Recap: DeFi Week of August 12 🦄

Hi defiers, hope you’re all having a great weekend. This is something new I’m trying: A weekly recap. Let me know if you like it/hate it.

Summing up: It was a rough week for ether but there was no sign of short sellers, a sign traders aren’t betting the rout will continue. Also, the composition of ether holders might explain why it’s been hard fro ether rallies to pick up steam. And while it’s been tough for ETH, loans in DeFi keep making records. Devs in the space continue working on new ways to bring Bitcoin to Ethereum, and wallets continue integrating DeFi products. There’s a new interest-gaining token, and a new DEX.

1. No Sign of Ether Short Sellers After Price Drop

Ether had an awful week, dropping below $200 for the first time since July, except this time, as opposed to one month ago, it didn’t bounce back above that level and kept falling. It was around $184 last time I checked. But traders aren’t betting on a further decline. (Read more)

2. DeFi Loans Continue Making New Records

Those looking at how total value locked in decentralized finance has been sliding since April (like myself last week), should keep in mind that’s not the whole picture. Loans outstanding have been making new records, with growth picking up in July, which was a record month for origination. (Read more)

3. Weak Hands May be Dragging Ether Down

Ethereum enthusiasts have been wrestling with the following question all year: With all the development and activity around Ethereum, why does the ether price keep sliding, especially when compared with bitcoin? Part of the answer may lie in the make up of ether holders. (Read more)

Interview

DeFi’s Biggest Use Case is Earning Interest: Nuo Network's Varun Deshpande

Varun Deshpande is the co-founder of Nuo Network, a decentralized lending platform which consistently shows up as offering the best interest rates for lenders on LoanScan. Varun explains his platform’s unique model, talks about why he thinks DeFi’s biggest use case is enabling people to earn interest, not getting them to borrow for non-speculative use cases. He also goes head on against the idea that ETH is money. (Read more)

Daily News

Friday

• New Bitcoin on Ethereum is in the Works: “Bitcoin on Ethereum, no KYC, no middlemen, no bullshit,” is how developers at blockchain companies Summa and Keep describe their project, TBTC.
• Bitcoin-Backed Dai Loans are Live: A project called Soda launched on mainnet yesterday, allowing users to borrow up to 1,000 Dai using bitcoin as collateral.
• Argent Wallet Integrates Compound Finance: Smart contract-based mobile wallet Argent integrated with Compound Finance to allow its users to start gaining interest on their tokens.
• Plans for an Interest-Rates Optimizing Platform: Topo Finance is planning to launch in the coming months a non-custodial lending platform that optimizes users’ interest rates.(read post)

Thursday:

• Former Coinbase CTO Joins DeFi Project: Balaji Srinivasan, the former CTO of Coinbase, joined decentralized finance project Findora as an advisor.
• OpenLaw Integrates Dai: OpenLaw integrated Dai into the blockchain-based legal contracts platform.
• Huobi Wallet Integrates Compound: Huobi Wallet added Compound Finance and supported cTokens so users can earn interest on idle cryptos.
• Two Coins Will be Added to Compound: Compound Finance users will vote among tokens including Tether, TrueUSD, Maker, Paxos, to include two new digital assets to the platform.(read post)

Wednesday:

• Another Token That Makes it Easy to Earn Interest: rDai (redeemable Dai) allows traders to gain interest on their Dai, the MakerDAO stablecoin pegged to the dollar. Holders can keep the interest or automatically transfer it to another account.
• Ethfinex Splits from Bitfinex and Rebrands to DeversiFi: Ethfinex is splitting from beleaguered exchange Bitfinex (that’s the one being investigated for shady dealings involving Tether) and rebranding as DiversiFi.(read post)

Monday:

• ETH/BTC Playing With Ether Bulls’ Emotions: The ether to bitcoin ratio is paring gains after appearing to bottom.
• Update on Dharma Suspension of Deposits: Dharma COO Brendan Forster said he wanted to assure users remaining funds are safe and there’s nothing wrong with the platform.(read post)

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