PANews’ weekly roundup showed that blockchain funding stayed subdued from July 27 to Aug. 2, with six disclosed deals totaling $41.5 million, while capital in the broader private market continued to cluster around AI, robotics and computing infrastructure. In crypto, funding was concentrated in security, execution infrastructure and AI-related Web3 projects. V12 raised a $10 million seed round led by Electric Capital, Birdai Labs secured $4 million for onchain execution infrastructure, and Axis Robotics closed a $12 million seed round led by Hack VC. Perceptron Network and ALPHEA also announced financing tied to decentralized AI data and distributed AI infrastructure. Outside crypto, the biggest checks went to major AI model companies and robotics platforms. Amazon disclosed that it had completed a total of $50 billion in investment in OpenAI and separately invested $11.3 billion in Anthropic and $13.7 billion in OpenAI during the second quarter. Moonshot AI reportedly raised $3.5 billion at a $35 billion valuation. Simile, Fish Audio, Modus and Pangram all announced new rounds, while Standard Bots, Enigma and Quantum Dynamics highlighted continued investor appetite for physical AI and robotics deployment. The period also saw M&A activity from Metaplanet and Fanatics, alongside fresh financing in nuclear power, bot detection and AI-focused funds.

Perceptron Network, a decentralized AI data network, has raised $6.5 million in a strategic funding round, according to BlockBeats. Backers in the round include Sigma Capital, Selini Capital, QCP Capital, P2 Ventures, CoinDCX Ventures, Momentum6, DeFi Capital, Walrus Foundation, Aethir, Colosseum, GuruDev Capital, Tempo Finance, NewTribe Capital, Digital Consensus Fund and CodeCraft Capital. The company said the new capital will support the launch of its data discovery platform, expand contributor tools and reward infrastructure, and help the network work toward a target of 5 million nodes. Perceptron says it is building a single contributor network for global data collection, allowing AI companies and individual contributors to access, verify and monetize high-quality datasets. The network is already live and currently has more than 700,000 nodes.

Axis, a DeFi yield protocol built around market-neutral arbitrage, opened its retail-facing Origin Vault on July 29 and filled its initial $50 million cap within 22 hours before raising the limit to $100 million. The project says it brings institutional trading strategies on-chain, with returns tied to cross-exchange price discrepancies, cross-asset arbitrage, and funding-rate opportunities rather than token emissions or outright directional bets. Axis has not issued a native token. It previously disclosed a $5 million private round led by Galaxy Ventures, with participation from OKX Ventures, CMT Digital, FalconX, GSR, Maven 11, CMS Holdings, and Marc Zeller. The team says another $100 million of private capital has already been deployed in closed testing of its arbitrage engine. Axis structures the product around USDx, a synthetic dollar used for settlement and hedging, and sUSDx, a yield-bearing receipt whose value reflects profits from the strategy. As of July 31, the Origin Vault showed a $100 million cap, about 58.7% utilization, a 1.75x multiplier, and an APY near 10.4%, with a 30-day lockup and a seven-day withdrawal delay after redemption is requested.

Perceptron, a decentralized AI data network, said on July 31 that it has closed a $6.5 million strategic financing round. Backers in the round include Sigma Capital, Selini Capital, QCP Capital, P2 Ventures, CoinDCX Ventures, Momentum6, DeFi Capital, Walrus Foundation, Aethir, Colosseum, GuruDev Capital, Tempo Finance, NewTribe Capital, Digital Consensus Fund and CodeCraft Capital. The company said the new capital will be used to launch its data task platform, expand contributor tools and reward infrastructure, and support growth toward a 5 million-node network. Perceptron says it is building a unified network for real-world data collection by combining idle bandwidth, unique datasets and domain expertise. The goal is to help AI companies access verified, production-ready datasets in days rather than relying on centralized data scraping systems or closed data partnerships that many startups cannot access. In the near term, the project is focused on rolling out its data task platform, with more announcements expected next quarter.

QCP Capital said in its latest Market Colour report that U.S. equities closed mixed last Friday, with the S&P 500 up 0.05% to 7,412, the Nasdaq down 0.64% to 24,976, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.46% to 51,947. The firm said rate expectations remain the market’s main focus, noting that the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield eased back to around 4.67% after briefly reaching its highest level since January 2025, while the U.S. dollar index held near 101.4. QCP said investors are now watching Wednesday’s Federal Open Market Committee rate decision. Markets broadly expect the federal funds target range to stay unchanged, but attention will be on the policy statement and comments from Fed Chair Warsh for clues on how officials view inflation and growth. In crypto, QCP said digital assets have outperformed traditional equities in July despite macro pressure. BTC and ETH are up about 11.6% and 24.6% this month, respectively. At the same time, spot BTC and ETH ETF flows in the U.S. have cooled, with listed products posting combined net outflows of about $311 million on July 24, ending a seven-day inflow streak. The report also pointed to renewed downside hedging demand in options markets and said the proposed CLARITY Act remains in focus for the digital asset market.

An X post from Iran’s Parliament Speaker framed Trump’s Truth Social comments on Iran as a “reverse indicator.” Over the past five weeks, peace signals have repeatedly lifted Bitcoin before prices reversed, with the Strait of Hormuz still driving oil and crypto moves.

Robinhood leads a Series B extension for New York-based crypto firm Talos, pushing its valuation to $1.5 billion. Participants include a16z, Fidelity, BNY, and Sony Innovation Fund. Talos provides trading infrastructure to institutions managing over $21 trillion in assets, signaling sustained institutional faith in crypto.

Arkham data shows Bhutan has net sold about $120 million in BTC in 2026, cutting holdings by roughly 1,700 coins. March transfers grew sharply, though the sales pattern remained staggered.