​​BTC at $111K, But Altcoins Sleep - Here's Where Smart Money Just Bet $135M

​​BTC at $111K, But Altcoins Sleep - Here's Where Smart Money Just Bet $135M

Alen

What a thrilling week in crypto - BTC has surged to a new all-time high of $111K, and we’ve seen a massive $1B long-short position from mega whale James Wynn. Yet, despite Bitcoin’s rally, altcoins still aren’t keeping pace.

On the fundraising front, momentum has picked up compared to last week, with the standout deal being Worldcoin (WLD), which raised $135M in a token round led by a16z. Let’s dive in.

1. Hyperdrive raised $6M to launch on May 27th

Decentralized stablecoin money market on Hyperliquid - Hyperdrive has raised $6M in a Series A funding round led by Hack VC, Arrington Capital, with participation from Delphi Digital, SIG DTI, Proof, Caladan, Amber Group, CMS Holdings and Will Price.

Hyperdrive is the stablecoin money market built for crypto’s fastest-growing vertical: stablecoins. Designed to deliver sustainable yields, Hyperdrive is powered by Hyperliquid’s HLP. 

As DeFi evolves, Hyperdrive aims to be the default yield infrastructure for crypto, enabling tokenized vaults, looping strategies, and collateralized lending. With over $243B of total stablecoins in circulation in the crypto market, Hyperdrive is positioned to capture this momentum and become the home for all things yield in the stablecoin economy.

Hyperdrive is launching on Hyperliquid on May 27th, 2025 with a points program designed to reward early adopters and high-performing strategies.

2. Catena Labs raised $16M from a16z 

AI-native financial infrastructure - Catena Labs has raised $18M in a Seed funding round led by a16z crypto, with participation from Breyer Capital, Circle Ventures and Coinbase Ventures.

Catena Labs is building the first AI-native financial institution, designed for autonomous agents to securely hold assets, make payments, and transact at scale. 

As legacy systems can’t support the speed or complexity of the agent economy. Catena bridges this gap with regulated infrastructure, AI-specific compliance, and seamless access to both stablecoins and traditional financial rails.

Catena’s CEO - @psneville was the co-founder of Circle and originated USDC. The Catena Labs team brings deep expertise across payments, fintech, AI, and building regulated financial services.

3. BTC liquid staking platform raised $4.1M 

Bitcoin liquid staking protocol - Rover has raised $4.10M in a Seed funding round from Animoca Ventures, CMS Holdings, Bloccelerate, Maelstrom, UTXO Management, Infinity Ventures Crypto (IVC), Builder Capital and many more.

Rover is a decentralized liquid staking protocol built on Botanix, enabling Bitcoin holders to stake their assets in exchange for rovBTC, a liquid staking token. Botanix is designed to power a decentralized financial system that runs entirely on Bitcoin.

In recent months, Rover has strengthened partnerships with top-tier builders including Chainlink, Dolomite, Vertex and Kiln. Rover is already having nearly $100M in TVL and is also preparing to launch on mainnet soon. 

4. WorldCoin raised $135M in $WLD token

Blockchain-based human identity protocol - World (ex Worldcoin) has raised $135M in a token round from a16z crypto, Bain Capital Crypto, Selini Capital, Mirana Ventures, Arctic Digital.

World is the real human network, bringing identity, finance and community to every human. World is made up four component parts that allow every human to prove their humanness online and participate in the global economy:

  • World ID: World’s digital proof of human. Think of it as a blue checkmark that anonymously verifies you’re a unique human online.
  • World App: The first World wallet. Built by Tools for Humanity (TFH), World App holds your World ID, allows you to explore and use crypto and stablecoins, hosts native Mini Apps and more.
  • Worldcoin (WLD): World’s native digital token. WLD is freely available to be claimed by all verified and eligible humans for both utility and future governance.
  • World Chain: World’s human-first blockchain. Built as part of the Optimism Superchain.

To date, more than 26M users participate in the World network and more than 12.5M people have an Orb-verified World ID. 

One more significant detail in this deal to notice is that, the investors bought $WLD at market price, not OTC price that they settle themselves. The circulating supply of WLD has thus increased correspondingly. 

Conclusion

This week saw a total of 22 funding rounds, totaling $261M has been poured into the market, the majority of that amount came from the WLD $135M token round.

Seeing VCs buy tokens at market price is pretty rare, but in this very large amount is one-of-a-kind. I'm genuinely curious about what Worldcoin is planning. Keep in mind, this is a U.S.-based project backed by Sam Altman, the visionary behind OpenAI.