⛓ Compound Plans to Enable Cross-Chain Borrowing

Hello Defiers, here’s what we’re covering today:

• Compound releases details of its Gateway chain
• Ubisoft partners with NFT platform Sorare in latest game
• Enjin plans to launch two NFT scaling solutions
• DeFi Pulse Index adds SUSHI
• InsurAce raises $3M in round led by Alameda and Hashkey

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⛓ Compound Wants to Enable Cross-Chain Borrowing

TLDR Compound Finance has introduced Gateway, a prototype blockchain which allows users to borrow on one chain against collateral on another chain.

DETAILS The goal is for users of Gateway to be able to, for example, deposit Polkadot’s native DOT token and borrow Ether against that collateral, freely using that ETH in the Ethereum ecosystem. This contrasts with Compound’s original implementation where users could only deposit and borrow Ethereum-based assets.

STARPORTS The Compound team is planning to build so-called Starports, which would function as various blockchains’ on and off-ramps to Gateway. In order to borrow or deposit an asset as collateral to Gateway, a user will need a blockchain-specific Starport.

“Starports are the ‘glue’ that connects a blockchain to Gateway -- it adds support for that peer chain’s assets,” Leshner told The Defiant. “If you add a Solana Starport, you can upload, and borrow, Ethereum and Solana assets,” he continued, “you could mix and match however you want.”

PAY IN CASH All interest and transaction fees will be paid in CASH, Gateway’s unit of account. Validators of the Gateway blockchain will also earn a portion of the CASH-based interest paid by borrowers.

👉 READ THE FULL STORY HERE, IN THEDEFIANT.IO 👈

🎮 Gaming Giant Ubisoft Partners With NFT Platform Sorare

TLDR Ubisoft, the video game company behind major franchises like Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry, has entered the NFT arena with its newest mobile game, One Shot League. The move is a collaboration with Sorare, which makes officially licensed NFT cards from over 126 different football (or soccer in the US) clubs.

SO WHAT This marks the first time that a major gaming studio has developed a video game revolving around NFTs, another sign digital tokens are permeating to larger audiences.

NOT EXACTLY FIRST To be sure, Ubisoft isn’t the first major gaming company to enter the NFT space, either. Capcom, for instance, recently launched a line of collectible Street Fighter NFT cards, and Atari dropped a series of collectible digital box art.

IN-GAME ITEMS In 2020, in-game purchases of digital goods was the biggest profit generator on iOS and Android, constituting over $78B in combined revenue across both platforms. Right now, almost none of these digital assets are “ownable.” All these digital assets are tied directly to their game’s servers, so if a game goes out of business or chooses to ban the account, gamers lose everything they ever bought in that game.

NEW MODEL NFTs offer a new model where digital gaming assets can stand on their own. Even if the original game ends its service, in-game NFTs can live on in gamers’ collections or even find new life in fan-made projects that build functionality around them.

👉 READ THE FULL STORY HERE, IN THEDEFIANT.IO 👈

⚖️ Enjin Launches Two NFT Scaling Solutions

TLDR Enjin, the blockchain software company that co-created the ERC-1155 token standard, will be launching two scaling solutions intended to remove gas fees and provide cross-chain support for NFTs.

JUMPNET JumpNet will be a “high-speed bridge network” that allows users to mint, distribute, and trade ERC-1155 NFTs (and ERC-20 tokens) without any gas cost or transaction fees. It is set to launch in April.

EFINITY NETWORK Efinity Network, will be a “decentralized multi-chain highway powered by a custom blockchain” built to support standard tokens and NFTs from any other blockchain, along with any other wallet, marketplace, or exchange. Efinity Network is intended to launch later this year, though a date has not yet been announced.

👉 READ THE FULL STORY HERE, IN THEDEFIANT.IO 👈

🍣 DeFi Pulse Index Adds Sushi

TLDR The DeFi Pulse Index (DPI) has added Sushiswap’s Sushi token to its set of assets. DPI now includes 12 tokens, with Sushi comprising 8% of the index’s total value. The only three project’s with tokens representing higher allocations are Uniswap, Aave, and Synthetix, with 30, 19, and 13% respectively.

👉 READ THE FULL STORY HERE, IN THEDEFIANT.IO 👈

💰 InsurAce Raises $3M in Round Led by Alameda & HashKey

TLDR InsurAce, the Singapore-based DeFi insurance protocol, raised $3M in a token-based funding round led by Alameda Research and HashKey Capital.

INVESTORS Investors from the project’s $1M seed round, DeFiance Capital, ParaFi Capital, Hashed and Signum Capital, also participated. The round was completed with institutional investors, including, IOSG Ventures, ImToken Ventures, LongHash Ventures, HashGlobal, Tembusu Partners, Factorial Ventures, and angel investors Maple Leaf Capital, Wang Qiao and Kerman Kohli.

👉 READ THE FULL STORY HERE, IN THEDEFIANT.IO 👈

🔗 B.Protocol-Compound Integration is LIVE

“Compound users can now make more with their funds by using B.Protocol — the backstop liquidity protocol for DeFi lending platforms. Users can earn a slice of the liquidation proceeds made by B.Protocol’s backstop liquidators, help make Compound more resilient to Black Swan events and gain cScore — voting power on future updates of B.Protocol,” the project said in a post.

🔗 Kings of Leon Will Be the First Band to Release an Album as an NFT: Rolling Stone

“On Friday, Kings of Leon will release their new album, titled When You See Yourself, in the form of a non-fungible token (NFT) — becoming the first band to ever do so,” Rolling Stone reported. “The band is actually dropping three types of tokens as part of a series called “NFT Yourself,” people involved in the project tells Rolling Stone. One type is a special album package, while a second type offers live show perks like front-row seats for life, and a third type is just for exclusive audiovisual art.”

🔗 Pods v1 Testnet Launch

Pods launched its protocol and app on testnet. “We’ve leveraged design, code, and (a lot of) math to build a decentralized non-custodial Options Protocol. Today users can buy, sell, and provide liquidity to options pools on the Pods Options AMM,” the post said.

🔗 EulerBeats vs “BSCBeats” and a Dash of Walter Benjamin: Maria Paula Fernandez

“The Musical Beats project proposes exactly the same as Euler Beats, with none of the Euler maths magic. Their goal is to “preserve folk music”, an artificial goal probably created just to sound legit, the same modus operandi as the Binance Punks copy which goal was to grant access to punks to a wider audience,” Golem’s Maria Paula Fernandez writes in the post.

✊ Head to THEDEFIANT.IO for more DeFi news 📰

🧑‍💻 ✍️ Stories in this newsletter were written by Owen Fernau and Dan Kahan, and edited by Camila Russo. Videos were produced by Robin Schmidt and Alp Gasimov.

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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 ($10/mo, $100/yr).