A testnet token created a full on mania at CoinDesk’s Consensus 2021 virtual conference last week, in one of the latest signs even valueless coins can spur engagement and help unite communities.  CoinDesk’s $DESK token had been claimed by more than 1,371 addresses by the end of the conference on May 27. Each wallet claimed…

Arbitrum is a L2 scaling solution for Ethereum from Off-chain Labs. It should make it extremely easy for developers to move apps to L2 since no new tooling is required. They just announced their Mainnet Beta so this was a perfect opportunity to get a very first taste of a rollup future. It didn’t go…

I. Executive summary The crypto industry is hamstrung by legal cost, confusion, and delay.  Crypto projects frequently misunderstand the critical legal risks to their companies and have limited tools to mitigate those risks. Founders often find themselves facing high legal fees and regulatory scrutiny, impeding development of their project while accruing substantial cost. Given the…

Liquity is a decentralized borrowing protocol that allows you to draw interest-free loans against Ether used as collateral. Loans are paid out in LUSD (a USD pegged stablecoin) and need to maintain a minimum collateral ratio of 110%.

WHO WE ARE The Defiant is the definitive information platform for the open economy.  We are the paper of record, reporting on all the most important developments, downfalls and milestones of the new financial system.  The Defiant creates the foundational educational material for newcomers, and delivers the actionable reports leveraged by professionals. We craft tutorials…

I have to confess, much like Mr. Cuban I’ve never found myself particularly charmed by Cardano. It’s just never been my jam. But this project is mentioned more than any other in our comments section each and every week. So, I decided to kick my personal biases firmly in the Hoskins and take a good…

In this week’s episode, I interview Jeff Dorman, chief investment officer at Arca, an investment management firm focusing on digital assets. Jeff has been valuing assets for the past 20 years, from investment-grade bonds, to high-yield debt and equities, and now he’s doing the same for crypto. We talk about the recent selloff and he…

Arbitrum, the Layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum using optimistic rollups, will open its mainnet to developers on Friday and it’s already attracting one of DeFi’s biggest fish — Uniswap. That could mean help is on the way for DeFi investors who are freaking out over soaring gas fees. The launch is the latest sign…

Mark Cuban still has the touch. Even as the crypto market continues to recover from last week’s crash, the price of Polygon (MATIC) has soared 25% in the last seven days. The trigger: On May 25, news broke that Cuban had invested in the next-generation Ethereum player. The performance trounced Bitcoin’s 4.8% rise in the…

It’s official: NFTs have gone totally mainstream. That’s the upshot from the announcement that the Associated Press, the 175-year-old paragon of traditional media, is planning to auction off 10 one-of-a-kind NFTs to celebrate its iconic photojournalism. Among the offerings: an artistic representation of the shot showing U.S. Marines hoisting the Stars and Stripes on a…