The crypto industry has long been a testing ground for crowdfunding initiatives. Although previous models, such as the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) and Initial Exchange Offering (IEO) have attracted regulatory scrutiny (and occasional founders with questionable motives), some companies refuse to give up on the idea that crypto and crowdfunding are compatible. One such platform is Republic, which is using its Republic Core technology to offer accredited investors the opportunity to share in the profits derived from its own portfolio of startups when (and if) the companies in which it invests succeed. Virtuous circle investing The Republic Note is the …

Smart vending start-up Popcom raised millions to bring more of their vending machines as the demand for more contact-less retail solutions rises. Popcom, led by Dawn Dickson and one of the few Black women-owned blockchain companies, crowdfunded $1.3 million in its latest funding round, according to Black Enterprise. So far, the company has raised a total of $2.3 million with the majority of investments done through Regulated CF security token offerings. The company aims to grow its operations, build its team and add more of its vending machines. Popcom provides touchless vending machines that track transactions to create live sales …

A partnership announced on Tuesday between the Gitcoin project and Polkadot will help the interoperable blockchain platform’s developers find community support and funding. Gitcoin’s current function can be considered as an experiment in a new way of funding public goods based on the concept of "Capital-constrained Liberal Radicalism," or CLR, championed by Ethereum’s co-founder Vitalik Buterin. This works through Gitcoin Grants, a hybrid public funding mechanism that relies both on community contributions and wealthy donors. CLR is similar to the concept of matching donations, but they are not backed one-to-one. Instead, a quadratic funding system changes the weight of each …

Digital asset security firm Ngrave announced the launch of a recoverable, encrypted private key backup engraved on a steel plate for cryptocurrency hardware wallets. According to the announcement on June 10, Ngrave Graphene is now available to the public after raising more than $159,000 from a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo. Ngrave Graphene has a “cryptographic puzzle” design focused on resisting electric shock, rain, fire, heat up to 1,660 degrees Celsius (3,020º F). The puzzle consists of two plates that contain the owner’s secret key with values on the plate arranged differently for each customer. Both plates are required to recover …

The NGRAVE ZERO, claimed to be the world’s most secure hardware wallet, launched its crowdfunding campaign for €25,000 ($27,850) on May 26. In the first two days it smashed this total four times over, and is now well on its way to number five. The campaign, which was launched through the IndieGogo crowdfunding platform, is set to run for another 28 days. The campaign offers a number of perks for backers who donate above certain amounts. These range from a single ZERO wallet, through bundles including the Graphene accessory, to multiple wallet bundles and even every future product NGRAVE launches …

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has introduced temporary changes to its Regulation Crowdfunding offering guidelines, making it easier for crypto blockchain firms seeking to launch on via platforms like Indiegogo to raise money. The adjustments mean that firms seeking to raise cash via crowdfunding won’t need to provide documents that may be difficult to obtain as a result of the coronavirus lockdown, including financial statements. However, firms must provide all requisite documentation before securing commitments from investors. The temporary guidelines were recommended by the SEC’s Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee. The relief measure passed on May …

Crypto wallet banking and donation app BABB has announced the debut of its top-up function, a fee-waiving cash-out policy for COVID-19 fundraisers on its platform. According to the announcement, the company has also added a fiat gateway that every Android and iOS user will have access to. BABB clarifies that as long as the users pass the Know-Your-Customer verifications, they will be eligible. That said, customers who have not previously used BAX tokens or who are not familiar with trading or exchange platforms will be able to buy the BAX tokens directly with a credit or debit card. The feature …

Republic, a platform letting users invest in early-stage companies, announced plans to launch its own digital asset on Algorand’s blockchain. “We are excited to be using their cutting edge blockchain technology to enable the creation of a new dynamic digital asset,” Republic co-founder Kendrick Nguyen said of Algorand in a March 17 statement provided to Cointelegraph. The asset will allow the public access to the success or failure of Republic through investment. The digital asset will be a security, Republic associate general counsel and partner Jed Halfon confirmed to Cointelegraph via email. Republic has seen success so far With help …

Activate is making its inaugural token launch with Skale Network, according to a Feb. 11 press release. Activate is a token launch platform developed by ConsenSys Codefi, which seeks to jumpstart the actual usage of new networks. The platform was announced in October 2019, and it was created specifically to bootstrap adoption for new projects. Its first launch partner and inaugural project is Skale Network, a smart contract platform based on Ethereum. What is Activate? While Activate shares several features with initial coin offering (ICO) platforms such as CoinList and Binance Launchpad, its team is adamant in its wish to …

The non-profit research organization Plasma Group announced in a Jan. 9 blog post that it would cease studying Ethereum scalability. Identifying funding of public goods as the next key challenge, it pledged to donate its remaining funds to Gitcoin. Plasma Group was founded in Jan. 2019 with the goal of pushing research toward Ethereum scalability solutions based on Plasma technology. It received funding from a variety of organizations including the Ethereum Foundation, ConsenSys, OmiseGo, Matic Network and Gitcoin. The non-profit used this money to conduct research into solving practical obstacles for layer-two scaling solutions. The team identified several of its …

As the world of finance continues adapting to contemporary innovations, it almost cannot help but drag other industries along for the ride — willingly or otherwise. Film is one such sector currently undergoing a quiet revolt, concocting a radical subversion to traditional models of financing. This is partly due to the emergence of distributed technologies such as blockchain, and it has led to a new concept: the tokenization of everything. In its purest form, tokenization is the act of adding liquidity to real-world assets. A good — if not exact — comparison is depicted in stocks and shares, which represent …

The crypto community has seen a tectonic shift in fundraising trends: from the decline of initial coin offerings (ICOs) to the hype around security token offerings (STOs) and then the rise of initial exchange offerings (IEOs). The inclination for fundraising seems to evolve every year. Similarly, 2019 brought with it a new way for crypto businesses to launch their tokens. Fundraising is the key to any business to take off. Crowdsourcing trends have taken off globally across all sectors, especially in the decentralized world of cryptos — though the way to crowdsource changes as technology progresses and as society progresses. …