Valour Launches First Yield-Bearing Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Product

Hi NoRamp Community,

Daily News:

1) Lido Co-Founders & Paradigm Back EigenLayer Competitor

2) MetalCore Joins $2.4B Universal Gaming Ecosystem Portal

3) Valour Launches First Yield-Bearing Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Product

4) TBD & Chipper Cash Partner on Cross-Border Payments in Africa

5) Avidbank Partners With Corserv to Launch Commercial Credit Card

Lido Co-Founders & Paradigm Back EigenLayer Competitor:

• The co-founders of Lido, the largest liquid staking protocol on Ethereum, Konstantin Lomashuk and Vasiliy Shapovalov, through their venture firm Cyber Fund, along with Paradigm, a major crypto venture capital firm, are reportedly funding a new competitor called Symbiotic. This project is positioned as an alternative to EigenLayer, a rapidly emerging "restaking" service in decentralized finance.

• Symbiotic, developed by the team behind Stakemind, is designed as a permissionless restaking protocol that allows users to restake assets, including Lido's staked ether (stETH) and other popular ERC-20 tokens. It aims to provide decentralized networks with flexible mechanisms to coordinate node operators and providers of economic security. The protocol is still in preliminary stages, with its documents marked "not for distribution," but discussions for integration with various restaking services are already underway.

• The launch of Symbiotic comes at a time when Lido has been experiencing a decline in market share due to the rise of EigenLayer, which has attracted $16 billion in deposits since its inception. Unlike EigenLayer, which only accepts Ethereum's native ETH token, Symbiotic will allow direct deposits of a broader range of ERC-20 assets, enhancing its utility and accessibility within the DeFi ecosystem.

MetalCore Joins $2.4B Universal Gaming Ecosystem Portal:

• MetalCore, an MMO combat game developed by Studio369, which includes former developers from Activision, Disney, Lucasfilm, and Midway, has partnered with Portal, a universal gaming ecosystem. This collaboration aims to streamline the blockchain gaming experience by consolidating all Web3 games, digital assets, and user accounts into a single, accessible location.

• The partnership between MetalCore and Portal seeks to address and eliminate the complexities and fragmentation of the blockchain onboarding process, which are viewed as major obstacles to the growth of the Web3 gaming industry. By creating a unified ecosystem, the initiative intends to simplify user access and interaction, enhancing the overall gaming experience and expanding the user base.

• Studio369, which has raised nearly $19 million in funding, is enhancing MetalCore with features like a dynamic mission system using AI, integration into the Immutable zkEVM ecosystem for custom smart contracts and gas-free service, and innovative 'scanning' systems for crafting Web3 assets. Portal supports these advancements by providing a comprehensive suite of Web3 engagement tools, including a wallet, multi-chain functionality, and a launchpad, further supported by its native PORTAL token which debuted with a $2.37 billion valuation.

  

  Source: Decrypt

Valour Launches First Yield-Bearing Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Product:

• DeFi Technologies' subsidiary, Valour, has launched the world's first yield-bearing Bitcoin exchange-traded product (ETP), the Valour Bitcoin Staking (BTC) ETP, available exclusively in Nordic markets. This new financial product allows investors to gain exposure to Bitcoin while earning a 5.65% yield, as announced in a press release.

• The Valour BTC ETP began trading on May 10 on the Nordic Growth Market exchange, charging a management fee of 1.9%. It collaborates with Core Chain, a Bitcoin-powered blockchain network that supports Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatibility, to offer this investment vehicle.

• The yield on the BTC ETP is generated through non-custodial, native Bitcoin staking where Bitcoins are delegated to validators on the Core Chain. Staking rewards are paid in CORE tokens, the native asset of the Core blockchain, and are reinvested back into the ETP. This setup maintains custodial control and includes a lockup period to mitigate risks associated with Bitcoin staking.

TBD & Chipper Cash Partner on Cross-Border Payments in Africa:

• Block's subsidiary TBD and African FinTech Chipper Cash have partnered to enhance B2C and B2B cross-border payments across 40 African countries. This collaboration involves Chipper Cash integrating with TBD’s tbDEX, an open messaging protocol, to facilitate decentralized identity and efficient payment processes.

• The partnership initially focuses on reducing the high costs and inefficiencies of consumer remittances to Africa, which are essential for many families but currently suffer from high transaction fees. By utilizing the tbDEX protocol, the collaboration aims to lower these costs and improve the speed and transparency of remittances.

• Beyond remittances, TBD and Chipper Cash will explore solutions to support small businesses, enhancing Chipper Cash’s existing services that facilitate local and cross-border digital payments for underbanked SMBs. Additionally, the partnership will leverage tbDEX to improve consumer and small business onboarding and identity verification using verifiable credentials and decentralized identifiers, promoting secure and compliant transactions across the continent.

Avidbank Partners With Corserv to Launch Commercial Credit Card:

• Avidbank has partnered with Corserv to introduce a new credit card offering targeted at its commercial clients, including businesses, municipalities, and non-profits. This initiative aims to expand the bank's services and provide clients with a broader range of credit card products, such as virtual cards.

• The collaboration utilizes Corserv’s Account Issuer solution, which supports card issuance, processing, servicing, and program management. This integration is designed to enhance the bank's capabilities in expense reporting, spending controls, and providing transaction insights for clients.

• Avidbank, a California-based financial institution managing over $2 billion in assets, focuses on various banking services like deposit, cash management, and online banking, as well as lending services across several sectors. Corserv's solution has already been implemented successfully in other banks like Busey Bank, Peoples Bank, and Meridian Bank in the past year.

NoRamp:

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