The Defi Rollup #01
The latest news in DEFI, DAO & DEX technology, by DeversiFi. They see us Rolling!
Hello hello, friends in Defi. Welcome to edition #01 of the newly re-launched DefiRollup — a layered (2) newsletter bringing the latest developments, insights and related happenings from the world of Defi, token exchanges and anything else need-to-know from the indefatigable Ethereum community.
The Defi Rollup is a rebranding of the old State of Ethereum newsletter and will now be distributed on a fortnightly basis. This newsletter is composed by Ben_eth and made possible by DeversiFi — a high-speed, self-custodial exchange built for serious traders. They see you, crypto Buffets!
Well, well what can we say? #Defi has truly been on a rampage over the last 4+ weeks (no doubt the culmination of many enjoyable yet gruelling months of #BUIDL). We’ve seen layer 2 initiatives launch left, right and centre promising to scale Ethereum and attract adoption through improved user experience (full roll-up below👇).
We’ve seen the explosion of yield farming with the $COMP token initially rallying from $16 to $360 in a matter of days (mind you, is now back at $160, not to mention UMA’s sharp-acting move to allow the shorting of it). We’ve seen tokens launch admin a flurry of activity ($BZRX & More) and announcements of new loan designs (AAVE). All of which means price action is acting an awful lot like 2017.
Check it all out below! But first, a DEFI quote:
We made eth2 hard for ourselves. Justin Drake
#TheRollup
Layer 2 on a rampage — You really would have thought it was planned, the way so many platforms launched on various competing and unique layer 2 scaling solutions in rapid succession:
🟣DeversiFi, using L2 STARKS (Validiums) to build the first DEX that has the look, feel and function of a top-performing CEX.
🟣Loopring Pay, using SNARK based zkRollups to allow users to send transfers to each other fast and free
🟣MatterLabs, launched the user-friendly zkSync app for low cost, fast and secure transactions
🟣OMG Network, deploys their plasma-based scalability solution to mainnet
🟣Matic Network, roll out their L2 solution using proof-of-stake and plasma-enabled sidechains
With the delayed launch of ETH 2.0 and the rising, extremely prohibitive GAS costs born from a spike in DEFI usage and the complicated associated smart-contract transactions, L2 solutions have never been more important or relevant as they allow a dramatic reduction in these costs. How long until we see lending protocols jump the ETH2.0 gun and integrate a STARK, SNARK or OTHER based scaling engine.
👩🌾Yield Farming & The DEFI Boom. No doubt, you would have seen the advent of Defi Yield Farming triggered in part with the release of $COMP which was swiftly added to CoinBase. Since then, we’ve seen various tokens and protocols gain increased traction, from Balancer to mStable, Ampleforth, Synthetix, AAVE and more. Check out the hype on twitter.
👥 A collective of DEFI exchanges (👈add your feedback) led by DEX.BLUE (including Loopring, DeversiFi, MakerDAO, FTX, dydx) have joined forces to conduct important research in further understanding DEFI exchange users.
🧙♀️Omen.eth partnered with dxDAO, Kleros, RealitionProject & GnosisPM to launch their ‘next-generation’ prediction-markets. What makes them worthy of that buzzword? In short, the inclusion of the Kleros dispute resolution layer gives recourse to any complicated disputes on Omen/dxDAO/etc. The scope of a technological tryst of this nature is big, so if you want to grok it, and I recommend you do, give it a full read here.
🔷 The Ethereum 2.0 AMA. We’ve all been waiting for Etheruem 2.0 to launch. It has spurred many a meme and many a project and participant to cry out in despair. But a recent AMA w/researchers behind the preparation of Phase 0 (Beacon chain) detailed a number of key points.
Refreshers/takeaways:
🟣ETH 2.0 will result not in a fork of Ethereum but the creation of a brand new change, in part to shed the clunk of the Ethereum ledger to date
🟣Once Phase 0 has initiated, holders of $ETH tokens will be able to stake their tokens in the Beacon chain. However, as things stand, ETH that is staked is locked and untransferable for an unknown amount of time until phase 1.5 is reached (possibly 2 years or longer). Clearly a problem, below is a response from Drake & Ryan on how this could be overcome:
I.e one solution is transferable staked ETH tokens (bETH) that can be used, traded, lent or used as collateral. Bonus Solution: stakedETH derivatives that have better-defined parameters for holders than simple stakedETH tokens, and also are potentially preferable long term assets than ETH itself.
🟣Multi-client test-net to go live in the next few weeks, preceding 3 months of testing. Depending on how this goes, a solid date will be given for the launching of Phase 0.
🟣To recap the phases: 0 (Beacon chain), 1 (Sharding), 2 (Sharded EVM), 3 (Light clients). Worry not, most of these phases are being researched and worked on concurrently.
🟣Uncertainty around ship-date still looms, however, with some believing phase 0 will launch in 2020 and others (Justin Drake) reckoning it will be more like Jan 2021.
"All the above cannot happen in Q3 2020. With Thanksgiving on November 26 and the December holidays I'd say the latest practical opportunity for genesis in 2020 is mid-November, 4 months from now. As such, I'm now inclined to say that the earliest practical date for genesis is something like January 3, 2021 (Bitcoin's 12th anniversary)." Drake
As a response, Vitalik Buterin wrote:
FWIW I personally quite disagree with this and I would favor launching phase 0 significantly before that date regardless of level of readiness.
You might be thinking this is perfect prediction-market material. You’d be right. As a neat follow-up from a previous point above, one of the earliest and most active market on Omen.eth has been focussed around this very subject with various people staking $000s on a given outcome. As always, lots of exciting ways to make moolah in DEFI, one guy made $1000 by providing liquidity in the ETH2.0 market.
With all this said, Anthony Sassano makes a valid point in his Daily Gwei newsletter: that no official date has ever yet been given on the launch of ETH 2.0 with all previous dates referred to as having been delayed, actually, coming as predictions from individuals, researchers or developers.
🟣 Furthermore, backing up Vitalik with his 2020 prediction is Danny Ryan. Perhaps the optimism-bias as spurred a (so-far) majority of predictions to favour 2020. Let’s see! Don’t forget, round #2 of the AMA will occur on Wednesday 14th here.
#FromDeversiFi
DeversiFi went LIVE with their much anticipated new exchange built w/StarkWare Layer 2 scaling technology.
DeversiFi now caters to serious traders by offering them a self-custodial platform that delivers the experience of a centralised exchange with the added speed and security advantage that comes from trading from a privately owned cryptocurrency wallet like Ledger. Read the post-launch stats and view our coverage here. And check out our recent Q2 2020 community update by clicking the GIF below:
More from DeversiFi
🟣Listed on DefiPulse with $3.2m TVL as of writing! 🎉
🟣New trading pair — wBTC/ETH — LIVE on DeversiFi. DeversiFi’s wBTC/ETH pair gives self-custodial access to the tightest BTC/ETH market in the game (cough, Bitfinex).
🟣A new DeversiFi record reached w/ 47 wBTC traded within 24 hours
🟣As well as audited contracts, DeversiFi announced smart-contract cover with Nexus Mutual insurance up to 1001 ETH with scope for more.
🟣A slick new sticker-pack for DeversiFi created. Check it out here.
🟣DeversiFi CFO Ross Middleton kick starts a 6-piece content series — 6 Pillars of Professional Trading, Part 1, Speed. Get the scoop, read it. Followed by COO Dan Yanev with 6 Pillars of Professional Trading, Part 2, Security. Read it.
🟣DeversiFi CEO Will Harborne sits down w/ Ethereum core developer Eric Conner on Into The Ether. Have a listen 👂
🟣DeversiFi CFO, & myself, join DCinvestor for an AMA in the r/ethfinance Reddit community. We cover lots of useful info on $NEC and DeversiFi. Read the recap here.
#DAOWOW
The latest developments in the DAO movement and what to keep an eye on as decentralised organisation expands
As well as the recent DeversiFi marketing proposal, Nectar DAO has seen a number of submissions, some successful, some not so, ranging from business integrations to cross DAO collaborations with dxDAO, and new NEC function suggestions. CurveLabs have submitted a proposal which, as things stand, will pass in less than 2 days. This proposal will use necDAO’s sizable funds to seed Uniswap liquidity making the DAO self-sustainable. 50% of profits will go toward speeding up the burning of $NEC. This is in addition to the weekly necBURN auctions.
DeepDao.World, a user-friendly portal displaying key stats including total users, vote percentage breakdown, total turnout and much more, is growing fast. Nectar DAO helped fund part of the necDAO interface, soon to be embedded within nectar.community. DeepDaoWorld has been on a rampage adding new DAOs and showing the world just how fast-moving and large this sub-sector really is.
TheLAO, an OpenLaw project, is a novel take on DAOs — a Limited Liability Autonomous Organisation built for the allocation of venture funding. Since launching in April 2020, The LAO has thus far funded two projects, Tornado.Cash and SuperRare within the last 2 weeks and is working to extend MolochDAO v2 using a RaidGuild proxy with the goal of building ‘baby DAOs’ for unaccredited investment.
#TokenSpotlight
TokenSpotlight shines a light on the top 2 or 3 performing Defi tokens from the previous 2-4 weeks.
AAVE’s token, $LEND +133% (30day)
AAVE has steadily gained interest at an impressive rate. Since listing on DefiPulse back in February with a total value locked (TVL) of approx. $11m, they are now at $192.7m and sit at the proud position of number 4. In the last 4 weeks, the price has jumped from $0.09 to a high of $0.23.
The main reason I suspect LEND has received so much attention is simply because, after launching the main net early this year, usage on Aave has grown incredibly fast. Jack Purdy, an analyst at Messari
Synthetix token, $SNX +114% (30day)
While it has since pulled back, SNX experience a rally over the past week or so, breaking a new ATH of approx. $3.13. The SNX rally pulled with it the value of $UMA and other related DEFI tokens and coincided with their listing on Binance on July 10th. SNX claims 3rd spot on Defipulse with $364m TVL.
#Furthermore3x
🟣The history of revolutions from the agricultural to the industrial and through to the digital. Where are we now and what is likely to come next? Find out.
🟣BZX recently unlocked their much anticipated $BZRX token which went live yesterday, Monday 13 July 2020. As predicted, there were bots waiting to exploit the listing on Uniswap. Someone even tried to outsource bot-development on Upwork days before the launch! This tweet thread is a must-read to understand how one person was able to deposit 630 ETH and end up with 2038 ETH & 300,000 BZRX in about an hour.
🟣If only they had a token. Coinbase explores stock market listing with an IPO. Not the most interesting or thought-provoking but nevertheless worth knowing about. Check it out.
#TopMeme🥇
‘Till next time fellow farmers, traders, buidlers and hodlers. Let’s connect on Twitter or Telegram. Or join the fast-growing DeversiFi // Nectar communities below:
Congrats Anthony! 👋
#WhatDoYouWantNext?
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Till next time!