Today in Crypto: Bitpanda Partners with Visa, Near Joins Hands with WEMADE, Ethereum-based Decentralized RPC Goes Live

Get your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.
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Payments news

• Bitpanda announced its partnership with Visa as Bitpanda Technology Solutions joined Visa’s Fintech Partner Connect. Through this partnership, “Visa’s partners will gain the opportunity to access Bitpanda’s comprehensive investment infrastructure solutions. This enables financial institutions, banks, and fintechs to rapidly offer trading and investment services for asset classes such as Crypto, Stocks/ETFs, Precious metals & Commodities to their end customers”, said the press release. Bitpanda Technology Solutions will also begin expanding its investment infrastructure outside of Europe, it said. 

Blockchain news

• The NEAR blockchain and creator of the Blockchain Operating System (BOS) announced a strategic partnership with blockchain gaming company WEMADE to help support the development of blockchain apps in Korea and other markets. Per the announcement, Near and WEMADE will jointly support initiatives to increase mutual brand awareness; invest in research and collaboration on cross-chain; host more community events like hackathons and boot camps; scout for potential Web3 business opportunities; and nurture the next generation of Web3 developers.

DeFi news

• DRPC, an Ethereum-based decentralized RPC (remote procedure call) network that “enhances security, reliability, and cost-efficiency for Web3 projects of all sizes,” launched today, said a press release. An RPC is the communication protocol used by decentralized apps (dapps) to interact and pass information such as transaction details to and from blockchains. DRPC currently supports projects built on Ethereum and will be expanding to other EVM-based networks including Arbitrum, Polygon, BSC, and Optimism in the coming months, it added.
• Quasar Finance launched its mainnet, introducing a dedicated digital asset management blockchain, allowing investors to manage their decentralized finance (DeFi) investments across multiple chains, enabled by the Inter-Blockchain Communication Protocol (IBC). Per the press release, Quasar works by allowing investors to deposit funds into vaults, which are optimized to work across multiple blockchains. This move forward follows the announcement of Quasar’s recent $5.4 million bridge round. In total, the team has raised more than $11.5 million from investors such as Polychain Capital, Blockchain Capital, and Shima Capital.

Investment news

• BH Digital, the crypto arm of hedge fund manager Alan Howard, raised $9 million from investors for its liquid token strategy, the Nova Digital Opportunities fund, launched in 2022. The fund has three investors, according to a regulatory filing.

Wallet news

• Crypto lender Nexo has won “Best Cryptocurrency Wallet” in the annual FinTech Breakthrough Awards for a second consecutive year. The awards program is conducted by independent market intelligence organization FinTech Breakthrough, the press release said.  The award, it added, “came amidst some of the most challenging times of late for centralized entities in the digital assets space, serving as a true testament to Nexo’s commitment to adapt to market needs with flexible, user-oriented solutions.”

Gaming news

• Immutable Games, a Web3 game publisher and the gaming-focused arm of Immutable, announced new partnerships with three studios — Bazooka Tango, Bit Fry Game Studios, and Studio 369 — to “expand its family of the high-quality web3 games,” said the press release.

Metaverse news

• Metaverse platform RLTY announced a partnership with Ready Player Me, a cross-platform avatar builder. The press release said that the integration of Ready Player Me will allow RLTY users to create and personalize a new avatar or bring an existing one from Ready Player Me’s platform. To simplify the process further for newcomers, the team have created 30 pre-designed full and half-body avatars, ranging from cyberpunk to professional, it added.