Recap: DeFi Week of Nov. 2 🦄

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

Summing up: The US presidential election marked this past week. With all eyes on ways to predict the outcome amid a slow vote count, we had an overview of Ethereum prediction markets, which had Biden winning by the widest margin relative to polls and other betting markets. Once election uncertainty cleared, crypto markets rallied, including DeFi tokens which had underperformed in September and October, while DeFi protocols’ fundamentals remained strong, according to IntoTheBlock data.

The other major news of the week for the DeFi space was that the deposit contract for Ethereum’s new proof-of-stake chain was released. We covered the potential risks and rewards of staking, and how to start. 1inch upgraded its DEX aggregator, while UMA introduced “developer mining,” and in less positive news, almost $1M was locked in Compound fork Percent Finance because of a bug. In this week’s opinion piece, Carolyn Reckhow of Keep Network wrote an excellent Bitcoiner’s guide to DeFi. This week’s interview is with Trevor McFedries, one of the creators of Lil Miquela, a 19-year-old aspiring pop star with almost 3M Instagram followers, who isn’t actually human and wants to leverage crypto and web3.

That was just one week. Subscribe to get the latest DeFi news and analysis straight to your inbox and you don’t miss a thing. Free-signups get partial content, paid subscribers get everything. Click here to pay with DAI (for $100/yr) or sub with fiat by clicking on the button below ($10/mo, $100/yr).

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🙌 Together with Zerion, a simple interface to access and use decentralized finance, Sorare, a fantasy football game with officially licensed cards on Ethereum, and Near, a high-performance proof-of-stake blockchain that interoperates with Ethereum.

Interview

"We've Been Creating Value for Instagram and TikTok With Very Little Actually Accruing to Us:" Trevor McFedries

This week’s interview is with Trevor McFedries, who is behind Lil Miquela, a 19-year-old aspiring pop star with almost 3M Instagram followers, striking deals with Clavin Klein and Prada. But what’s more surprising is that she’s not human. She’s a computer-generated, character. The company that Trevor co-founded, called Brud, created her image and life story. It’s only fitting then that Lil Miquela, who lives in a digital world, will start to leverage digital tokens.

🎙Listen to this week’s podcast w/ Lil Miquela creator Trevor McFedries:

Op-ed

The Bitcoiner's Guide to DeFi by Carolyn Reckhow

Bitcoin is in a huge rally, crossing $15k for the first time since January 2018. As the number of holders grows along with interest for BTC, even more of the largest cryptocurrency is bound to end up in Ethereum, where it can be put to work. Bitcoin on Ethereum has already climbed relentlessly this year, recently crossing 150k, or $2B. Carolyn Reckhow, chief strategy officer at Keep, which helps run the BTC-ETH bridge tBTC, has an excellent guide for Bitcoiners coming to decentralized finance. Make sure to forward to your DeFi-curious BTC hodler friend.

Friday

Markets

• DeFi Rebounds as Metrics Remained Strong in Selloff: DeFi tokens are rebounding after a slump in October. The stark contrast between DeFi tokens’ summer performance and the one seen in the fall denoted a change in positioning from investors due to macroeconomic risks. But DeFi protocol’s key metrics continued to grow, sustaining high levels seen prior to their tokens crashing.

Bytes

• 1inch Upgrades DEX Aggregator: DEX Aggregator 1inch has introduced its v2, which contains a new discovery and routing algorithm to execute swaps faster and at better rates.
• $1M Locked in Percent Finance Due to Bug: A total of ~$970k in USDC, WBTC ad ETH is locked in Percent Finance, a Compound Finance fork, due to an error in its interest rate model update.
• Vitalik Buterin Commits $1.5M for Staking on Eth2: Decrypt: Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, has sent around 3,200 ETH, worth $1.5 million, to the platform’s newly established deposit contract in preparation for staking.

Wednesday

Dives

• Hurray! You Can Now Stake ETH. But Should You?: The deposit contract for Ethereum’s new proof-of-stake chain was released today. If ~524k ETH is deposited this month, the new chain will go live on Dec.1. Potential rewards for contributing to that pile of ETH are enticing, but there’s also high risk.

Bytes

• UMA Replaces Liquidity Mining with Developer Mining: UMA plans to allocate 50k tokens per week to developers who build synthetic assets on its permissionless derivatives protocol starting on November 10th.
• Notional Showcases Fixed Lending AMM: Notional, a DeFi lending protocol, is rolling out its fixed-rate loans in a public beta with support from investors including 1confirmation, IDEO, Parafi, Nascent, Coinbase and Polychain.

Tuesday

Dives

• Who Will Win the US Election? Eth Prediction Markets May Have the Best or Worst Answer: Biden is winning by a relatively wide margin across the board. But depending on where you are in the political spectrum you might get even more solace (or distress) from prediction markets on Ethereum, which show the Democrat beating Trump by the widest margin of all.

💜Community Love💜

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

Aave @AaveAave🌟@CamiRusso’s The Defiant @DefiantNews is THE place to follow news in the DeFi space!

6:04 PM ∙ Nov 6, 202013Likes2Retweets

jonathanjoseph.eth @jonathanjosephOh. Information asymmetry reigns.

Camila Russo @CamiRussoDeFi tokens are rebounding and underlying protocol metrics never fell by @intotheblock https://t.co/hvdFONWtvG https://t.co/BFHwvjbd2V9:05 PM ∙ Nov 6, 2020

picklenick.eth @nickcamsmithThis is a must listen for anyone interested in the intersection of technology, culture and tokenised communities. @CamiRusso and @whatdotcd with the 🔥🔥

The Defiant @DefiantNews"We've Been Creating Value for Instagram & TikTok With Very Little Accruing to Us. 💥 What if we try a different model?" asks Trevor McFedries. Trevor is co-founder of Brud, the company behind @lilmiquela an aspiring popstar with 2.8M followers -who is not actually human.1:10 AM ∙ Nov 6, 20209Likes2Retweets

Mike Kriak @mkriakStop what you are doing (now!) and listen to @whatdotcd as he slays the future of crypto x culture on the forever fab @DefiantNews with @CamiRusso We could all use some friends with benefits about right about now $FWB

Trev🙃r @whatdotcdI'm on one of my favorite podcasts talking crypto, Miquela, NFTs, https://t.co/BtIKKiyxyG , etc. Check it out below https://t.co/e6b687fA9411:41 PM ∙ Nov 5, 202014Likes3Retweets

MetaCartel @Meta_CartelETH 2.0 Staking Guide by @CamiRusso 🔥 thedefiant.substack.com/p/hurray-you-c…

thedefiant.substack.comHurray! You Can Now Stake ETH. But Should You?Eth2 deposit contract was released today! Also, UMA introduces “developer mining,” Notional aims to bring fixed-rate lending to DeFi.4:18 PM ∙ Nov 5, 202034Likes7Retweets

Tai @taisuke_minoThe Defiant is the best media out there to understand what’s happening in DeFi. Great work, @CamiRusso!

thedefiant.substack.comThe DefiantThe essential content platform about decentralized finance.2:40 PM ∙ Nov 5, 20209Likes3Retweets

David Weiss @NYC_SoundA truly balanced viewpoint on #DeFi in this excellent @CamiRusso "The Defiant" podcast. @_prestwich says don't ask how decentralized is this protocol--ask THIS instead: open.spotify.com/episode/1yIaha… #crypto #bitcoin #blockchain #cryptopodcast

open.spotify.com“I’m Not Super Bullish on DeFi. We’re Using This Tech to Enrich a Small Group of People:” James Prestwich - The DefiantThe founder of Summa speaks to The Defiant about why he has become disillusioned with decentralized finance. Stories of financial inclusion are much rarer than stories of somebody raising hundreds of millions in a token sale or people throwing money at the latest yield farming protocol. Still, he’s …11:31 PM ∙ Nov 3, 20207Likes2Retweets

Coopahtroopa 🔥_🔥 @CooopahtroopaWorking alongside @whatdotcd on $FWB has been nothing short of inspiring. When you think of visionaries building with focus, Trevor is one of the first that comes to mind. Awesome interview from @CamiRusso as always 🎙️

The Defiant @DefiantNews"We've Been Creating Value for Instagram & TikTok With Very Little Accruing to Us. 💥 What if we try a different model?" asks Trevor McFedries. Trevor is co-founder of Brud, the company behind @lilmiquela an aspiring popstar with 2.8M followers -who is not actually human.9:39 PM ∙ Nov 2, 202026Likes1Retweet

Trev🙃r @whatdotcdI'm on one of my favorite podcasts talking crypto, Miquela, NFTs, fwb.help , etc. Check it out below

The Defiant @DefiantNews🗒️Full transcript for subscribers: https://t.co/4mh3xXMj0n 🎙️Podcast: https://t.co/jfCrtP6zxj9:20 PM ∙ Nov 2, 202056Likes5Retweets

bluemoon @bluemoonz09The Rugg Pull an absolutely brilliant lesson in crafting a true NFT Experience, check this @DefiantNews video out, it will blow your mind!

youtu.beHe gave 50 strangers his private keys. You won’t believe what happened next.In the previous episode of The Defiant there was a QR code embedded in the video. Had you scanned that code it would have brought you into a week-long NFT-ba...1:23 AM ∙ Nov 7, 20203Likes2Retweets

Chris Powers @powers_chrisGreat write up on Ethereum prediction markets in this election. Three markets all have more than $300k in liquidity, with @Omen_eth as the biggest with $450k via @DefiantNews

thedefiant.substack.comWho Will Win the US Election: Eth Prediction Markets May Have the Best or Worst Answer(Depending on your politics)10:17 PM ∙ Nov 3, 202015Likes6Retweets

CryptoLoMil @DJLoMilFascinating interview by Camila Russo on @DefiantNews podcast with @whatdotcd. So exciting to hear such cutting-edge ideas on the intersection of culture and crypto. What a world of possibility lies in front of us. anchor.fm/thedefiant/epi… #cryptotwitter

anchor.fm“We’ve Been Creating Value for Instagram and TikTok With Very Little Actually Accruing to Us:” Trevor McFedries by The Defiant • A podcast …This week’s interview is with Trevor McFedries, who is behind Lil Miquela, a 19-year-old aspiring pop star with almost 3M Instagram followers, striking deals with Clavin Klein and Prada. But what’s more surprising is that she’s not human. She’s a computer-generated, character. The company that Trevo…6:21 PM ∙ Nov 3, 20209Likes2Retweets

CryptoLoMil @DJLoMilFascinating interview by Camila Russo on @DefiantNews podcast with @whatdotcd. So exciting to hear such cutting-edge ideas on the intersection of culture and crypto. What a world of possibility lies in front of us. anchor.fm/thedefiant/epi… #cryptotwitter

anchor.fm“We’ve Been Creating Value for Instagram and TikTok With Very Little Actually Accruing to Us:” Trevor McFedries by The Defiant • A podcast …This week’s interview is with Trevor McFedries, who is behind Lil Miquela, a 19-year-old aspiring pop star with almost 3M Instagram followers, striking deals with Clavin Klein and Prada. But what’s more surprising is that she’s not human. She’s a computer-generated, character. The company that Trevo…6:21 PM ∙ Nov 3, 20209Likes2Retweets

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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.