Recap: DeFi Week of Aug. 10 🦄

Hello Defiers, hope you’re having a great weekend!

Summing this past week up: In the last seven days some have started calling DeFi not Decentralized Finance but Degenerate Finance as the levels of speculation is reaching levels not ever seen in this corner of crypto. Yam Finance and its YAM token launched with no tests or audits but with plenty of sweet potato emojis, seemingly custom-designed to capitalize on the recent hype for DeFi tokens. The project drew $400M overnight but ended the next day after the team found a bug on its code. The team is now preparing to launch YAM V2. Other meme tokens like BASED also popped up, while yearn.finance’s YFI soared above $6k after Binance listed the token. As frenzy around these new tokens reached a fever pitch, yield farmers were impatiently waiting for Curve Finance’s CRV to launch. The stablecoin-focused DEX has been at the center of the yield farming frenzy, so its token has been highly anticipated — so much so, that someone found the code on GitHub and decided to launch it themselves. The Curve team decided to just go with it.

All this activity continues to push Ethereum gas costs to records, and gas tokens are soaring in line. Assets in DeFi keep climbing, which is driving Nexus Mutual cover to records. 1inch launched Mooniswap AMM, and announced a $2.8M funding round. Aave announced its V2 upgrade. This week’s podcast and interview is with Alex Masmej, who is spearheading the personal token movement.

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Interview

"The Trick With Personal Tokens is People Want me to be Popular, Not Necessarily Succesful:" Alex Masmej

Alex Masmej is the first person to raise money by selling tokens not linked to any project, but linked to himself, in a sort of self-IPO. Much like shareholders taking dividends, Alex token holders can have a share of the entrepreneur’s future earnings. The money raised has helped him cover living expenses as he plans to move from Paris to San Francisco and start a tech company. He’s willing to try almost anything and see what sticks. In one of his experiments, he let ALEX holders vote on his daily habits, which is how he came to run 5km almost daily. Most recently, he announced token rewards in exchange for holders to add liquidity to exchanges where Alex is traded. We talk about how to better align token holders' incentives with his own, what mainstream personal tokens may look like, and the Black Mirrorish quality of it all.

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

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Thursday

Dives

• YAMpocalypse: How Extreme Hubris and Speculation Smashed the Latest DeFi Token: Yam Finance TVL went from $0 to as high as $500M, now to $280. YAM token jumped over $150 and is now trading at just below $1. The team discovered a bug in the code, which the community organized to fix, but ultimately made governance impossible.

Bytes

• BASED is Latest Experiment for Degen Farmers: As if the hype around YAM wasn’t far enough down the rabbit hole, a new project called BASED is taking experimentation and risk a step further.
• Gas Tokens Soar Amid Transaction-Fee Mania: With gas prices at new all-time highs, tokenized gas prices are also thriving. 1inch’s Chi gas token (CHI) is up 1903% in the past 30 days while Gastoken (GST2) is up 683%.
• MyEtherWallet adds support for DeFi protocols Ren and Aave: Decrypt
• Aave Takes Step Towards Decentralized Governance
• Coinbase to Enable Users to Borrow Cash Against Bitcoin

Wednesday

Dives

• YAM: The Emoji That Drew $400M in Less Than a Day: No one knew Yam Finance before yesterday at 5pm UTC when the team tweeted their first and only Medium article explaining the “project” they launched two hours later.
• DeFi Tokens & the Binance Effect: BAL transactions of over $100k surged by 40x and hit a record on the same day it got listed in Binance, while YFI addresses with a balance is approaching 5,000, growing by over 10% on the say it got listed on the world’s largest exchange.

Tuesday

Dives

• Here’s Everything You Need to Know About CRV Listing: Curve is gearing up to distribute its own CRV governance token this week ––possibly as soon as today–– and yield farmers just can’t wait.
• Assets in DeFi Insurer Nexus Mutual Soar by 4X to Record: Nexus Mutual’s active coverage plans and ETH capital pool are soaring to record highs. Demand for protection against smart contract failure is growing as total value locked (TVL) in DeFi soared by almost 80% in the last month to a record of +$4.6B.

Bytes

• 1inch Raises $2.8M in Funding Round Led By Binance: 1inch raised $2.8M on its first funding round, which was led by Binance Labs. The raise comes after the DEX aggregator surpassed $1B in overall trading volume.
• 1inch Launches AMM Mooniswap: Arbitrageurs have been eating liquidity providers’ lunch. Now, 1inch says they can all get a piece of the pie.
• APY.Finance Wants to Democratize Yield Farming: As gas prices continue to skyrocket, the average yield farmer is getting boxed out. APY.finance aims to change that.
• Valueless Token Now Worth $6,000 after Binance Launch: Yearn.finance’s YFI token soared by 45% to over $6,400 after Binance, the largest exchange by trading volume, announced it’s listing the token.

💜Community Love💜

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

Quantia Capital @QuantiaCapital"In #DeFi, my money is actually mine. It's a beautiful concept but it comes with responsibilities", stated @AndreCronjeTech in @DefiantNews Podcast. Listen to his interesting talk in this recommended #crypto podcast for your weekend: bit.ly/3aknRV1 CC @CamiRusso

bit.ly“In DeFi My Money is Actually Mine. It’s a Beautiful Concept But it Comes With Responsibilities:” Andre Cronje by The Defiant • A podcast o…Andre Cronje is the developer of the yearn platform and YFI token. There’s this sort of mysticism around Andre: The solo genius builder who relentlessly releases code even if it hasn’t always been properly audited or tested. The DeFi wizard capable of turning a token which he himself claimed to be v…6:11 PM ∙ Aug 14, 202027Likes9Retweets

Erik Thiart @ErikThiartA collection of #Defi accounts, I follow @DefiantNews - The DeFi news platform - perfect for article lovers. They also have a youtube channel. @sassal0x - Founder of TheDailyGwei, a piece of daily news about #Ethereum and DeFi ecosystem. Great for catching up with latest news.3:13 PM ∙ Aug 14, 202029Likes6Retweets

cryptoisback @cryptoisbacklol these newsletters are getting creative @twobitidiot @CamiRusso

5:20 PM ∙ Aug 13, 20208Likes1Retweet

Paul Veradittakit @veradittakit🌶️HOT OFF THE PRESS🌶️ #veradiverdict @PanteraCapital 🧨 @AmpleforthOrg & @YamFinance thoughts 🚀 @AlchemyPlatform public launch 🎙️ @AndreCronjeTech podcast w/@CamiRusso @DefiantNews ☁️ @OriginProtocol partners w/ @googlecloud #Bitcoin #Ethereum veradiverdict.substack.com/p/better-bitco…

veradiverdict.substack.comBetter BitcoinVeradiVerdict - Issue #9712:43 PM ∙ Aug 13, 202063Likes29Retweets

Interaxis @Interaxis8@TR401 @choffstein @chriseberly @Shaughnessy119 @harrycanuck @CamiRusso Agree with this. @CamiRusso and the @Delphi_Digital guys for the most in depth analysis. We can focus on the bigger picture visual explanation.2:35 PM ∙ Aug 12, 2020

Bobby Ong @bobbyong@AlexMasmej @CamiRusso @DefiantNews Just read it this morning! Very good interview indeed! Kudos to both of you. Love it 😀12:52 AM ∙ Aug 16, 2020

Alex Masmej ☄️ @AlexMasmejLoved this interview with @CamiRusso @DefiantNews 📰 I talk about my past, the emerging personal token movement and what’s next for me. Read:thedefiant.substack.com/p/the-trick-wi…

thedefiant.substack.com“The Trick With Personal Tokens is People Want Me to be Popular, Not Necessarily Succesful:” Alex MasmejThe first man to ICO himself talks to The Defiant about the rise and future of personal tokens, and how his experiment is playing out.5:24 PM ∙ Aug 15, 202038Likes14Retweets

Tim Copeland @TimccopelandGreat post-mortem of YAM by @Cooopahtroopa for @DefiantNews on @decryptmedia decrypt.co/38653/yampocal… #YAM

decrypt.coYAMpocalypse Now: How hubris and speculation smashed the latest DeFi Token - DecryptRead the latest Bitcoin and Ethereum news from Decrypt. Get the latest on cryptocurrency prices, breaking news, and more about Bitcoin and blockchain.11:00 AM ∙ Aug 14, 202016Likes9Retweets

⟠ DeFi Dad ⟠ defidad.eth @DeFi_DadThese #DeFi explainer videos are 👌 Great work as always from @DefiantNews! youtu.be/kfO-6vMxfpc

youtu.beDeFi 101: The Case for Open FinanceDigital assets and open networks offer a better alternative to the way money and value has traditionally been transacted. Banks and legacy financial institut...8:20 PM ∙ Aug 13, 202015Likes6Retweets

Tony Vlachakis @tvlachakPersonal tokens are like self-IPOs. thedefiant.substack.com/p/good-karma-p… @CamiRusso @DefiantNews 7/15

thedefiant.substack.comGood $KARMA: People are Paying Over $1,000 to Join a Tokenized Telegram GroupHello Defiers! In today’s guest post, Bradley Miles of Roll explains the latest in the emerging world of personal tokens. Entrepreneurs like Alex Masmej and Kerman Kohli have sold ALEX and KERMAN tokens in something like self-IPOs, crowdsourcing funds from supporters. Token holders can have a say on…7:19 AM ∙ Aug 12, 20206Likes2Retweets

Jana Petkanic @JeanneDeBit@SpirkovskiZoran It stopped making sense a few weeks ago. 😁Don't worry. But definitely listen to some podcasts by @DefiantNews, watch @Interaxis8 educational videos and follow @DeFi_Dad - step by step you'll be able to dive deeper into the substance. #cutoutthenoise11:28 AM ∙ Aug 12, 2020

Kinjal Shah @_kinjalbshah6/ As a bonus - if you want to stay updated with the latest trends I highly recommend @DefiantNews and @OurNetwork__4:17 PM ∙ Aug 10, 2020

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 at $10/month or $100/year, while free signups get only part of the content.

About the founder: I’m Camila Russo, author of The Infinite Machine, the first book on the history of Ethereum. I was previously at Bloomberg News in New York, Madrid and Buenos Aires covering markets. I’ve extensively covered crypto and finance, and now I’m diving into DeFi, the intersection of the two.