A retired financial advisor from East Sussex lost over $100,000 in a cryptocurrency scam while his father was terminally ill with cancer. He invested in digital currency through a company claiming to be investment specialists, which initially provided positive returns. However, before long, his investment began to decrease, and the firm stopped responding.

Investment in crypto startups has decreased for the fifth consecutive quarter, with only $2.34 billion invested globally in Q2 2023, compared to the industry's peak of $12.14 billion in Q1 2022. This decline in funding can be attributed to regulatory headwinds in the US, as well as lower valuations and a more discerning approach from investors. Despite this, there is still hope for the industry, with some investors suggesting that the trend may slow down in Q3.

July 5 (Cointime) - CelestialAI, a provider of artificial intelligence accelerator products, announced the successful completion of a Series B funding round, raising $100 million for its PhotonicFabric technology platform. The investment was led by IAG Capital Partners, Koch Disruptive Technologies and Temasek’s Xora Innovation Fund. We expect headcount to increase approximately 30% to 130 by the end of 2023.

June 30 (Cointime) - Samara Asset Group has announced a $10 million investment in Samara Alpha Management's newly launched flagship market-neutral multi-strategy fund. The fund aims to capitalize on potentially lucrative market opportunities resulting from inefficiencies in the nascent digital asset space, and the Samara Alpha team takes advantage of opportunities in the current digital asset market landscape to deliver products with compelling risk-adjusted returns through rigorous due diligence and deep industry networks.

June 28 (Cointime) - Sony Network Communications, the internet services arm of Japanese conglomerate Sony, has invested $3.5 million in Singapore-based Startale Labs. The two companies have been collaborating on Web3 incubation programs since February, with the aim of exploring how blockchain technology can solve industry problems.

June 28 (Cointime) -Paradigm co-founder Matt says remains a strong supporter of the cryptocurrency space and is also continuing to invest in projects at all stages to help them continue to move forward. There seems to be a trend towards zero-sum competition between cryptocurrencies and artificial intelligence, but we don't buy it.

June 27 (Cointime) - Cointime news on June 27: ABCDE announced that it will jointly host a two-month ZK Hacker Camp with Starkware, 0xParc, BeWater, etc., recruiting 30 ZK developers and researchers to practice ZK technology and expand the new boundaries of ZK technology.

June 23 (Cointime) - Alfred Lin, a partner at Sequoia Capital, defended the firm's investment in FTX, a now-bankrupt crypto exchange. Despite the loss, Lin stated that if given the opportunity to evaluate FTX again, Sequoia would likely make the same investment decision. Sequoia Capital invested a total of $213.5 million in FTX and FTX US through two of its funds, with the Global Growth Fund III holding a $150 million investment in FTX. Some users of the bankrupt exchange are now suing Sequoia and other financiers for their involvement in a promotional marketing campaign that added an "air of legitimacy" to FTX.

June 23 (Cointime) - A new NFT collection called BlackRock, inspired by the popular EtherRock collection and the branding of investment giant BlackRock, has already generated $749,000 in total trading volume. Despite BlackRock's recent filing for a Bitcoin ETF, the investment firm has no affiliation with the NFT project.

June 22 (Cointime) - Several investment giants, including BlackRock, Fidelity, Invesco, Wisdom Tree, and Valkyrie, have applied for a Bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) with the United States Securities Exchange Commission, leading to renewed optimism for its approval.