Messari Raises $35M in Series B Round

Blockchain-based data analytics platform, Messari has announced the successful completion of its Series B funding round in which it pulled $35 million. 

MESS2.jpg

The round was led by Brevan Howard Digital and enjoined participation from top investors, including Morgan Creek Digital, Samsung Next, FTX Ventures, and existing investors Point72 Ventures, Kraken Ventures, Uncork Capital, Underscore VC, Galaxy, and Coinbase Ventures.

Coming off as one of the most favoured data analytics platforms serving the crypto ecosystem nowadays, Messari landed $21 million in a Series A round in early August from investors led by Steve Cohen. The August round valued the company at $300 million.

As announced, the new funds will be used to bolster its growing team and fast-track the development of new products.

“We’re excited to welcome a remarkable group of investors as partners in our next phase of growth,” said Ryan Selkis, Messari’s Co-founder & CEO. “We are committed to providing investors, crypto enterprises, and token communities with the tools they need to participate in the crypto economy. This new funding will help us grow our team, expand internationally, and invest in new data offerings and tools that complete our market-leading product suite.”

In its growth track, Messari confirmed that it has launched two new products, including Protocol Metrics and Data Apps. As explained, Protocol Metrics will enable the customers of the data research platform to “compare assets across multiple networks through transparent data standardization and analyze the health, growth, and usage of a protocol.”

The Data App platform is ideal for users who want access to customized data sets. Messari said the release of the Data App platform would be in Beta at launch and that it will release the demo for both products at its forthcoming Mainnet 2022 summit. The summit started on Wednesday and will end on Friday, the 23rd.

Image source: Shutterstock

Source

Tagged : / / / /

Is Axie Infinity overheating? AXS price hits record high following 100% QTD rally

AXS, the native token of Axie Infinity, a play-to-earn nonfungible token (NFT) game built atop the Ethereum blockchain, rallied more than 100% on a quarter-to-date (QTD) timeframe to refresh a new record high above $155.

Nonetheless, the cryptocurrency now risks paring a portion of its recent gains as a key technical indicator, dubbed the relative strength index (RSI), flashes its overbought conditions. In doing so, it might correct below $90—almost a 40% drop.

The bearish outlook surfaces after studying the relationship between AXS’s price and its RSI readings. In detail, when the RSI rallies above 70, it mostly prompts AXS to either consolidate sideways or lower later.

But in either case, the token ends up testing its 20-day exponential moving average (20-day EMA; the green wave in the chart below) as an interim support level.

AXS/USD daily price chart featuring its response to RSI readings above 70. Source: TradingView.com

For instance, RSI closed above 70 three times since July 1, 2021, and each time prompted the price to hit its 20-day EMA within 7-30 days. That made buying AXS against an overbought RSI reading a risky preposition for traders, increasing their probability of facing short-term losses.

As a result, the Axie Infinity token could go through a similar bearish trajectory in the days/weeks ahead, with its next downside target sitting around $87. Nonetheless, if the price rallies further ahead, as happened after July’s overbought signal, AXS’s bearish target could move to or above $90.

Is HODLING a better strategy?

The 20-day EMA served as a buy indicator for traders following the RSI-led corrections. In detail, traders decided to buy the dip in anticipation that the AXS price would retest and close above its previous high levels.

Therefore, it is visible that traders who did not sell their AXS holdings during the price corrections towards 20-day EMA managed to earn decent paper profits—the Axie Infinity token has climbed more than 2,500% since July 1.

AXS’s growing utility inside the Axie Infinity virtual world, called Lunicia, has emerged as one of the primary catalysts behind its demand among gamers and traders. In detail, players maneuver colorful creatures called Axies to earn two kinds of tokens.

The first, known as Small Love Potions (SLP), is awarded for successful battles; it can be cashed out or be reused to breed new Axies. Meanwhile, the second token, AXS, can be earned by winning seasonal tournaments or selling Axies in Axie Infinity’s dedicated in-house marketplace.

As of Monday, Axie Infinity’s active users count tallied to 1.85 million, up over 4,500% since April, with its total cumulative revenue climbing to $815 million in the same period, as per Token Terminal. That made Sky Marvis, the firm behind Axie Infinity, the fifth most valuable video game company globally by market capitalization.

Top gaming companies in the world. Source: Messari

The strong fundamentals have intensified traders’ confidence in AXS, which explains its ability to bounce back every time after undergoing a sharp correction towards its 20-day EMA.

AXS staking service, DEX launch

The latest bout of buying in the Axie Infinity markets also surfaced due to a new feature that allows AXS holders to stake their tokens to earn yields. Since its launch on Sep 30, the staking feature has attracted more than 12.44 million AXS tokens (~$1.88 billion at current rates).

AXS staking dashboard. Source: Axie Infinity

Staking effectively takes active token supply out of circulation, which, against a rising demand for the asset, tends to push its prices higher. 

Related: Massive airdrop and AXS staking catapult Axie Infinity to a new all-time high

Meanwhile, Sky Mavis announced that it would launch a decentralized exchange (DEX) on Ethereum-linked sidechain Ronin. In doing so, the company aims to ensure faster AXS and SLP liquidity to players during gameplay without needing to rely on cross-chain bridges to purchase or swap tokens.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.