Recap: DeFi Week of Nov. 18 🦄

Hello defiers, hope you’re having a great weekend!

Summing up the past week: MakerDAO system was upgraded into multi-collateral Dai, ether locked in DeFi surged amid a broad crypto market selloff, Gods Unchained are making non-fungible tokens the most used in Ethereum. And a look into what it’s like to live almost fully on cryptocurrencies and DeFi platforms.

Interview

Former Forex Trader Ditches Bank and Goes Full Crypto

Pascal Tallarida, CEO and cofounder of Jarvis exchange, is two months away from going one full year living without a bank and relying almost exclusively on cryptocurrency and DeFi platforms. He’s minted Dai at a bar to pay for drinks and DeFi lending interests allow him to pay for all of his groceries in Bulgaria. Pascal says the main feature that will bring in users in the developed world won’t be high interest rates; it will be DeFi’s better user experience, which he thinks traditional banking apps will never be able to match.

News and Views

Thursday

• DeFi Traders Remain Bullish on ETH Amid Selloff: Increased loan origination and collateral added caused total value locked in decentralized finance platforms to climb to a record in ether terms of 4 million ETH, while the amount of ether locked in DeFi, which jumped to a record 2.5 million ETH

Wednesday

• Gods Unchained Hitting it Out of the Park: Digital cards game Gods Unchained is pushing Ethereum transactions into another level –and the network has been chugging along just fine.

Tuesday

• MakerDAO is Now “Much Cooler:” The DeFi central bank had a major overhaul. MakerDAO upgraded its system to Multi-Collateral Dai, which means it now accepts collateral other than ETH to back Dai and offers the ability for users to start earning interest on their Dai.

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💜Community Love💜

Thanking all the amazing defiers for the support and love this week (and always!)

Robin Schmidt @DirSchmidt

"it’s becoming increasingly clear that we’re witnessing the birth of the Internet of money and it’s wild that even those most likely to either be disrupted by it, or would benefit from it, aren’t paying attention.” @CamiRusso is on the money (literally)

thedefiant.substack.comThe DefiantA daily newsletter decrypting the intersection of blockchain and finance

👹Mariano Conti | conti.eth @nanexcool

Gracias @CamiRusso ! Great write up today on The Defiant thedefiant.substack.com/p/defis-centra…

thesis-antithesis-synthesis @Neuros12

“As a liquid, feature-complete and decentralized version of BitMex, Synthetix will leverage an absence of centralized custody, personally identifiable information, and jurisdiction gating to compete for trading fees.” Top-notch write up by @iam__vance! Kudos

Camila Russo @CamiRusso

Open source projects have struggled to find viable business models. One that's working: Monetizing balance sheets. It's Framework Ventures' investment thesis for @synthetix_io. More on that and on Synthetix's plan to become a decentralized BitMex here: https://t.co/eLV7VkXE6G

Victor Li @CryptoEcon_Li

@Corpetty @BlockChannel @La__Cuen @coindesk It is a blessing that the crypto space is covered by talented and hardworking female journalists like @laurashin @La__Cuen @CamiRusso, when this space is still dominated by men.

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