PLN Updates - Jan 16
Kicking off 2024, this newsletter unveils innovative tools like Artizen's ART token, new initiatives like the PL Dev Guild, and a spotlight Q&A with the co-founder of GLIF, Jonathan Schwartz.
⚙️ New Tool Alert: ART Token by Artizen
Shipped: January 2024
What It Is: Artizen launched the ART token, a groundbreaking way to fund and invest in projects at the intersection of art, science, technology, and culture. By purchasing ART tokens, investors not only help fund these pioneering projects, but also acquire a stake in the Artizen Fund's collection of cultural Artifacts.
Why It’s a Big Deal: The ART token represents a shift in funding creative endeavors. Artizen's model democratizes the investment process by empowering creators and providing a tangible way for investors to contribute to – and profit from – the world of art, science, and technology.
The Big Picture: Artizen's initiative is more than just a funding mechanism — it's a movement towards a more inclusive and effective way of supporting creativity. By turning donors into owners, Artizen is creating a community-driven platform where the success of the fund and its projects is shared among all stakeholders. This method of funding sets a new standard for how we value and support innovation across various fields.
Read more about the ART token and how it's changing the landscape of funding for human creativity here.
📢 Launching the PL Dev Guild: Empowering Open Source Development
The PL Dev Guild, a new initiative by Protocol Labs, is set to launch this year. Announced by Juan Benet at FILBangalore'23, this program is dedicated to elevating open source development to new heights. With $2.5 million in grants, the PL Dev Guild offers mentorship and a support hub for the brightest minds in open source. The first cohort, launching in India, aims to provide open source developers with resources, guidance and recognition.
To learn more, check out Juan's keynote from FILBangalore'23.
🌟 Celebrating Funding Rounds for Protocol Labs Venture Studio Supported Startups
Exciting news from Protocol Labs Venture Studio (PL VS)! Two of its supported startups, Privy.io and Expanso, have made significant strides in their funding journeys, showcasing the impact of PL VS in fostering technological innovation.
Privy.io, a leader in privacy technology, has impressively raised $18 million to boost its work in advancing digital privacy solutions.
Expanso, specializing in distributed compute platforms, has announced a $7.5 million raise.
For collaboration opportunities with PL VS, reach out to plvs@protocol.ai and read this blog post about the PL VS mission.
📈 Expanding the Network
We're excited to announce that Jara Analytics will join the PL network! Specializing in HR Analytics, Jara Analytics offers solutions and advisory services to assist Web3 organizations in making informed talent decisions.
Don't miss their inaugural people insights report, offering insights into key metrics like headcount, turnover, and compensation within the PL network.
📡 Network Radar
Canza Finance successfully raised $2.3 million in a strategic funding round led by Polychain Capital, with contributions from investors including Protocol Labs and Avalanche's Blizzard fund. The raised capital will go towards developing Canza's decentralized financial technology, Baki, which offers more economical access to foreign exchange rates and facilitates increased intra-African trade.
Emerging from stealth mode, web3mine has raised $6 million in seed funding to develop a universal compute infrastructure for Web3. The round, led by 1kx, PL Ventures, and angel investors, aims to address Web2 limitations like data silos and vendor lock-in, promoting a community-owned internet structure. The funding will enhance web3mine's offerings in hardware monetization and liquid staking, enabling efficient deployment and monetization of assets like storage and computational workloads. Learn more here.
Thirdweb has announced the integration of its comprehensive Web3 gaming stack with Unreal Engine, marking a significant leap in on-chain game development. This integration brings a suite of tools including wallets, contracts, payments, and infrastructure, all designed to empower developers in creating immersive AAA-level games. Learn more here.
Privy has teamed up with OpenSea, the leading NFT marketplace, to simplify the Web3 onboarding experience. This partnership enables newcomers to easily sign in with an email and purchase NFTs using credit cards. This partnership offers users a secure, self-custodial wallet, making the entry into digital collectibles and crypto more accessible. Learn more here.
Lava Network has introduced "Constant Availability," a new feature ensuring uninterrupted RPC and API service, even during blockchain downtimes. This advancement, which recently followed their 3x speed increase with dual-caching, is a significant milestone, eliminating single points of failure and offering a fully peer-to-peer, resilient service. Learn more here.
At FILBangalore'23, a compelling fireside chat brought together Juan Benet of Protocol Labs, Kartik Talwar from ETH Global, and Sandeep Nailwal, the driving force behind Polygon. The trio delved into the future of decentralized technologies, Ethereum's dynamic evolution, and Polygon's impactful role in enhancing blockchain scalability. Watch the replay here.
Tableland has introduced their Basin v2 demo, a pivotal innovation for DePIN data management. This Python and DuckDB-based solution integrates large-scale DePIN data into real-world workflows, featuring enhanced deal addition, PostgreSQL for improved data storage, and advanced HTTP APIs. Learn more here.
2023 marked a year of remarkable achievements for the Filecoin network. Celebrating its third Mainnet anniversary, the network witnessed substantial growth with significant contributions from over 14.7K GitHub collaborators and more than 3,050 projects. Learn more here.
Zama has released a comprehensive guide on private inference using Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) with the Concrete ML library. This guide highlights Zama's focus on privacy-preserving technologies, offering solutions that complement federated learning for secure inference. You can find more details and explore the guide here.
Privy has announced support for Redstone, a Layer 2 solution optimized for gaming and autonomous worlds. This integration aims to enhance the gaming experience on blockchain. Learn more here.
Skiff has launched full PGP support, enhancing their platform's email encryption capabilities. This update allows users to send end-to-end encrypted emails across different providers. This new PGP feature simplifies key management, enabling automatic key creation, importation, and resolution for external users. Learn more here.
LurkLab is excited to announce the first crate release of Arecibo, their incubation fork of Nova. This milestone includes the complete integration of the SuperNova protocol, advancing the capabilities in the field of cryptographic proofs. Learn more here.
Talent Protocol has introduced builder.fi, a new SocialFi app designed to connect game developers and creators. This platform offers a unique opportunity for users to monetize their expertise by answering questions from other community members. Learn more here.
Cryptosat is actively seeking partnerships with space and satellite companies to advance its cutting-edge technology. cEDGE revolutionizes traditional satellite operations by enabling on-the-spot data decisions and processing, reducing the need to send vast data volumes to Earth. This edge computing approach is crucial for handling increasing data loads efficiently. Learn more here.
Syndicate's Transaction Cloud is revolutionizing Web3 development by offering a simplified, scalable solution for managing blockchain transactions. Aimed at improving both the developer (DX) and user (UX) experience, this cloud-based infrastructure enables efficient transaction lifecycle management via easy-to-use HTTP REST APIs. Learn more here.
InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) is out-of-this-world – literally. This IPFS white paper details how an image of FF’s mascot (Biscuit, the “FileCorgi”) was transmitted to an orbiting LM LINUSS ™CubeSat and back using a purpose-built IPFS implementation that ran atop Lockheed Martin’s SmartSat technology, a software platform that makes it easier to dynamically add and quickly change missions in orbit through simple app uploads. More in this post.
🔦 Spotlight: Jonathan Schwartz, co-founder of GLIF
In this edition, we put a spotlight on Jonathan Schwartz, whose crypto journey started with teaching blockchain and then led to co-founding GLIF.
Tell us a bit about yourself.
When I watched Juan Benet’s talk at the Long Now Foundation about long-term info structures, I quit my job at ConsenSys to start an IPFS focused development studio. Clients hired us to build custom IPFS based storage solutions for Web3 apps and protocols. About a year after opening the development studio, we started working directly with Protocol Labs to build critical apps and tools for Filecoin’s Mainnet Launch. To name a few, we built the most popular Filecoin wallet, the multisig used in Filecoin’s ICO distribution, and node hosting infrastructure that still handles more than 12 million requests per day. This grouping of apps and tools was the birth of GLIF.
Since then, GLIF has evolved into a single app, built on top of our unique Filecoin DeFi protocol which allows token holders to deposit FIL and earn rewards. All of the existing functionality we’ve built is still there too, but now all in one place.
How did you get into Web3?
In college, I started my first company and learned a valuable lesson: I needed to learn how to code myself. That’s when I turned toward crypto and fell down the rabbit hole. It made sense, because my formal education is in finance. Eventually, I taught blockchain to software engineering students at a coding bootcamp in New York City. The best way to learn is to teach. That’s how I got my job at ConsenSys, which has now led me to where I am today.
What advice would you give to someone joining Web3?
Find actual problems to solve with the valuable parts of the underlying technology. It’s exhilarating to build cool and sophisticated things in Web3, but it’s important to stay tethered to reality and solve real problems to sustainably succeed.
What challenges or rough edges would you like to see solved in Web3?
I’d like to see more applications focused on real world problems and use cases. Sometimes we build in silos and forget to talk to people outside our bubbles. We don’t end up pushing the boundaries of the tech in ways that’s more informed.
What are your favorite podcasts or books?
My favorite book is The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle.
Tell us something you like to do for fun.
Building and creating things like puzzles, IKEA furniture and Lego when I’m not walking my dog!
📝 Tips?
Have a suggestion for the next PLN Updates newsletter? We’d love to hear from you! Contact Sara Hamdan at sara.hamdan@protocol.ai.