Lưu trữ cho từ khóa: decentralization

DeFi

Connect people and platforms: The identity-first path to decentralization | Opinion

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We have a people problem in web3. Unfortunately, despite the promise of decentralization and data ownership, platforms still aren’t talking to each other very well. As a result, ingrained issues like identity management, data sovereignty, and privacy continue to trouble our nascent sector.

A unified framework is, therefore, key to unlocking web3’s true potential—one that bridges the data divide and provides decentralized identity with strong privacy protections. This approach proposes a win-win for both sides of the stakeholder equation. Users benefit from cross-chain identity, data monetization, and a unified sense of self. Businesses, meanwhile, gain access to rich and verified user data while maintaining privacy and regulatory compliance. Better yet, this identity-first path to decentralization enables other new capabilities like on-chain reputation systems, chain-agnostic logins, and AI data utilization.

One thing’s becoming increasingly clear in the early days of web3—we must get identity right to get decentralized ecosystems right. Let’s explore how we can best connect people and platforms in this brave new world of the internet.

A win-win for users and businesses

Take a closer look and you’ll notice fragmented identities and disconnected data sovereignty hindering interoperability in both the internet new and old, leaving users with scattered information across the digital ether. This lack of integration limits trust-building and creates inefficiencies in industries—from advertising to AI—where cohesive data is essential.

These issues are all too familiar. Web2 social media giants and search conglomerates centralize identities but fail to connect them across platforms. The result? Siloed, static profiles owned by platforms and not people. Web3 promises a solution: decentralized, interoperable identities owned by individuals. However, putting this into practice is proving challenging.

While web3 improves upon its predecessor, true interoperability and seamless identity management remain elusive. Emerging protocols, however, are tackling this head-on. Projects like LayerZero, which aims for omnichain interoperability, and Gitcoin Passport, which focuses on open-source identity verification, are just two projects paving the way.

As a result, the identity and data layer is becoming a foundational piece of the web3 stack, and protocols and platforms can better offer digital identity management, on-chain reputation building, and data sovereignty.

As mentioned, this new reality benefits both users and businesses. Users can better connect with their online identities by owning, managing, and monetizing their personal data. At the same time, they can interact more safely and privately with dApps. CARV ID, backed by ERC-7231, exemplifies this by allowing web3 gamers to aggregate and manage on-chain wallets and off-chain accounts in one place. 

For businesses, identity and data layers provide access to verified and (most importantly) consenting user data, which improves targeting, decision-making, and remarketing.

Better data, better results

The benefits don’t stop there. Unified identity supports a range of applications that improve the experience for individuals and the ecosystem. On-chain reputation systems, for example, allow users to build and maintain credibility across various web platforms, while chain-agnostic logins enable games and applications to provide data access regardless of where they live. Moreover, truly interoperable decentralized identities facilitate secure account recovery—a crucial advancement for blockchain-based wallets that addresses a long-standing pain point.

Identity and data solutions also unlock other new possibilities. Privacy-preserving advertising becomes feasible when users can opt-in and choose to monetize their information on their terms. And, as AI becomes more prevalent and data-hungry, decentralized identities enable model training that provides personalized experiences while still protecting privacy.

Ultimately, better data gives better results. This identity-first path to decentralization encourages consistency across platforms and creates a more intuitive and empowering online experience for all.

Identity and the user-owned internet

Today, there’s no difference between identity and digital identity. Working, socializing, gaming, and evermore facets of modern life increasingly happen online. Therefore, who we are and how we express ourselves should be interconnected across web3. Likewise, our online contributions—especially when used by companies for data ingestion and private profit—should be rewarded.

In its annual web3 survey, Consensus found that 79% of respondents want more control over their identity on the internet. At the same time, 38% of respondents globally believe they are adequately compensated for the value and creativity they add to the Internet. 

These two ideas—identity control and fair compensation—are intrinsically linked. When people gain true ownership of their identity and can decide for themselves how to share or monetize their data, they’ll naturally be more fairly compensated for their digital contributions. This alignment is core to creating a user-owned internet that values individuals over corporations.

It’s simple: Future-forward protocols and platforms put people first. If we can connect people with platforms that prioritize privacy, scalability, and interoperability, we have a much better shot at shifting the digital status quo. Whether you’re a user, developer, or business leader, the time to engage with and shape this future is now. Let’s seize it and build an internet that is truly for people, by people.

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Theo Crypto News

DeFi

Rest in peace, profile pictures. Long live NFTs! | Opinion

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NFTs aren’t dead. Their potential is just different from what was originally embodied by the epic rise and crash of the PFP market in 2021. Profile pictures, digital art, and collectibles are just a few basic use cases for nonfungible tokens, a revolutionary form of digital asset in which, unlike cryptocurrency tokens, each item is unique and typically cannot be seamlessly substituted for another.

Unfortunately, the concept of NFTs has been conflated with expensive JPEGs due to the 2021 NFT craze that not only did a terrible disservice to crypto generally and NFTs specifically but, in hindsight, was extremely dumb. Which is why only a year after the initial boom, trading volumes plunged more than 90%.

The runaway speculation on NFTs was a human problem, not a tech problem. The situation was similar to any number of precedents, for example, collecting baseball cards back in the ‘80s. Buying packs or boxes at a time, you’d pay very little for a bunch of cards on a per-unit basis—and only a select few would end up being worth a significant amount of money in the long term.

Generally, collectibles—such as sports cards, music albums, popular memorabilia—begin their lives as “one among many,” all of which are a low cost/value, and no one can really predict which ones will be worth something in the future.

Million-dollar zoo animals

Naturally, in 2021, everyone got caught up in the fever of the bull run, and many lost their sense of proportion—paying an inflated seven figures for digital zoo animals. And, of course, some degens and celebrities sought pricey PFPs precisely because they were expensive and they wanted to flex. NFTs quickly became a status symbol, representing the (alleged) wealth of their owners. 

The whole idea of paying huge sums for newly released digital collectibles in hopes that they would increase in value was ludicrous. No wonder now that if you mention to a normie that NFTs are useful and will form an important part of the future digital economy, you’re likely to get laughed at. All they remember is people paying stupid amounts of money for “art” a child could make in MS Paint.

Breaking down the fundamentals

The image of NFTs was badly damaged in the view of the broader public and has not recovered along with the broader portion of the market. This is a real shame because NFTs as a vehicle for digital ownership had real potential to draw in masses of new users into web3.

To appreciate the potentially transformative power of NFTs, it’s important to first ground your thinking in the fundamentals.

An NFT is a data structure for modeling data that has unique properties.

People’s lives are moving increasingly into the digital space, so it shouldn’t be surprising that, ultimately, there will be digitally native goods that people want to own.

Modern ownership

In the web2 world, ownership of anything digital is pointless because it’s so easily copied and/or shared. (Looking at you, memelords wearing out the ‘save-as’ shortcut on your keyboards.) To mitigate this, content owners will often employ common web2 digital rights management  barriers such as paywalls, encryption or just restrict access. But in the end, this additional friction only makes it more difficult to share with the creator’s audience and hold their attention.

Here’s where NFTs come in. Their use cases are boundless—not only to create digital representations of physical things (real-world assets) but also to express ownership of digitally native things.

However, it’s important to understand what rights are actually conferred on the owner of an NFT. Is your NFT a digital representation of your ownership of a physical Picasso painting? Does your NFT only give you the right to showcase the digital art itself? How about the right to print T-shirts with the art on them and collect royalties on sales? This is an area that will require a great deal of consideration to get right. If NFTs start coming with ten pages of fine print licensing agreements, that will certainly take the fun out of them.

Utility beyond PFPs

Beyond solving the problem of digital ownership, NFTs can also be imbued with all kinds of utility: exclusive access to members-only events, collateral for loans, DAO voting rights, representations of positions in DEX Liquidity Pools, etc.—making them an incredibly powerful tool for creators. These uses may have absolutely nothing to do with art, and NFTs can operate in the background as vital components powering complex protocols.

Oftentimes, non-crypto natives fail to distinguish the technology from the asset, resulting in blockchain taking blame for the stupidity or nefarious behavior of humans. Regardless of the bottomed-out prices of infamous PFP collections, NFTs aren’t dead at all; their innovation is simply overlooked. In fact, you may be surprised how much NFTs underpin the RWA revolution that is happening right now in the blockchain sector.

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Theo Crypto News

Bitcoin

Bitcoin adoption and psychedelic use seeding a new world | Opinion

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The fact that psychedelic use is skyrocketing in the age of Bitcoin (BTC) is no coincidence. It is indicative of the fact that the world sits on the precipice of a new Renaissance and Enlightenment.  

The world has finally discovered sound money in the form of Bitcoin and is using psychedelics more than ever before, which could transform the way we live in fundamental ways. For instance, as Bitcoin allows people a more leisurely lifestyle than their fiat ones, they will begin to explore what builds civilizations, including psychedelics. New ideas will flourish widely. 

The effects on the world of Bitcoin and sound money

When a monetary unit called the aureus stabilized Rome from the 1st century BC to the 4th century AD, it was made of gold. All sorts of innovation followed, including using the arch, changing construction forevermore, etc. Once the government took the money system off the gold standard and debased the currency by decreasing the amount of gold being used, the empire began to fade.  

Bitcoin can be the basis of the new monetary system. Instead of all these central banks printing a never-ending supply of fiat currency and then first giving it to their buddies at the big banks, the world has an objective supply of truth with a limited supply of 21 million open and accessible to everyone on planet Earth. 

According to Gresham’s Law, which says the capital flows towards the better money, all of the world’s currency markets will move into Bitcoin. That is because Bitcoin is better than fiat currencies.

People flourish in sound money systems. It provides a fair playing field. The unit of account is not depreciating due to government manipulation. A sound money increases trade, savings, and prosperity. Individuals plan for the future rather than dread the coming bill cycles. Architectural, literary, art, science, and engineering achievements follow. 

Additionally, sound money helps family and communities grow stronger, as the individual members can spend more time together, and are able to pursue the arts, sciences, engineering, and literature or whatever pursuits they may love. It underpins the stability needed so people can experiment in all sorts of ways. 

On a Bitcoin standard, psychedelics help build future civilization

Psychedelics have been studied, and scientists believe they could have benefits for PTSD, anxiety, and more. People in business, too, apparently feel their positive effects. Silicon Valley founders praise the micro-dosing of LSD. 

According to research, psilocybin, found in mushrooms, helped us develop and create our socio-cognitive world. Psilocybin, for instance, might have helped social bonding mechanisms like laughter, music, storytelling, and religion. Psilocybin might have created a “systematic bias on the selective environment that favored selection for prosociality in our lineage.”

Well-known researchers such as Terence McKenna underscore the importance of psychedelics in the evolution of mankind. “Psychedelics are illegal not because a loving government is concerned that you may jump out of a third-story window,” said Terence McKenna back in 1987. 

“Psychedelics are illegal because they dissolve opinion structures and culturally laid down models of behavior and information processing. They open you up to the possibility that everything you know is wrong.” 

The historical record backs this up. Just this past March, archeological excavations hint that Roman subjects at the northern reaches of the ancient empire consumed a hallucinogenic and poisonous plant named black henbane. Greek philosopher Plutarch described the effects as “not so properly called drunkenness” but more like “alienation of mind or madness.” 

In addition, strands of hair from 3,000 years ago show the first direct evidence of drug use in Bronze Age Europe, according to a new paper published in the journal Scientific Reports. The hair, from a cave on the Spanish island in the Mediterranean called Menorca, has psychoactive alkaloids in it, which are found in some plants and create altered states. 

Psychedelics played a considerable role in the development of human civilization and opened up new avenues of knowledge and understanding. They are already playing an increasingly large role in use cases, including spiritual, medicinal, and cultural purposes.  

Bitcoin psychedelics and the new world

In the coming years and decades, both use of Bitcoin and hallucinogen use will increase. Bitcoin will allow people to work and store their time-energy in a digital asset with relatively stable value (Bitcoin velocity declines over time), and begin to explore the beauty in the world. 

No more will we chase more work hours in the face of debasing fiat currencies and toil under palpable anxiety and unrest. The sound money system of today—brought to the world by Bitcoin—will allow people to experiment with psychedelics, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy of love and freedom. 

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Theo Crypto News

Altcoin

Creator economy 2.0: AI and web3 define the digital success | Opinion

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The creator economy is rapidly evolving, with projections indicating it will reach a staggering $480 billion by 2027​​. However, despite the rapid growth of digital platforms, the majority of creators find themselves grinding with minimal returns while platforms and third parties rake in the majority of the profits. This scenario is far from sustainable, and the future of the creator economy demands a radical shift. Creator economy 2.0, a phase that will be shaped by artificial intelligence and web3 technologies, is set to shift the dynamic between creators and platforms.

The problem with the creator economy

In the first wave of the creator economy, centralized platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok gave creators a stage to build audiences and monetize their content. But these platforms have come with substantial trade-offs. Creators are often at the mercy of platform algorithms, arbitrary account closures, and profit-sharing models that are heavily skewed in favor of the platform. For instance, YouTube takes a 45% cut of ad revenue, while platforms like TikTok offer limited monetization options despite generating billions in advertising​.

Even more concerning is that 48% of creators earn less than $15,000 annually​. As creators produce content that drives engagement and keeps platforms profitable, they are left with the scraps, often struggling to make a living. This imbalance between platform profits and creator earnings has sparked a growing demand for change, and the answer lies in AI and web3 technologies.

Enter creator economy 2.0: Powered by AI and web3

The next wave of the creator economy will be marked by two key innovations: artificial intelligence and web3 infrastructure. These technologies promise to address the limitations of traditional platforms by empowering creators with more control, independence, and financial autonomy. 

Artificial intelligence is already transforming content creation, but the next phase will take it further. AI tools, like AI personal assistants, will become indispensable for creators​. These AI-driven systems will help creators generate content, manage fan interactions, schedule posts, and even create personalized AI influencers that can autonomously engage with audiences​.

Imagine having an AI “twin” that handles the mundane tasks of fan engagement and content management, allowing creators to focus on what they do best—creating. By automating routine tasks, AI will enable creators to scale their operations and expand their influence without burning out. This goes beyond simply saving time; it’s about unlocking the potential to do more, create more, and engage more deeply with audiences.

Moreover, these AI tools can learn from a creator’s style and tone, ensuring that the interactions feel authentic and personalized. Creators will be able to leverage AI for everything from personalized fan experiences to on-demand content creation, making the digital hustle not only more manageable but far more lucrative.

Web3: Decentralization and true ownership

Web3, underpinned by blockchain technology, offers creators something they’ve long been denied: ownership. In the traditional creator economy, platforms owned the relationship between creators and their audiences, as well as the content. Web3 changes this dynamic by enabling creators to tokenize their content through non-fungible tokens and smart contracts​​.

With tokenized content, creators can sell directly to their fans, retain royalties from secondary sales, and ensure that their work isn’t exploited without compensation. This opens up new revenue streams and allows creators to maintain control over how their content is distributed and monetized. No more middlemen siphoning off profits—web3 gives creators full control over their intellectual property.

By leveraging blockchain technology, creators can also engage in decentralized finance ecosystems that offer new ways to earn and invest. Whether through NFT sales, fan tokens, or exclusive gated content, creators will have more options to diversify their revenue streams and build sustainable businesses.

The benefits of embracing AI and web3

So, why should creators embrace AI and web3? Because these technologies will not only allow them to keep more of their earnings but also provide unprecedented creative freedom. Here are some of the key benefits:

●  Increased autonomy: With AI tools, creators no longer need to rely on third-party managers or assistants. They can automate fan interactions, manage content creation, and ensure that their brand stays active 24/7 without burnout​​.

●  Financial independence: Web3 allows creators to directly monetize their content through tokenization, eliminating the need for platforms that take a cut of their profits. Creators retain full ownership and can earn ongoing royalties through secondary sales​.

●  Control over content: Creators will no longer be subject to the whims of platform algorithms. By minting their content as NFTs, they control its distribution, pricing, and access, ensuring they get compensated fairly for their work​​.

●  Deeper fan engagement: AI-powered tools will enable creators to offer more personalized experiences to their fans, fostering deeper connections and loyalty. Whether it’s through AI influencers or personalized content, creators can ensure their audiences feel seen and valued​​.

The future of the creator economy

As AI and web3 technologies become more widespread, creators who adopt them will be ahead of the curve, gaining more control, independence, and financial success. Platforms like SUBBD are already leading the charge by providing tools that allow creators to automate processes, tokenize content, and directly monetize their work​. The future belongs to those who embrace these technologies and step into the new era of creator economy 2.0.

In this next wave, creators will no longer be at the mercy of platforms. Instead, they will have the tools to fully own their creative output and reap the financial rewards they deserve. Creator economy 2.0 is not just a prediction—it’s already here.

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Theo Crypto News

DeFi

The future of DeFi is Bitcoin, and developers can’t afford to miss it | Opinion

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The financial industry is at a tipping point, with DeFi leading the charge. While Ethereum (ETH) has long dominated the DeFi landscape, Bitcoin (BTC) —the original and most trusted cryptocurrency—remains underutilized and is well-positioned to unlock its untapped potential. Historically regarded as ‘digital gold,’ Bitcoin is on the verge of proving its far-reaching capabilities in DeFi, and it’s about time developers, investors, and institutions woke up to its immense potential.

The undervalued giant in DeFi

Bitcoin is far more than a store of value—it’s the bedrock of the cryptocurrency movement, and it’s absurd that it has been overlooked as a serious DeFi platform. As the most trusted and widely recognized cryptocurrency, Bitcoin dominates the landscape. Yet, despite its widespread adoption and liquidity, its role in DeFi has remained limited—not due to its potential, but rather its design. Bitcoin wasn’t initially built for smart contracts or dApps, giving Ethereum the early advantage in DeFi development.

But the tide is turning. With technologies like Taproot and the Lightning Network now in full play, Bitcoin is fully equipped to outpace any other blockchain in handling complex transactions with speed, security, and cost-efficiency. Frankly, it’s shocking that Bitcoin’s potential in DeFi has been ignored for this long. While Ethereum has pioneered decentralized applications and smart contracts, its challenges with gas fees and scalability remain. Bitcoin, with its advancements like the Lightning Network and Taproot, is addressing scalability differently, offering faster, more cost-effective solutions. Developers who fail to recognize this are missing out on the opportunity to build the future of DeFi on the most trusted and secure blockchain.

From digital gold to DeFi leader

Bitcoin’s reputation as a secure store of value is well-established, with a market cap exceeding $1 trillion and accounting for approximately 54% of the total crypto market. However, the idea that Bitcoin is only good for “holding” is outdated. The real game-changer is the series of upgrades that have made Bitcoin a viable and powerful platform for DeFi. For far too long, Ethereum has been the default choice for dApps and smart contracts, but that era is ending.

Advancements like the Lightning Network and Taproot are not minor tweaks—they are innovations that will catapult Bitcoin into the DeFi mainstream. Lightning enables near-instant Bitcoin transactions with nearly negligible fees, while Taproot vastly improves Bitcoin’s smart contract capabilities, making it more secure and scalable than Ethereum or any other blockchain. If you think Bitcoin is still just digital gold, you’re living in the past. It is now ready to take center stage as the true DeFi leader, offering solutions to the very problems that other blockchains continue to face.

The uncapped potential of crypto’s true titan

Bitcoin’s newfound capabilities are opening the door to a host of DeFi services, from lending and trading to asset management and governance. More importantly, Bitcoin’s integration with cross-chain platforms and scalability solutions like the Lightning Network means that it can now seamlessly interact with assets from other ecosystems like Ethereum and Stacks. The Lightning Network alone has been instrumental in enabling faster, low-fee transactions, proving Bitcoin’s capacity for handling both microtransactions and more complex DeFi operations. This isn’t just an incremental step forward—it’s a giant leap that proves Bitcoin’s growing dominance. For example, exchanges like Bitfinex have integrated the Lightning Network to facilitate instant Bitcoin deposits and withdrawals with significantly reduced fees, showcasing Bitcoin’s ability to handle high-throughput financial operations.

The days of Bitcoin being just a simple store of value are over. It’s now a multi-chain powerhouse, capable of integrating assets like Jettons, ERC20 tokens, RGB, Runes, and Taproot Assets into decentralized fundraising and governance platforms.

Opinion: Runes is making Bitcoin fun and accessible again 

The growing institutional interest in Bitcoin is another sign that its future in DeFi is bright. Recent reports indicate that Bitcoin DeFi has a total value locked of around $1.2 billion, which is still a small fraction of Bitcoin’s overall market value but highlights significant growth potential​. Even if a fraction of Bitcoin’s estimated $1 trillion capital were to be unlocked for DeFi, the impact would be massive​.

Companies like MicroStrategy and Fidelity have expressed confidence in Bitcoin’s long-term value, and their exploration of Bitcoin-backed financial products signals growing institutional involvement. As DeFi matures, institutions are likely to follow. Platforms that integrate Bitcoin with DEXs are already enabling seamless trading across multiple blockchains like Ethereum and Stacks. Auction-based token sales and new funding models are making it clear that Bitcoin’s place in DeFi is not just growing—it’s surging.

Why Bitcoin is the future of DeFi

Let’s be clear: as DeFi continues to expand, the need for security and scalability will only grow. Bitcoin offers both in abundance. Ethereum’s issues with high gas fees and network congestion are well-known, but Bitcoin’s infrastructure, boosted by layer-2 solutions like Lightning and Taproot, is now proving itself to be the far superior choice.

Bitcoin’s support for multi-chain compatibility and cross-chain interoperability is solidifying its position as a leader in DeFi. The ability to integrate multiple blockchains into a cohesive ecosystem is something that no other platform can do as effectively as Bitcoin. If Ethereum was the starting point for DeFi, then Bitcoin is the destination.

As the market continues to mature, Bitcoin’s integration into the DeFi ecosystem will accelerate at a pace that will leave its competitors scrambling to catch up. DeFi is ready for Bitcoin—and Bitcoin is more than ready to lead.

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Theo Crypto News

Phân tích

Pepe nears crucial price as CEX outflows rise: Nansen

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Pepe, the third-largest meme coin, staged a strong comeback, soaring to its highest point in over a month as balances in centralized exchanges fell.

Exchange outflows are rising

Pepe (PEPE) jumped to a high of $0.0000091, pushing its market cap to over $3.8 billion. This recovery coincided with the strong rebound of other meme coins like Shiba Inu (SHIB), Dogwifhat (WIF), and Mog Coin, which rose by over 10%.

The market cap of all meme coins tracked by CoinGecko rose by almost 7% in the 24 hours to Sep. 26, reaching $50 billion. 

The main reason for this rally was last week’s Federal Reserve’s jumbo interest rate cut, along with hints that more cuts were on the way. Additionally, China, the second-largest economy, unveiled its biggest stimulus since 2020. According to Bloomberg, Beijing is also weighing a $142 billion capital injection to boost the economy.

There are also signs that more investors are moving back to Pepe. According to Nansen, Pepe had outflows worth $4.2 million on Sept. 26, a 6x increase above average. The total supply on exchanges has dropped by 0.35% in the last seven days.

A significant outflow from centralized exchanges is a sign that more investors are moving the coin from exchanges to their own custody.

Pepe’s jump also coincided with a surge in futures open interest, reaching $129 million, its highest level since Aug. 2, according to CoinGlass.

Pepe price is nearing key resistance

Pepe price chart | Source: TradingView

On the daily chart, Pepe bounced back after retesting the ascending support that connects the lowest swing since April. It jumped above the 50-day moving average and retested the 50% Fibonacci Retracement point at $0.0000090. 

Pepe also moved to the major support/resistance level of the Murrey Math Lines at $0.0000090 and the Ichimoku cloud indicator.

The next level to watch will be $0.00000987, its highest swing on Aug. 4 and the top of Murrey’s trading range. A break above that level could push it to the next target of $0.0000108, its March high.

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Theo Crypto News

DeFi

Crypto custody has stuck in 2021 | Opinion

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Despite significant investment and real technical advancements, today’s crypto custody solutions remain stubbornly anchored in the past. Whether it’s vendors like Web3Auth providing “Wallets as a Service” using multi-party compute or “smart wallets” like Argent—everyone wants it to be easier to custody, recover, and use crypto. And yet, custody still feels stuck in 2021. The reality of adoption has been mostly disappointing.

The convenience conundrum

Traditional finance, despite its flaws, continues to offer unrivaled convenience and peace of mind (at least in middle and high-income countries). Forgot your password? Send a quick reset link to your Gmail. Hit with unauthorized charges? Dispute them with ease and freeze your card through the mobile app.

These safeguards let you engage confidently with the TradFi ecosystem, but they’re virtually absent in the crypto world (outside of risky centralized parties like now-bankrupt Celsius). Managing private keys and securing transactions is complex and unforgiving, demanding a level of tech-savviness that most users simply don’t possess. It’s harder to use crypto than to buy it—which is already hard enough to discourage many people in the first place. The result? Crypto has seen more adoption in gambling than a better version of finance for everyday life that people can use (savings, lending, borrowing).

As the primary access point to crypto, custody solutions need to offer more utility beyond simply holding assets. Users need to feel confident engaging with the DeFi ecosystem.

TVL is not usage

Consider Gnosis Safe, now rebranded as Safe. This platform is the industry leader for controlling funds and making transactions while separating the private key requirements of an account (including even requiring multiple signers to approve a transaction). However, despite having over $100 billion in assets stored within these Safes, their potential remains woefully underutilized.

Source: Flipside Crypto

Over 5,000 Safes are created each month on Ethereum mainnet alone, but these Safes are predominantly used for crypto cold storage rather than active DeFi interaction. These smart contract-based accounts allow users to rotate their keys or have a friend be required to confirm any time these assets are moved.

Ideally, these Safes should become the main way the creator/owners/signers of the Safe interact with DeFi. Over 100 apps (including custom transaction builders and useful DAO tools) exist to make Safes easier to use directly in a standard browser. However, despite these tools, many users still rely on their Externally Owned Accounts—accounts that are secured by a private key and are inherently risky—when interacting with DeFi. Whether it’s buying an NFT on Blur, swapping on Uniswap, depositing to MakerDAO, repaying an Aave (AAVE) loan, or simply sending tokens to a friend, people often create Safes with their EOAs and then continue to use their EOAs—a risky practice firmly rooted in 2021.

Source: Flipside Crypto

The data is telling: excluding raw Ethereum (ETH) (which isn’t an ERC20 token) for Ethereum Mainnet specifically, 99.4% – 99.9% of token transfer volume (in USD terms) happens via a Safe Creator’s EOA, not their Safe! This isn’t just a statistic; it’s a glaring indictment of the industry’s current approach to combining utility and security through crypto custody.

Raw ETH usage may be a positive sign

To put this into a broader perspective, consider how blockchains are used today. Raw ETH, not being a token contract, is typically “wrapped” into Wrapped Ether (WETH) via a 1:1 smart contract to enable it to be more easily used in DeFi. Yet, less than 3% of Ethereum supply is wrapped. A disproportionate amount of activity in crypto is basic peer-to-peer sendings of the native asset, and only a sliver of human-operated addresses actually interact with DeFi protocols.

Unlike DeFi tokens, we do see Safe creators navigating raw ETH via their Safes. Comparing raw ETH transfer volume between Safes and Creator EOAs we not only see an increasing pattern for Safes, but as of May 2024, Safes are seeing more raw ETH usage than the EOAs that created them to the tune of nearly $2 billion worth of monthly volume on just Ethereum mainnet alone.

Source: Flipside Crypto

The path forward: Simplification at the custody, not protocol, level

To be clear, there has been real progress in protecting users since 2021, especially at the wallet layer with projects like Rabby, Rainbow, Coinbase Wallet, and the industry leader Metamask heavily focused on preventing user losses via transaction simulation, approval management, and warnings for potentially malicious contracts. However, these still operate on the framework of users managing private keys that control their funds 1:1.

The industry is experimenting (and investing) heavily in alternatives to this framework, including proposals to: give your account to a smart contract (EIP-3074), turn your account into a smart contract (EIP-7702), abstracting how transactions are themselves created and managed (EIP-4337). These “account abstraction” projects differ in complexity and assumptions and require changes to Ethereum itself.

Striving for widespread consensus on a single, complex, one-size-fits-all solution—such as the notion that “all wallets should simply agree to use the same singleton contract”—is likely a dead end. Instead, the industry should focus on practical UX solutions that can be readily adopted without every app generating an Nth wallet for a user or fiddling (too much) with the inner workings of Ethereum.

The good news is we’re trending in the right direction. More L2s come online every week, lowering the cost of DeFi. The industry is tired of hearing about infrastructure and having more hard conversations on organic user growth instead of airdrop farmers. Apps are launching more mobile native experiences, including integrating wallets as a service and social recovery. The mission for a decentralized, robust, permissionless, censorship-resistant alternative to the modern financial system(s) is alive and well.

Tổng hợp và chỉnh sửa: ThS Phạm Mạnh Cường
Theo Crypto News

DeFi

SocialFi, web3, and UX: Cracking the trillion dollar creator economy | Opinion

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SocialFi is a web3 industry attempt at solving the problem of monetizing digital content—the genuine issue affecting millions of talented creators worldwide.

From the perspective of daily users, it might be hard to see creators struggling. However, despite producing quality content daily, the overwhelming majority do not make any money at all. Many SocialFi projects have been launched in the last couple of years, aiming to solve this very monetization part by rewarding every digital interaction for both creators and users. Unfortunately, most seem to have missed the mark by leaning too heavily on aspects of decentralization rather than offering real-world solutions to existing problems. 

The origins of mass interest in this space occurred during the pandemic lockdowns. With the idea of pursuing a passion-based career becoming more mainstream, the future of social monetization was catapulted into a new growth phase. This was also a time when the crypto industry saw a mass influx of retail investors, with industry narratives steering towards building pragmatic, real-world solutions. This led to significant advancement in the SocialFi movement, and plenty has been achieved since then in terms of on-chain innovation, tokenized community governance, integration of NFTs, and other DeFi products that authentically bridge issues around creator monetization and user rewards. 

Yet, as a sector claiming to be the future of the trillion-dollar creator and freelancer economy, the modest market cap of SocialFi tokens is over $2 billion. This indicates that the sector has a long way to go in establishing itself into a global financial ecosystem. Contrast this with DeFi’s market cap (around $70 billion) or even of NFTs (around $62 billion), and it’s clear that SocialFi has a long road ahead. 

Thankfully, there are signs that SocialFi platforms and the utility tokens that power them have a bright future. This is seen in the significant volume of new users willing to join a newly launched SocialFi platform. Sure, many of these users are only there for the free rewards, but that’s the current norm for web3, whether they like it or not.

The benefits of SocialFi

To benefit from such early user traction, builders in SocialFi must be real with themselves when designing a product. The reality is that very few creators care about (or will even benefit from) decentralized content ownership or on-chain proof of IP rights. Although this is a USP widely marketed in web3, it only benefits the top 1% of celebrity creators in the world. 

What about the masses? What USP will win their attention and loyalty? The answer to this holds the solution for how SocialFi platforms can finally win market share from Big Tech’s platforms, and central to this is building hybrid ecosystems. This means fusing blockchain features (such as tokenization) with non-blockchain architecture, providing an intuitive and seamless user experience for the masses. 

While DeFi and blockchain technologies have a variety of clear benefits and value, mass adoption won’t happen if web2 users are required to get past the web3 wall of creating a digital wallet, store a 20-word seed phrase, and interact with an unfamiliar user experience. If creating an account is harder than starting an Instagram account, you’ve already lost 95% of all potential users. From a user experience standpoint, people cannot be held back by the intimidating web3 gates. 

Appealing to the masses

The winners in this space will focus on the narrative that appeals to the masses, building a community of real creators, empowering them with web3 education, and implementing real-world token utility into a seamless user experience. That’s the formula for SocialFi’s success. 

Without a doubt, the SocialFi community is tackling these challenges, and 2024 remains a crucial year for projects in this space. The current wave of innovation is the most exciting one, as projects roll out user-centric features that focus on user experience and build upon the value that traditional platforms have already created for the creator community. Tokens matter, but as a secondary driver of growth, and should only exist as a medium to enhance the user experience. This realization will shape the sector moving forward.

Tổng hợp và chỉnh sửa: ThS Phạm Mạnh Cường
Theo Crypto News

Phân tích

Helium price flips crucial resistance, pointing to more upside

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Helium continued its strong rally this week, making it the best-performing major token in recent weeks.

HNT token crosses key resistance point

Helium (HNT) rose to a high of $8.35, its highest level since March 14, surging by over 182% from its lowest point in July. Helium has risen by 82.6% in the last 30 days, outperforming all coins in the top 100 by market cap.

Helium, a leading player in the decentralized physical infrastructure networks industry, has gained momentum recently after revealing that its network was being tested by two major telecommunication companies in the United States.

The tests involve the carrier offload program, where carriers redirect traffic to Helium’s network during congestion. The testing has reportedly attracted nearly 600,000 subscribers who have transferred over 13.1 terabytes of data.

Helium token also jumped after the network expanded to Puerto Rico and after Anchorage Digital added HNT to its self-custody wallet.

Meanwhile, the volume of Helium traded in exchanges continued rising, averaging over $25 million a day. The futures open interest jumped to a high of $10 million on Sep. 5, its highest point since January. This is notable since Binance delisted HNT’s futures earlier this year.

Helium crossed a key resistance

Helium price chart | Source: TradingView

Helium rose above the key resistance level at $7.9827 on Thursday as the bull run continued. This was an important level since it was the highest swing in August and the upper side of a potential double-top pattern, a popular reversal sign. 

Importantly, Helium formed a golden cross pattern on Aug. 13 as the 50-day and 200-day Exponential Moving Averages crossed each other. A golden cross often leads to substantial gains.

In Helium’s case, the previous golden cross happened in November 2023, leading to a 362% rally to $11. 

HNT also rose above the strong pivot reverse point of the Murrey Math Lines. Therefore, the next level to watch will be the ultimate resistance at $9.37, 15% above the current level.

Tổng hợp và chỉnh sửa: ThS Phạm Mạnh Cường
Theo Crypto News