incubation

The AI native oracle Cournot Protocol, invested by YZi Labs, has officially integrated with 42, an event market backed by institutions such as Dragonfly and Coinbase Ventures, becoming its official AI native oracle. Cournot will provide continuous monitoring, evidence endorsement assessment, and a transparent analysis workflow driven by Cournot's "reasoning proof" framework.As the event trading platform expands into sectors such as sports, politics, creator economy, and crypto-native events, building a market adjudication mechanism is becoming a core challenge in the infrastructure domain. Unlike traditional data feed oracles, Cournot continuously tracks external dynamics, aggregates multi-source evidence for cross-examination, and analyzes the settlement conditions of various markets, generating an auditable reasoning chain while outputting adjudication results.The recent integration of the prediction market Myriad Markets by Cournot reflects the macro trend of the industry migrating towards "AI-assisted settlement" infrastructure. Cournot's core capabilities will gradually expand from empowering prediction markets to areas such as Agentic Commerce, complex RWA, card games, and parametric insurance. More and more platforms are realizing that complex real-world outcomes are often not adjudicated by a single API or a price feed, which is precisely why they are beginning to seek new types of oracles.

YZi Labs announced the launch of its flagship global incubation program EASY Residency Season 4 (S4), with the application deadline set for June 21. This 10-week founder program adopts a "5 weeks online + 5 weeks offline in Bhutan" model, with the offline phase taking place in the newly established special administrative region of Glimpse Mindfulness City in Bhutan. Selected projects can receive up to $500,000 in investment, including a $150,000 SAFE agreement for 5% equity and a $3.5 million unlimited SAFE agreement, with founders' accommodation, meals, and workspace costs fully covered during their stay in Bhutan.This round of incubation focuses on the fields of Web3, AI, and biotechnology, including global payments, Agentic Economy, next-generation DeFi, AI infrastructure, AI × healthcare biotechnology, and Web3 × healthcare biotechnology. The mentor lineup includes Zhao Changpeng, He Yi, and Balaji, among others.

The cryptocurrency data platform Nonce announced a strategic investment and deep incubation of the on-chain sports prediction platform S315, aiming to promote its realization from on-chain products to global capital docking in a full-chain landing.It is reported that S315 is positioned at the decentralized SportFi application layer and infrastructure, supporting users to make on-chain predictions and settlements for "Yes/No" binary contracts or specific match results for major global leagues such as football, basketball, and tennis.

Pharos Network has announced the launch of a builder incubation program called Native to Pharos, with a funding scale of over $10 million. The program aims to accelerate innovation in its on-chain financial ecosystem, focusing on the intersection of real-world assets (RWA), DeFi, and blockchain infrastructure.The incubation program is supported by partners such as Hack VC, Draper Dragon, Lightspeed Faction, and Centrifuge. Participating projects will receive technical guidance, strategic direction for product launch and scaling, as well as support from a network of investors and ecosystem partners. Pharos Network is a RealFi Layer 1 blockchain developed by former executives and engineers from Ant Group. The program is currently open for applications, with the first recruitment event set to launch in Hong Kong.

According to official news, YZi Labs announced the upgrade of the EASY Residency to a year-round rolling incubation program, establishing long-term centers in New York and the San Francisco Bay Area.The program offers entrepreneurs in the fields of Web3, AI, and biotechnology up to $500,000 in investment, workspace, living stipends, and a partner resource package. Three global Demo Days will be held in 2026, with the first taking place in April during TOKEN2049 in Dubai. YZi Labs manages over $10 billion in assets and has incubated 65 portfolio companies.

ChainCatcher news, YZi Labs announced on platform X that the second season of its EASY Residency global incubation program will kick off next week.

ChainCatcher news, Zhao Changpeng posted on X platform stating that he noticed discussions on social media about "Hyperliquid co-founder Jeff appearing in a group photo released by Binance Labs in 2018." Many people may not know that Jeff was one of the members of the first incubation program of YZi Labs (which was then Binance Labs) in 2018. Unfortunately, the project ended in failure, and YZi Labs lost its investment, which is a common occurrence in the venture capital circle. At that time, he had little contact with Jeff and had long forgotten about this matter. Originally, he was supposed to have a phone call with Jeff a few months ago, but due to a scheduling error, he missed the opportunity and has not found a chance to reschedule since then.Zhao Changpeng added that YZi Labs did not obtain and does not hold any investment rights in Hyperliquid (whether equity or tokens).

ChainCatcher news, on August 26, YZi Labs incubation program EASY Residency announced the list of selected projects for the first season. A total of 16 projects were selected, including the decentralized AI ecosystem AMMO, AI-native oracle APRO, Bitcoin-native lending protocol Bitway, food delivery agent Byte A.I., compliance process platform ComplyGen, universal video agent Freebeat.AI, on-chain data terminal Hubble AI, and decentralized data network Robata.

ChainCatcher news, according to KITE AI officials, its ecological incubation project Codatta has successfully been selected for the InfraBUIDL (AI) funding program initiated by the Avalanche Foundation, with a total amount of $15 million. KITE AI participates in the project selection as a co-review committee member. The program aims to accelerate innovation in the integration of AI and decentralized infrastructure.As an ecological incubation project of KITE AI, this funding not only provides Codatta with critical resources but also deeply connects it to KITE AI's ecological network, accelerating technology deployment and ecological collaboration. With this support, Codatta has launched the industry's first autonomous medical data labeling workflow, combining the auditability of blockchain with the intelligent capabilities of AI.

ChainCatcher news, the RWA gamified incubation platform Gold Diggers ($Heron) announces its upcoming official launch. It is reported that Gold Diggers is a Web3 infrastructure platform that aggregates real assets such as oil, gold, and new energy as its underlying support.

ChainCatcher news, according to Dongfang Caifu Net, China Financial Leasing announced that the original shareholders Lin Shusong and Capital Venture have transferred a total of 121 million shares to an independent third party, Longling Capital (the offeror), accounting for approximately 34.96% of the company's total share capital, for a total consideration of 46.08 million Hong Kong dollars.According to the announcement, the offeror intends to make a full offer at a cash price of 0.38 Hong Kong dollars per share. This price represents a premium of 13.43% over the company's closing price of 0.335 Hong Kong dollars before the suspension of trading, and the total amount involved in this full offer is expected to be approximately 85.74 million Hong Kong dollars. The offeror is ultimately beneficially owned by Cai Wensheng, the founder and single largest shareholder of Meitu Company. The announcement clearly states that after the offer deadline, the plan is to maintain the company's listing status.The announcement noted that Cai Wensheng expressed his intention to transform the group into an asset management platform, focusing on investing in technology incubation companies in Hong Kong, and to increase investment in areas such as artificial intelligence, Web3 industry, and digital asset financial products, aiming to develop the group into a world-class investment holding group.According to market data, the stock price of China Financial Leasing is currently reported at 1.4 Hong Kong dollars, with a 24-hour increase of 317.91%.

ChainCatcher news, Web3 incubator and early-stage investment fund 0xLabs announced the official launch of a $50 million incubation fund, focusing on investing in early-stage crypto projects. The fund will prioritize supporting high-quality Web3 startups that have product landing potential, a clear listing schedule, and have been market-validated.0xLabs stated that after summarizing past experiences in primary investments in the crypto market, they found that most losses stem from projects that have not undergone PMF verification or lack a clear TGE roadmap. To address this, 0xLabs has introduced a new incubation investment model: "Verification → Investment → TGE." This means conducting comprehensive product design and incubation for projects first, clarifying market demand and product maturity, and only after forming a clear roadmap and TGE plan, will they proceed with investment, ultimately assisting in the project's launch and long-term growth.The 0xLabs team emphasized: "We no longer invest in 'stories', we only invest in verified projects with a clear TGE plan and a clear direction."

ChainCatcher news, according to an announcement from YZi Labs, the company has appointed Cathy Dou as the Head of Incubation Operations, responsible for the 10-week offline incubation project EASY Residency, which starts on June 2.The first stop of the project is located in Silicon Valley, California, targeting top startup teams in the fields of Web3, AI, and healthcare, providing funding, accommodation, meals, and mentorship resources. There are plans to expand to locations such as Singapore and Dubai in the future. Applications will close at 14:59 Beijing time on May 22.

ChainCatcher news, according to official sources, YZi Labs has officially launched a 10-week in-person global incubation program called EASY Residence, focusing on the fields of Web3, AI, and healthcare, aimed at clearing distractions for the top 1% of founders who have the courage to tackle challenges and providing a focused entrepreneurial environment.The program will kick off on June 2, 2025, in Silicon Valley, California, and will conclude on August 10, culminating in a Demo Day where 10-20 selected teams will showcase their product results to well-known industry venture capitalists for potential investment opportunities. During the program, teams will receive comprehensive support including accommodation and meals, and will have deep access to a network of world-class mentors, builders, and investors. The mentor lineup is impressive, featuring industry leaders such as Binance co-founder CZ and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who will provide long-term guidance and support to entrepreneurs.Applications are currently open and will close on May 21 at 23:59 (GMT-7).

ChainCatcher news, the MerlinChain Launchpad platform MerlinStarter has officially upgraded to Star AI, becoming a global leader in AI digital human incubation and asset issuance. Star AI deeply integrates AI with Web3, dedicated to promoting the creation, trading, and assetization of digital human IP, ushering in a new era of AI asset economy.Previously, MerlinStarter received investments from 20 institutions including Amber Group, Arkstream Capital, and Cogitent Ventures, with the total amount raised in its first two IDOs exceeding 900 million, setting records for the first and second highest IDO amounts in history. The platform has over 1 million MerlinChain addresses interacting.

ChainCatcher news, according to Decrypt, the meme incubation platform Coresky has announced the completion of a $15 million Series A funding round, led by Tido Capital, with participation from WAGMi Ventures, Copilot Venture Studio, Web3 Vision Fund, and Parallel Ventures. Valuation information has not been disclosed, and the company's total funding to date has reached $21 million.It is reported that Coresky focuses on redefining the meme coin incubation space, with its platform supporting community development through user voting and grassroots initiatives, aiming for fair distribution. The platform empowers community participation and provides full-process support for meme coin projects from incubation to issuance.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bitcoin.com News, Nigeria has launched its first compliant stablecoin cNGN. The stablecoin has been listed on two exchanges and has entered the incubation program of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).According to Nigerian Senator Ihenyen, this stablecoin pegged to the Nigerian Naira will enable faster, lower-cost, and safer cross-border payments.