While Bitcoin seems presently stuck in a US$55k-$60k range, large funding continues to move into crypto projects.

The chief market-moving cryptocurrency rose briefly above US$59k in the past 24 hours but keeps facing rejection in that zone just below and around US$60k.

The odd bit of American news is probably playing its part and creating uncertainty in the markets. News such the latest virus variant spreading to the US, and the US Fed looking to speed up the tapering of its bond purchases.

Prominent Bitcoin-watching analysts are looking at the long game, however, including TechDev…

… and Dutch trader Michaël van de Poppe, who is short-term bearish as long as Bitcoin remains under US$60k, but is still eyeing a potential… wait for it… US$350-$450k Bitcoin at the peak of this bull cycle.

Judging by the last bit of this next tweet (below) Van de Poppe also now believes the market’s overall bullish trend has moved into a “lengthening cycle”, as per the theory popularised by the excellent quantitative data analyst Benjamin Cowen. (And that’s something Cowen, by the way, seemed keen to remind the Dutchman of.)

 

Funding news: Hashed raises $200m for Web3

• South Korean digital assets investment firm Hashed has raised US$200 million for a fund that aims to help grow the Web 3 ecosystem.

This adds to the US120 million the venture capital firm raised late last year to accelerate developments in the blockchain space. Early investment successes for Hashed have included crypto-gaming notables Axie Infinity and The Sandbox, as well as the burgeoning Terra ecosystem. (The latter’s native token LUNA hit an all-time high of US$64.87 just a few hours ago, by the way.)

The company hasn’t yet disclosed its investors for the new fund, which could be due to legal requirements. However, it noted, via a press release, that investment has come from “some of the largest Korean IT companies, multi-discipline conglomerates and globally renowned investment firms”.

 

Three Arrows invests into Solana metaverse play

• Meanwhile, renowned crypto VC firm Three Arrows has led a US$4.3 million round for the developing Solana-based project Solice – a cross-platform VR game that looks to be competing in the same sort of metaversal areas as Decentraland (MANA) and The Sandbox (SAND).

The round included participation from Alameda Research, Jump Capital, Genblock Capital and Kucoin Labs, among others.