Semantic Ventures

World Chat, secured by @xmtp_ Bringing together proof of human, global payments and Mini Apps in a single, seamless experience.

Today, we are announcing that Backed will become part of @krakenfx. For us, this moment represents the culmination of a long and demanding journey, one shaped by a clear vision, guided by discipline, and driven by a small group of people who believed that equities deserved an open, global, onchain future. Backed was founded in 2021 with an ambitious idea: if the internet has a native currency, it should also have native capital markets. At the time, the space for onchain equities barely existed, and yet the direction was clear to us. Just as stablecoins transformed how money moves online, tokenized equities would one day transform how people access markets. We built Backed around this conviction. Over the years, this small but mighty team has always punched above its weight. Across engineering, operations, marketing, compliance, and product, this group designed and built a tokenization engine adopted by leading exchanges, wallets, and protocols. The work required navigating regulation that was and is still evolving and building operational systems from first principles, all while maintaining reliability. There were difficult phases, periods of low market activity, operational constraints, and moments when progress demanded hard decisions. Through all of it, the team continued to deliver. The team’s commitment and technical excellence built the foundations that made this milestone possible. To everyone on the team, past and present, thank you. Our investors and early supporters were critical. They believed in this mission when the category was still undefined, supported us through pivots, market cycles, and the long road to regulatory and product readiness. Their patience and conviction allowed us to stay focused on building something durable rather than chasing short-term trends, and led us to where we are today. A special thanks goes to the @gnosis_ team, who supported us well beyond the role of investors at crucial moments. The launch of @xStocksFi earlier this year was a turning point. For the first time, tokenized equities became available at scale, with more than 60 assets on day one on Kraken, deep liquidity on @solana, and global access. Adoption grew rapidly. Holders increased almost tenfold to more than 84,000, daily transaction volume exceeded 30 million dollars, total volumes crossed 12 billion dollars, and AUM reached 175 million dollars. xStocks expanded into major DeFi applications, new exchanges, and multiple chains. This confirmed what we believed from the start: global, 24/7 equities on open rails are inevitable. But to bring this to millions of users, tokenized equities require global distribution, regulatory depth, and operational scale. Our work with Kraken began long before this acquisition. From the earliest design sessions to the rollout and expansion of xStocks, we found strong alignment, a belief in accessible markets, transparent infrastructure, and a long-term approach to building financial rails. Kraken’s platform, regulatory experience, and global reach made them the right partner from the beginning. Now we unite for the next stage. Joining forces is not a shift in mission, it is an expansion of what is now possible. As part of Kraken, we will accelerate the adoption of tokenized equities to a far broader audience. We will work to ensure xStocks become as accessible and composable as stablecoins, operating across exchanges, wallets, and applications used every day. The mission remains the same: to make financial assets open, efficient, and easy to access. With Kraken, we can pursue it at a global scale. To everyone who has been part of this journey, team, investors, partners, and users, thank you. Your support carried us through the most demanding stages and made this milestone possible. We are proud of what was built at Backed and excited for what comes next as part of Kraken. The mission continues. The scale evolves. Onwards.

After building for over 3 years, we’re proud to announce our $3.2M seed round led by Tim Draper and joined by Borderless, Semantic, Smape, VeryEarly, Reverie, and angels including Anatoly Yakovenko and Joe McCann. See our feature on CNBC: youtube.com/live/lcyXslY1S…

1/ WalletConnect is set to surpass $400B in annual Total Network Volume. The connectivity layer of the financial internet. Here's the breakdown ↓

The 1→100 moment for vaults is here. Morpho Vaults V2 is a new open-source standard designed to power the future of asset curation. Live now on @ethereum and soon onchain everywhere.

Sim has been serving leading teams since our launch three months ago. Explore what these teams are building with Sim👇 sim.dune.com/case-studies

The day is here. The wait is over. It's time. The future of zk interop has arrived. Union mainnet is live 🔥

Making a crypto app is usually a whole song and dance, but it doesn't have to be that hard! Today, we're releasing "Trails", a new way for anyone (even non-devs) to build apps and more on any smart contracts - all with just a single copy/paste prompt.

1/5 Big news from the borderless payments world: Due has extended its Seed round to $7.3M to launch Global Stablecoin API – unlocking faster, cheaper, and more inclusive cross-border payments worldwide. Due is stitching together local payment rails, liquidity markets, and blockchain networks into one unified infrastructure. The result is instant, low-cost settlement across both digital assets and fiat currencies, unified behind a single API. One solution, endless opportunities. The round was led by @speedinvest, with support from @SemanticVC, @fabric_vc, @strobefund, @polymorphiccap, and other notable investors. Thank you for believing in our mission. 👇 Here’s what it means and why it matters:

Introducing Texture 2.0 Beta - now live on Solana 🧩 A new layer of capital efficiency on Solana with customizable lending markets and dynamic risk tools.

Today, we unveil Morpho V2. An intent-driven lending platform powered by fixed-rate, fixed-term loans. Designed to liberate the potential of onchain loans.

Today, the Herd beta officially launches. Get ready for the easiest way to search and understand anything onchain. No more fumbling about contracts and transactions, wondering what's happening where. We've combined etherscan, google, and chatgpt into one app. herd.eco

After months of work, it's time to unveil T H E M E R C U R Y U P G R A D E ⏫️ Mercury will be the biggest upgrade in Neutron's history, migrating Neutron from Cosmos Hub's Interchain Security to a fully sovereign PoS network. And that's just the tip of the iceberg 👇 Mercury marks the next phase in Neutron's growth plan, opening a new chapter in Neutron’s relationship with the Hub and introducing a range of exciting developments: ➕ 11x higher throughput ➕ Sets the stage for 18x faster block times by EOY ➕ Supervaults - a new way to LP ➕ NTRN staking & liquid staking ➕ dNTRN, built by @dropdotmoney ➕ Rapid user onboarding (30s or less) ➕ The ATOM Reward Program ➕ 2x network TVL ➕ $10M liquidity boost ➕ and more Starting with Mercury, NTRN will become a much more attractive asset to acquire and hold, offering staking rewards, new DeFi use cases, and rebates from transaction fees – all while maintaining its fixed supply and ensuring all network revenue flows to the NTRN DAO. Currencies are backed by the economies that use them – and Mercury was designed to supercharge the Neutron economy. With support from the NF, Interchain Labs (ICL), and the network’s communities, Neutron is expected to complete the Mercury upgrade on April 9th. -------------- 📜 Read the full Mercury upgrade governance proposal: forum.neutron.org/t/mercury-towa… 🤝 Read the joint announcement from ICL and the NF: medium.com/cosmos-blockch… 🎙️ Set a reminder to join us for a special ICL & Neutron Townhall space on Friday, March 21st at 10 am EST, as we dive into the Mercury upgrade x.com/i/spaces/1eaJb…

The Certora Prover is a huge team effort. 100 amazing engineers from four continents built a robust formal verification platform. In 2024, 100 excellent DeFi clients used the Certora Prover, which became more robust with each client. 200 external security researchers wrote formal verification rules in audit contests for the FV.

Certora is now open source! What’s your excuse now for not securing your protocol, anon?

Introducing Lido V3: Ethereum Staking Infrastructure v3.lido.fi Advancing Ethereum staking with stVaults. 👇