Cryptocurrency
Following 3 Unicorns in 2 Years, Web3 Accelerator Beacon Launches Its Largest Cohort to Date

[PRESS RELEASE – New York, New York, September 12th, 2024]
Leading web3 accelerator program Beacon has announced the launch of its fourth and largest cohort to date. Beacon, which finances projects from pre-seed to Series A, has selected 17 promising companies for its latest three-month program, marking a significant expansion from previous cohorts.
The latest group is composed of the highest-profile firms in the history of Beacon, which was launched by Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal in 2022. Featuring multiple Series A companies backed by heavyweight VCs firms like Pantera, Founders Fund, Framework, and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), the cohort spans multiple web3 sectors including DeFi, infrastructure, and AI. Among the notable participants are Stakestone, EXO, Nubit, Aligned Layer, and eoracle.
“We’re thrilled to welcome our largest and most diverse cohort so far,” said Sandeep Nailwal, Co-Founder of Polygon and Beacon. “The caliber of companies joining us in the latest program is truly exceptional, and we’re excited to see how, with the aid of our mentorship and resources, they’ll go on to shape the future of web3 and beyond.”
The announcement comes on the heels of the graduation of Beacon’s highly successful S23 cohort which consisted of 10 companies, many of whom have made a major mark since being selected. S23 alumni included scalable data availability layer 0G and verifiable oracle protocol ORA, both of whom have achieved unicorn status since graduating.
While ORA secured $20 million funding in a round led by Polychain Capital, Inco, a universal confidentiality layer, closed a $4.5 million seed round led by 1kx, with participation from dao5 and Robot Ventures. Ethereum L2 solution Fluent, meanwhile, raised $7.5 million in a seed round co-led by Polychain Capital and dao5.
These success stories have set the bar high for the latest cohort, particularly given the impressive background and early traction of the participating companies. Both Aligned Layer and Nubit have already conducted Series A rounds, raising $20 million and $12 million respectively. The full list of companies in Beacon’s Cohort S24 are as follows:
- Aligned Layer – Aligned Layer is a decentralized network that verifies zero-knowledge/validity proofs and posts the results to Ethereum. It is designed to provide high throughput, cheap proof verification with low latency.
- Avantis – Avatnis’ infrastructure provides traders access to up to 100x leverage for major cryptocurrencies, forex and commodities pairs.
- Compute Labs – Compute Labs leverages its self-developed Compute Tokenization Protocol to financialize AI, enable direct exposure to compute assets, and create compute derivatives, empowering investors to effortlessly yield from compute, the currency of the future.
- Crynux – Founded by ex-Google engineers and scientists, Crynux is building a permissionless and trustless protocol for truly decentralized AI.
- eoracle – eoracle is a programmable data layer that extends Ethereum Proof of Stake to connect smart contracts with real-world data.
- EXO – Exo allows you to run your own AI cluster at home using everyday devices.
- EZKL – EZKL is a developer-friendly system for verifiable AI and analytics. With tens of millions of proofs computed every month, it powers a variety of delegated and decentralized systems
- Lorenzo – Lorenzo is the Bitcoin Liquidity Finance Layer, designed to meet the growing global demand for Bitcoin liquidity across L2s, DeFi, and trading platforms. It enables Bitcoin holders to efficiently invest in top yield opportunities through its premier DeFi ecosystem.
- Nodekit – NodeKit is building Javelin, the first superbuilder restoring composability to rollups.
- Nubit – Nubit is a scalable, cost-efficient, data availability layer secured by Bitcoin for the Bitcoin community. Nubit enables the scaling of Bitcoin’s data capacities, empowering applications like Ordinals, Layer 2s, and price oracles, thus broadening the scope and efficiency of the Bitcoin ecosystem.
- Othentic – Othentic provides infrastructure to build distributed services. Their infra simplifies AVS development on Eigenlayer, with over 30 projects leveraging the Othentic stack.
- PADO – PADO is a Decentralized zkAttestation and Computation Network with the vision of liberating locked Internet data to Web3.
- Pallet – Pallet Exchange is the hub for digital culture, community, and ownership on Sei.
- Pin AI – PIN AI is The Open Platform for Personal AI. Built on open source AI, leveraging crypto for data ownership & privacy.
- Stakestone – StakeStone is an omni-chain Liquid Staking Token (LST) protocol enhancing staking yields and liquidity on Layer 2s. Its architecture supports multi-chain liquidity with its native token, STONE, and introduces the Optimizing Portfolio and Allocation Proposal (OPAP) for transparent and optimized yields.
- TAC – TON App Chain (TAC) is an interoperability layer for TON blockchain and EVM-based applications.
- Warlock – Warlock is building new primitives to disrupt and disintermediate the MEV landscape.
“With the level of talent and innovation we’re witnessing in this new group, we are entirely confident that they can emulate, if not surpass, their predecessors,” said Nailwal.
Beacon’s biannual three-month program runs provides startups with mentorship, resources, and capital to accelerate their growth and development, with the program having established itself as a premier launchpad for web3 innovation.
About Beacon:
Beacon is an early-stage web3 accelerator program for promising startups. Launched by Polygon and Symbolic Capital co-founder Sandeep Nailwal, the program supports DeFi, gaming, infrastructure, AI, and other web3 ventures with financing, mentorship and resources, with the aim of identifying projects that serve real-world needs. The 12-week program runs twice per year.
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Cryptocurrency
$500M in Shorts Liquidated as Bitcoin (BTC) Blasts Above $101K

It almost felt inevitable today that bitcoin will eventually break past the coveted $100,000 milestone and after a brief hesitation, the asset has soared to a new multi-month peak above $101,000.
The altcoins have followed suit with massive price gains from the likes of PEPE, SUI, FARTCOIN, and many others.
CryptoPotato reported earlier today that BTC had risen to $99,700 amid reports that China and the US will have talks later this week in Switzerland in regards to striking a tariff deal. Later, Trump teased a big announcement for tomorrow that will involve the UK.
BTC stood close to the six-digit entry territory for almost the entire day and was stopped there at first. However, the asset flew past it an hour ago and kept surging to a new three-month peak of over $101,000.
Recall that just a month ago the primary cryptocurrency struggled below $80,000 and even dumped to a 2025 low of under $75,000 amid the darkest hours of the Trade War.
Now, though, bitcoin’s realized cap has marked another all-time high, while the break above $100,000 could be different than previous such increases.
VIRTUAL and PENGU lead the daily gains from the top 100 alts, with price surges of 36% and 33%, respectively. PEPE, SUI, and FARTCOIN follow suit by charting 20-25% daily jumps.
Even Ethereum has soared by double digits in the past 24 hours, and managed to break past $2,000 for the first time in well over a month.
The total value of liquidations on a daily scale is up to $580 million, according to CoinGlass. The majority, expectedly, comes from short positions (almost $500 million). The total number of wrecked trades is above 145,000.
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Cryptocurrency
SKALE Announces BITE Protocol to Protect Against Blockchain Industry’s Nearly $2 Billion MEV Vulnerability

[PRESS RELEASE – San Francisco, CA, May 8th, 2025]
BITE is set to become the first protocol to eliminate MEV at the consensus level, ending front-running, sandwich attacks, and other transaction exploits.
SKALE Labs, the team behind the gas-free invisible blockchain network SKALE, today announced the launch of BITE Protocol, the industry’s first consensus-level solution designed to eliminate Maximal Extractable Value (MEV). With over $1.8 billion lost to MEV extraction since 2020, BITE Protocol seeks to bring blockchain transactions in line with that of traditional finance transactions, eliminating front-running tactics that have plagued the industry as more traditional institutions enter the space.
BITE, short for ‘Blockchain Integrated Threshold Encryption‘, prevents any party, including validators, from accessing transaction contents before a block is finalized. While previous attempts at eliminating MEV have only addressed issues at a surface level, BITE’s new cryptographic protocol integrates threshold encryption directly into the consensus layer, creating a fundamentally level playing field for all blockchain participants. By encrypting transactions before they enter the mempool and only decrypting them after block finalization, BITE delivers true transaction privacy and fairness.
SKALE Labs CEO and Co-Founder Jack O’Holleran commented, “BITE Protocol represents a watershed moment for blockchain technology, which could result in making current L1 blockchain technology obsolete. BITE Protocol encrypts consensus and completely removes MEV from blockchain, finally putting an end to front-running, sandwich attacks, time bandit attacks, and other methods of taking value from end users. Rather than applying band-aid solutions to the MEV problem, BITE addresses it at its root through cryptographic guarantees in the consensus layer itself. “
The protocol is poised to transform the blockchain landscape from one where privileged actors can exploit ordinary users to one where everyone operates with the same information at the same time, bringing blockchain closer to the fairness expected in traditional financial markets while maintaining its decentralized nature. The protocol’s impact extends across decentralized exchanges, NFT marketplaces, lending protocols, on-chain games, prediction markets, and real-world asset (RWA) tokenization platforms, where transaction fairness and privacy are essential for bringing traditional assets onto blockchain networks.
For more information, please visit: https://skale.space/blog/introducing-bite-protocol-the-end-of-mev-and-the-dawn-of-blockchain-privacy
About SKALE Labs
SKALE, the gas-free invisible Layer1 blockchain network, is “built different” to scale gaming, AI, social, and high-performance dApps to the masses. SKALE Chains are gas-free, fast, and EVM-compatible, making them ideal for a wide range of decentralized applications. With a commitment to driving the mass adoption of Web3 technologies, SKALE empowers developers and businesses to build scalable, efficient, and user-centric blockchain applications.
Harmonizing speed, security, and decentralization, SKALE Labs was born in Cali in 2017 by Jack O’Holleran and Stan Kladko, PhD. As of 2025, the network serves over 55 million unique active wallets and has saved users over $11 billion in gas fees.
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Cryptocurrency
Top Bitcoin (BTC) Predictions as the Price Approaches $100K

TL;DR
- Popular analysts see momentum building for a BTC breakout, with short-term targets ranging from $104.5K to $108K.
- Positive net inflows into spot Bitcoin ETFs and declining exchange balances signal strong investor confidence, but the RSI breached 70, which could be a precursor of an incoming correction.
What Are the Next Targets?
The primary cryptocurrency has been on a serious uptrend lately, with its price currently standing just south of the psychological mark of $100,000. That said, it’s hard to believe that nearly a month ago, it briefly tumbled below $75,000, but after all, such fluctuations are quite common in the crypto world.
Bitcoin’s latest rally (and that of the entire digital asset market) was likely fueled by US President Donald Trump, who teased a “major trade deal” with a “respected country.” The price jump also came shortly after the FOMC meeting, during which the US Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged at 4.25%- 4.50%.
Bitcoin’s pump toward $100K has sparked fresh optimism among analysts, with many envisioning more room for growth in the short term. X user Rekt Capital thinks the asset needs to stay above $98,700 “for the retest of the week to position itself for a breakout towards $104.5K.”
For their part, CRYPTOWZRD predicted that a push beyond $100,000 can trigger further upside pressure to as high as $108,000.
“On the other hand, any geopolitical shift with China can cause extreme volatility, where $91,500 will be the main daily support target from a worsening situation,” they warned.
Crypto Yoddha and Merlijn The Trader also gave their two cents. The former believes BTC is about to break a long-term range high resistance, which could fuel an ascent towards a new ATH of roughly $140,000.
Merlijn The Trader did not set an exact price target, simply forecasting that the asset “is ready to detonate.” He based the potential scenario on the “perfect rising channel” and “momentum building.”
The Signals From the Indicators
In addition to the bullish forecasts mentioned above, some important metrics hint that BTC’s rally is nowhere near its end.
Data compiled by SoSoValue shows that the daily total net inflows into spot Bitcoin ETFs have been positive on most days in the past few weeks. This means that more capital is entering these funds than exiting, signaling growing investor confidence and the asset’s growing appeal as an investment choice.
On the other hand, BTC’s exchange netflow has been negative in the last several days, reflecting a shift from centralized platforms towards self-custody methods. This is generally considered a bullish factor since it reduces the immediate selling pressure.
Still, not all indicators suggest a continued upswing. The Relative Strength Index (RSI), which measures the speed and magnitude of the latest price changes, has surged past 70. Readings above that level are interpreted as bearish since they indicate the asset might have entered overbought territory and could be due for a pullback.
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