🚔 OpenSea’s Former Head of Product Arrested by the FBI

Hello Defiers! Here’s what we’re covering today:

News

• OpenSea’s Former Head of Product Arrested by the FBI
• Flurry of Metrics Show Signs of Potential Recovery for ETH
• Velodrome AMM Launches Airdrop on Optimism

Podcast

🎙Listen To The Exclusive Interview With Yoni Assia:

Video

• Hot Stuff: Have sex. Get paid. Move to earn is officially topped... (narf narf)

Elsewhere

• Users who sold the initial OP airdrop should become ineligible for all future airdrops: Optimism
• Chipotle will now accept cryptocurrency in US stores: The Block
• Debunking the Crypto Critics Letter: Preston Byrne
• OUT NOW! Listen to @drebaglioni and I explore the @solana ecosystem and @SolanaFndn

Trending in The Defiant

• Optimism Airdrop Turns ‘Turbulent’ After Demand Overload
• Liquid Staking Derivatives Pose ‘Significant Risks’ to Ethereum 2.0: Report
• Tutorial: Do Kwon's folly - Dai was never going to die. Here's why

The open economy is taking over the old one. Subscribe to keep up with this revolution. Click here to pay with DAI (for $100/yr) or sub with fiat by clicking on the button below ($15/mo, $150/yr).

Subscribe now

🙌 Together with:

• Eden Rocket RPC, providing the fastest private transactions on Ethereum (90%+ hashrate). Trade better anywhere on Ethereum with Eden Rocket RPC.
• ZetaChain is the first public L1 blockchain that natively connects with any chain and layer including Bitcoin and Dogecoin without wrapping or bridging assets. Dive into the docs to start building the future of multichain.
• dYdX Grants is powering the future of dYdX through community grants. Join us to build on top of the largest decentralized perpetuals exchange!
• Bancor, the only DeFi trading and yield protocol with Single-Sided Liquidity & 100% Impermanent Loss Protection. A safer, more sustainable way to earn DeFi yields on your favorite tokens - start earning now!

🚔 OpenSea’s Former Head of Product Arrested by the FBI

By Owen Fernau

SCANDAL It was one of last year’s largest scandals — Nate Chastain, the former head of product at OpenSea, left under a cloud after it was discovered that he purchased NFTs before they were featured on his former employer’s homepage and subsequently sold them as the increased exposure led to higher prices.

WIRE FRAUD Now, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York has issued a statement that Chastain was arrested on June 1 in New York City. The FBI will charge Chastain with one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

LEGAL BATTLE The arrest indicates that NFTs, and perhaps crypto as a whole, are increasingly in the sights of U.S. regulators. Indeed, just last week, DeFi savings protocol PoolTogether was compelled to fundraise with NFTs to pay legal fees of their own in an ongoing legal battle.

👉READ THE FULL STORY IN THE DEFIANT.IO👈

Market Action

🧐 Flurry of Metrics Show Signs of Potential Recovery for ETH

By Samuel Haig

PRICE ACTION Is the worst over for ETH? The Ethereum markets are giving mixed signals, with on-chain data indicating accumulation is underway in spite of bearish price action.

SLUMP The price of Ether slumped 6% overnight, erasing the gains posted during last week’s bounce from its seven-month low of $1,700. ETH has now dropped 63% from its November high of nearly $4,900.

HOPE But some investors are accumulating ETH in spite of the brutal bear trend.

ETH/USD Source: TradingView

👉READ THE FULL STORY IN THE DEFIANT.IO👈

Sponsored Post

DeFi users, you no longer need to pay expensive and unpredictable interest rates on your ETH-backed loans. Liquity is an immutable, governance-free borrowing protocol that allows you to borrow interest-free against ETH as collateral. Loans are paid out in LUSD — a USD pegged stablecoin, and need to maintain a minimum collateral ratio as low as 110%.

Outside of borrowing, users can deposit LUSD to the Stability Pool to earn LQTY rewards and participate in collateral liquidation events — purchasing ETH at a discount when liquidations occur. Lastly, users can stake LQTY to earn protocol revenue, which recently crossed >$28M since Liquity’s launch in April 2021. To learn more, head over to liquity.org to get started and get the most out of your borrowing needs today!

Airdrops

🚴🏽 Velodrome AMM Launches Airdrop on Optimism

By Jason Levin

NEWS On June 1, automated market maker Velodrome launched an airdrop of its $VELO governance token on Optimism. The move comes a day after Optimism, a layer-2 scaling solution for Ethereum, kicked off the first phase of its own $OP airdrop.

USERS The majority (60%) of the VELO supply has been allocated to the community. Airdrop recipients include WEVE holders, Optimism network users, and users of various DeFi protocols. A full list can be found here.

PROTOCOLS Partner protocols building on Optimism will receive 24% of the VELO supply. These include Aave, AlchemixFi, Fei, Frax, Hop, inverse Finance, Lido, Lura, MakerDAO, Optimism, Perpetual Protocol, Redacted Cartel, Synthetic, and Thales Protocol.

👉READ THE FULL STORY IN THE DEFIANT.IO👈

The Tube

📺 Hot Stuff: Have sex. Get paid. Move to earn is officially topped... (narf narf)

Elsewhere

🔗 Users who sold the initial OP airdrop should become ineligible for all future airdrops: Optimism

Have seen enough wallets collect the OP airdrop, swap it straight to Uniswap.

🔗 Chipotle will now accept cryptocurrency in US stores: The Block

Chipotle, the popular Mexican-style fast-food restaurant chain, will now accept cryptocurrency payments through Flexa, a digital payments platform.

🔗 Debunking the Crypto Critics Letter: Preston Byrne

I mean, this isn’t exactly true and/or could benefit from clearer language. Nobody who signed this letter actually works in the cryptocurrency industry, to start.

The Web3 Podcast 🇺🇦 @CallumWoodersOUT NOW! Listen to @drebaglioni and I explore the @solana ecosystem and @solanaFndn. This is a must for anyone thinking about building on the #Solana blockchain. It’s available on all podcast platforms and you can also take a peek below 👇 👇 anchor.fm/theweb3podcast…

anchor.fmS2E4: Solana Ecosystem w/ Andrea Baglioni of the Solana Foundation by The Web3 PodcastNicknamed ‘the Ethereum killer’, the Solana blockchain has become world renowned for its low-cost, speed and scalability. On this episode, we welcome Andrea Baglioni to the show. Andrea and Callum discuss the Solana ecosystem, the foundation and what makes it so attractive to developers. To join us…10:53 PM ∙ May 31, 2022199Likes66Retweets

Trending in The Defiant

• Optimism Airdrop Turns ‘Turbulent’ After Demand OverloadThe first phase of Optimism’s debut airdrop took place on May 31, but it was overwhelmed by demand and the project scrambled to fulfill claims on a “turbulent” day.
• Liquid Staking Derivatives Pose ‘Significant Risks’ to Ethereum 2.0: ReportProtocols that offer liquid staking derivatives, like Lido and Rocket Pool, could undermine the integrity of Ethereum after its transition to proof-of-stake, according to a researcher at the Ethereum Foundation.
• Tutorial: Do Kwon's folly - Dai was never going to die. Here's whyDai is a stablecoin implemented as an ERC20 token on the Ethereum blockchain.

🧑‍💻 ✍️ Stories in The Defiant are written by Owen Fernau, Samuel Haig, Jason Levin, DeFiDad, Aleksandar Gilbert, and yyctrader, and edited by Edward Robinson, yyctrader, and Camila Russo. Videos are produced by Robin Schmidt, Alp Gasimov and Daniel Flynn. Podcast is led by Camila, produced by Daniel and Alp.

Subscribe now

The Defiant is a daily newsletter focusing on decentralized finance, a new financial system that’s being built on top of open blockchains. The space is evolving at breakneck speed and revolutionizing tech and money. Subscribers get full access, while free signups get only part of the content.

Click here to pay with DAI (for $100/yr) or sub with fiat by clicking on the button above ($15/mo, $150/yr).