🦄 Recap: DeFi Week of March 8
Hello Defiers! Hope you’re having a great weekend. Summing up: Beeple broke the internet this week with his $69M sale of an NFT —at Christie’s no less. It goes without saying it was by far the largest sale of a non-fungible token ever, but it was also the...
Hello Defiers! Hope you’re having a great weekend.
Summing up: Beeple broke the internet this week with his $69M sale of an NFT —at Christie’s no less. It goes without saying it was by far the largest sale of a non-fungible token ever, but it was also the third-highest sale of an art piece by a living artist, pushing this new paradigm further into the mainstream. In other NFT news, withdrawal delays on NBA Top Shot highlighted centralization of the dapp and the Flow blockchain. Some artists and critics also called attention to the amount of energy needed to mint NFTs. Celebrities continued to ride the hype with Lindsay Lohan NFTs selling like hotcakes. Still not quite sure how you feel about NFTs? We produced The Greatest NFT Film Ever Made, a 90-minute documentary, with all the information you need to understand the space and make up your mind.
UMA and Yam Finance teamed up to make a token that tracks trending stocks on Wall Street Bets. In Ethereum scaling news, Argent announced plans to move to a Layer 2 solution, and MakerDAO said it will release a bridge for DAI and other Ethereum tokens into Optimism. Big Data Protocol had quickly climbed to the top three protocols by total value locked last weekend with as much as over $6B in assets, but it’s lost that liquidity as quickly as it came. We interviewed Mike Novogratz for the podcast, and he said we’re not in a bubble, we’re in a movement. Cryptonatrix, a sex worker and artist, wrote about the need to destigmatize the blockchain.
And there was more! There’s a lot going on, but we’ve got you covered :)
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Video
📺 Defiant Weekly: The Greatest NFT Film Ever Made
📺 Tuesday Tutorial: How to Mint a NFT using Mintable
📺 Quick Take: EIP1559 scheduled for July, what happens next?
Op-ed
Destigmatizing the Blockchain: Sex Workers in NFT CryptoArt
Non-fungible tokens have been hailed as the technology that can help creators regain control of their value and connect directly with their audiences, disintermediating record labels and galleries, thanks to the miracle of true, verifiable digital ownership. But some creators are finding that this brave new world isn’t as open as its underlying technology. Cryptonatrix, a sex worker who started exploring digital art inspired by NFTs, has found the same stigmas that plague women and sex workers outside of crypto are seeping into the digital art space too. In this column, she dives into her experience in the space and makes a call to revolutionize not just the tech behind digital art, but also how creators are treated and perceived.
Interview
"I Don't Think We're in a Bubble. We Had a Bubble in ‘17; Now We're in a Movement:" Mike Novogratz
In this week’s episode we speak with Mike Novogratz, the CEO of Galaxy Digital. He started his career at Goldman Sachs and then led a macro hedge fund at Fortress, which was shuttered in 2015. He then went all-in on crypto, in part thanks to convincing from his college roommate Joe Lubin, and founded Galaxy Digital, an investment bank for digital assets.
While Bitcoin is firmly established as digital gold, to him, Ethereum is a venture bet because it’s not totally finished yet. It's getting there, and so the bet is it's going to happen, not that it's happened. Novo is wildly bullish DeFi. He says the threat to the banking system and payments is DeFi, not Bitcoin. But that also means the big guys are going to fight back with lobbying and regulation because protocols like Uniswap and Aave are going after their business. About the hype and rally in the crypto market, Novo says this time it’s different. Unlike in 2017, he doesn’t believe we’re in a bubble. He says we’re in a movement.
🎙Listen to the interview in this week’s podcast episode here:
📺 Or watch:
Thursday
Dives
- Beeple NFT Sells for $69M in Christie’s Auction: A 21,069 x 21,069 pixels jpg file attached to an Ethereum token sold today for $69M in ETH at Christie’s, the world’s oldest fine art auctioneer. Of course, we’re talking about Beeple’s “Everydays: The First 5,000 Days.”
Markets
- Coinbase Rumored $100B Valuation Boosts DEX Tokens: UNI and BNT both hit new all-time highs this week, while SUSHI came within 2% of its $20.50 high. SUSHI’s recent price action came following its recent listing in Coinbase. While UNI and BNT had already been listed in the centralized exchange, their increasing price action has certainly been influenced by Coinbase’s rumored $100 billion pre-IPO valuation, Lucas Outumuro of IntoTheBlock writes.
Links
- Introducing Defender Sentinels – Smart Contract Monitoring & Emergency Response: OpenZeppelin
- Digital Currency Group to Buy Up to $250M of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust Shares: CoinDesk
- On a Roll: Making Ethereum Accessible to All: Argent
Wednesday
Dives
- People Are Outraged About NFT Energy Consumption: Blockchain mining is very energy-intensive, and by extension, so is minting NFTs. This is causing outrage among some artists and critics, with at least one creator canceling an NFT drop.
Bytes
- Lindsay Lohan’s NFTs Are Selling Like Hot Cakes: In case you needed further proof that NFTs are going mainstream: the latest NFT artist uploading tokens to Rarible is Mean Girls star Lindsay Lohan. Not only that, but her Bitcoin to the Moon piece is going for 24 ETH, or around $44k.
- DAI Gets a Quick Bridge To Optimism: MakerDAO will soon launch a feature which may solve the biggest UX hangup of the Optimistic layer 2 (L2) scaling solution. The feature will allow users to move not only DAI, but eventually any Ethereum asset, off Optimism and to layer 1 (L1) within minutes.
- There’s Now a Token That Tracks Trending WSB Stocks: Degenerative Finance has launched uSTONKS, a synthetic that tracks the ten most bullish Wall Street Bets stocks.
- Keep and NuCypher Propose Protocol Merger: Proposals for merging Keep and Nucypher are live on both projects’ forums. The potential merge is the first of its kind in that it will produce a third network, a DAO governed by stakers of each projects’ respective tokens, KEEP and NU.
Links
- Zaki Manian’s Sommelier Finance Raises $3.5M to Help DeFi Investors Avoid Impermanent Loss: CoinDesk
- I just pulled the rug at my NFT collection on @opensea. Nobody got hurt: @neitherconfirm
- 1/ OK, so what's going to happen on #Ethereum as L2 starts to take off?: @iamDCinvestor
Tuesday
Dives
- Big Data Protocol Amasses 10% of TVL Over the Weekend: Big Data Protocol wasn’t even live a week ago. Now it sits third in terms of total value locked, ahead of DeFi mainstays Compound Finance and Uniswap, according to data compiled by DeBank.
- Withdrawal Delays Highlight NBA Top Shot Centralization: With over $230M in gross sales since launch and affiliation with one of the most lucrative sports franchises in the world, there’s one important question NBA Top Shot fans should be asking themselves: Do they actually own their NBA Top Shot?
Bytes
- Cover Protocol Token Dives After Yearn Breakup: Yearn Finance and Cover are splitting ways after announcing a merger back in November. The reasons behind the break-up haven’t been disclosed, but Yearn’s creator, Andre Cronje, has made one thing clear: it’s not amicable, and Cover’s token is paying the consequences.
- DODO DEX Suffers $2.1M Hack: DODO, a crypto exchange with contracts on both Binance’s Smart Chain and Ethereum, has suffered a $2.1M hack.
Links
- Furucombo to issue iouCOMBO tokens to repay victims of $15M exploit: Cointelegraph
- New Report Shows 72% of US Accredited Investors Plan to Invest in DeFi This Year: Xangle
💜Community Love💜
Thanking all the amazing Defiers for the support and love this week (and always)!
Saeed Jaffery @saeed_jafferyThis was such a brilliant interview. The B20 project is pure genius.
The Defiant @DefiantNews🎙️Hello Defiers! In this week’s @DefiantNews podcast episode, we interviewed @MetaKovan, the pseudonymous investor who holds the largest known #NFT collection in his #Metapruse fund, which he leads with his (also pseudonymous) partner @twobadour. 🎧Listen now👇🏽9:03 AM ∙ Mar 14, 20216Likes1Retweet
Nature @naturevrmWatch this #NFTs documentary. @DirSchmidt and the @DefiantNews team crushed it 👀🖤 https://t.co/myPmZlAiOI https://t.co/F6IrZMxgxt4:39 PM ∙ Mar 14, 202130Likes10Retweets
Courtney Stephen @TheCStephenSolid interview with $GLXY CEO @novogratz on @DefiantNews podcast!
podcasts.apple.comThe Defiant: “I Don’t Think We’re in a Bubble. We Had a Bubble in ’17; Now We’re in a Movement:” Mike Novogratz on Apple PodcastsIn this week’s episode we speak with Mike Novogratz, the CEO of Galaxy Digital. He started his career at Goldman Sachs and then led a macro hedge fund at Fortress, which was shuttered in 2015. He then went all-in on crypto, in part thanks to convincing from his college roommate Joe Lubin, and founde…10:58 PM ∙ Mar 13, 202159Likes9Retweets
Tamim Sujat @tamimsujatThe best coverage on #NFT content yet. @DirSchmidt you are a legend. The Greatest NFT Film Ever Made youtu.be/cY9lM73ie0Q #NFTs @DefiantNews
youtu.beThe Greatest NFT Film Ever MadeIt’s official. NFTs have exploded. Prompting a wild free for all on one side with numbers you can scarcely believe and deep and justified skepticism on the o...6:28 PM ∙ Mar 13, 2021
Lammer 🦐 @aaronlammerFinally paying for a few Substack newsletters. @Noahpinion ... @DefiantNews ... good shit #1 person is wish was doing one is @vgr - he’s probably the person whose writing has most changed how I see the internet.12:58 AM ∙ Mar 13, 2021
The Defiant @DefiantNews🔥 "I Don't Think We're in a Bubble. We Had a Bubble in ‘17. Now We're in a Movement," @novogratz said in this week's podcast. After the 2018/2019 bear market, Novo says he can finally breathe. Crypto has been de-risked. Listen👇8:53 PM ∙ Mar 12, 20212Likes2Retweets
FeedoReborn @FeedoRebornI have to Say @DefiantNews 's "The Greatest #NFT Film Ever Made" probably has become a must watch for every #crypto #degen out there8:55 PM ∙ Mar 12, 202117Likes3Retweets
youtube.comThe Greatest NFT Film Ever MadeIt’s official. NFTs have exploded. Prompting a wild free for all on one side with numbers you can scarcely believe and deep and justified skepticism on the o...11:27 PM ∙ Mar 11, 202114Likes3Retweets
The Defiant @DefiantNews@DefiantNews proudly presents: 🔥The Greatest NFT Film Ever Made🔥 1 hour & 22 mins of all the #NFT action anyone could ever ask for. We wanted to make the most comprehensive, wide-ranging NFT film ever, covering it all - art, music, #DeFi & the metaverse. Watch now! ⏬5:33 AM ∙ Mar 12, 202123Likes7Retweets
The Defiant @DefiantNews@DefiantNews proudly presents: 🔥The Greatest NFT Film Ever Made🔥 1 hour & 22 mins of all the #NFT action anyone could ever ask for. We wanted to make the most comprehensive, wide-ranging NFT film ever, covering it all - art, music, #DeFi & the metaverse. Watch now! ⏬12:25 PM ∙ Mar 12, 20214Likes1Retweet
The Defiant @DefiantNews🎙️In today's Defiant: 🎬 We present to you: The Greatest NFT Film Ever Made 🔥 @beeple sold an #NFT for $69M at Christie’s 💰 @coinbase $100B rumored valuation fuels DEX tokens Read more & watch now. 🍿 You do NOT, want to miss this movie.👇10:45 PM ∙ Mar 11, 202125Likes7Retweets
Cryptotimal @cryptotimal@DefiantNews Definitive Guide to DeFi!! A must read!
thedefiant.substack.com✊The Defiant’s Definitive Guide to DeFiAt The Defiant, we are convinced finance will become increasingly decentralized and open. It just makes sense; our current financial system is running on infrastructure that was built in the 1970s; messaging networks like SWIFT and ACH that simply aren’t made to transact value.4:44 PM ∙ Mar 9, 202117Likes7Retweets
8:55 AM ∙ Mar 9, 202129Likes6Retweets
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