gaming experience, but the game also becomes a part of the NFT.”



<a href="https://sowork.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">SoWork</a>, which offers virtual workspaces in the metaverse, uses Sui to mint composable, mutable NFTs to its customers.



“We’ve come a long way with Ethereum, but it really feels like Sui is what gets us as startups, consumers, and creatives to the next level of decentralization, because it goes beyond simple NFT minting,” a SoWork spokesperson said.



Mysten Labs previously said Sui will go to mainnet later this year following its test and beta net phases. The company anticipates developer activity on-chain by April or May.



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Mysten labs