🦄 Recap: DeFi Week of July 18

Hello Defiers! Perhaps you’ve heard of Janus, the Roman god of beginnings and transitions, a being with two faces who lorded over doorways, gateways, and passages between worlds and even eras. Well, Janus was presiding over DeFi this week. It was fire and...

Hello Defiers! Perhaps you’ve heard of Janus, the Roman god of beginnings and transitions, a being with two faces who lorded over doorways, gateways, and passages between worlds and even eras. Well, Janus was presiding over DeFi this week.

It was fire and brimstone early on as BTC slid beneath $30K and ETH lost 13% between Sunday and Tuesday. Traders hung their heads and drew a new line in the sand at $20K for BTC, and whatever scant hopes remained this was not a bear market were dashed. And yet… and yet… then came the deals, deals galore.

There was the $100M funding round led by a16z in OpenSea, which left the eBay of NFTs with a $1.5B valuation and unicorn status. There was Polygon’s formation of a blockchain-based multimedia studio and $100M production fund, with a dream team of partners along for the ride — Atari, Decentraland, and OpenSea. And, of course, there was the head-popping fundraising round by crypto exchange FTX: $900M, bestowing the platform with an $18B valuation. Ye gods…

So what gives? What should we make of the duality in DeFi at the moment? What’s going on? Well, these are cosmic questions The Defiant will be unpacking this coming week, so keep your eyes peeled… In the meantime, we can already see glimmers of the era to come. Check out Owen Fernau’s feature on MetaCartel Ventures for how DAOs are reshaping the cultivation of DeFi startups. And call up Dan Kahan’s piece on Stoner Cats to learn how the entertainment industry is blockchaining itself to new forms of financing and distribution.

On the market side of the ledger, be sure to hunker down with Masha Prusso’s analysis of deflationary tokenomics and how the big changes coming to Ethereum will shake up the laws of supply and demand in crypto. Not a spoiler, but let’s just say tokens that actually do something valuable could be a safe haven in a bear market. Likewise, read the latest how-to guide from DeFi Dad on how to farm major yield on Polygon Balancer.

As you kick up your feet this weekend and relax with The Defiant, just bear n mind that Janus is watching, with both faces… poised to shift this whole DeFi thing into… well, stay tuned to see what’s next!

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).

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🙌 Together with:

  • Balancer, one of the leading DeFi automated market makers (AMM) for multiple tokens. Dive into their pools at https://balancer.finance/!
  • Kraken, consistently rated the best and most secure cryptocurrency exchange, which can get you from fiat to DeFi
  • Aave, an open-source and non-custodial liquidity protocol where users can earn interest on deposits and borrow assets.
  • The DeFi Pulse Index, by Index Coop - DPI is the easiest way to capture the upside of DeFi with the benefit of diversification. Buy DPI today on your favorite DEX.
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Podcast

🎙 “The Biggest, Clearest Bet of All is Ethereum:" Raoul Pal

In this week’s episode Camila Russo interviews Raoul Pal, who retired from the hedge fund world at 36 years old and has run financial media company Real Vision for the seven years since. He predicted the housing bubble, he was early to call the devastating effect the pandemic would have on the economy, and now he gives us his thoughts on what he sees is coming up in the next few months.

📺 Watch:

🎙Listen:

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Video

📺 Quick Take: Yellen circles, Circle goes public, stablecoins under the spotlight

📺 Tuesday Turtorials: Insanely FAST. Insanely CHEAP- Uniswap on Optimism is SICK

📺 First Look: BasketDAO's brand new BMI stablecoin product aims to revolutionise treasury management

📺 School of Block | Episode 19 | How to protect your crypto

Opinion & Analysis

📉 Deflation is About to Whack DeFi Tokens — Is This Actually a Good Thing?

In this week’s opinion-analysis piece, guest writer Masha Prusso explores how deflation, the decrease of DeFi tokens over time, will impact the market, especially with the advent of big changes in Ethereum. Her conclusions may surprise you!

Inbox Dump #17

For paid subscribers only — The Inbox Dump is where we include the updates and announcements that flood our DMs each week and didn’t make it to The Defiant’s content platforms. We also include a compilation of DeFi and crypto funding rounds in the past week so you have these in one handy place.

Friday

Dives

Byte

Tutorials

Links

Thursday

Regulation

  • EU Regulators Propose Crypto ClampdownEuropean Defiers better buckle up, because regulators in the EU are attempting to tighten the rules on crypto transfers. On July 20, the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, announced a package of legislative proposals to strengthen the EU’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CFT) rules.

NFTs

Fundraising

Stablecoins

Links

Wednesday

NFTs

Market Action

Dive

Byte

Links

Tuesday

Feature

  • MetaCartel Reimagines Venture Capital for a DeFi FutureWhen I joined MetaCartel Ventures’ weekly meeting online earlier this month I didn’t know what to expect. The outfit’s bare-bones website looks like something university students would cook up on an all-nighter, with low-rez GIFs and, strangely, an embedded mp3 of Evanescence’s hit “Bring Me to Life.” Its whitepaper features images reminiscent of playing cards from Magic: The Gathering, a fantasy game.

Dive

  • Swarm Markets Gets Licensed to Win Over Wary InvestorsWhen Philipp Pieper and Timo Lehes co-founded Swarm Markets in 2017 in California and then moved to Berlin, they did a strange thing. They knocked on the door of Germany’s financial watchdog, known as BaFin, and said, please regulate us.

Byte

Links

💜Community Love💜

Thanking all the amazing Defiers for the support and love this week (and always)!

the-defiant

InnerNature Art 🌿 @InnerNatureArtCamila Russo (@CamiRusso) & Raoul Pal in a conversation all about #cryptocurrency, the future of tokens and the future of #Ethereum ⚡ open.spotify.com/episode/77Q1Ng… Enlightening conversation for @DefiantNews that I highly recommend to all my fellows #NFTartists 🤟 #Crypto #NFTs

open.spotify.com“The Biggest, Clearest Bet of All is Ethereum:” Raoul PalListen to this episode from The Defiant on Spotify. In this week’s episode I interview Raoul Pal, who retired from the hedge fund world at 36 years old and has run financial media company Real Vision for the seven years since. He predicted the housing bubble, he was early to call the devastating ef…11:37 AM ∙ Jul 20, 202112Likes1Retweet

the-defiant

Ξric Juta @ericjutayoutu.be/CAK3Dp9KtE4 @DefiantNews killing it again with another episode on recent decentralisation theatre

youtu.beBare Knuckle Governance, tales from the streets ($UNI, $SUSHI $ADDY)Governance has been dominating the conversation in recent weeks as DAO’s explode out of every orifice and big money decisions grip the communities of Sushisw...1:18 AM ∙ Jul 18, 20218Likes1Retweet

Show Me The Crypto @ShowCryptoFrom reporting on currency controls and double-digit inflation in Argentina, to writing a book on #Ethereum's history, to founding @DefiantNews, @CamiRusso has become one of the most respected journalists in the crypto space. This episode is 🔥: youtu.be/4Tk0XvJE4-A

3:34 PM ∙ Jul 19, 202132Likes8Retweets

the-defiant

Cristobal Pereira @cristpereiragTerminando de escuchar este gran pod de @CamiRusso con @TimBeiko en @DefiantNews sobre EIP-1559, MEV, ETH 2.0… muy bueno! Contenido de calidad 👌 open.spotify.com/episode/2i7pDm…

open.spotify.com“It’s Almost Like EIP-1559 Fixes an Economic Bug in Ethereum; More Usage Can Now Capture More Value:” Tim BeikoListen to this episode from The Defiant on Spotify. In this week’s episode we speak with Tim Beiko, who organizes the Ethereum core developers calls and knows all the intricacies and latest development of the world’s most active blockchain. We spoke right after Beiko had proposed a date for the imp…2:05 AM ∙ Jul 19, 202115Likes2Retweets

Anand IyΞr @ai10/ For more on this, you should read this excellent writeup by @CamiRusso :

the-defiant

The Defiant @DefiantNews🍣 vs 🦄: DeFi's first-ever hostile takeover SushiSwap is about to attempt its vampire attack on DeFi's largest DEX, with untested code and $1.3B at stake. The story of a disgraced Chef, a reigning Unicorn and a shrewd CEO. Here's all you need to know: https://t.co/dVbWsBUqAk https://t.co/uEighcXZ9o12:49 AM ∙ Jul 19, 202112Likes3Retweets

DeFi Resources 👨🏼‍🌾 apyvision.crypto 🦇🔊 @DeFiResourcesThoroughly enjoyed this jam session, good stuff 👏 I think the uniqueness of the 4 protocols will result in the continued onboarding of more users. TradFi doesn't stand a chance with the might behind these powerhouses 💪

the-defiant

The Defiant @DefiantNewsWe're live with @StaniKulechov @RuneKek @leokcheng @cjliu49 @CamiRusso 👇 https://t.co/NiGLrtfspz11:16 PM ∙ Jul 15, 20212Likes1Retweet

Amethyst 🏳️‍⚧️ | alphaserpentis.eth @AlphaSerpentis_Got something in the mail

9:04 PM ∙ Jul 22, 202141Likes3Retweets

Wil.Defi 🦇 🔊 (💉x2) @WilHo_AI@CamiRusso does another great interview with a TradFi giant gone DeFi. This one is all good, especially the part when he predicts Fiat will be overtaken by Crypto, the future will be amazing - must watch!

youtube.com“The Biggest, Clearest Bet of All is Ethereum”In this week’s episode we interview Raoul Pal, who retired from the hedge fund world at 36 years old and has run financial media company Real Vision for the ...11:54 AM ∙ Jul 21, 202110Likes3Retweets

Luc JODΞT 🍌 is @EthCC 🐧🔊 @LucJodetRoad trip from Lausanne to Paris! Can’t wait to meetup with the whole @EthCC crew. I feel it will be the best one yet 💪🏼 @DefiantNews @CamiRusso @terrycrews on speaker 😎 Will switch to @terranaomi later 🎶

2:25 PM ∙ Jul 17, 202118Likes1Retweet

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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. Sign up to learn more and keep up on the latest, most interesting developments. 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)

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