The Defiant

Samuel Haig
February 20, 2024

Together with

GM Defiers!

Worldcoin’s impressive rally continues, with World App surpassing 1M daily active users last week and WLD posting new all-time highs near $8 earlier today.

In other news, Starkenet users remain unhappy with STRK’s airdrop allocations, Y Combinator wants to invest in stablecoin startups, and MetaMask has tapped Blockaid for security alerts across multiple chains.

Plus, Pixel, the newly-launched web3 game, is already ranking among the top assets on Binance.

✍️ In today’s newsletter:

Worldcoin keeps kicking goals
Starknet community still salty over airdrop allocations
Y Combinator calls on stablecoin startups
Metamask launches multi-chain security alerts
Pixel surges as mainnet launch looms

📈 Markets in the last 24 hrs:

	Ticker	Value	24h

Ticker	Value	24h
Bitcoin	$51,967	-0.33 %
Ethereum	$2,964 3.10	%
Gold	1st Future$2,016 0.20	%
S&P 500	$5,006	-0.48 %
Web	3 Token2.39 1.23	%
Learn more about Arch Indices ,[object Object]		%

🎬 WATCH

Check out our video exploring which projects could be next to announce airdrops within the Solana ecosystem. Also watch our podcast with Brendan Farmer, the co-founder of Polygon, to learn about the project’s vision and roadmap for scaling Ethereum.

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MARKETS

Worldcoin Surpasses 1M Daily User Milestone As WLD Rally Continues

TLDR Worldcoin continues to outperform the broader crypto markets, with the price of WLD having tripled over the past two weeks. The impressive market momentum also coincides with daily World App users surpassing 1M for the first time last week.

SO WHAT Worldcoin is enjoying a surge in adoption after the digital identity platform initially emerged among the most controversial web3 projects of last year owing to its retina-scanning mechanism.

AIRDROPS

Users Still Disgruntled After Starknet Airdrop Fix Targets Mostly Validators

TLDR Starknet’s imminent STRK airdrop continues to attract criticism despite efforts from the team to ensure a more equitable distribution of tokens. Starknet upped the number of wallets eligible for solo staker allocations and sought to eliminate GitHub account squatters.

SO WHAT Many Starknet users feeling left out from the airdrop have become further alienated after Starknet labeled disgruntled community members as “e-beggars” in response to criticism regarding its token allocations. Onlookers also criticize Starknet for its sizable team allocations, which are set to unlock two months after STRK commences trading.

BUSINESS

Y Combinator Calls For Stablecoin Startups

TLDR Y Combinator, the renowned Silicon Valley-based tech incubator, is calling on stablecoin start-ups to pitch for investment. “We would like to fund great teams building B2B and consumer products on top of stablecoins, tools, and platforms that enable stablecoin finance and more stablecoin protocols themselves,” the company said.

SO WHAT Y Combinator asserts that stablecoins have barely penetrated their potential market, estimating just 7M people have transacted using stable tokens to date. With large underbanked populations yet to explore the burgeoning asset class, Y Combinator is hoping to acquire equity across the nascent digital asset sector.

MetaMask Completes Roll-Out Of Blockaid Security Alerts

TLDR MetaMask has completed integrating security alerts provided by Blockaid. MetaMask began piloting Blockaid alerts from Oct. 31, before launching the service on Ethereum last month, followed by new deployments across the Linea, BNB Chain, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, and Avalanche networks.

SO WHAT MetaMask hopes to provide robust security services to users as retail traders flock to web3 amid recent price gains. MetaMask said its active user base has increased by more than 50% since September, and estimates $1.7B was lost to crypto hacks, thefts, and phishing attacks last year.

NFT

Farming Game Pixels Token Lands in Binance’s Top 10 After Launch

TLDR The token for Pixel, a farming-based web3 game that debuted on Binance Launchpad, already boasts a more than $400M market cap after tagging a high of $520M earlier today. The milestone ranks Pixel among the ten largest projects introduced via Binance Launchpad.

SO WHAT GameFi assets have sizable outperformed rivals in recent months, with the combined market cap of GameFi assets currently sitting at $28B after tripling since late October.

🔎 OUR REPORTERS ARE WATCHING

🌍 ELSEWHERE

CME to launch Euro-denominated micro bitcoin and ether futures next month (The Block)
UK Minister Expects Laws on Stablecoins, Staking Within Six Months (Bloomberg)
Tyr Capital Faces Client Dispute over Exposure to FTX's Bankruptcy (Finance Magnates)