π¨π»βπ« What is DeFi? The Ultimate DeFi 101 Guide to Ethereum, Layer 2s, Yield Farming, and More
Hello Defiers! Hereβs what we are covering today,
News
Market Action: Terra a Bright Spot in Worst Slump Since October Peak
Kickstarterβs Embrace of Celo Blockchain May Lead to Token for Crowdfunding Giant
DeFi 101
Video
Links
Crypto exchange AscendEX hacked for $78 million in latest swindle: The Block
Binance Singapore Drops Crypto License Plans in City-State: CoinDesk
96 private keys stolen from Vulcan Forged in $140 million theft: The Block
This new venue boast 10 tables on a 16-parcel @decentraland estate: Decentraland
Trending in The Defiant
DappRadar Exclusive Report: The Metaverse May be an Old Idea But Itβs Just Getting Started
Bored Apesβ Generous Copyright Approach Besting Stricter CryptoPunks
Artists Cry Foul Over Sold Out NFT Drop of Stormtrooper Images
The open economy is taking over the old one. Subscribe to keep up with this revolution. Click here to pay with DAI (for $100/yr) or sub with fiat by clicking on the button below ($15/mo, $150/yr).air
π Together with:Β
Balancer, one of the leading DeFi automated market makers (AMM) for multiple tokens. Dive into their pools at this link.
Kraken, consistently rated the best and most secure cryptocurrency exchange, which can get you from fiat to DeFi
Polymarket is a decentralized information markets platform, harnessing the power of free markets to demystify the real world events that matter most to you.Β Learn More!Β
Sorare Experience true football connection in The Global Fantasy Football Game! Trade & collect, play with football NFTs #OwnYourGame Β Learn More!
DeFi Markets
π Market Action: Terra a Bright Spot in Worst Slump Since October Peak
LOWEST LEVEL The crypto market is still in the doldrums.Β Thatβs the upshot of the last seven days. The combined capitalization of the DeFi sector slid to its lowest level since all-time highs in early October. Since the Nov. 12 peak, DeFi assets have lost almost a quarter of their value, dropping toΒ $135B, according to CoinGecko.
TOP PROJECTS There is one exception to the trend: Terra. Even though it declined 14.3% in the last seven days, its token LUNA is the top DeFi asset with a capitalization of $22.2B,Β or 16.5% of the DeFi sectorβs market cap, in early morning trading New York time. And itβs overtaken mighty Solana. Terra ranks third with nearly $12.4B in TVL. Terraβs top projects by TVL are Anchor with nearly $6B, Lido with 3.90B, and Terraswap with 1.06B.
LEADING PROTOCOLS Solana sits at fourth with $11.5B in TVL, led by Raydium with $1.60B, Serum with $1.31B, and Marinade Finance with $1.28B. A margin of just 4% now separates Solana and Avalanche, with Avalanche ranking fifth with $11.1B. Avalancheβs leading protocols are Aave with $2.88B, Trader Joe with $1.90B, and Benqi with $1.52B.
πREAD THE FULL STORY IN THE DEFIANT.IOπ
Tokenization
π Kickstarterβs Embrace of Celo Blockchain May Lead to Token for Crowdfunding Giant
PUBLIC MARKET Are governance tokens a public market by another name? Kickstarter, the crowdfunding leader, announced on Dec. 8 that it would begin work on a decentralized crowdfunding platform on the mobile-friendly Celo blockchain.
WEB2 GIANTS The fact that one of the best known brands on the internet is looking at adopting a blockchain strategy further cements the idea that Web2 giants are starting to take web3 seriously. But a close look at Kickstarterβs history suggests something else. Itβs very possible that decentralization is a way for Kickstarterβs investors to reap the returns that have eluded them throughout the rise of the Brooklyn-based tech company, which was founded in 2009.
TOKENIZATION Investors have typically gotten their paydays one of two ways: the companies they back either go public or get acquired by a bigger company. Despite all of its success, Kickstarter has declined to do either, but tokenization has created a new business model for tech startups, and a new way for their backers to cash out.
πREAD THE FULL STORY IN THE DEFIANT.IOπ
DeFi 101
π¨π»βπ« What is DeFi? The Ultimate DeFi 101 Guide to Ethereum, Layer 2s, Yield Farming, and More
In this exclusive new primer, Mason Marcabello elucidates the state of the art in DeFi and walks us through how it works. Newbies and veterans alike will find a lot to value in this treatise.
TL;DR Throughout history, money is often moulded to benefit autocratic regimes. But in light of recurrent issues like debasement and rising inflation β alternatives such as decentralized finance, or DeFi, have emerged as an effort to re-establish sovereignty and power to the everyday person.Β Β
OPEN SOURCE In short: DeFi is a global, open alternative to the current financial system. It differs through products and services built on open-source technology that anyone can use to borrow, save, invest, trade with and more.Β
SMART CONTRACTS One of the core components of DeFi is known as algocratic or algorithmic governance. In contrast to bureaucracies that rely on established social hierarchies to regulate and enforce law, autocratic governance is when rules and regulations are written into the software (code). In essence, its structure ensures that smart contracts function as intermediaries so that buyers, sellers, lenders, and borrowers may interact peer to peer without the need for centralized entities or institutions to mediate these very transactions.Β
ADOPTION Although decentralized finance is still in its nascent stages, the total value locked (TVL) in DeFi contracts is more than $200 billion as of November 2021. Ethereum commands more than 60% of the TVL , according to data from DeFi Llama. Although this data may appear significant, it is still notional as many DeFi tokens lack sufficient adoption, liquidity, and volume to trade in the web3 marketplace.Β
πREAD THE FULL STORY IN THE DEFIANT.IOπ
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The Tube
πΊ Quick Take: Big voices demand to be heard. Some should stay quiet? w/ Do Kwon, Michael Saylor, Brian Brooks
Links
π Crypto exchange AscendEX hacked for $78 million in latest swindle: The Block
Crypto exchange AscendEX β formerly known as BitMax β has been hacked for an estimated $77.7 million.
π Binance Singapore Drops Crypto License Plans in City-State: CoinDesk
Binanceβs Singapore entity plans to withdraw its application for a crypto license in the city-state, and will expel local users by Feb. 13, 2022, the exchange said on Monday.
π Crypto Theses for 2022: Mesari
Key trends, people, companies, and projects to watch across the crypto landscape, with predictions for 2022.
π 96 private keys stolen from Vulcan Forged in $140 million theft: The Block
Earlier today, 96 private keys were stolen from the crypto gaming ecosystem Vulcan Forged, enabling the attacker to siphon off $140 million in cryptocurrency.
Trending in The Defiant
DappRadar Exclusive Report: The Metaverse May be an Old Idea But Itβs Just Getting Started Ever since Facebook, the sixthΒ most valuable company in the world, announced its corporate rebranding to Meta, the metaverse concept has gone mainstream.
Bored Apesβ Generous Copyright Approach Besting Stricter CryptoPunks Is the Bored Apes Yacht Club coming for CryptoPunks?
On Mondayβs seven day table on NonFungible.com, Bored Apes had posted $59.1M in sales versus CryptoPunks $17.5M.
Artists Cry Foul Over Sold Out NFT Drop of Stormtrooper Images The Art Wars Collection, a series of NFTs depicting painted Stormtrooper helmets from the Star Wars franchise, has come under fire for launching without the consent of the artists who created the original works.
π§βπ» βοΈ Stories in The Defiant are written by Brady Dale, Owen Fernau, Samuel Haig, DeFiDad, and yyctrader, and edited by Edward Robinson, yyctrader, and Camila Russo. Videos are produced by Robin Schmidt, Alp Gasimov and Daniel Flynn. Podcast is led by Camila, edited by Alp.
The Defiant is a daily newsletter focusing on decentralized finance, a new financial system thatβs being built on top of open blockchains. The space is evolving at breakneck speed and revolutionizing tech and money. Sign up to learn more and keep up on the latest, most interesting developments. Subscribers get full access, while free signups get only part of the content. Click here to pay with DAI (for $100/yr) or sub with fiat by clicking on the button above ($15/mo, $150/yr).