PumaPay(PMA)

Altman confirmed ongoing discussions with chipmaking companies like Samsung Electronics and expressed his willingness to further engage in the dialogue.

The mining firm, which has been embroiled in several legal battles, describes an elaborate fraud scheme for a $150 million contract.

2022 was marked with some major shocks to the global blockchain industry that encountered another enduring ‘crypto winter’, the collapse of TerraUSD and Luna, and FTX’s filing for bankruptcy. But despite this, the technology itself is here to stay for good and keeps improving, promising even more disruptive use cases for digital banking, finance, and cybersecurity in 2023. This year is supposed to become transitional for many since the blockchain sector will only strengthen its positions in society and the economy, reaching the market size of $4.7 billion. All that would be impossible without substantial and meaningful contributions from blockchain and Web3-oriented innovators. Today Crypto Daily is delighted to celebrate the most promising of them by unveiling our premiere edition of 35 Under 35 list – we scoured crypto Twitter, LinkedIn and Product Hunt to pick up far-sighted startup founders, developers, C-level and media executives, as well as bloggers, marketing and PR adepts. So without further ado, sit back and check out the honorees for 2023. Mike Ermolaev, Founder, Outset PR Mike Ermolaev gained recognition for his trailblazing work in blockchain PR and journalism. His most notable work includes in-depth market analytics for Cointelegraph and exclusive signature series ‘Crypto Opinion with Mike Ermolaev’ for Benzinga.com, under which Mike has interviewed blockchain influencers like Jimmy Song and world-famous celebrities including Prince Philip of Serbia and French Montana. Meanwhile, Ermolaev has handled PR and communications at ChangeNOW, FutureComes, and Kikimora Labs. This joint expertise resulted in launching his own Outset PR agency. Taras Dovgal, VP of Products, Münzen Taras Dovgal is a serial entrepreneur with years of coding experience. Before stepping into the crypto space in 2017, Taras founded several successful fintech startups. Having led a range of industry-defining initiatives, from DeFi projects to CBDCs to venture studios, he is a prominent figure among crypto entrepreneurs. Currently, Dovgal is the VP of Products at Münzen, an enterprise-focused crypto processing platform. He has achieved this ambition through prolific networking, innovative content, and vocal advocacy for the blockchain movement. Serge Baloyan, Founder, X10 Agency Serge Baloyan is the visionary founder of X10 Agency offering crypto and NFT marketing services. With an impressive portfolio boasting collaborations with over 150 projects, Serge's extensive experience positions him as one of the most seasoned experts in the field. Baloyan's insightful predictions, like the NFT boom before many even knew what it is, highlight his deep industry knowledge. He is also a keynote speaker at global conferences, shaping the future of blockchain and inspiring others along the way. Marat Minkin, Founder, TONBanking Marat Minkin is a successful entrepreneur and blockchain evangelist. He founded TONBanking, a banking services startup that connects sellers with buyers on Telegram, authored the TON Community Manifesto, and created the Dubai TON community. Alongside his work in blockchain, Minkin is committed to philanthropy, environmental activism, and a healthy lifestyle as a passionate golfer. Marat’s expertise in marketing and blockchain-based financial services has made him a sought-after speaker and thought leader, driving the adoption of decentralized finance. Aler Denisov, CEO, Tookey Aler Denisov brings a wealth of experience to his role as CEO of Tookey.io, an open-source private key management infrastructure fortified by MPC-TSS, backed by Aave DAO and Stacks Foundation. Prior to this, as CTO, Aler spearheaded secure key management across numerous crypto projects. His portfolio includes Oxygen, Solana's first lending platform; Eywa, a groundbreaking decentralized oracle network; and GP7, a robust wallet for both private and corporate use. With Tookey.io, Denisov democratizes access to top-tier security technologies, safeguarding crypto assets from unauthorized access. Gleb Alekhin, COO, FinchPay Fueled by the profound experience in IT digital projects, strategic management and service delivery, Gleb Alekhin is currently maintaining operational excellence as COO of FinchPay, a crypto on-and-off-ramp platform. Since moving to the position in 2022, he has streamlined the company’s in-house processes, while also having upgraded customer experience and overall quality of service. Apart from his tech expertise and hard skills, Alekhin proved to have two more superpowers which are building and managing high-performing teams and mentoring. Oleg Pivovarenko, CEO, 2PMarketing In his role as CEO of 2PMarketing agency, Oleg Pivovarenko is in charge of curating the development of marketing campaigns for Web3, blockchain, fintech, and gambling brands. Having worked in digital marketing for 14 years, 8 of which he has been engaged in blockchain marketing, Oleg has implemented data-driven strategies for over 130 projects, including the world’s leading crypto exchanges like Binance, KuCoin, and Nominex. With 2PMarketing, Pivovarenko’s mission is to drive tangible results, connecting cold numbers with audience psychology. Eugene Ipatko, Member of the Board of Directors, EHOLD Since entering the crypto market in 2017, Eugene Ipatko’s influence on blockchain can’t be understated. He co-founded WeWay, the platform that has catalyzed crypto adoption faster than ever thought possible with the best base of KOLs and influencers in the world. Subsequently, Ipatko’s creation of WePad broke new ground in community-driven, transparent IDOs. Eugene has also enjoyed huge successes in his role as CEO at TrendLine Global and Member of the Board of Directors of EHOLD. Leon-Ardo Salamatin, CMO, 2PMarketing Leon-ardo Salamatin has over 7 years of experience in digital marketing, representing industries such as blockchain, fintech, gambling, adult, and SaaS. In 2020, Leon-ardo launched MediaManager, a company that drives sales for businesses using tailor-made marketing strategies. In parallel, as CMO of 2PMarketing, he is involved in developing creative and practical approaches for each client individually. Salamatin’s portfolio includes the blockchain industry’s giants like Huobi and OKEx, two premier crypto exchanges; as well as Mtrading, a major stock market broker. Vivian Cheng, CEO, Relatance As the CEO of Relatance, a global PR agency, Vivian Cheng has been instrumental in helping brands in the blockchain space achieve unparalleled success through effective communications strategies. Vivian's commitment to excellence has empowered her to assemble and lead a talented global team of professionals. Her expertise in go-to-market strategy and execution has enabled major brands to achieve recognition and growth in Europe, Latin America, Asia, Africa, and beyond, driving results and impact in the fast-paced world of new technology. Raghav Sawhney, Founding Director, Wasserstoff Over years of experience in the industry, Raghav Sawhney has catered to the marketing and technical needs of more than 350 companies and individuals. In his founding roles, he is running Wasserstoff, a tech incubation company that ensures frictionless growth of tech startups; BTC Wires, a blockchain news platform; and Blockchain PR Buzz agency. Raghav is also working on UATU, a backend solution for developers, but doesn’t plan to stop there, as ChainScan and Wires Media are scheduled to launch soon. Filip Maloca, Founder, TopDog Society Filip Maloca started out his Web3 career in 2017, from there building and running nine successful marketing campaigns for Ethereum-based NFT collections as well as progressing to devising marketing campaigns for DAOs, DeFi Protocols, and an L1 Multichain network. Recently he’s taken on the role of co-founder at SourceFeed, an AI-driven news platform for Web3, solving the problem of information overload and discovery in the industry. The project is currently fundraising and building a community via the launch of the TopDog Society NFT. João Fouad, CEO & Founder, Highline Venture Builder Diagnosed as a rebel by his parents, João Fouad always seeks to break the status quo and build new realities based on innovations in the companies he went through and founded. An international cutting-edge speaker and mentor, João has been a disruptive entrepreneur since he was 16, specializing in finance, investments, business intelligence, e-commerce, and the startup ecosystem. Fouad now leads Highline Venture Builder, an international hub dedicated to promoting new millionaire businesses and technologies for the Web3 and blockchain era. Simon Cowell, André Neves and Christian Moss, Co-founders, ZEBEDEE Inspired by the thesis that virtual activity will represent the majority of the future metaverse economy, Simon Cowell, André Neves and Christian Moss joined their efforts to establish ZEBEDEE in 2019. The company aims at streamlining blockchain game payments, creating tools and infrastructure for the interaction and exchange of value between players, creators, streamers, and watchers. The founders’ executing, engineering, and Bitcoin game developing skills complement each other well, giving a boost to a rapid rise of their common brainchild. Nikita Bogdanov, CEO, SpiritMe Nikita Bogdanov is a result-focused entrepreneur and product owner who has dedicated over 9 years of his life to building world-changing projects across some emerging industries like AI, machine learning, and metaverse. Bogdanov’s portfolio features managing several digital products such as Visper and BestVision. An outstanding startup mindset helped him to launch and untwist SpiritMe, the service that is currently making waves, generating realistic videos where look-alike digital avatars say users’ texts and mimic their voices and emotions. Mounir Laggoune, CEO, Finary Mounir Laggoune worked at Trainline, Captain Train and Yoopies before becoming the CEO of Finary. His compelling vision of blockchain technology and unique approach to entrepreneurship allowed Mounir to introduce a startup that reimagines private banking and makes financial success available to a new generation of funders. Laggoune is also an angel investor to a number of digital products including Freetrade, a commission-free investment platform. Outside of the office, he advocates a healthy lifestyle, often cycling and playing tennis. Rohit Sharma, Anurag Meena and Viren Baid, Co-Founders, Fitmint In early 2022, Rohit Sharma, Anurag Meena and Viren Baid launched Fitmint, a killer move-to-earn app that rewards users with crypto and NFTs for staying fit. The founding trio divided between them the responsibilities for product and finance, technology and marketing, respectively, delivering a global product built out of India. Prior to this, in August 2021, Rohit and Anurag teamed up to embark on their crypto entrepreneurial journey by co-founding Cryptonuke, a news-based cryptocurrency trading tool. Tomas Jasovsky, CEO, AhoyConnect With over a decade of experience and 9 companies under his belt, Tomas Jasovsky has been working as CEO of AhoyConnect and AhoyTeam for about 2 years. Both these rockstar startups are dedicated to boost growth of Web3 communities by offering holistic and easy-to-use analytical tools. Jasovsky’s business success was honored by Forbes Slovensko 30 under 30 where he got featured as one of the most influential Slovacs for redefining and setting trends in the startup and technology fields. Greg Mustreader, Blogger, Co-founder, TGS Greg Mustreader is known for his blogs and podcasts, with 130,000 subscribers on TikTok and featured topics such as AI, Web3, and tech trends. Guests of his podcast, also available in video form on YouTube, include Aubrey DeGrey, Robert Sapolsky, Peter Singer, and many others. The podcast is dedicated to tech trends and the future of humankind. Greg is also a co-founder at TGS, a marketing studio focused on growing Web3 companies by producing content and influencer collaborations. Chris Maddern and Christine Hall Brown, Co-founders, Floor Chris Maddern, ex-Button, Venmo and LinksDAO, and Christine Hall Brown, former crypto COO at Robinhood, started Floor in 2022, with the mission of making NFTs understandable and accessible en masse. The entrepreneurial duo partnered with the Solana Foundation to provide Web3 newbies with a full-service app for enjoying intuitive experience with Solana and Ethereum-based NFTs. Maddern’s and Brown’s hallmark is a passionate belief that they build the products and community that bring real value to Web3 and foster its global adoption. Abhishek Kumar, CEO, NeoFi Abhishek Kumar takes on the CEO position at NeoFi, a brand new platform that empowers retail investors with secure and easy management of their long-term crypto portfolios. Being responsible for strategy and product development, Abhishek leverages his extensive expertise in building global projects to attract the next billion users to the blockchain space. Kumar’s previous experience includes working as a senior engineer at Oracle, a cloud tech company, and developing next-gen web applications as software engineer at Senseforth Technologies. Shant Kevonian, CEO & CTO & Founder, EtherMail Shant Kevonian is a tech-advanced entrepreneur who is incredibly versed in bringing early and medium-stage companies to mass-markets. Shant was previously recognized for his analytical, managerial, and technical skills across a number of C-level positions such as CTO of eco-conscious brands cang.eco and Youtiful.net. Now Kevonian combines the functions of CEO and CTO of EtherMail, a Web3 email solution ensuring fully anonymous P2P communication. Here, he is in charge of executing the company’s growth strategy and everyday operations. Alexander Thomsen, Founder, Moonbit Alexander Thomsen is the founder of Moonbit, a robo-advisory platform rocking the cryptocurrency investing arena. The startup aims to build intelligent portfolios that use on-chain, technical, statistical and macro data for optimizing risks and returns. Having invested himself in various digital assets since 2017, Alexander is well aware of how to create an excellent solution that will facilitate onboarding of Web2 users to crypto investing. So at Moonbit, Thomsen is dedicated to making investment management as stress-free as possible. Patrick and John Collison, Co-founders, Stripe The Collison brothers, Patrick and John, are out to amplify the future of Stripe, a global payment provider that has recently introduced its fiat-to-crypto on-ramp. At his role of CEO, Patrick oversees engineering and fulfills representative functions, while John serves as the company’s president. They fleshed out the idea of Stripe when both studied at MIT and processed their first payment while vacationing together in South America. Today Stripe keeps growing exponentially, securing partnerships with tech giants like Meta. Ilan Rakhmanov, Founder, ChainGPT Ilan Rakhmanov is keen on developing cutting-edge technology solutions that transcend all imaginable boundaries. In late 2022, Ilan kicked off ChainGPT, a sophisticated AI model for the blockchain industry which is applicable in trading, risk management, and analytics. Rakhmanov is confident that strong collaboration determines success of any emerging project, so he brings together a high-end team to foster the rapid rise of ChainGPT and expand the opportunities of blockchain users and developers with a multitude of handy AI tools. Henrique Dubugras and Pedro Franceschi, Co-founders, Brex Henrique Dubugras and Pedro Franceschi are Brazilian entrepreneurs who met each other through a Twitter discussion, being ahead of graduation from high school. As soon as in 2013, Dubugras and Franceschi built their debut payment startup called Pagar.me, before moving on to start Brex, the first-of-its-kind corporate card for startups, four years later. Since 2021, their Silicon Valley-based company enables its customers to convert Brex reward points into Bitcoin and Ether, ranking Henrique and Pedro among the most forward-looking blockchain adopters. Maciej Baj, CTO & Founder, t3rn Maciej Baj is an open-source developer involved in the blockchain ecosystem for 6 years. Over this time, his expertise has gradually shifted from sidechain development to building cross-chain bridging solutions. Seduced by the role of composability and reversibility from single ledger executions across Ethereum, Maciej launched t3rn to integrate these two utilities into the cross-chain environment. At his position as CTO, he also aligned rewards for open-source developers to their contributions, bringing unique dynamics to the t3rn ecosystem itself. George Gor, CEO, Coin Idol Former chief editor, acting CEO of Cointelegraph and versatile top manager, George Gor has cultivated nümerous thriving media stars, while also contributing to business development of projects in advertising, PR, marketing, education, government relations, and insurance. Today George is the CEO of Coin Idol, having successfully managed this prominent blockchain news outlet for over 7 years. Gor’s other accomplishment highlights building international teams dispersed across more than 20 countries worldwide, from the USA and Europe to Asia and Africa. Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Mahe, Seychelles, May 16th, 2023, ChainwireTenet, the first layer-1 blockchain to create a DeFi Ecosystem for Liquid Staking Derivatives (LSDs), has joined forces with Ankr, a leading blockchain infrastructure provider, to increase adoption of LSDs across all blockchains, including those where liquid staking derivatives are currently not available yet.As part of the partnership, Tenet will have discounted pricing on Ankr’s LSD integration services, which allows Proof of Stake Blockchain’s to easily set up liquid staking for their assets with Ankr. In addition, Tenet will help cover some of the integration costs for its partners in exchange for the new Blockchain’s committing a certain amount of LSD assets to Tenet’s network.Proof of Stake networks today dominate the blockchain landscape, with the vast majority of alternative layer-one chains and application specific blockchains (“appchains”) each having their own staking token. Staking is key in securing the network to protect from economic attacks, which means that DeFi use cases that generate alternate sources of yield will potentially reduce the security of the network. By adopting liquid staking derivatives, which allow using staked assets in DeFi, the conundrum is effectively solved — increasing the security of the network as it scales.Most LSD liquidity today comes from Lido, which means that smaller blockchains may need to wait some time before they see their chain integrated. Ankr, on the other hand, has created a white-label system that allows any project to quickly set up their own LSD.By working with Tenet, projects will benefit from both the cheaper LSD integration services, as well as the Tenet layer-1 LSD ecosystem, which allows users to earn maximum yield on their assets by supplying them to various DeFi protocols on its network. In exchange, Tenet partners will need to commit a certain amount of LSD total value locked to Tenet Validators, which boosts its security model.Tenet has a unique model called Diversified Proof of Stake (DiPoS), which supports staking with any LSD asset from other chains, such as ETH, BNB, ATOM, SOL and ADA. This allows Tenet to be partially secured by all its supported networks, dramatically improving security compared to standard single-token Proof of Stake."We're on a mission to bring LSDs to all the top Layer-1 blockchains and make Tenet the defacto place for them to safely earn yield and utility," said Greg Gopman, CEO of Tenet and former CMO of Ankr. “During my time at Ankr, I was inspired by all the amazing LSD products the company launched, but disappointed by their ultimate lack of use. With Tenet, we aim to change this.”As part of the deal, Tenet will commit to using Ankr for its RPC services, as well as other integrations that make sense for the network’s infrastructure. The two companies will also put together a Liquid Staking Conference (side event) at EthCC in Paris, in July 2023.Tenet is currently live on testnet and will launch Mainnet and its token generation event on May 25.About TenetTenet is a DeFi-focused Layer-1 ecosystem, providing liquidity and yield opportunities for liquid staking derivatives (LSDs). Co-founded by Greg Gopman, former CMO of Ankr, and Dan Peterson, former head of revenue operations at Blockdaemon, Tenet aims to unlock the potential of the rapidly growing LSD market, which is currently valued at over $17 billion. Tenet takes a unique approach by sharing security through Diversified Proof of Stake, which allows LSDs to stake to its network and earn yield on their liquid staking assets and participate in the platform's governance.About AnkrAnkr is an all-in-one portal built to support the growth of Web3. They provide multi-chain API connections, dApp development tools, and crypto staking solutions with a global node infrastructure powering it all over 30+ blockchains. As the pioneer of liquid staking, Ankr creates next-generation solutions for supporting validation on several proof-of-stake chains with an industry-leading node delegation system and security. With a Total Value Locked of over $500M, Ankr is the 3rd largest Ethereum staker and go-to staking infrastructure provider for ecosystems like the BNB Smart Chain, Polygon, and [email protected]

Mahe, Seychelles, May 3rd, 2023, ChainwireFormer executives from Ankr and Blockdaemon have joined their expertise to create Tenet, the first Layer 1 blockchain built to create a hub for Liquid Staking Derivatives (LSDs). Tenet is emerging from stealth mode and unveiling its Testnet today, enabling developers to interact and experiment with the platform.Tenet is an EVM-compatible L1 protocol, designed to bring additional liquidity and yield opportunities to LSDs by allowing users to re-stake their assets on Tenet's network and participate in Tenet's DeFi ecosystem. Unlike other Cosmos chains that rely on their own native token for Proof of Stake security, Tenet validators can make use of a unique mechanism called Diversified Proof of Stake (DiPoS).In a nutshell, DiPoS allows validating the Tenet network by re-staking the LSDs from other L1 ecosystems supported by Tenet, such as ETH, BNB, ATOM, SOL and Matic. This ensures the long-term security of the Tenet chain by leveraging the joint security of each L1 ecosystem it services. The lack of shared security has been long-recognized as an adoption roadblock for many chains in the ecosystem.The LSDs re-staked to the Tenet network will be usable like other LSDs (or, an LLSD) to take advantage of DeFi opportunities on Tenet. In addition to DEXs and lending pools, they will also be able to mint the Universal Stablecoin interest free, allowing them to receive an “advance” on their future LSD yields, which became the largest market vertical in Defi this year, surpassing DEX's with $17.5B in TVL.Tenet also offers the first L1 ecosystem with native gauges, which allow veTenet token holders to direct rewards to the pools they choose. Oftentimes, projects will offer “bribes” to direct rewards to their tokens, increasing the utility of veTenet.The Tenet product vision is aimed at simplifying the staking experience for users. One of the pillars of this vision is the Eva mobile wallet, a retail friendly mobile app that uses an AI chat-bot to educate users about DeFi and automates interactions with the Tenet chain through optimized yield strategies.The project is co-founded by Greg Gopman, previously CMO at major LSD protocol Ankr, and Dan Peterson, formerly the Revenue Operations Specialist at Blockdaemon, the largest independant infrastructure and staking firm in crypto, valued at +$3B. Four more experienced core members round out technical and BD expertise, while advisors from Lido, Ankr and OpenAI will offer invaluable support to expand and grow the protocol.Greg Gopman, co-founder of Tenet, said, "At Ankr, we helped bring Liquid Staking Tokens to eight Blockchains and built out some of the best LSD infrastructure in the industry, but no one used it. Tenet was really a golden opportunity for being first to market in utilizing best in class technology with almost $20B in untapped liquidity."We analyzed what other projects like Berachain and Eigen Layer were doing and realized that there was a better way to position ourselves to best address the market," added Dan Peterson, co-founder of Tenet. “We’ve chosen to take a user-centric path, making the staking and LSD experience simpler and more secure for the average user.”Tenet is inviting DeFi protocols and developers interested in taking advantage of LSD liquidity to sign up for the Testnet and familiarize themselves with the platform. In the coming months, Tenet plans to roll out a grants program and a global DeFi hackathon series to engage developers worldwide, while preparing for the fair community launch of the Tenet blockchain.About TenetTenet is a DeFi-focused Layer-1 ecosystem built on the Cosmos network, providing liquidity and yield opportunities for liquid staking derivatives (LSDs). Co-founded by Greg Gopman, former CMO of Ankr, and Dan Peterson, former Revenue Operations at Blockdaemon, Tenet aims to unlock the potential of the rapidly growing LSD market, which is currently valued at over $17 billion. Tenet takes a unique approach by sharing security through Diversified Proof of Stake, while using L1-native gauges to let users earn yield on their liquid staking assets and participate in the platform's governance. Tenet Website, Tenet [email protected]