Maelstrom | Crypto

Bio Protocol secured $6.9 million in funding from Maelstrom Fund, Animoca Brands and other investors to advance science using AI and crypto. Decentralized science (DeSci) platform Bio Protocol secured backing from investors including Maelstrom Fund and Animoca Brands to expand its artificial intelligence-native biotech research framework.  Bio Protocol announced Wednesday that it had raised $6.9 million in funding, reflecting growing interest in decentralized approaches to drug discovery that integrate AI, blockchain and community engagement.  Maelstrom founder Arthur Hayes described Bio Protocol as a potential “category-defining launchpad” for scientific research. “If it works, it’s not just a launchpad – it’s the birth of an AI-native research market,” he said. Read more

Maelstrom has awarded Bitcoin developer Ben Allen a $100,000 grant to improve Payjoin, a privacy-focused transaction method that could boost Bitcoin scalability. Bitcoin developer Ben Allen has received a $100,000 grant from investment firm Maelstrom to support the development of Payjoin, a privacy-focused tool aimed at improving Bitcoin’s scalability and privacy. According to a May 20 announcement shared with Cointelegraph, Maelstrom will finance Allen’s work on his Payjoin devkit alongside Dan Gould. The system allows Bitcoin (BTC) senders and receivers to use batched transactions, with positive implications for scalability and privacy. Payjoin was first proposed by Nicolas Dorier in 2019 in Bitcoin improvement proposal (BIP) 78. The core principle behind the system is that both senders and receivers may contribute inputs to a transaction. Read more