Blockchain analytics firm Crypto Slam and crypto news site Forkast.News have announced a merger to form a new Web3-focused data intelligence and crypto news platform named Forkast Labs, the new company said on Tuesday.
Although no financial details have been divulged, Yat Siu, founder and Executive Chairman of Animoca Brands, an investor in both CryptoSlam and Forkast.News, said in the release that the combined entity will bring trust and transparency to the Web3 ecosystem.
The new entity plans to launch data indices, APIs, and business intelligence products to track the digital asset economy based on real-time on-chain data. “This will create a universal methodology and enable evaluation of blockchain projects that will be meaningful for any investor or participant in the digital asset space,’ the firm said.
Angie Lau, a former Bloomberg anchor who co-founded Forkast.News in 2018, and Randy Wasinger, founder of CryptoSlam, will be co-CEOs of Forkast Labs. Sarah Chang, co-founder of Forkast.News, will be COO of the combined entity.
Forkast Labs plans to fill the pain point in the industry, which has long lacked a standard methodology to measure the true value of Web3 assets, the release said.
“This merger comes at a pivotal moment for the crypto industry. The entire industry has been valued against volatile price movements, which has created a high degree of speculation. Trust in crypto has been eroded as a result, but we have the power to change that with this merger,” Lau said.
The news comes shortly after Animoca Brands, a gaming software firm and Web 3.0 investment powerhouse, halved the target for its new fund eyeing mid- to late-stage metaverse firms to $1 billion, co-founder and Executive Chairman Yat Siu told Bloomberg in an interview.
The crypto industry has witnessed a series of meltdowns in 2022 — from hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) and lender Celsius Network to stablecoin Terra, crypto lender Hodlnaut, crypto exchange FTX, crypto lender Blockfi, Core Scientific, one of US’ largest publicly-traded crypto mining firms, and more.