🌻 LSTfi Blooms: DeFi Week of May 28
Weekly Recap
Happy weekend Defiers!
This week, we dived into the frothy LSTfi sector. Liquid Staking Tokens now represent close to half of all staked Ether, meaning LSTfi is potentially a $17B market. New protocols combining LST with DeFi money legos are proliferating quickly, offering a variety of strategies for generating yield in addition to staking rewards.
Rocket Pool, the second-largest LST provider, is actively seeking out new DeFi integrations in its quest to eat into the dominance of its goliath rival Lido. Rocket Pool launched its LST token on the booming Layer 2 network ZkSync Era on Thursday, plugging rETH into Era’s $375M DeFi ecosystem.
The mystery of Multichain’s missing founder continues to leave the web3 industry anxiously waiting for updates. The bridging protocol holds $1.45B worth of assets, and services for 11 different chains have suffered interruptions so far. “One guy doesn't answer the phone for 24 hours, and suddenly everyone fears for billions of dollars potentially,” said Shahar Madar of Fireblocks.
While most leading crypto assets continue to trade within a tight range, Optimism’s native token is down 12% in seven days after a major unlock event allowed core contributors and investors to sell a quarter of the OP allocation from Wednesday. With OP’s supply more than doubling, the bloodshed could have been worse, but it remains to be seen whether the dust has settled.
Memecoin mania is still ongoing though, with a record number of wallets trading on Uniswap last month. More than half a million wallets executed trades on the decentralized exchange in May, beating out the previous record by almost 50%.
Moonbirds creator, Kevin Rose, caused uproar in the NFT community this week after asserting that Bought Ape Yacht Club investors who bought at the collection’s peak are worse off “dollar for dollar” than Moonbirds holders. BAYC enthusiasts were quick to point out that Bored Apes are trading at more than 500 times their mint price, while Moonbirds are priced at sub-mint levels.
And in this week’s podcast, Goldfinch co-founders, Blake and Mike, discuss how crypto is driving unprecedented access to capital worldwide.
Enjoy!
DeFi Alpha
Scroll zkEVM Airdrop Guide
This week, our team of DeFi experts dived into all of the tips and strategies that will help you to qualify for Scroll’s rumored upcoming zkEVM airdrop. DeFi Alpha is sent every week to premium subscribers.
Podcast
Goldfinch Founders Talk Triple-Digit Growth and UX Upgrades in DeFi
This week, Tegan Kline was joined by Blake West and Mike Sall, the co-founders of Goldfinch, a surging decentralized credit protocol.
Blake and Mike share what they learned from over 70 user interviews from everyone from Blackrock, and their predictions for how user experience improvements are poised to benefit the entire Web3 industry.
The pair also give us thoughts about how crypto will reshape the global economy and expand global access to capital, and dive into the ways Goldfinch is working to make that possible.
Defiant Video
Solana Saga - the Web3 phone we needed? (Complete Guide)
Alp does an in-depth review of the Solana Saga, an Android phone produced by Solana’s mobile arm that costs $1000. Saga aims to become a crucial stepping stone in bringing web3 into our pockets.
This could be the start of DeFi Summer 2.0
Liquid staking tokens are hot right now. But despite boosting Ethereum, LSTs also pose new network challenges. So where can we find exciting DeFi opportunities with LSTs, and are we finally looking at a DeFi summer 2.0?
Bitcoin NFTs (Ordinals) are going crazy, LST Summer, Moonbirds Drama
The Defiant print team discuss the latest news of the week, joined by special guest Pete Rizzo, from Bitcoin Magazine, who discusses Bitcoin Ordinals in depth.
Friday
- Memecoin Fever Drove Record Number Of Traders To Uniswap In May Memecoin mania is driving a record number of people to trade on decentralized exchanges. According to data from Dune Analytics, 523,606 unique wallets traded on Uniswap in May, beating out the previous record from January 2022 by nearly 50%
- New Hong Kong Crypto Regulations Take Effect Hong Kong’s new cryptocurrency regulations came into effect on June 1 as the territory’s government seeks to bolster the region as a hub for fintech and web3. More than 800 fintech firms currently operate in Hong Kong.
- CFTC Sees ‘Significant Risks’ From Digital Assets The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is seeking public comment to reassess its risk-management rules for banks and brokers, Commissioner Christy Romero said in a statement Thursday.
- Rocket Pool Launches rETH On zkSync Era Rocket Pool’s rETH liquid staking token is live on Layer 2 network zkSync Era.
Thursday
- Missing Multichain CEO Is Causing Ripples Across the Industry The blockchain industry is starting to feel the repercussions of the missing CEO of Multichain, the largest blockchain bridge by assets, as service for at least 11 chains was interrupted. Security experts and founders say other chains could come next.
- Developers Aim To Bring New DeFi Strategies To $17B Liquid Staking Market Liquid staking tokens (LSTs) are rapidly becoming a popular source of yield in DeFi. But while LSTs have served as a boon to Ethereum in recent months, they also bring new challenges to the network.
- Kevin Rose Catches Flak For Bored Apes Comparison Proof Collective founder, Kevin Rose, had the NFT community shaking its head after suggesting that Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) holders who bought at peak prices are worse off “dollar for dollar” than Moonbirds.
Wednesday
- Curve’s Stablecoin Trades Within 0.5% Range For First Month The novel price-pegging mechanism underpinning crvUSD, the month-old stablecoin from Curve Finance, is proving highly effective so far. The token traded within a less than 0.5% price range since launching.
- Optimism Sinks Ahead of Major Token Unlock Optimism’s token is sliding more than most major cryptocurrencies as the circulating supply of OP is set to more than double. OP is down by nearly 15% on the week, the second biggest drop among the top 100 digital assets.
- Polygon To Onboard Deutsche Telekom As Validator Polygon announced that Deutsche Telekom, Europe’s largest telecommunications provider by revenue, will join its PoS Chain as a validator. Michael Blank, the COO at Polygon Labs, said the partnership paves the way for more businesses to embrace blockchain.
Tuesday
- Bitcoin and Ether Rally To 3-Week Highs The markets are off to a strong start this week, with Ether rallying above $1,900 and Bitcoin briefly trading above $28,000 — their highest levels in nearly three weeks. Investors cheered the news that Democrats and Republicans are making progress toward a deal to increase the U.S. debt ceiling.
