Blockchain Press Releases
SocialFi Infrastructure OpenSocial Protocol Raises $5M to Fuel the Growth of SocialFi Super Apps, with $15M Ecosystem Fund Backed by EVG
The round was led by Portal Ventures, SNZ Capital and renowned angel investors, who all share the same vision that SocialFi is primed to become the largest consumer use case for mass adoption in Asia
HONG KONG, May 28, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Today, OpenSocial Protocol (OpenSocial), a composable infrastructure layer for building social applications, announced the successful completion of a $5M seed funding round. OpenSocial is a multichain SocialFi infrastructure protocol empowering developers and creators to effortlessly build social dApps. Led by infrastructure investors Portal Ventures and SNZ Capital (early backers of Ethereum, Chainlink, Cosmos, Arbitrum, Polkadot and Dfinity), the round opened in December 2023 and closed in January 2024.
Other investors included Animoca Brands (HK), Awesome People Ventures (US), Arche Fund (Vietnam), Decima Fund (Japan), Moonrock Capital (EU), OKX Ventures, Orange DAO (US), Panony, Summer Ventures (HK); and renowned web3 entrepreneurs include Smokey the Bera, Brian Fabian Crain, Mike Dudas, Martin El-Khouri, Roham Gharegozlou, Don Ho, Mable Jiang, Adam Jin, Serge Kassardjian, and Jason Yano.
OpenSocial Protocol is founded by Everest Ventures Group (EVG), one of the largest web3 operating groups in Asia focused on consumer applications. They have 300 full-time builders with backgrounds from Alibaba, ByteDance, Tencent and NetEase and 2M+ users across its products. EVG is also an early supporter of Animoca Brands, the Sandbox and Dapper Labs.
EVG set aside a $15M ecosystem fund for developers to build on OpenSocial. EVG has also deployed 30 of its best in-house builders to develop OpenSocial. There are also 50 additional developers building dApps on top of OpenSocial, outside of EVG.
What is OpenSocial Protocol?
OpenSocial is an open-source social infrastructure layer to power native web3 social experiences. Founded in 2023, OpenSocial aims to empower thousands of community dApps with infrastructure and UI-layer composabilities, true ownership of intellectual property and relationship, and better-aligned monetisation and financial incentives.
The modular design with easy-to-deploy social tools on a multichain approach enables developers and creators to assemble dApps quickly and economically.
These modules can be either on-chain or off-chain and include: feed, chatroom, text/video/audio/posts, comments, reactions, voting, share, on-chain social graphs (social data and structure), tribes (user and topic based communities), megaphones (an advertising engine), as well as plug-ins (token issuance, DAO tools, betting, voting, bounties, matching, mini-games).
“These modules and tools are designed to provide both an emotionally captivating and financially rewarding social experience covering accessibility, ownership and monetization opportunities to end users and communities,” noted Sean Tao, Co-Founder of OpenSocial Protocol.
Another unique web3 mechanism to be unveiled soon is the portability, self-ownership and self-sovereignty of identities and communities within different ecosystems and products.
Why social, why now?
Social has the potential to become the largest consumer use case for mass adoption of web3. The evolution of the internet’s use cases provide a precedent. Social was not a core use case in the first 6 years of the consumer internet (1997-2003) as marketplaces, portals, and games dominated but it emerged to social giants of today as a leading use case in the second phase of post dot.com bubble (2004-2010) as costs declined and adoption grew. SocialFi projects struggle to reach their full potential without the right technology and consumer readiness, similar to Social’s early path in web2. Asian social app adoption is an important factor in EVG’s decision to launch OpenSocial too.
“Importantly, Asia represents more than half of the world’s social media users, with nearly 3 billion people actively using social platforms every day. We think SocialFi’s ‘Axie moment’ will happen this cycle and likely take place in Asia. And the SocialFi trend in Asia will prove that social is a layer not media,” said Allen Ng, CEO of EVG and Co-Founder of OpenSocial Protocol.
“We are thrilled to have such powerful network effects from our very strategic investors. We come from a venture studio operation with backgrounds from Bytedance, Tencent, Alibaba that understand user preferences. OpenSocial’s design principles and dApps strategies are very different from the western-centric players, leveraging on our learning and advantages in Asia, we envision powering hundreds if not thousands of community dApps in 5 years,” said Tao.
dApps already available on OpenSocial
With the $15M ecosystem fund to empower the next-generation super apps, OpenSocial has already launched its first dApp SoMon (“Social Monster”), a truly decentralized topic-based forum owned by users and communities with degen mechanics and sustainable rewards.
There are various platforms and SocialFi use cases powered by OpenSocial that are soon to launch, including Zeek – a decentralized collaboration network for on-chain social bounty and reputation, backed by OKX Ventures and Animoca Brands.
OpenSocial’s investors are excited
“OpenSocial combines lessons from leading Asia consumer internet businesses like WeChat with a deep understanding of crypto native preferences. The team is building an infrastructure layer that will power an ecosystem of new, community-driven social experiences. Users demand novel financialized experiences – OpenSocial makes that possible,” said Evan Fisher, Founder & Managing Partner of Portal Ventures.
“In the last five years, EVG has grown from a start-up to one of the largest web3 consumer groups in Asia. OpenSocial is the flagship project of EVG and the team is building multiple dApps on top, which we believe could be the right product at the right time for the right team to deliver. SocialFi is a very challenging and competitive sector with huge potential, while OpenSocial along with SoMon, Zeek and others dApps, has a great chance to be the game changer,” Gavin Wang, CIO of SNZ Capital.
“We are proud to back OpenSocial in its endeavor to empower creators and developers to build social capital and innovate at the forefront of SocialFi. I am confident that OpenSocial will enable the first transformative steps in how we engage digitally, and look forward to incubating unique Japanese collaborations leveraging OpenSocial,” noted Ken Kitahara, Co-founder & General Partner of Decima Fund.
“OpenSocial is well-positioned to fill the social need with its modular, community-owned approach tailored for mobile-first markets like Vietnam. I believe that through OpenSocial’s infrastructure, we will see many innovative Vietnamese social applications emerge that strengthen real-world connections and celebrate local culture in new ways,” said Thanh Le, Founder of Ninety Eight.
About OpenSocial
OpenSocial Protocol (OpenSocial) is a multichain SocialFi infrastructure empowering developers and creators to effortlessly build social dApps. Leveraging its robust social graph and modular design, OpenSocial enables transparent content promotion to specific user groups, ensuring fair value distribution among all stakeholders. OpenSocial offers the best data, tooling, and financial layer and its vision is to enable the largest multi-chain social economy.
OpenSocial Protocol is founded by Everest Ventures Group.
Website: www.opensocial.co
Twitter: https://twitter.com/OpenSocialLabs
About EVG
Headquartered in Hong Kong, Everest Ventures Group (EVG) is a web3 operating group driving mass adoption of web3. With a global team of 300, we have built and launched a diverse portfolio of products for the future of digital interaction across use cases, such as Aspen Digital, Mugen Interactive, Kiki, LiveArt, Blocktempo, Cassava Network, and Adverse. As an early investor and lead advisor we have contributed to unicorns, and 150+ defining projects such as Celestia, Wormhole, Berachain, Dapper Labs (Flow), Animoca Brands, Immutable, The Sandbox, Yuga Labs, Kraken, Lukka, Dunamu and Blocklords.
Website: https://www.evg.co/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/EVGHQ/
MEDIA CONTACT:
Gemma
[email protected]
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DUBAI, UAE, April 18, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Bybit, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, is making waves with its latest trading showdown: Crypto Surf: Ride the Waves with Trailing Stops. This high-octane competition invites traders to rally behind either copy trading or trading bots, battling it out for their share of a prize pool worth up to $250,000 in USDT.
Running from April 18 to May 19, 2025, at 12 a.m. UTC, the event introduces a squad-based structure where users choose their camp, trade strategically, and compete across PnL, ROI and trading volume leaderboards. With a dynamic reward structure, participants can also win by predicting which squad will come out on top.
Prize Pool Distribution Highlights:
- 40% to the champion squad
- 30% to the runner-up
- 25% to the top 100 individual traders by volume
- 5% to users who correctly predict the winning squad
The event brings together the best of both worlds: the strategic finesse of copy trading and the automated power of trading bots. It celebrates innovation, user choice, and the thrill of crypto trading.
Participants must hold a minimum wallet balance of $1,000 in USDT, generate at least $10,000 in squad volume, and complete identity verification Level 1 to qualify. Users can only register for one squad and vote once to predict the winner. Rewards will be distributed within 14 business days of the event’s completion.
The total prize pool will scale in line with event volume milestones, starting at $1.2 billion and unlocking up to $2 billion in traded volume for the full $250,000 in USDT.
Bybit continues to redefine the competitive trading landscape – bringing fun, strategy and serious rewards to its global community.
#Bybit / #TheCryptoArk
About Bybit
Bybit is the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, serving a global community of over 60 million users. Founded in 2018, Bybit is redefining openness in the decentralized world by creating a simpler, open, and equal ecosystem for everyone. With a strong focus on Web3, Bybit partners strategically with leading blockchain protocols to provide robust infrastructure and drive on-chain innovation. Renowned for its secure custody, diverse marketplaces, intuitive user experience, and advanced blockchain tools, Bybit bridges the gap between TradFi and DeFi, empowering builders, creators, and enthusiasts to unlock the full potential of Web3. Discover the future of decentralized finance at Bybit.com.
For more details about Bybit, please visit Bybit Press
For media inquiries, please contact: [email protected]
For updates, please follow: Bybit’s Communities and Social Media
Discord | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Reddit | Telegram | TikTok | X | Youtube
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Blockchain Press Releases
Tomorrowland Brasil 2025 General Sale in Full Swing — Exclusive Cashback for Bybit Cardholders
DUBAI, UAE, April 18, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Bybit, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, highlights that general ticket sales for Tomorrowland Brasil 2025 are currently ongoing, with exclusive benefit available to Bybit Card and Bybit Pay eligible users such as 20% cashback.
The Bybit Card is designed for global use and supports both fiat currencies—ARS, BRL, EUR, USD—and a wide selection of cryptocurrencies. Integrated with Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay, it offers users up to 10% cashback on everyday purchases, 8% APR through Auto-Savings, free worldwide delivery, and $100 in monthly ATM withdrawals at no cost—without any annual fees.
Returning to the vibrant setting of Parque Maeda in Itu, São Paulo, Tomorrowland Brasil 2025 will take place from October 12 to 14, promising three days of music, imagination, and cultural exchange. Famed for its theatrical stages, global audience, and meticulously curated lineup, Tomorrowland is more than a festival—it’s a world of its own. With each edition, it transforms into a breathtaking playground of light, sound, and storytelling, drawing music lovers from over 100 countries to celebrate unity through electronic music.
This year’s Brazilian edition will feature performances from some of the world’s most sought-after artists, including David Guetta, Armin van Buuren, Vintage Culture, Mind Against, Steve Aoki, James Hype, Alesso, Nervo, and I Hate Models. Special acts include Alok’s “Something Else” concept, ANNA b2b Vintage Culture, and a powerful b2b set from Matisse & Sadko and Third Party. With more names still to be revealed, the event is shaping up to be one of the strongest editions yet.
“Tomorrowland Brasil is one of those rare experiences that transcends music—it creates lasting memories and connects people from every walk of life,” said Joan Han, Head of Payment business unit at Bybit. “We’re proud to support this global celebration by offering our users exclusive benefits that make it easier to be part of something truly unforgettable.”
Tomorrowland Brasil continues to be a beacon of creativity, community, and connection, standing at the intersection of music, technology, and art.
#Bybit / #TheCryptoArk
About Bybit
Bybit is the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, serving a global community of over 60 million users. Founded in 2018, Bybit is redefining openness in the decentralized world by creating a simpler, open and equal ecosystem for everyone. With a strong focus on Web3, Bybit partners strategically with leading blockchain protocols to provide robust infrastructure and drive on-chain innovation. Renowned for its secure custody, diverse marketplaces, intuitive user experience, and advanced blockchain tools, Bybit bridges the gap between TradFi and DeFi, empowering builders, creators, and enthusiasts to unlock the full potential of Web3. Discover the future of decentralized finance at Bybit.com.
For more details about Bybit, please visit Bybit Press
For media inquiries, please contact: [email protected]
For updates, please follow: Bybit’s Communities and Social Media
Discord | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Reddit | Telegram | TikTok | X | Youtube
About TOMORROWLAND BRASIL
Tomorrowland Brasil 2025 will take place on October 10-12 in the beautiful festival area of Parque Maeda in Itu, a municipality in São Paulo. The festival will revolve around the mesmerizing ‘LIFE’ theme, set against the backdrop of Brazil’s enchanting natural beauty. A story set in the mythical realm of Silvyra, it’s a world unto its own, filled with creatures, plant life, and people living in harmony, each with their own stories, with the diversity of Silvyra’s lush nature represented in the spectacular ‘LIFE’ Mainstage. Offering the ultimate escape from the city during three days of bliss, guests will be treated to breathtaking performances by more than 150 of the world’s finest electronic artists across 6 mesmerizing stages.
The first two festival editions of Tomorrowland Brasil took place in 2015 and 2016 in the beautiful festival area of Parque Maeda in Itu, São Paulo. After years of dreaming of a return, Tomorrowland finally headed back to Brazil in 2023, becoming a yearly highlight once again.
Tomorrowland Brasil 2025
October 10-12, 2025
Parque Maeda, Itu
brasil.tomorrowland.com
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Blockchain Press Releases
MEXC Announces Listing of Initia (INIT) with a 115,000 INIT and 50,000 USDT Prize Pool
VICTORIA, Seychelles, April 18, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — MEXC, a leading global cryptocurrency exchange, announced the listing of Initia (INIT) on April 24, 2025 (UTC), accompanied by a celebratory event featuring a 115,000 INIT and 50,000 USDT prize pool for new and existing users.
Initia is the first interwoven optimistic–rollup network, reconstructing multichain architecture with native interoperability and shared liquidity. As a full–stack Layer 1+2 platform, Initia supports both EVM & Move VM, enabling seamless cross–ecosystem collaboration. Developed by veterans from top DeFi and blockchain security teams and backed by YZi Labs(Binance Labs), Hack VC, Delphi Digital, and Theory Ventures.
$INIT is the native utility token of the Initia ecosystem, powering key functions such as gas payments, staking, governance, cross-chain transfers, and liquidity provision. Through these utilities, $INIT drives user participation and supports the growth of a secure and decentralized Initia ecosystem.
To celebrate the listing, MEXC will launch an Airdrop+ event, running from April 18 to May 4, 2025 (UTC). The event will include the following activities:
- Deposit and share 90,000 INIT (exclusive to new users)
- Spot Challenge – Trade to share 10,000 INIT (for all users)
- Futures Challenge – Trade to share 50,000 USDT in futures bonus (for all users)
- Invite new users and share 15,000 INIT (for all users)
MEXC has established itself as a leading exchange by consistently offering users early access to high-potential crypto assets. In 2024 alone, the platform listed 2,376 new tokens, including 1,716 initial listings. According to the latest TokenInsight report, MEXC led the industry with 461 spot listings between November 1, 2024, and February 15, 2025. During this period, the exchange maintained a high listing frequency, consistently ranking among the top six platforms, demonstrating its agility in capturing emerging market trends. MEXC will continue to expand its asset offerings and help users seize timely opportunities in the fast-moving crypto market.
For full event details and participation rules, please visit here.
About MEXC
Founded in 2018, MEXC is committed to being “Your Easiest Way to Crypto.” Serving over 36 million users across 170+ countries, MEXC is known for its broad selection of trending tokens, everyday airdrop opportunities, and low trading fees. Our user-friendly platform is designed to support both new traders and experienced investors, offering secure and efficient access to digital assets. MEXC prioritizes simplicity and innovation, making crypto trading more accessible and rewarding.
MEXC Official Website｜ X ｜ Telegram ｜How to Sign Up on MEXC
Risk Disclaimer:
The information provided in this article regarding cryptocurrencies does not constitute investment advice. Given the highly volatile nature of the cryptocurrency market, investors are encouraged to carefully assess market fluctuations, the fundamentals of projects, and potential financial risks before making any trading decisions.
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View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/mexc-announces-listing-of-initia-init-with-a-115-000-init-and-50-000-usdt-prize-pool-302432359.html
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