👨🏻‍🏫 What is DeFi? The Ultimate DeFi 101 Guide to Ethereum, Layer 2s, Yield Farming, and More

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DeFi 101

What is DeFi? The Ultimate DeFi 101 Guide to Ethereum, Layer 2s, Yield Farming, and More

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Quick Take: Big voices demand to be heard. Some should stay quiet? w/ Do Kwon, Michael Saylor, Brian Brooks

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DeFi Markets

📉 Market Action: Terra a Bright Spot in Worst Slump Since October Peak

LOWEST LEVEL The crypto market is still in the doldrums. That’s the upshot of the last seven days. The combined capitalization of the DeFi sector slid to its lowest level since all-time highs in early October. Since the Nov. 12 peak, DeFi assets have lost almost a quarter of their value, dropping to $135B, according to CoinGecko.

TOP PROJECTS There is one exception to the trend: Terra. Even though it declined 14.3% in the last seven days, its token LUNA is the top DeFi asset with a capitalization of $22.2B, or 16.5% of the DeFi sector’s market cap, in early morning trading New York time. And it’s overtaken mighty Solana. Terra ranks third with nearly $12.4B in TVL. Terra’s top projects by TVL are Anchor with nearly $6B, Lido with 3.90B, and Terraswap with 1.06B.

LEADING PROTOCOLS Solana sits at fourth with $11.5B in TVL, led by Raydium with $1.60B, Serum with $1.31B, and Marinade Finance with $1.28B. A margin of just 4% now separates Solana and Avalanche, with Avalanche ranking fifth with $11.1B. Avalanche’s leading protocols are Aave with $2.88B, Trader Joe with $1.90B, and Benqi with $1.52B.

👉READ THE FULL STORY IN THE DEFIANT.IO👈

Tokenization

👀 Kickstarter’s Embrace of Celo Blockchain May Lead to Token for Crowdfunding Giant

PUBLIC MARKET Are governance tokens a public market by another name? Kickstarter, the crowdfunding leader, announced on Dec. 8 that it would begin work on a decentralized crowdfunding platform on the mobile-friendly Celo blockchain.

WEB2 GIANTS The fact that one of the best known brands on the internet is looking at adopting a blockchain strategy further cements the idea that Web2 giants are starting to take web3 seriously. But a close look at Kickstarter’s history suggests something else. It’s very possible that decentralization is a way for Kickstarter’s investors to reap the returns that have eluded them throughout the rise of the Brooklyn-based tech company, which was founded in 2009.

TOKENIZATION Investors have typically gotten their paydays one of two ways: the companies they back either go public or get acquired by a bigger company. Despite all of its success, Kickstarter has declined to do either, but tokenization has created a new business model for tech startups, and a new way for their backers to cash out.

👉READ THE FULL STORY IN THE DEFIANT.IO👈

DeFi 101

👨🏻‍🏫 What is DeFi? The Ultimate DeFi 101 Guide to Ethereum, Layer 2s, Yield Farming, and More

In this exclusive new primer, Mason Marcabello elucidates the state of the art in DeFi and walks us through how it works. Newbies and veterans alike will find a lot to value in this treatise.

TL;DR Throughout history, money is often moulded to benefit autocratic regimes. But in light of recurrent issues like debasement and rising inflation – alternatives such as decentralized finance, or DeFi, have emerged as an effort to re-establish sovereignty and power to the everyday person.

OPEN SOURCE In short: DeFi is a global, open alternative to the current financial system. It differs through products and services built on open-source technology that anyone can use to borrow, save, invest, trade with and more.

SMART CONTRACTS One of the core components of DeFi is known as algocratic or algorithmic governance. In contrast to bureaucracies that rely on established social hierarchies to regulate and enforce law, autocratic governance is when rules and regulations are written into the software (code). In essence, its structure ensures that smart contracts function as intermediaries so that buyers, sellers, lenders, and borrowers may interact peer to peer without the need for centralized entities or institutions to mediate these very transactions.

ADOPTION Although decentralized finance is still in its nascent stages, the total value locked (TVL) in DeFi contracts is more than $200 billion as of November 2021. Ethereum commands more than 60% of the TVL , according to data from DeFi Llama. Although this data may appear significant, it is still notional as many DeFi tokens lack sufficient adoption, liquidity, and volume to trade in the web3 marketplace.

👉READ THE FULL STORY IN THE DEFIANT.IO👈

Nexo – The Only Crypto Platform You’ll Ever Need

Nexo is a trusted and easy-to-use crypto lending and exchange platform where you can buy cryptocurrencies at the touch of a button and start earning up to 20% annual interest that is paid out daily.

They support all of the major assets on the market, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), Polygon (MATIC), and Polkadot (DOT), and allow you to swap one asset for another with lightning speed.

With Nexo, you can buy crypto with your Visa and Mastercard credit or debit card instantly and start earning on your digital assets right away.

You can also borrow cash and stablecoins tax-efficiently against your digital assets without selling them.

Nexo complies with the highest security standards and is audited in real time which is why nearly 3 million people in over 200 countries trust the platform with their digital assets. So whether you're just getting started or you’re a seasoned pro, get the most of your crypto today with Nexo.

The Tube

📺 Quick Take: Big voices demand to be heard. Some should stay quiet? w/ Do Kwon, Michael Saylor, Brian Brooks

Links

🔗 Crypto exchange AscendEX hacked for $78 million in latest swindle: The Block

Crypto exchange AscendEX — formerly known as BitMax — has been hacked for an estimated $77.7 million.

🔗 Binance Singapore Drops Crypto License Plans in City-State: CoinDesk

Binance’s Singapore entity plans to withdraw its application for a crypto license in the city-state, and will expel local users by Feb. 13, 2022, the exchange said on Monday.

🔗 Crypto Theses for 2022: Mesari

Key trends, people, companies, and projects to watch across the crypto landscape, with predictions for 2022.

🔗 96 private keys stolen from Vulcan Forged in $140 million theft: The Block

Earlier today, 96 private keys were stolen from the crypto gaming ecosystem Vulcan Forged, enabling the attacker to siphon off $140 million in cryptocurrency.

FTX - Built By Traders, For Traders @FTX_Official Upcoming listing on FTX! $QI @BenqiFinance Listing details: help.ftx.com/hc/en-us/artic…

2:00 PM ∙ Dec 12, 2021981Likes189Retweets

MILΞS 🦇🔊 @0xMiles This new venue boast 10 tables on a 16-parcel @decentraland estate, expanding upon the original 8 Tables in ICE Poker - DEXT Lounge. This allows ICE Poker's ~1,700 daily active players to spread out. Read the official announcement for more information: decentral.games/blog/decentral…

8:05 PM ∙ Dec 12, 2021129Likes32Retweets

Trending in The Defiant

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🧑‍💻 ✍️ Stories in The Defiant are written by Brady Dale, Owen Fernau, Samuel Haig, DeFiDad, 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, edited by Alp.

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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).