NFT Surprise: DeFi Week Jan. 22
It sounds like a crazy idea — converting memes into NFTs. And yet The Memes, a collection predicated on creating ownership of these viral images, has come out of nowhere to command a market cap of $83M. As Owen Fernau reports in his extraordinary feature this week, The Memes creator Punk6529 is tweaking the NFT collection model in novel ways. But can a collection predicated on faddish images truly last?
Eye-Opening
This was one of several eye-opening stories in the NFT space The Defiant covered this week. Aleks Gilbert reported on how Magic Eden, the marketplace hoping to challenge OpenSea for supremacy, is struggling to manage its longstanding relationship with Solana. When the blockchain network’s token cratered after FTX failed, this dampened the economic prospects for Magic Eden users because its volume is denominated in SOL. In his well-reported piece, Aleks explains how Magic Eden is adjusting with a series of moves, including a move onto Polygon.
Gas Fees
Meanwhile, top collections Pudgy Penguins and Doodles made news by seeking alternatives to Ethereum. As Sam Haig reported, the collections are wary of the return of Ethereum’s notoriously high gas fees, and are tapping other chains such as Aribtrum, Polygon and Flow.
As for DeFi, be sure to check out Aleks Gilbert’s interview with Stani Kulechov about Aave’s forthcoming stablecoin, and Sam Haig’s take on RAI and its founder’s regrets about relying solely on Ethereum.
We’d also like to flag a new offering on The Defiant’s YouTube channel: Video Shorts. These minute-long segments report on the top trends and news of the week. Check out the one on Doodles!
Enjoy!
Podcast
Tekin Salimi on Managing $125M Through A DAO
This week on The Defiant Podcast, we speak with Tekin Salimi, the founder of dao5, a Web 3 investment fund founded last year. Tekin was previously at Polychain Capital.
We dive into the biggest DAO drama from the last year, and why Tekin is so bullish and excited about DAOs.
We also discuss Tekin’s investment thesis while he was at Polychain, his switch to focus mostly on the Ethereum ecosystem at dao5, Web 3 infrastructure, NFTs, regulations, his thoughts on FTX, and much more.
Listen to the interview in this week’s podcast episode here:
Best of the Week
DeFi Lending
GHO to Arrive ‘In Weeks’ After Aave V3 Launch on Ethereum
Kuchelov Tells The Defiant Aave Stablecoin Will Boost Revenue
Aave, the largest decentralized lending protocol, is expected to launch on Friday the latest version of its software on Ethereum, a move that will pave the way for its stablecoin, GHO.
Read the full story in The Defiant
NFT Collections
Obscure NFT Collection Based on Memes Fetches $83M Market Cap
Founded by Punk6529 The Memes Seeks to Change Up NFT Model and Pursue ‘Open Metaverse’
By Owen Fernau
On Jan. 19, something unusual happened in the NFT market — a CryptoPunk, which typically sells for a minimum of $100,000, was swapped for a full set of tokens from an obscure collection called The Memes.
Read the full story in The Defiant
NFT Marketplaces
Magic Eden Eyes Change As It Navigates Bear Market
NFT Marketplace Is Betting On Multichain Strategy and Loyalty Program
Like its competitors, NFT marketplace Magic Eden has had a rough year.
It dominates the NFT market on Solana, handling at least 90% of the trading volume on any given week, according to an analysis of data from Nansen. On Ethereum, NFT trading volume is a fraction of what it was at the beginning of 2022 – on Solana, trading volume has held steady.
Read the full story in The Defiant
NFT Collections
Pudgy Penguins and Doodles Seek Alternatives to Ethereum
Top NFT Collections Fear Return of High Gas Fees and Look to Layer 1s
By Samuel Haig
Despite Ethereum being the birth-place of NFTs, some of the network’s most popular NFT communities are expanding onto alternative Layer 1 blockchains. The reason? The threat Ethereum’s high gas fees may return.
Read the full story in The Defiant
Stablecoins
RAI Founder Rues ‘Mistake’ of Dependency on ETH
Market Caps and Volume Crater for Stablecoins RAI and Liquidity USD
By Samuel Haig
The Tornado Cash sanctions case was supposed to be a boost for censorship-resistant, decentralized stablecoins. It hasn’t worked out that way.
Six months after the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned the crypto mixer and triggered a wave of blacklisting across the sector, the market cap and trading volume for two key decentralized stablecoins are down.
Read the full story in The Defiant
Opinion
NFTs Set to Go Local and Physical
As NFTs Enter “Phygital” Era Creators May Garner More Rights Over Their Work
There’s no question that NFTs have become synonymous with hype — and with the booms and busts that are so inherently tied to the crypto sphere. Yet, NFTs are gaining new ground beyond the realm of NFT profile picture (PFP) projects alone: the technology behind digital collectibles gives creators more options than ever to engage with their community.
Read the full column in The Defiant
Sponsored Explainer
What is Vertex?
A Sponsored Primer on a Key Decentralized Trading Platform
The FTX collapse injected doubt into the very concept of centralized platforms. In contrast, decentralized exchanges offer both transparency and self-custody. But how can DEXs bridge the liquidity gap that CEXs offer?
Read the full explainer in The Defiant
Defiant Video
Weekly Recap
Market Surprises and NFT Action
Defiant Trends
What Liquid Staking Tokens Mean For Ethereum
Shorts
Doodles launching on Flow Blockchain?
Daily Defiant
Why Uniswap wants Binance Smart Chain
Shorts
Can you play the new Bored Ape game?
Podcast Video
Friday
News
- Obscure NFT Collection Based on Memes Fetches $83M Market Cap On Jan. 19, something unusual happened in the NFT market — a CryptoPunk, which typically sells for a minimum of $100,000, was swapped for a full set of tokens from an obscure collection called The Memes.
- Magic Eden Eyes Change As It Navigates Bear Market Like its competitors, NFT marketplace Magic Eden has had a rough year. It dominates the NFT market on Solana, handling at least 90% of the trading volume on any given week, according to an analysis of data from Nansen.
- Solana Unveils App Store For Saga Phone Solana Mobile has released details of its native App store, which will be available exclusively on Solana’s Saga phone when it launches.
Markets
- Layer 1 Tokens Rally As Investors Shrug Off GDP Growth Tokens for smart contract platforms defied the mild swoon in crypto markets Thursday and Friday.
Thursday
News
- DYDX Rallies 18% After Derivatives Exchange Delays Token Release DYDX, the native token of the decentralized perpetuals exchange dYdX, soared 18% after the dYdX Foundation announced it will delay a scheduled unlock of 130M tokens worth around $300M by ten months.
- Pudgy Penguins and Doodles Seek Alternatives to Ethereum Despite Ethereum being the birth-place of NFTs, some of the network’s most popular NFT communities are expanding onto alternative Layer 1 blockchains. The reason? The threat Ethereum’s high gas fees may return.
- Optimism Activity Plummets After NFT Incentives End Transaction volumes on Optimism, a Layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum, have plummeted after the end of a “learn-to-earn” incentives program last week.
Wednesday
News
- RAI Founder Rues ‘Mistake’ of Dependency on ETH The Tornado Cash sanctions case was supposed to be a boost for censorship-resistant, decentralized stablecoins. It hasn’t worked out that way.
- Soulbound Tokens Come Into Their Own With Pudgy Penguins Move The search for NFT utility beyond social media avatars and, at times, questionable, digital art is inspiring many developers to explore the nascent domain of soulbound tokens.
- MakerDAO Set To Deposit $100M In Bespoke Yearn Vault The MakerDAO community has greenlit a proposal to deposit $100M of USDC from its Peg Stability Module (PSM), which holds reserve assets backing the DAI stablecoin, into a tailor-made noncustodial Yearn vault.
The Defiant Interview
- GHO to Arrive ‘In Weeks’ After Aave V3 Launch on Ethereum Aave, the largest decentralized lending protocol, is expected to launch on Friday the latest version of its software on Ethereum, a move that will pave the way for its stablecoin, GHO.
Opinion
- NFTs Set to Go Local and Physical There’s no question that NFTs have become synonymous with hype — and with the booms and busts that are so inherently tied to the crypto sphere.
Tuesday
News
- Ethereum Takes Big Step Closer to Shanghai Upgrade Hitting a milestone on Ethereum’s next upgrade, the network’s devs on Monday deployed a shadow fork supporting staked ETH withdrawals.
- Uniswap to Deploy on BNB Chain Uniswap, the No. 1 decentralized exchange by trade volume, is poised to deploy for the first time on a major competitor to the Ethereum ecosystem.
- Canto Rallies After Variant Discloses Stake Investors have flocked to Canto, a nascent blockchain, this week after a prominent crypto venture fund disclosed it had taken a position in the project.
- Paxos Proposes To Deposit $1.5B Of USDP In MakerDAO Paxos, a multi-pronged financial infrastructure company which issues crypto’s seventh-largest stablecoin, is looking to make a deal with DeFi’s oldest lending protocol.
Crypto Crackdown
- SEC Charges Alleged Mango Exploiter With Market Manipulation The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has charged infamous degen Avraham Eisenberg with market manipulation that cost Solana protocol Mango Markets $116M.
DeFi Explainers
- What is Unit Protocol? Due to the inherent volatility of the crypto market, stablecoins are instrumental in transferring on-chain value and securing loans.
Community Love
Thanking all the amazing Defiers for the support and love this week (and always)!
Stay Tuned!
A new episode of The Scoop drops tomorrow:
Feat. @CamiRusso of @DefiantNews for a discussion with @fintechfrank about her book 'The Infinite Machine' and upcoming film adaptation produced by Gladiator + Blade Runner Director Ridley Scott 🎬#Ethereum #Movie pic.twitter.com/4UpyJ9OPLS
— The Scoop (@TheScoopPod) January 24, 2023
We caught @SeizeTheMeebs early in the @DefiantNews Discord🚀
Shared at 0.15 ETH
3 days later, Nakameebto is trading above 2 ETH pic.twitter.com/nF9dFkfVbM
— yyctradΞr (@yyctrader1) January 22, 2023
Premium subscribers have already paid off their yearly subscription costs from the whitelist spots and free mints in our private Discord channels 🤑 pic.twitter.com/uGn8BYcgVR
— The Defiant (@DefiantNews) January 21, 2023
Happy Monday #friendswithBeNFTs!
Have you voted on the first book of our book club?…
Yes, we are starting a book club and right now it’s time for you to vote on the book we are going to read first! Hop on discord and cast your vote! This is the winning book so far! @CamiRusso pic.twitter.com/fnzZ2JwIXt
— FriendsWithBeNFTs (@FrensWithBeNFTs) January 23, 2023
My Friday would not be complete without @DefiantNews weekly recap.
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— DiegoCabral.eth/.lens (✊,🦇🔊) (@DiegoCabral__) January 27, 2023
