🦄 Recap: DeFi Week of Feb. 13

Hello Defiers! Happy weekend!

This week, as the markets plunged on war fear and storms lashed the U.S. and the Canadian government clamped down on the financial accounts of protestors, we totally geeked out. Sometimes there’s just nothing better than rolling up your sleeves and diving into the mechanics of DeFi, right?

For starters, check out Camila Russo’s exclusive podcast with Vitalik Buterin, who, lest we forget, wrote the Ethereum white paper when he was just 19. Vitalik shares how Ethereum can “build a base layer for the global economy” without compromising decentralization.

Then check out Brady Dale’s deep dive on the looming demise of Fortress DAO, yet another Olympus fork that’s dissolving due to governance issues. It’s the kind of in-depth feature that The Defiant prides itself on. Sam Haig, meanwhile, continued his spot-on coverage of the Polkadot parachain auctions with a roundup on the latest cohort of winning projects and how they’re poised to build out the DOT ecosystem — an important sleeper story in DeFi. Sam also turned his eye to Hashflow, a DEX that’s offering protection against a little-known but fascinating problem in blockchain manipulation.

Not that we didn’t raise our heads and take note of what else is happening in the world… Owen Fernau unearthed a very cool market trend in his report on how the Cosmos ecosystem has quietly assumed the No. 2 position in DeFi in terms of TVL. He also penned a scoop on Michael Patryn, aka Sifu, the doxxed QuadrigaCX co-founder, launching the $SIFU token. And Robin Schmidt and his crew produced awesome videos on how to maximize stablecoin yield and the BNB chain and Gearbox Protocol.

Enjoy!

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• $WEB3, by Archis the best of Web3 in a token. This methodology-first tokenized-index provides broad-market exposure to Web3. Its constituents represent roughly 70% of the ecosystem. Learn more!
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⍺ DeFi Alpha Newsletter

Check out and subscribe to DeFi Alpha, a weekly newsletter by The Defiant and DeFi Dad, packed with tutorials and tips on how to earn yield in DeFi.

This week:

20% Fixed Yield On ETH and BTC Using 88mph + Yield Farming on Metis

📬 Inbox Dump #43

Our Inbox Dump newsletter, which is exclusive to paid subscribers, 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. Sometimes announcements here didn’t meet the bar to become a news story, sometimes they may have slipped through the cracks, or they came late and we haven’t had a chance to cover. We also include a compilation of DeFi and crypto funding rounds in the past week so you have these in one handy place.

Podcast

🎙 Vitalik Buterin on Building a Base Layer for the Global Economy Without Compromising on Decentralization

Vitalik Buterin wrote the Ethereum white paper when he was just 19. His aim was simple yet comprehensive, to create a ‘world computer’ that was designed to be a flexible base layer for all online applications without the need of any third party. Since its inception in 2015, Ethereum has become the most active and largest smart contracts platform, but has it achieved the ‘world computer’ goal?

Vitalik says yes and no. In this interview, it seemed like almost a given to Vitalik that Ethereum will achieve this goal. The bigger concern is not whether the network becomes a settlement layer and decentralized engine for smart contracts used globally, but how much value and impact applications running on top of it will bring.

The Tube

📺 The Defiant Weekly: BNB Chain – what were they thinking?

📺 Real Vision vs. The Defiant: IS NOW THE TIME FOR MASS ADOPTION OF CRYPTO?

📺 First Look: Leverage just got sexy | Gearbox Protocol

📺 Tuesday Tutorial: Maximising Stablecoin Yield – Safe or Degen?

📺 Quick Take: Crypto is a Clown Show

DeFi Saga

💥 Another Fork Bites the Dust: The Looming Fall of Fortress DAO and the Perils of Off-Chain Governance

Brady Dale goes deep into the travails of Fortress DAO, a small project with outsized implications for DAO governance and the Olympus DAO ecosystem.

Fortress DAO is doomed. The question is how it dies. The crux of the matter is that this particular decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) isn’t really decentralized at all, and its investors are paying the price for getting in on a governance token, FORT, that has power in rhetoric only.

Fortress is an also-ran fork of Olympus DAO running on the Avalanche blockchain with a mere $14M in its treasury (a shadow of the more than $500M+ still backing Olympus’s OHM), but feelings are running very high right now over what should happen with that money.

The problem is that the $14M isn’t really in its treasury anyway. It’s in a separate project, one that was funded by the Fortress DAO treasury, but is now completely in control of its chief technical officer, Avraham Eisenberg, who has shown no interest in giving it back.

Community members that spoke to The Defiant predicted the matter could very well find its way to court. But for now, code is very much law and that particular law is not on the Fortress DAO community’s side.

DeFi Primer

🎮 The Ultimate Beginners Guide To The Axie Infinity Game and Marketplace

In this primer, Kurt Ivy unpacks Axie Infinity’s gameplay, use of NFTs, and tokenomics.

The Axie Infinity game is one of the biggest and most well-known Web 3.0 platforms, built on a blockchain and making use of Non-Fungible Tokens (‘NFTs’). The use of the Axie Infinity ecosystem has skyrocketed in recent times.

The platform actually provided residents of the Philippines with a means of earning an income due to job displacement from the Covid-19 pandemic. They earned so much that the government declared that revenue generated from this platform was subject to income tax.

With nearly three million daily active players and $3.6 billion traded through its in-house NFT marketplace (as per its official webpage), it’s worth looking into Axie Infinity for the gameplay and the potential return on investment.

Axie Infinity is a Play-To-Earn game, built on a distributed ledger (aka a blockchain), where Axies are represented as NFTs, which are stored on a blockchain. Axies can be sold through the in-house peer-to-peer marketplace. The Axie game is built on the Ethereum blockchain, and the Axies are priced in ETH, the native cryptocurrency for Ethereum.

DeFi How To Guide

🏡 Buying Real World Assets By Leveraging Crypto

In which guest writer Shahar Abrams goes shopping with crypto.

This article was sourced via PubDAO, a decentralized newswire.

A lot of people say crypto has no “real-world use cases”. “What can you buy with it?” someone will ask, at which point the other person will shrug back “JPEGs on the internet?”

The truth is, you can use crypto to buy anything you want in the material world. You can even enjoy the same tax perks used by the wealthy when they buy things, by borrowing against your assets instead of selling them.

In this article, I’m going to show you how you can use all sorts of crypto assets to make real-world purchases while staying invested, minimizing your tax bill and generating cash flow. Does it really work? Yes, it does, and I’ll show you how.

Friday

News

• Cosmos Ecosystem Quietly Surges to $17B in TVL in Challenge to Ethereum Layer 2sThis was supposed to be the Cosmos’ ecosystem banner year. And in a way, it already is. By itself Terra, a blockchain built using the Cosmos SDK (software development kit), is the No. 3 ranking chain in total value locked (TVL) terms at $17.32B as of Feb. 16, according to DeFi Llama.
• Winners in Second Round of Polkadot Parachains Poised to Add Mojo to Expanding DOT EcosystemBidding for Polkadot’s tenth parachain lease auction has begun, with teams competing for an early seat at the table in building out Polkadot’s burgeoning ecosystem.
• DEX Takes Aim at Protecting Blockchains from Manipulation and ‘Slippage’Hashflow, a decentralized exchange offering protection from MEV, has launched on Ethereum’s leading Layer 2, Arbitrum.
• What’s Sifu Up To? Eponymous Token May Foreshadow New Project The former CFO of Frog Nation, a Daniele Sesta-led network of DeFi projects, has now launched a token. The ticker? $SIFU.

Links

• Sequoia Capital is launching a $500-600 million crypto fund to invest in tokens: The Block
• The Graph Backers Launch $205M Ecosystem Fund to Provide Grants to Dapp Builders: CoinDesk
• Circle valued at $9 billion under revamped SPAC deal terms: The Block
• Terra, CEO Do Kwon Ordered to Comply With SEC Subpoena Related to Mirror Protocol Investigation: CoinDesk
• You’re not going to want to miss @saraareynolds’ keynote at Opening Ceremonies tonight on how we can build Web3 to create sustainable, transformative impact: Uniswap
• Stop by the Infinity Stage tomorrow at 1:40pm to see Facu Ameal talk about “How to Become a Mighty Strategist” : Yearn Finance

Thursday

News

• Upstart’s Vampire Attack on OpenSea Fizzles After Technical Issues and Criticism OpenSea, the Leading NFT marketplace, is again under vampire attack, this time from new rival, x2y2. But the assault quickly stalled after a number of technical glitches halted an airdrop and triggered accusations that the project was manipulating the price of its token.
• Stablecoin Supply’s Steady Rise Shows ‘Increased Belief’ in Digital Assets Despite Market RoutAnyone paying attention to crypto in the last three months knows it has been anything but calm. There’s been jaw-dropping doxes and nine-figure hacks, all while the market has lost a staggering $1T in value since November.
• Influential Policy Body Warns that DeFi May Shake Stability of Global Financial SystemThe TradFi eestablishment has taken a long, hard look at DeFi. And it does not like what it sees. The Financial Stability Board (FSB), an international body that helps shape policy in the world’s biggest nations, said yesterday that DeFi protocols could undermine confidence in the global financial system.

Links

• Canada Sanctions 34 Crypto Wallets Tied to Trucker ‘Freedom Convoy’: CoinDesk
• Coalition of US crypto firms unveils travel rule compliance platform, TRUST: The Block
• THE NEXT MEGA-TRADE HAS BEGUN: Pantera Capital
• Castle Island Ventures announces new $250 million fund for web3 investments: The Block
• The source of funds for the winning bid in Melania Trump’s first NFT auction appears to be the creators of the project themselves: Bloomberg
• Ok, my last post prompted me to do a survey. I have no vested interest (not promoting any alternative but listening). Your Discord experience: Raoul Pal

Wednesday

News

• LooksRare Team Reaps $31M Windfall as Token Plunges 70% From All-Time HighLooksRare’s rise has been so meteoric that in just a few weeks its trading volume has outpaced mighty OpenSea. Now it appears the LooksRare team transferred roughly 10,500 wrapped ETH (wETH), worth more than $31M, to personal wallets, according to Zodd, who works for the NFT exchange.
• Reversal in NFT Market Triggers Plunge in Ethereum Burn RateDeclining activity in the NFT markets led to a plunge in Ethereum’s burn rate in February, according to Ultrasound Money, a data aggregator tracking activity on the Ethereum network.
• How to Guide: Buying Real World Assets By Leveraging CryptoA lot of people say crypto has no “real-world use cases”. “What can you buy with it?” someone will ask, at which point the other person will shrug back “JPEGs on the internet?”

Links

• A DAO that funds students to attend crypto events loses half its budget to risky management: The Block
• ARK Analysts call $1M BTC, $180K ETH | Bullish Crypto Price Predictions: Bankless
• SEC Enforcement Against Wonderland Could Mean Trouble for DeFi: CoinDesk
• Why Larry David was the perfect ‘anti-sponsor’ of FTX’s Super Bowl ad, according to Jeff Schaffer: The Block
• Hey #LUNAtics, let’s prepare for the upcoming launch of @SuberraProtocol, Recurring Payments Protocol for Web 3.0 built on @terra_money: Terra Daily
• Looks like a dope community-run celebration – stoked for the new mega!: Bored Ape Yacht Club

Tuesday

News

• SEC Says BlockFi Misrepresented Risk to Crypto Depositors In $100M OrderThe U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleges that crypto lender BlockFi inaccurately described the level of risk its depositors were exposed to, in an order explaining a $100M settlement between BlockFi and federal and state securities regulators.
• U.K. Seizes NFTs in Fraud Probe as Authorities Hunt for Illicit Digital Assets In a move that demonstrates how digital assets are being targeted in legal cases, British authorities have seized three NFTs linked to a criminal fraud investigation, according to a Feb. 14 report in the BBC.
• Why Startup Founders Should Check In With Their Investors About ComplianceThere are over 4,000 words in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s rule describing all the documentation that a registered investment advisor needs to maintain.

Links

• Federal Judge Releases ‘Razzlekhan,’ Orders Other Bitfinex Hack Laundering Suspect to Remain in Jail: CoinDesk
• Coinbase plans to add 2,000 employees across Product, Engineering and Design in 2022: Coinbase
• “Dude, what’s the Danksharding situation?” Workshop: Ethereum Foundation
• NFT house sells for $654k in historic auction — Tampa condo up next: Tampa Bay Times
• We are heading to @EthereumDenver this week and hosting a pop-up event on Thursday the 17th from 5-9: Art Blocks
• Yearn intern’s 📱 is blowing up with questions about the APYs listed on Yearn’s Fantom vaults: Yearn Finance

💜Community Love💜

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

I love (almost) every episode by @IamSuperMassive & @DefiantNews for their brutal honesty.



This is a must watch: https://t.co/Y9hxcJ2KCM



— Sander the Ape | 🍌🎮⛓️ (@sandergansen) February 14, 2022

"Who needs to go to a bank branch anymore? I borrowed $700K from my computer."
Great #DeFi article on #Abracadabra @DefiantNews https://t.co/jXq67Lr0P8



— Henrique Centieiro (@henriquecentiei) February 17, 2022

I had an amazing experience using @mim_spell to buy my DREAM PIANO 🤩 @danielesesta 🙏



All in a few button clicks and while STILL earning yield in defi



I wrote an article on how it works which was just published in @The_Defiant (through @pub_DAO)!
👇https://t.co/dwn2LFtRTb



— Shahar (🎓,🎹) (@ShaharAbrams) February 16, 2022

First @pub_DAO article we got in @DefiantNews



Big thanks to @ShaharAbrams for writing the piece and @CamiRusso for getting it placed!! https://t.co/yQe8n0gI6j



— 0xBaba (@0xBabaa) February 16, 2022

We need mechanisms to ensure decision-making is aligned with the interests of the tokenholders at large.



DAO governance can be improved by learning from democratic governments. @DefiantNews https://t.co/9emIGylqry



— tomu.eth (@david_tomu) February 15, 2022

@DefiantNews has a great article by a polysci prof on the lessons from democracies for DAOs. "To help voters find and retain good delegates and fire bad ones, democracies have developed a number of tools: … https://t.co/xuxFWkdYol



— zebediahrice (@zebediahrice) February 14, 2022

In case you missed it:@thegrifft talks with @CamiRusso of @DefiantNews about replacing monopolistic government services with competing #RegenEconomies 🤯



Full video:https://t.co/k3iTpFX1zg pic.twitter.com/WYiOUBd1Uf



— Giveth ( :D, 😀 ) (@Givethio) February 14, 2022

If you're looking for more on Lens Protocol, this video from @DefiantNews is really awesome🔥https://t.co/HwLzc5lMgN



— Linum Labs (@LinumLabs) February 11, 2022

Tonight @CamiRusso, Chiefess at @DefiantNews & Author of The Infinite Machine, will be on the #BasedSpace!



Set your reminder now so you don’t miss the alpha 👇https://t.co/e7NNMfpu0U



— TheCryptoMewtwo.eth (@TheCryptoMewtwo) February 10, 2022

beyond grateful to @DefiantNews for publishing my piece!!



right now, we have a unique opportunity to build defi & web3 systems that can truly upend the inequities that are tied to tradfi. let's not waste this moment



i am so bullish on the beautiful future we can create 🚀 https://t.co/TFjZwwbPzq



— izzy (@0xisabelle) February 9, 2022

On my way to @EthereumDenver re read chapters 20 "The DAO Wars" and 21 "The Fork" of @CamiRusso The Infinite Machine they're SO good it always makes me feel as if I was there and reading I'm always at the edge of my seat. Can't wait to see the movie.



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— AiirA | PƧYFΛM (@AiiraMeridA) February 16, 2022

The infinite machine by la genia de @CamiRusso back in stock 😍😍
Lo mejor? Llega a la puerta de tu casa en argentina y no paga el 30% ni el 35% 🤟 pic.twitter.com/DpnJj5GfDk



— matïas.eth | matute.lens 🌿 (@DeFi_matias) February 16, 2022

🧑‍💻 ✍️ Stories in The Defiant are written by Brady Dale, Owen Fernau, Sanuel Haig and yyctrader, and edited by Edward Robinson, yyctrader and Camila Russo. Videos were produced by Robin Schmidt and Alp Gasimov. Podcast was led by Camila, edited by Alp.

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.