Follow the Money: $630 Million for Strive, Tether Activity and Attention to CeFi

During the period from October 17 to 24, 2026, the Incrypted editorial team tracked 11 investment deals. In six cases, companies disclosed amounts — the total volume reached nearly $691 million. Among the recorded deals are venture rounds, M&A transactions, and other capital raising formats. Details are in the weekly digest. Incrypted Infographic.

Classic Venture

During this period, six projects received funding from venture investors totaling about $32 million. In particular:

• $15 million — Mural. The fintech startup received investments in a Series A round led by Tether with participation from North Island Ventures and previous investors. The company is developing a platform that allows fintechs, software providers, and payroll services to use a single account for holding US dollars, local currencies, and stablecoins. The funds will be directed towards international expansion and the development of payment and regulatory infrastructure, including for financial operations involving AI agents.

• $10.6 million — Dataline. The decentralized data network for AI agents raised seed funding under the joint leadership of Lattice and Dispersion Capital. The round also included Coinbase Ventures, Symbolic Capital, Anagram, and Robinhood co-founder and CEO Vlad Tenev. Other investors include a former CFTC chairman, as well as founders and partners from Venmo, Anchorage Digital, NEA, General Catalyst, Jump Capital, and FalconX. The round closed in April through a SAFE agreement with a right to receive tokens, and the company's valuation was not disclosed.

• $5 million — Nectar Group. The developer of the HoneyB platform closed a seed funding round led by Portal Ventures and Peer Ventures with participation from Anchorage Digital Ventures, family investment funds, and private investors. The company is creating infrastructure that will allow institutional investors to earn income from Bitcoin without transferring assets from qualified custodians or moving them outside the Bitcoin network. HoneyB will combine storage, lending, asset management, and regulatory compliance services, providing access to income-generating strategies in traditional financial markets.

• $1 million — Hylo. The decentralized financial protocol based on Solana raised strategic investments in a round led by Solana Ventures with participation from Colosseum. The funds will be directed towards expanding leverage infrastructure and earning income in the Solana network.

Additionally, Tether led a pre-seed funding round for the Bolivian fintech startup Peso, which is developing payment infrastructure based on USDT in Latin America. The company offers accounts in stablecoins, cross-border transfers, payments through POS terminals, and virtual accounts integrated with Bolivia's banking system. The funds will be directed towards developing services for buying and selling cryptocurrencies for fiat currencies in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, and Argentina.

Also, Lighthouse — a developer of memory infrastructure for AI agents — raised additional strategic funding. The company is developing shared memory that allows AI agents to store and use context, decisions, and constraints across different models and sessions. The funds will be directed towards developing memory infrastructure, MCP integrations, and decentralized storage based on IPFS, Filecoin, and Walrus.

Token Sales

This week, there was no activity in the token sales sector. Incrypted Infographic.

Current data on ongoing and upcoming token sales is available in a special section of our website, where users can find information about active and planned token sale campaigns. In addition, our team regularly updates the profile Telegram channel, promptly covering key events.

Corporate Placements and Deals

During the period from October 17 to 24, several corporate deals were recorded, including:

$630 million --- Strive. The American investment company completed an IPO of 7 million perpetual preferred shares of Series A SATS at a price of $90 each. The raised capital is planned to be directed, among other things, to the purchase of Bitcoin and related products, acquisition of income-generating assets, and general corporate needs. The shares provide for cumulative dividends at an annual rate of 15% from the stated value of $100 per share. Trading under the ticker SATS on the Nasdaq Global Market began on October 20, 2026.

$30 million --- Erebor Bank. Robinhood Ventures Fund I acquired preferred shares of the American bank Erebor. The deal was completed on September 17. The bank focuses on companies operating in the field of innovation and industrial production, and develops financial infrastructure based on modern technologies. The investment provides retail investors of the RVI fund with indirect access to the capital of a private bank.

Representatives of Sonic reported the transfer of about 13 million S tokens within a strategic over-the-counter (OTC) deal. The team noted that the counterparty is their long-term partner, who will facilitate the expansion of Sonic's network reach and engagement. A preliminary announcement was made to keep the community informed about the reasons for the movement of funds when this transaction is reflected on the blockchain.

Mergers and Acquisitions

During the week, several mergers and acquisitions took place, but the financial details were not disclosed by the parties.

The cryptocurrency exchange Bitget announced plans to acquire GMO-Z.com. This is a licensed platform for trading digital assets and brokerage services in Bangkok. The acquisition is expected to help the company expand its presence in Thailand and enter the local market through an already licensed operator. The completion of the deal depends on obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals and fulfilling other conditions.

The American company OpenWorld signed a final agreement to acquire Blocksight --- a developer of AI agents for tokenizing real assets. After the deal is completed, Blocksight's technologies are planned to be integrated into the OpenWorld Enterprise platform, where they will automate deal structuring, asset data verification, investor engagement, and regular reporting.

Accelerators, Grants, and DAO Funding

This week, ecosystems and DAOs did not allocate funds to support projects.

Top Investors

The most active investor of the week was Tether, which invested in two startups. Infographic Incrypted.

What Are Investors Focusing On?

During the analyzed period, investors focused primarily on the development of blockchain services and the CeFi sector. Infographic Incrypted.

Stay tuned to Incrypted for updates on new investments in the development of the digital world.