🦄 Recap: DeFi Week of May 31

Hello Defiers! Trust you’re all amazed that yet another week has blown by as we tumble into June. Hope you grab some relaxation and recreation this weekend… especially those of you who attended the Bitcoin 2021 Conference in Miami this week.

Summing Up: After another week of choppiness in the cryptocurrency market, it’s safe to say that BTC, ETH, and most of the big coins have found the bottom of the spring sell-off. Bitcoin bounced around the mid-$30K range while Ethereum swung in a pretty tight band in the mid-$2K area. While last week’s breakout star was Polygon, this week we saw Curve Finance’s CRV token soar 47% over the last seven days as of Friday, according to data from CoinGecko. Our Owen Fernau fathomed just what the heck was going on in something that’s been dubbed “The Great CRV War,” so check it out…

There was action on the NFT front, as well. Dan Kahan plumbed how Foundation is stoking community-building in the digital art space by letting artists invite fellow creators to exhibit on the NFT platform. It’s a pretty groovy setup, but there are concerns that grifters might try and exploit the model, and several participants weighed in on that question.

Speaking of community-building, Bailey Reutzel filed a dispatch on how a testnet token sparked a frenzy at CoinDesk’s Consensus 2021 virtual gathering. It’s a signal that valueless coins do have utility when it comes to bringing people together and spurring engagement with projects. Meantime, on the TradFi side of the ledger, we reported on the development of ARCx’s “DeFi Passport” that will enable on-chain credit scoring.

If that’s not enough, we also took a look at the proposal to build a Sushichain on Sushiswap, plus another pitch calling for Uniswap to lead a lobbying push in Washington. Defiers may loathe centralized authority but the community is becoming increasingly concerned that the state may be readying asset reporting regs. But agreeing on precisely how to influence policy in DC is bound to be a contentious issue itself in the months to come…

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🙌 Together with:

Balancer, one of the leading DeFi automated market makers (AMM) for multiple tokens. Dive into their pools at https://balancer.finance/!
Kraken, consistently rated the best and most secure cryptocurrency exchange, which can get you from fiat to DeFi
Aave, an open-source and non-custodial liquidity protocol where users can earn interest on deposits and borrow assets.

Video

📺 Defiant Weekly: Rollup! Top Layer 2s Compared/ Arbitrum vs Optimism vs Polygon

📺 Quick Take: Polygon’s Multi Sig Attack Vector: What’s Going On?

📺 Tuesday Tutorials: How to Take Out an Interest Free Loan Using Liquity

📺 First Look: Arbitrum L2 rollups - Use the Bridge, Trade on MCDEX

Interview

"Everyone Can be Rich in Crypto; There are No Divine Rights:" Terry Crews

In this week’s episode, we speak with Terry Crews, a legit star. He was a professional football player, has starred in multiple Hollywood films and currently leads in TV shows including America’s Got Talent. He is also a cryptocurrency enthusiast, minting his own social token called POWER.

Terry has a very powerful story on how he got into crypto. It was at a design show in Milan. He wanted to support his friend at the show, but wasn’t able to withdraw money from his own American Express account. He realized a financial system that’s based on trusting a long line of intermediaries is broken. He thought, even when he did everything right, and he was already wealthy and famous, he still got the door shut in his face —so what’s left for the rest? All of that cemented his view that the financial system should be permissionless, transparent and global.

🎙Listen to the interview in this week’s podcast episode here:

📺Watch the Interview Here:

Opinion

How to Navigate Legal FUD in Crypto

We have an opinion piece from Connor Spelliscy, a lawyer who has advised blockchain-based projects for years. Navigating the legal and regulatory landscape is one of the most challenging aspects of working in crypto. Connor interviewed 35+ leading founders, general and external counsels to get their take on the most pressing legal issues in crypto. The following article outlines those issues and potential community solutions to solve them.

Inbox Dump #11

Usually for paid subscribers only — but for everyone for this week :) The Inbox Dump is where we include the updates and announcements that flood our DMs each week and didn’t make it to The Defiant’s content platforms. We also include a compilation of DeFi and crypto funding rounds in the past week so you have these in one handy place.

Thursday

Markets

Curve Battle is Pumping CRV TokenCurve Finance is on a roll. Both Yearn Finance and Convex Finance are making Curve Finance’s CRV token a key part of the foundation in their revenue models. Users who lock in CRV receive governance rights, trading fees from the automated market maker, and boosted rewards.
Stablecoin Swapping Heats Up with Coinbase Following DeFiWhen Curve launched back in February 2020, many might have thought a DEX for stablecoins was a niche segment. Fast forward to today and Curve is averaging over $300 million in daily volumes, and has recently seen competing moves from the likes of Uniswap and Coinbase as the market for pegged assets expands.

Dives

NFT Revolution Picks up Steam as Digital Artists Join ForcesArtists have long thrived in cultural hothouses where they can trade ideas with peers and debate revolutionary forms of expression with critics, curators, and collectors. Foundation, an online NFT platform launched in February, is replicating that sense of community for the crypto era by letting artists themselves invite others to come aboard and exhibit and sell their work.

Bytes

ARCx Introduces ‘DeFi Passport’ for On-Chain Credit ScoresARCx Introduces “DeFi Passport” for On-Chain Credit Scores. In a move that could bring DeFi into the mammoth industry of consumer credit scoring, ARCx has introduced an offering that will measure the financial health of customers based on their Ethereum addresses.

Links

Matcha 2.0: Our Biggest Update Ever

Pumping Iron: Arthur Hayes

Orion Money — opening the stablecoin savings gateway into Anchor Protocol

Looking for yield farming opportunities on #xDai?: @xdaichain

1/ Thread on the macro cycle and crypto interest rates: @FloodCapital

Wednesday

Tutorials

Degens: How to Earn Yield on Your BTC via DeFiDollar and Badger FinanceFor all the innovations in DeFi the last few years, few have garnered more love and adoration than vaults by Yearn Finance. Yearn created vaults like yUSD to offer exposure to automated strategies for stacking yield, often in the form of interest, trading fees, and pooled rewards sold for profits.

Dives

Proposal to Build Sushichain Catches Eyeballs, Raises Eyebrows DefiantFirst came the tweet, then countless discussions and debates followed. Within days, voila! A governance proposal materialized. This pattern is rapidly becoming the norm for DeFi protocols. This time the initiator was Sam Kazemian, the founder of Frax Finance, a protocol for a fractional-algorithmic stablecoin. His tweet suggested that Sushiswap, the automated market maker, should release a blockchain that facilitates swaps between assets on the other blockchains that run on its platform.
Uniswap Drafted to Lead DeFi Lobbying Push in WashingtonDeFi is going to Washington. A group of influential Uniswap users are proposing the formation of a DeFi political defense fund to address government action aimed at cryptocurrencies. At the top of the list: the Biden administration’s 2020 budget proposal, which includes a potential expansion of cryptocurrency asset reporting requirements.

Markets

Consensus’’ $DESK Token Takes on Life Beyond ConferenceA 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.

Bytes

Rare Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT Sold for 49.99 ETHBored Ape Yacht Club isn’t monkeying around when it comes to NFTs. On June 1, a rare Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT sold on OpenSea for 49.99 ETH, or $128k at the time of purchase. This marks the highest sale yet for a BAYC NFT, putting it in a price range typically reserved in the NFT collectible space for Larva Labs’ CryptoPunks and Meebits.

Links

Monday

THE DEFIANT MANIFESTO

Each of you receiving this is trusting us in part with your journey into web3 and we feel honored and grateful. We hope to communicate what we stand for with our actions as we produce unbiased, fact-based content every day, and hold ourselves to the highest journalistic standards. But we think it’s important to also put our mission into words. Today we’re publishing our Manifesto. This is the mark we hope to make in this brave, new decentralized world. We’re the information platform for the future of finance.

💜Community Love💜

Thanking all the amazing Defiers for the support and love this week (and always)!

Camila Russo ✊ @CamiRussoLove this 🥲🥲🥲

spinbackwards @spinbackwardsI scratched up a few words about @DefiantNews on my blog, here. Hope you get turned on https://t.co/9cFljDIoVq 3:05 PM ∙ Jun 6, 2021

Metis @MetisDAO"A better financial system, that’s open, global and permissionless, deserves quality journalism." Emphatically agree. Very exciting to have @DefiantNews join the blockchain journalism space and, to have a news organization be as fired up about DeFi as we are.

The Defiant @DefiantNewsInformation is power. At @DefiantNews, our mission is to illuminate the path of those venturing into the frontier of finance so that they can take each step into these uncharted roads with confidence. This Is Who We Are✊ https://t.co/HTJPmv19Kv https://t.co/FmxT4VYeKj 7:43 PM ∙ Jun 1, 202118Likes7Retweets

Wong Joon Ian @joonianLove this manifesto from @DefiantNews Raise Your Fist!, by @CamiRusso

newsletter.thedefiant.io✊ Raise Your Fist!Hello Defiers! Hope you’re enjoying your long weekend if it’s a holiday where you are. Today we have a special issue of the newsletter. Each of you receiving this is trusting us in part with your journey into web3 and we feel honored and grateful. We hope to communicate what we stand for with our ac…9:25 PM ∙ Jun 2, 202121Likes3Retweets

Marina Spindler @MarinaSpindlerOur goal is to give our readers the power of information, especially at a time when web3 is just beginning to establish itself and knowledge is asymmetric. ✊ Raise Your Fist! ⁦@DefiantNews⁩ ⁦@CamiRusso⁩

Jean Miao (HIRING) @miao_jeanNice video from @DefiantNews Intro to @arbitrum using @MonteCarloDEX as Demo! Check out to see how fast and speedy @MonteCarloDEX is!

youtube.com1st Look: Arbitrum L2 rollups - use the bridge, trade on MCDEX, failing a lot (Arbiswap, Bancor)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 i...4:45 AM ∙ Jun 3, 202120Likes8Retweets

Jake Chervinsky @jchervinskyHere's a very insightful piece by @c_spelliscy for @DefiantNews on the challenges of finding & giving useful legal advice in crypto. These problems affect us all—founders, lawyers, investors, users—& require collective action from us all to move forward.

thedefiant.ioCrypto Community Strategies for Dispelling Legal FUD - The Defiant - DeFi NewsThe crypto industry is hamstrung by legal cost, confusion, and delay.4:22 PM ∙ Jun 3, 202129Likes8Retweets

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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).