The Defiant

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GM Defiers!

Friend Tech’s v2 rollout has ignited a resurgence in activity, with the protocol hosting $37.9 million worth of trades in three days. The price of FRIEND has also rallied 200% after a disappointing debut.

Uniswap governance has voted in favor of providing its second 1M UNI grant to the DeFi Education Fund (DEF) since the web3 advocacy organization was formed in 2021. The DEF recently sued the SEC in a bid to establish a legal precedent that airdropped tokens are not securities.

Plus, Bybit onboards USDe as collateral, Polygon launches Miden on testnet, PEPE dominates memecoin volume, Jupiter supports assets from outside of Solana, and Blast launches “Jackpot” incentives.

Plus, markets dipped after Robinhood received a Wells Notice from the SEC.

✍️ In today’s newsletter:

Friend Tech users flock to v2
DEF secures 1M UNI grant
Ethena Teams Up With Bybit
Polygon Miden live on testnet
PEP overshadows Ethereum memecoins
Jupiter embraces new assets
Blast tokens surge amid ‘Jackpot’ incentives
Robinhood’s Wells Notice dampens markets

🙏Sponsored

📈 Markets in the last 24 hrs:

Ticker	Value	24h
Bitcoin	$59,3091.74	%
Ethereum	$2,994 0.62	%
Gold	1st Future$2,299	-0.03 %
S&P 500	5064.20 0.91	%
Arch Web	32.00 1.80	%
Learn more about Arch Indices ,[object Object]		%

🎬 WATCH

Check out our podcast with Carlos Domingo, the founder and CEO of Securitize, to learn about BlackRock’s tokenized fund, BUIDL. Plus, check out our tutorial exploring Friend Tech’s bubbling v2 iteration.

THANKING OUR NEWSLETTER SPONSORS

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Stellar empowers builders to unlock human and economic potential. Explore the new Stellar smart contract platform, Soroban, designed for scale and sensibility.

Guru builds Multi Chain AI Compute Layer with orchestration handled by Guru Enlightenment Network. Ecosystem is focused on implementation of Atomic Franchise Mechanism allowing Gurus to share and earn on their AI Processors and Individual agents.

Safe{Wallet} is considered the most secure wallet in the web3 space, trusted by Vitalik Buterin and leading projects to safeguard over $100 billion in assets. The smart wallet is widely known for its multisig functionality, offering robust security measures, convenient account recovery, and access to a thriving ecosystem of over 200 integrated apps.

🤜🤛Friend Tech Enjoys Activity Resurgence After V2 Rollout

Friend Tech’s v2 rollout on May 3 precipitated a surge in activity on the platform, with more than 100,000 traders and 79,500 club creators using the protocol in three days. The update follows a long-term decline in Friend Tech activity since November 2023.

🦄Uniswap Votes To Transfer Second 1M UNI Grant To DeFi Education Fund

Uniswap governance has passed a proposal to back the DeFi Education Fund, a web3 advocacy organization, with a second grant of 1 million UNI ($13.75 million). The move follows the DEF attracting criticism after immediately offloading half of its previous 1M UNI grant without warning in July 2021.

🤝Ethena Integrates With Bybit To Add USDe As Collateral Asset

Ethena Labs has inked a deal introducing USDe as collateral on the Bybit centralized exchange. The move follows USDE attracting a $2.3 billion market cap since launching in February.

🟣Polygon Launches Alpha Testnet For STARK-Based L2 Miden

Polygon launched the alpha testnet for its upcoming STARK-based Layer 2, Miden. The network will offer high-throughput parallelized execution for specialized web applications.

💪PEPE Dominates Memecoin Trading On Ethereum

PEPE is on a roll, with the token’s 14-day trading volume beating out its closest Ethereum-based memecoin competitor by 500%. PEPE’s sustained dominance comes despite the number of new memecoins listed on CoinMarketCap trending parabolic in recent months.

🪐Jupiter Enables Trading for Non-Native Solana Tokens Including DOGE and BNB

Jupiter, the top decentralized exchange on Solana, now supports assets from outside of the Solana ecosystem. The expansion was enabled by an integration with Clone Protocol, with the move precipitating a 5% increase in JUP’s price over 24 hours.

🚀Blast Ecosystem Surges on Novel “Jackpot” Incentive Structure

Blast-native tokens are on a tear after the controversial Ethereum L2 launched “Jackpot” incentives for Blast users. Blast is the fourth-largest Layer 2 network with a total value locked of $2.65 billion.

⬇️Bitcoin and Ether Turn Lower After SEC Moves Against Robinhood

The crypto markets have cooled in response to Robinhood, the popular brokerage application, receiving a Wells Notice from the SEC. In other markets news, Grayscale’s GBTC ETF posted its first daily inflow since converting to an ETF in January.

🌍 ELSEWHERE

SEC Chair Gary Gensler says investors lack needed crypto disclosures following multiple Wells Notices (The Block)
Crypto Mixers Targeted in U.S. House Democrats' Effort to 'Clamp Down' on Money Laundering (CoinDesk)
US Bitcoin ETFs see record outflows as Hong Kong counterparts thrive (CryptoSlate)