Crypto VC funding: MARA inks $850m offering, Subzero Labs emerges with $20m

A wave of high-profile raises last week—totaling nearly $2 billion—signals institutional confidence in digital assets, blockchain infrastructure, and on-chain treasury strategies.

According to Crypto-Fundraising.info, Marathon Digital’s $850 million convertible note offering led the pack between July 28 and Aug. 2, followed by Mill City Ventures’ $450 million move into Sui-backed tokenization.

Ethereum-native treasury pivots from FG Nexus and $ETH Strategy added momentum, as venture capital and strategic investors continued to back a fresh phase of experimentation across the crypto ecosystem.

Rounding out the spree were AI identity platform Billions Network, infrastructure startup Subzero Labs, and stablecoin-focused Layer 1 Stable—each pointing to a post-legislation pivot toward utility, compliance, and enterprise-scale Web3 solutions.

Mara Holdings

• MARA Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: MARA), the largest publicly traded Bitcoin (BTC) miner by market capitalization, unveiled an $850 million private offering of zero-coupon convertible notes due 2032.

• The deal, reserved for qualified institutional buyers, includes a potential $150 million upsell option, which could push the raise close to $1 billion, and also features conversion terms carefully calibrated to MARA’s stock performance.

• Notably, the miner earmarked the majority of proceeds for Bitcoin acquisitions, while allocating a smaller portion to refinance existing debt and execute sophisticated equity hedges through capped call transactions.

Mill City Ventures

• Mill City Ventures has become the first publicly listed company to launch a crypto treasury strategy backed by the Sui Foundation, acquiring 76.3 million $SUI tokens in a $450 million private placement.

• Partnering with hedge fund Karatage and receiving a matching investment from the Sui Foundation, Mill City now holds over $277 million in $SUI at an average price of $3.64.

• The tokens are held in a public wrapper, giving retail and institutional investors daily liquidity and direct exposure to the Sui network through a listed vehicle. The firm plans to continue accumulating $SUI via OTC and open market purchases.

FG Nexus

• On Ethereum’s 10th anniversary, Fundamental Global rebranded as FG Nexus and announced a major strategic shift to adopt Ether ($ETH) as its primary treasury reserve asset.

• The North Carolina-based firm launched a $200 million private placement by issuing 40 million prefunded warrants at $5 each to fund $ETH purchases and support a broader treasury strategy involving staking and DeFi yield opportunities.

• Backed by investors and partners including Galaxy Digital, Kraken, Hivemind Capital, Syncracy Capital, Digital Currency Group, and Kenetic, the move positions Fundamental Global at the forefront of corporate Ethereum adoption.

$ETH Strategy

• An $ETH Strategy campaign generated approximately $46.5 million (12,342 $ETH) through a combination of private pre-sales, public sales, and a puttable warrant offering.

• Most of the funds—11,817 $ETH—will be allocated to staking and protocol liquidity, with the remaining 525 $ETH reserved for growth, audits, contributor compensation, and community initiatives. The raise includes a 4-month cliff and a 2-month linear unlock post-token generation.

• Traders on X have praised the protocol’s fully on-chain $ETH treasury model, viewing it as a potential catalyst for increased institutional interest in Ethereum exposure.

RD Technologies

• RD Technologies raised $40 million in Series A2 funding, just ahead of Hong Kong’s new stablecoin licensing regime, bringing total Series A funding to nearly $48 million; the capital will support digital currency infrastructure and stablecoin-focused asset tokenization.

• The firm partnered with ZA Bank to develop compliant stablecoin solutions, including custody and distribution, reinforcing their shared vision for fast, secure, and regulated digital financial services.

• The raise and partnership coincide with Hong Kong’s regulatory shift, as the city implements a stablecoin licensing framework on Aug. 1, drawing interest from major firms like Ant International and JD.com; RD aims to lead in this evolving landscape with products like the HKDR stablecoin and a cross-border mobile wallet.

Billions Network

• Billions Network clinched $30 million from investors including Polychain Capital, Coinbase Ventures, and Polygon to scale its hybrid human-AI identity verification platform aimed at securing digital interactions and combating fraud in the Web3 ecosystem.

• The platform combines AI-driven pattern recognition with human review to tackle challenges like bot detection, identity fraud, and Sybil attacks—key issues facing decentralized apps, DAOs, and NFTs—while preserving user privacy and operational efficiency.

• Funds will be used to enhance AI capabilities, grow its human verification network, and expand integrations, positioning Billions Network to become a foundational player in the digital identity infrastructure of the growing internet of value.

Stable

• Stable collected $28 million in seed funding led by Bitfinex and Hack VC, with backing from major players like Franklin Templeton, Castle Island Ventures, and KuCoin Ventures; Bitfinex also helped incubate the project.

• The Layer 1 “stablechain” is built around $USDT and aims to enable seamless, instant financial transactions using stablecoins, targeting both institutional and retail adoption.

• The raise follows the U.S. passage of the GENIUS Act, which provides regulatory clarity for stablecoin payments—positioning Stable to accelerate $USDT distribution and digital payment infrastructure globally.

Subzero Labs

• Subzero Labs emerged from stealth with $20 million in funding led by Pantera Capital, backed by investors like Coinbase Ventures and Mysten Labs, and founded by ex-Meta and Netflix engineers Ade Adepoju and Lu Zhang.

• The company is launching Rialo, a decentralized infrastructure network designed to simplify dApp development with native web connectivity, event-driven transactions, privacy, and scalability—aiming to match Web2 speed and usability.

• Rialo combines RISC-V architecture and Solana VM compatibility, enabling seamless deployment of existing programs while empowering new applications in areas like tokenized assets, prediction markets, and AI agent orchestration.

Zodia Custody

• Zodia Markets’ Series A funding round brought in $18.25 million. Pharsalus Capital and Tokenbay Capital led the effort. Circle Ventures also backed the startup.

• The platform bridges TradFi and DeFi with a non-custodial model, offering secure, scalable trading and cross-border payments using stablecoins like USDC, targeting regions with clear regulatory frameworks.

• Standard Chartered’s affiliation and investor support signal confidence in Zodia’s vision to lead institutional crypto adoption, despite undisclosed valuation or revenue projections.