Welcome to the first Global Digital Finance x The Defiant column, bringing you the stories and discussions that have caught our eye this month.  From market infrastructure to institutional investors to the digitalization of private markets, we’ll look at how decentralization is reshaping traditional finance. .  ETPs showing that Digital assets are ‘here to stay’ Bitcoin-indexed…

Refund is a word rarely heard in DeFi. So is redemption. Malt protocol is an algorithmic stablecoin that launched two weeks ago on the Polygon network. After an explosive launch, bugs in the smart contracts caused the MALT stablecoin to lose its peg and left many users unable to withdraw their funds. The protocol was…

What a wild moment.  When Grayscale Investments launched its Decentraland trust back in February it was hard to believe that a Wall Street firm with $40B in assets was firing up a vehicle to invest in one of the most exotic experiments in crypto. Created on the Ethereum blockchain six years ago, Decentraland is a…

On-Chain Markets Update by Lucas Outumuro, IntoTheBlock Yearn Finance is quickly turning into an asset management behemoth. Propelled by its thriving community, Yearn’s fundamentals are looking stronger than its traditional finance counterparts.   After recently hitting a new all-time high of $5 billion+ in TVL, Yearn also broke its highest monthly revenues.  Making over $10 million…

The explosion of activity in DeFi markets over the last year highlighted both possibilities and problems inherent to blockchain systems, including the phenomenon of miner—or maximal—extractable value (MEV). Since January of this year, MEV amounts to at least USD $370 million, though some sources say the real value is likely higher.  For the technically inclined,…

Who doesn’t love a money printer? Algo Season 2.0 is here.  Last Friday, Malt Protocol launched the latest entry in the algorithmic stablecoin market. This summer, investors have flocked to this corner of the DeFi space to ride out the selloff in the larger crypto universe. Polygon is currently the favored choice of yield farmers…

Toxic Bitcoin Maximalism is dumb.  I tried to lead this article with something more poetic but it honestly boils down to that.   Ever since altcoins started surging in value, and the DeFi story increasingly captured the spotlight, Bitcoin’s “murder hornets” can’t seem to hide their jealousy or their rage.  That vibe was on stark display…

I entered the broader crypto community through Ethereum. I was the project manager at ENS for three years, led the Aragon product team to their mainnet launch and helped other projects here and there too. Proof of stake caught my attention in mid-2016. Joining the Cosmos validator working group in October 2017 was my “official”…

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…

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…