sphere

AI-native tax engine startup Sphere announced the completion of a $21 million Series A funding round, led by a16z, with participation from Y Combinator, Felicis, 20VC, and others.Sphere leverages AI to automatically parse global tax laws and achieves end-to-end tax compliance automation necessary for corporate global expansion through over 100 local tax filing channels, earning the title of "the tax version of Deel." The system is designed specifically for cross-border income compliance, aiming to enable businesses to "operate globally" from day one.

ChainCatcher news, Zhao Changpeng stated on social media that as early as 2023, he invited Binance to sponsor a Bitcoin advertisement on the iconic Las Vegas landmark Sphere (without any Binance logos or mentions), and even paid some deposits. However, it was later put on hold due to "other interference." He is glad to see it finally completed now.Zhao Changpeng mentioned that he does not know who sponsored the current advertisement, but he still celebrates it.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, cryptocurrency venture capital firm Hypersphere's investment partner Mehdi Farooq stated that after falling victim to a fake Zoom call phishing attack, funds from his 6 wallets were stolen, resulting in the loss of years of savings.Mehdi Farooq revealed that the attack began with a message from Alex Lin, whom he knew, on Telegram. The two had interacted before, so this contact seemed routine. The latter shared a meeting link, and after joining the scheduled Zoom meeting, he found there was no audio. Shortly after running an update, his system was compromised, and hackers "drained his years of savings" in just a few minutes.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, Web3 infrastructure service provider Asphere (Ankr's enterprise division) announced a partnership with the Web3 Foundation to launch a no-code Rollup deployment framework based on the Polkadot SDK. Developers can customize and launch high-performance, interoperable dedicated Rollup chains in minutes through a visual interface. The solution offers ready-to-use templates such as general Rollups and Ethereum-compatible Rollups, supporting custom token economic models, governance mechanisms, and staking modules, all managed by Asphere's fully hosted node operations and compliance framework.David Hawig, head of ecosystem development at the Web3 Foundation, stated that the collaboration aims to unlock the potential of the Polkadot technology stack, allowing developers to focus on product innovation through native interoperability and shared security. Tyler Sloan, head of business at Asphere, pointed out that the no-code deployer will lower the barriers to protocol development, enabling both enterprises and individuals to build customized application chains and seamlessly integrate into the Polkadot multi-chain ecosystem.The solution supports independent Rollups, system-level Rollups, and dedicated chains for vertical scenarios such as DeFi and gaming, providing 24/7 operational monitoring and modular upgrade control. The parallel transaction processing architecture of Polkadot, combined with Asphere's infrastructure, can provide scalability support for scenarios with high concurrency and low fee requirements.

ChainCatcher news, according to Decrypt, the organizers of Dogwifhat have abandoned their plan to advertise at the Las Vegas Sphere. Previously, the project raised nearly $700,000 in cryptocurrency for fundraising, but it ultimately failed after more than a year. In late January of this year, the official X account of the token hinted that "the dog with a hat" would appear on the exterior of the venue in the first quarter of 2025. Late Monday night, organizer GamesMasterFlex (also known as Edward) announced on the X platform the termination of the Dogwifhat advertising plan, with refunds to donors starting as early as Tuesday; this statement was retweeted by the token's official X account.Edward had claimed that the team had reached an agreement with a "fashion brand partner" to display the Dogwifhat logo at the venue, and the relevant news from the token's official X account was initially confirmed and then retracted, ultimately only hinting that the dog image would appear on the exterior of the sphere in the first quarter of 2025. However, days later, a spokesperson for the venue denied that any agreement had been signed, stating that they only accept advertisements related to cryptocurrency exchanges and Bitcoin, and had never made a deal with Dogwifhat, nor do they have any plans for display now or in the future, expressing outrage at the misuse of their name for fraud. Edward stated that this announcement "scared off" the fashion brand partner, as the company's concerns about the venue's statements regarding "outrage" and "fraudulent intent" were significant. After the official denial, the token WIF plummeted 18% the next day, and Edward indicated that this caused the partner to be wary of the advertisement or its impact on the token's price, raising concerns from the SEC, ultimately leading to the collapse of the collaboration.

ChainCatcher news, according to TechInAsia, AI-driven code editor Cursor developer Anysphere Inc. is seeking to raise hundreds of millions of dollars, which could bring the company's valuation close to $10 billion, a significant increase from its $2.5 billion valuation in January of this year.The startup has grown rapidly, with annual recurring revenue exceeding $100 million within 12 months. Anysphere has previously raised approximately $175 million in venture capital from investors including Andreessen Horowitz.

ChainCatcher news, Dogwifhat officials stated today that the Wif Sphere organizers have been negotiating with various parties to collaborate on advertising for the Sphere. Since the Wif team is not a corporate entity, the organizers are working with well-known brands to execute this advertisement. A timeline has been agreed upon by the parties involved, and in case the plan is not executed, donations will be refunded, "the team does not intend to mislead any party."Previous report, a spokesperson for the Las Vegas Sphere denied reaching an advertising agreement with the Solana meme coin Dogwifhat (WIF). Last year, a team led by Zion Thomas raised $650,000, planning to project the Solana meme coin Dogwifhat onto the Las Vegas Sphere. Although the fundraising goal has been met, the plan has yet to be realized.

ChainCatcher news, according to Decrypt, a spokesperson for the Las Vegas Sphere denied reaching an advertising agreement with the Solana meme coin Dogwifhat (WIF)."There has never been a plan to feature Dogwifhat on Exosphere, past or present, and we are very concerned that they are using our name for fraud." Previously, the Dogwifhat team hinted at an upcoming advertisement at the Las Vegas Sphere on X, then deleted the post and re-released artwork without the phrase "official confirmation."

ChainCatcher news, according to DL News, 10 months ago, a team led by Zion Thomas raised $650,000 with plans to project the Solana meme coin Dogwifhat onto the Las Vegas Sphere. Despite reaching the fundraising goal, the plan has yet to be realized.As the price of Dogwifhat has fallen to a several-month low, there are questions about whether the event organizers will still proceed as originally planned. Fund manager Mihir stated that the team still intends to realize the project and emphasized that "timing is crucial," expecting to make an announcement soon.

ChainCatcher news, according to Forbes, stablecoin payment company Sphere has completed a $5 million funding round led by Coinbase Ventures and Kraken Ventures. The company was founded by Arnold Lee and Luigi Charles in 2022, aiming to create a "crypto version of Stripe."According to RootData, Sphere is a payment infrastructure that helps merchants from underdeveloped emerging markets achieve cost-effective, secure, and nearly instant cross-border payments using stablecoins. Through a visually appealing and easily accessible graphical user interface (GUI), Sphere coordinates blockchain, hosted infrastructure, and financial service providers to facilitate stablecoin payments.

ChainCatcher news, on Thursday, the U.S. financial markets were closed for Thanksgiving, resulting in light trading and weak liquidity. Bitcoin experienced a strong rebound yesterday after some investors took profits, briefly rising to $97,200, and currently trading at $96,382, maintaining a steady defense of the $95,000 level, with a slight increase of 0.68% in the past 24 hours.Ethereum has shown strong performance recently, with the price breaking above $3,684 yesterday, reaching a new high in over five months, which boosted the prices of ecosystem tokens. The L2 and DeFi sectors performed well, and the market may officially welcome altcoin season. Currently, after a peak and pullback, Ethereum continues to oscillate in the $3,500 to $3,600 range, reporting $3,564 before the deadline, down 1.6% in 24 hours.In the forex market, the U.S. dollar index rebounded to 106.21 on Thursday after falling to a two-week low in the previous trading session. The euro fell against the dollar as traders reduced bets on further interest rate cuts by the European Central Bank, while the overall forex market was subdued due to the U.S. holiday. Gold prices rose, driven by geopolitical uncertainty and trade concerns, boosting safe-haven demand. Oil prices climbed on Thursday, supported by the situation between Israel and Lebanon and the delay of the OPEC+ meeting, with U.S. and Brent crude prices rising over 0.8% during trading.Due to the impact of the Thanksgiving holiday, the market trading atmosphere has become subdued, significantly reducing the likelihood of various asset prices breaking through existing range-bound movements. eeee.com is a financial trading platform that supports assets such as cryptocurrencies, stock indices, bulk gold, and forex, recently launching a USDT stablecoin financial product with an annualized yield of 5.5%, providing investors with a potential safe-haven option. 4E reminds you to pay attention to market volatility risks and to allocate assets wisely.

ChainCatcher news, OKX Web3 Wallet collaborates with Space Nation to launch the first Gamesphere reward mission. Users who complete designated tasks in the game can receive a reward of $88, aimed at helping players better explore the Space Nation Online game.Previously, OKX and Space Nation jointly launched the OKX x Space Nation NFT player market, and this OKX Gamesphere reward mission is another significant collaboration between the two parties.

ChainCatcher news, the decentralized exchange SphereX has announced the official launch of its mainnet. The SphereX mainnet is supported by the Layer-2 scaling technology of zkLink Nova, aiming to ensure lower gas fees, enable more frequent transactions, achieve high transaction volumes, and seamless scalability.

ChainCatcher message, according to the ranking surge data from the Web3 asset data platform RootData, as of 5 AM on September 18, WalletConnect has risen by 615 ranks, placing first; SphereOne has risen by 597 ranks, ranking second; Ducat has risen by 595 ranks, coming in third.Additionally, the Web3 asset data platform RootData shows that WalletConnect is an open protocol for secure communication between wallets and Dapps (Web3 applications). This protocol uses bridge servers to establish remote connections between two applications and/or devices to relay payloads. These payloads are symmetrically encrypted using a shared key between the two peers.

ChainCatcher news, a Forbes report highlights that Argentinians are increasingly turning to cryptocurrency to hedge against the inflation of the local currency. The country's cryptocurrency adoption rate exceeds that of any country in the Western Hemisphere.Analysis from SimilarWeb shows that out of 130 million users across the top 55 cryptocurrency exchanges, 2.5 million are from Argentina. Popular exchanges in the country include Binance, eToro, BingX, HTX, and Bitget.

ChainCatcher news, Hypersphere Ventures has opened its $130 million liquidity fund to external investors, which will employ Wall Street-style strategies to generate returns from crypto assets.The fund's staff comes from high-frequency trading firm Millennium and hedge fund Bridgewater. Hypersphere intends to adopt the multi-manager approach used by Millennium and Bridgewater to provide investors with niche trading strategies while maintaining low volatility.In addition, Hypersphere will also raise a new venture fund to invest in early-stage crypto projects. The company plans to raise $75 million for this venture capital fund, with fundraising set to begin in the fall.