Recap: DeFi Week of Dec. 14 🦄

Hello Defiers! Hope you’re having a great weekend.

Summing up: In this past week the crypto market continued to heat up, with bitcoin smashing through $20,000 and touching a new record almost every day, while ether rallied past $650, the highest since 2018. We looked at what short-sellers are doing and it looks like bears have their eyes on ETH, more than on BTC. Meanwhile, Chainlink’s LINK looked primed for a comeback. Compound Finance released plans to build an independent blockchain called Compound Chain to enable cross-chain money markets. There was yet another flash loan attack, resulting in about $8M drained from a DeFi protocol. The Graph launched its own decentralized network to provide open and global access to DeFi data. Tornado Cash proposed to decentralize its governance via the TORN token, while AAVE further decentralized its own governance, as any AAVE holder can now make proposals. This week’s podcast is with Jeff Garzik, the former Bitcoin core developer who is helping build Vesper, a yield bouncer that has the goal of professionalizing the DeFi investing experience.

💗 Huge thanks to everyone who contributed to The Defiant’s Gitcoin Grant!!

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🙌 Together with Zerion, a simple interface to access and use decentralized finance, Neutrino, an algorithmic price-stable protocol that enables the creation of stablecoins tied to real-world assets, and DeversiFi's Nectar Beehive V1, which allows traders to provide liquidity & earn Nectar ($NEC) tokens.

Interview

"We Took Lessons From the 'Food Festival' to Level Up the DeFi Experience," Bloq's Jeff Garzik

In today’s podcast episode I talk with Jeff Garzik, the Bitcoin core developer turned DeFi builder. Jeff comes from leading Bloq, a blockchain infrastructure company focusing on enterprises. As much as decentralized finance is exciting and groundbreaking, he believes its lacking professionalism. Jeff believes DeFi needs to be easy for retail users and for institutional users, not just for crypto natives. With that goal in mind, Bloq is launching Vesper, a decentralized protocol for users to gain passive interest on their crypto. The innovation relative to other yield bouncers, is that users can pick a risk level and the protocol will invest in different strategies accordingly. It both competes with, and uses Yearn Finance. We also talked about what’s next for DeFi, and how he believes the space will trend towards “hybrid finance,” where traditional finance will progressively adopt this infrastructure to become more open and global.

Friday

Dives

Compound Chain Foreshadows Cross-Chain DeFi Lending: Compound Finance is entering uncharted DeFi territory with an independent blockchain called Compound Chain.
Flash Loan Attacker Drains $8M From Warp Finance: Investors are depositing millions into new DeFi protocols launched by anonymous developers, at times only to be wiped away in a hack. The latest to suffer that unfortunate fate is Warp Finance.

Bytes

Tornado Cash Proposes TORN Governance Token: Tornado Cash presented a governance proposal to incentivize use of the Ethereum-based privacy tool via a new token called TORN.

Thursday

Dives

Regulatory Clampdown as DeFi Heats Up Means $1 Trillion in Transactions Could be at Risk: IntoTheBlock’s Lucas Outumuro explores crypto’s reliance on stablecoins, and the magnitude of the potential implications associated with the Stable Act:

Bytes

The Graph Launches Open Blockchain API Network: The Graph today launched its decentralized network of searchable, public data for the top decentralized finance applications.
Aave Holders Vote to Further Decentralized Governance: Aave’s governance will be increasingly controlled by its community after token holders approved a proposal to activate the project’s so-called “V2 governance.”
Zerion Enables Trading Within Portfolio Tracker: Zerion, a DeFi portfolio tracker, today launched the ability for its users to trade tokens, and LP shares — or tokens representing liquidity in DeFi protocols.
Polkadot DEX Polkastarter Launches Fixed-Price IDO: Polkastarter, a decentralized exchange based on the Polkadot network, launched a mechanism for crowdfunding that allows projects to list their tokens with a fixed price per token.

Tuesday

Dives

Short Sellers Pile in as ETH Rallies to Highest Since 2018: It’s a good day for crypto bulls today; bitcoin is rallying to record levels, smashing through the $20k milestone, while ether climbs past $615 for the first time since 2018. But while Bitcoin bears have receded to their caves, Ether bears are rearing their heads.
Chainlink Primes for Big Leap as Sellers Lose Steam: Chainlink took the back foot over the past few days as both buyers and sellers fought neck and neck before finally reclaiming the $13 mark.

Bytes

Rally Ethereum Bridge to Bring Liquidity to Social Tokens: Rally, a platform enabling the issuance of social tokens, is now connected to the Ethereum mainnet, paving the way for liquidity.
Harvest Finances Launched $GRAIN to Compensate Hack Victims: Harvest Finance, a yield farming platform, launched a new $GRAIN token to compensate those affected by a $24M flash loan attack.

💜Community Love💜

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

Dan Tapiero @DTAPCAPInteresting way to transfer value as long as the underlying aesthetic can be agreed upon. Growth rate of new market incredible. Logarithmic appreciation comes next. Digital asset ecosystem (DAE) eventually encompasses all the ways value is transferred.

thedefiant.ioA Record $3.5M in Crypto Art Was Sold Over the Weekend - The DefiantProlific 3D artist Beeple sold $3.5M worth of crypto art on fiat-to-crypto marketplace Nifty Gateway, a record for NFT sales over a 72-day period. The sale is a sign digital art is becoming increasingly valuable, The Beeple Everyday: 2020 Collection featured 21 single edition auctions, three open ed…5:10 AM ∙ Dec 16, 2020125Likes20Retweets

AM @ttmariemiaTop-notch Defi news. Support @DefiantNews on @gitcoin

thedefiant.substack.comThe DefiantThe essential content platform about decentralized finance.2:40 PM ∙ Dec 17, 20209Likes2Retweets

Bloq @bloqincBloq CEO/co-founder @jgarzik recently spoke with @CamiRusso of @DefiantNews, giving the most thorough preview yet of our upcoming #DeFi platform @VesperFi. Here are the highlights from the podcast episode.

Vesper Finance @VesperFi1 / Some highlights from @CamiRusso's @DefiantNews podcast interview with @jgarzik. [A Thread] https://t.co/JuYDVAcAlb 5:00 PM ∙ Dec 16, 20207Likes1Retweet

Wong Joon Ian @joonianCrypto media and research subs: ✅ The Defiant ✅ Messari and just added: ✅ Delphi Digital 4:44 PM ∙ Dec 14, 2020

Stacking @StackingUSDGreat article by @DefiantNews (below). I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the moves @RafaelCosman and #TrueFi have been making lately. Loads of volume, interest and innovation. Kudos @TrustToken 👏 https://t.co/wborDC4HZz

TrustToken 💸 @TrustToken"The unprecedented yield opportunities of DeFi will turn even more institutions crypto-savvy - or put them out of business." Read on for @TrustToken's take on #DeFi's institutional appeal As long time @DefiantNews fans, happy to have @RafaelCosman & @gasiorekm contributing 👇 https://t.co/LL2GUmqXrD 11:25 AM ∙ Dec 20, 2020

Cripto Spanglish ⏳ @CriptoSpanglishOtro fabuloso episodio de #DeFi 101 por @DefiantNews Top DeFi Teams Building in 2020

youtu.beTop DeFi Teams Building in 2020NOTE: As you cruise along this series, you will notice how fast the DeFi space is; both in terms of execution and change. So if you happen to spot a discrepa...1:45 AM ∙ Dec 20, 2020

▪️ @GTSewell@poly_annie It's quite weird that you just said that, as I just watched the @DefiantNews YT with @trevorjonesart and was literally breaking the word down in the same way. Good watch...

youtu.beThe Beeple Bonanza unpacked with Trevor Jones$777,777.77 was the highest bid for a piece from Beeple’s entire 2020 collection. The whole catalogue went for $3.5 Million. Trevor Jones breaks down the Bee...11:10 AM ∙ Dec 19, 2020

CRYPTO₿IRB @crypto_birb "DeFi Returns are Eating Traditional Finance". There's been real awakening, and it seems we're still just getting started. To learn why just read this great article by @RafaelCosman & @gasiorekm of @TrustToken on @DefiantNews. It's beautiful. Read full 👉thedefiant.substack.com/p/defi-returns…

Herro @HerroCryptoBitcoin was like the wild west for institutions & they are now falling over themselves to invest. I believe that @RafaelCosman of @TrustToken is right in thinking the same will likely happen with #DeFi @DefiantNews. While DeFi has its flaws, it will only get better. ADAPT🦄

Airmuze @Naty_AirmuzeEncontrar informacion valiosa es tan importante como tener dinero para invertir. Ayuda a tomar mejores deciones. Filtrar info lleva tiempo (curaduria). @DefiantNews es un ejemplo y esta lista de reproduccion agrupa conceptos basicos necesarios para empezar

youtube.comDeFi 101Share your videos with friends, family, and the world 5:34 PM ∙ Dec 18, 20201Like1Retweet

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About the founder and editor: Camila Russo is the author of The Infinite Machine, the first book on the history of Ethereum, and was previously a Bloomberg News markets reporter based in New York, Madrid and Buenos Aires. She has extensively covered crypto and finance, and now is diving into DeFi, the intersection of the two.