Freatic, a startup that aims to create decentralized information markets, announced today that it has raised $3.6 million in a seed round led by a16z crypto, the venture capital firm’s dedicated crypto fund. Other investors include Placeholder, Electric Capital, and angel investors such as Balaji Srinivasan and Naval Ravikant.
Information markets are platforms where users can bet on the outcomes of future events, such as elections, sports, or weather. By aggregating the collective wisdom of the crowd, information markets can provide more accurate forecasts than traditional methods. Freatic’s vision is to leverage blockchain technology and smart contracts to create information markets that are open, transparent, and censorship resistant.
Freatic’s co-founder and CEO, said that the startup was inspired by the success of Augur, one of the first decentralized information markets on Ethereum. However, she also noted that Augur faced some challenges, such as high transaction fees, slow settlement times, and limited liquidity. Freatic aims to address these issues by building on top of Arbitrum, a layer-2 scaling solution for Ethereum that promises lower costs, faster speeds, and greater scalability.
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“We believe that information markets have the potential to revolutionize how we make decisions and access knowledge in the digital age,” Chen said. “By building on Arbitrum, we can offer our users a better user experience and a more vibrant ecosystem of markets and participants.”
Freatic plans to use the new funding to grow its team, develop its product, and launch its beta version in early 2024. The startup also hopes to collaborate with other projects in the Arbitrum ecosystem, such as Uniswap, Chainlink, and MakerDAO, to integrate their services and provide more value to its users.
Ankex, a new hybrid crypto exchange that combines the best features of centralized and decentralized platforms, has announced the launch of its beta version. The exchange is led by Michael Moro, a veteran in the crypto industry and the former CEO of Genesis Global Trading.
Ankex aims to provide a secure, fast and user-friendly trading experience for both retail and institutional investors. The exchange leverages the power of blockchain technology to offer transparent and trustless transactions, while also providing high liquidity, low fees and advanced trading tools.
According to Moro, Ankex is designed to address the pain points of existing crypto exchanges, such as hacking risks, regulatory uncertainty, scalability issues and poor customer service. He said:
“We believe that the future of crypto trading lies in hybrid platforms that combine the best of both worlds. Ankex is not just another exchange, but a game-changer that will revolutionize the way people trade crypto assets. We are excited to invite users to join our beta testing and give us feedback on how we can improve our platform.”
Ankex supports a variety of crypto assets, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT and other popular tokens. Users can trade spot, futures and options contracts on the platform, as well as access margin trading and lending services. The exchange also offers a native token, ANKX, which grants holders various benefits, such as discounts on fees, governance rights and rewards.
Andreessen Horowitz partner Ali Yahya, who led the investment in Freatic, said that he was impressed by the team’s vision and execution. He also praised Freatic’s focus on user-centric design and community engagement.
“Freatic is building a platform that can democratize access to information and empower people to make better decisions,” Yahya said. “We are excited to support them as they bring this innovative idea to life.”