Alchemy, which builds Web3 infrastructure for decentralized applications, launched a venture capital arm called Alchemy Ventures in late 2021. The firm invests off the main company's balance sheet and focuses on backing early-stage investors. While returns are still important, the firm has three primary goals: attracting early-stage founders to the Alchemy ecosystem, gathering strategic intel to make better decisions for the Alchemy roadmap, and growing out the main team through acquihires or full acquisitions. Alchemy Ventures invests an average of $150,000 to $250,000 per company, with about three-quarters of the investments in pre-seed or seed stage rounds. The firm offers operational support, including early product feedback, customer introductions, and recruiting. Alchemy Ventures has made 84 investments to date across two portfolio tracks.

The North American Demo Day, organized by AFFLUX and supported by nearly 70 top Web3 venture capital firms in the North American region, as well as over 20 Web3 media outlets, is set to kick off on April 27th at 5 pm Pacific Time.

The Ai World Foundation has received seed round investment from Softbank Capital Group of the United States.

Web3 has seen numerous major breaches in its history, ranging from centralized exchanges losing private keys to investors losing their personal data. Data breaches pose long-term risks to impacted users, as data can linger for years in online hacker forums and dark web markets.

IOST has announced the establishment of the IOST AI Lab, which will be composed of senior research experts in AI algorithms and large language models (LLMs) along with IOST core developers. The lab will explore blockchain + AI-powered Web3 intelligent innovation development and will catalyze the development of the IOST AI subchain. The lab will establish multiple specialized R&D teams to endorse research and development in areas such as large-scale intensive computing, big data training, standardized service models, environmental state perception, computer audiovisual testing, biometric recognition, human-machine interaction models, and machine translation. The AI Native Chain, IOST's AI subchain, adopts a new mechanism called "Proof of Inference" that enables dApps to call deep learning inference in smart contracts, which will be processed by blockchain validators. IOST will offer a comprehensive, diverse, and innovative series of AI products and solutions, including data indexing, NFTs, blockchain gaming, DeFi, AI metaverse, AI DAO, and other popular fields.

Visa is reportedly hiring senior software engineers to help build scalable Web 3.0 products and drive mainstream adoption of public blockchain networks and stablecoin payments. The company is searching for engineers with a good understanding of public and permissioned distributed ledger technology (DLT) networks, security protocols, and private key custody, as well as Layer 1 and Layer 2 solutions and experience writing smart contracts using the Solidity programming language. Visa is likely to tap the Polygon network to scale its Ethereum smart contract capabilities in Web 3.0 development. The company has already made investments in the NFT and stablecoins market and is working with central banks to help scale the adoption of CBDCs. Visa's CBDC Payments Module is designed to provide an on-ramp for CBDC to existing payment networks.

Animoca Brands and its affiliate, Lympo, have collaborated with UFC champion Rose Namajunas to offer a digital memorabilia collecting challenge called "Build Your Own Fighter With Thug Rose." The challenge is part of a Digisport collectible NFT project aimed at providing sports fans with exciting exposure. Lympo is involved in creating a digital sports ecosystem using licensed athletes' non-fungible tokens (NFTs), while Animoca Brands is a top name in digital entertainment, blockchain, and gamification. Through the collector's challenge, fans can gather digital sticker NFTs from limited edition NFT mystery boxes and receive rewards like signed paraphernalia and the opportunity to interact with UFC stars. The collaboration aims to deliver blockchain and NFTs to sports fans and enhance interactions among sports enthusiasts through the integration of sports and Web3 technology.

Despite the innovations in the crypto industry, adoption of blockchain and digital assets is lagging due to the awkward user experience and lack of simplified onboarding methods. The hurdles holding the space back from broader adoption include choosing which blockchain and wallet to use, learning to care for private keys, managing gas fees, and performing transactions. To onboard everyday users, Web3 applications need to be both trustworthy and simple to use. Bringing well-known and trusted companies into this movement will be critical to spreading adoption. Utilizing everyday technology such as mobile phones could be the solution to the recurring pain points for the decentralized industry, frequently standing between Web3 platforms and millions of potential users. Optimizing and enhancing user onboarding must be among Web3 builders’ main priorities for the space to unlock its true potential and reach mass adoption. Harnessing this approach opens the door to functional cross-industry campaigns that bridge the gap between the real world and the digital, and can unlock an entirely new type of “token-gated” customer experience. The ultimate key to all of this is simplicity and utility built around how users interact with brands. (forkast)

Mastercard recently debuted a free Music Pass NFT Drop during the annual NFT NYC convention, providing benefits for collectors who hold the token.

Data privacy has become a growing concern as our lives become increasingly digital. The current centralized internet architecture often results in a concentration of power and control over user data in the hands of a few large corporations.