Ethereum OG Whales Biggest Stakers in Eth2 Deposit Contract
Also, Aave's government proposals, DeFi Pulse index Meta Governance, and a new non-USD based stablecoin.
Hello Defiers, here’s what’s going on in decentralized finance,
20% of ETH required for Dec. 1 launch of Ethereum’s new proof-of-stake chain is in the deposit contract, and a fourth of it comes from just three holders
Aave’s governance is heating up in the lead up to v2, with two new proposals released yesterday
Investors in DeFi Pulse’s DPI can participate in governance of tokens in the index and they’re doing just that with the Aave proposals
There is now a stablecoin linked to Vietnam’s currency
👩💻 Also, a reminder that Harmony’s Hack the Horizon hackathon is live until Jan 17. There is $50,000 in Harmony’s ONE tokens for developers building on Horizon, a bi-directional bridge that connects Ethereum and Harmony. The first prize also includes an annual subscription to The Defiant!
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 ($10/mo, $100/yr).
📺 Watch The Defiant’s New YouTube Video on Social Tokens
Video producer Robin Schmidt dives into social tokens in the latest Defiant video, produced in partnership with Harmony Protocol.
🎙Listen to the interview in this week’s podcast episode here:
🙌 Together with Zerion, a simple interface to access and use decentralized finance, and 1inch.exchange v2, which aims to provide the best rates by discovering the most efficient swapping routes across all leading DEXes.
Three Whales Responsible for 25% of ETH Staked for Eth2
There is now 20% of the required staked ETH needed for the network to launch its proof-of-stake-chain, the first step in its transition to Ethereum 2.0, and a big chunk of it is coming from long-time ETH whales.
There is 105k ETH in the ETH2 deposit contract out of the required 524K, just two weeks away from the Dec. 1 planned launch date. Bison Trails dug into who has stepped up so far, and over 25% of the total deposited corresponds to just three holders.
2017 Bull Run
A huge whale deposited 17,088 ETH on Nov. 14, according to Viktor Bunin at Bison Trails. This holder apparently bought all of this ETH during the 2017 bullrun when ETH was trading at $300 and held it in various addresses for more than three years. They hadn’t untouched it until now, Bunin said.
“Another whale, who deposited 5,504 ETH, first began accumulating ETH more than four years ago. One more deposited 5,024 ETH after holding on to it for three years, and their transaction history shows they have another 15k ETH on standby,” Bunin wrote in a report.
$10M Investment
Other large investors are set to participate. Dubai-based investment firm IBC Group yesterday said it plans to stake 20k ETH, or around $10 million, to support the upcoming launch of Ethereum 2.0. IBC will be using Canada based CanETH to make the deposit, according to a report by Trade Arabia.
This is forming a theme—Ethereum OG’s were and still are believers in Ethereum’s vision, whether you call it proof of stake, Serenity, or eth2. They are putting a lot of capital on the line after sitting on it for so long because they want to be part of making this vision a reality.
It remains to be seen whether the goal will be met with so little time left; maybe holders are holding off until the very last minutes so they don’t miss out on other investment opportunities before locking up their ETH. Regardless, these transactions show some Ethereum OGs are as bullish as ever on the network’s future.
Aave Governance Picks up Steam Ahead of Upgrade
Aave yesterday posted two new governance proposals for its lending protocol, the fourth largest in DeFi with more than $1.3B in deposits, one of which may lead to an increased pool of assets to be managed by token holders.
The first - AIP2 - proposes to take protocol fees collected from Aave V1 to seed the Aave Reserve, rather than using them to burn LEND - the legacy version of the AAVE token - off the open market.
High Slippage
With more than 90% of all LEND having migrated to AAVE, this burning procedure is beginning to incur high slippage on LEND purchases, on top of the fact that outstanding LEND is likely not to be migrated to AAVE.
The new AIP proposes to instead convert protocol fees to stablecoins and deposit them into the Aave Reserve to be governed by AAVE holders. It also proposes an optional amendment to deposit these stablecoins on Aave to earn interest.
The second - AIP3 - proposes to introduce a flash-loan enabled migration tool to make it easier for those with outstanding collateral to migrate from Aave V1 to Aave V2.
Aave V2 Approaches
The two proposals are the latest before the release of Aave V2, which will aim to optimize for lower gas costs, and add delegated credit and a framework for money-markets creation.
Just last week, Delphi Digital proposed an upgraded Aavenomics structure, allowing anyone to stake AAVE to specific collateral pools (like aUSDC, aLINK, etc.) and earn a portion of those fees.
The proposal to create new aDAOs is aimed to make Aave more nimble in its addition of new assets, giving stakers the ability to provide insurance to underlying pools that are likely to have a higher return as a result of being more risky.
Aave has become a breeding ground for innovation through decentralized governance, which may in part be contributing to the token’s 100% price increase over the past 30 days.
DeFi Index Investors Can Now Vote in Governance Too
The DeFi Pulse Index (DPI) treasury is being put to work through the release of Index Co-op’s Meta Governance structure.
With $27M in assets, the DPI currently holds top DeFi tokens including AAVE, COMP, YFI and UNI. These tokens can be used in their respective protocols’ governance system via Index Co-op’s INDEX token.
Now, INDEX holders are using the $4.7M worth of AAVE held in the index to vote on the two new Aave Improvement Proposals (AIPs) released earlier this week.
In the spirit of community-ownership, the co-op championed a Treasury committee, funded with 30,000 INDEX - currently valued at ~$330k - now being funneled to contributors. It remains to be seen whether Meta Governance will be an enticing enough advantage to make DPI the leading DeFi tokens index.
Vietnamese Dong Stablecoin Launches Today
VNDC.io, one of Vietnam's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, is launching a stablecoin that’s pegged to the Vietnamese Dong (VND) today.
The VND-based stablecoin, called VNDC, will be backed at 1-to-1 by collateral held in a Hong Kong-based regulated trustee, First Digital Trust, according to a press release.
Most stablecoins are linked to the US dollar, making them an attractive store of value but often impractical for local transactions. This would be one of the first non-USD pegged fiat-backed stablecoin and it’s fitting that it comes from Vietnam, which is among the top 10 countries for crypto adoption, according to The Chainalysis 2020 Global Crypto Adoption Index.
Holders will be able to redeem VNDC for fiat anywhere in the world via SWIFT wires or swapping VNDC for VND inside Vietnam in the VNDC.io exchange. The project is powered by stablecoin-as-a-service platform, Stably, and will have monthly audit reports published by Cohen & Co.
Grammy-Nominated Rapper Lil Yachty to Launch Eth Token: Decrypt
Lil Yachty, the 23-year-old rapper and Grammy nominee, is to mint an Ethereum-based cryptocurrency token in his name, announced Fyooz.io, the cryptocurrency platform on which Lil Yachty’s token will debut, Decrypt reported.
Top Ethereum Dapps Now Have Over 1M Daily Active Users: DappRadar
In the last 30 days, the number of daily active users of the top 10 Ethereum dapps has surpassed 1 million. Not surprisingly, 6 of the top 10 dapps are from the DeFi & Exchange categories, 2 from High-Risk, one Marketplace, and one from the Gaming category, DappRadar reported.
Yearn Finance Founder Andre Cronje showcases what looks like a simple way for traders to buy put and call options on their tokens.
The Defiant is a daily newsletter focusing on decentralized finance, a new financial system that’s 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 at $10/month or $100/year, while free signups get only part of the content.
About the founder and editor: Camila Russo is the author of The Infinite Machine, the first book on the history of Ethereum, and was previously a Bloomberg News markets reporter based in New York, Madrid and Buenos Aires. She has extensively covered crypto and finance, and now is diving into DeFi, the intersection of the two.
