Lưu trữ cho từ khóa: #DeFi

DeFi

Curve founder: Defi more exciting than markets realize

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Talking with crypto.news, Curve founder Michael Egorov argued that defi’s ecosystem still holds the biggest value proposition over speculative trends like memecoins. 

During the 2021 peak, sometimes called crypto summer, decentralized finance took the driving seat. Defi tokens surged to all-time highs, and the narrative revolved around the so-called “future of finance” thesis. 

Fast forward to this year’s cycle, memecoins have claimed centerstage and accrued billions in market cap across several tokens. The hyper-speculative sector has turned users into overnight millionaires and the wealthy, sometimes to burned investors. 

The buzz has fueled talks that memecoins represent a major crypto use case as the preferred onboarding rail for retail money over defi. Egorov countered with a different take and said that defi deserves more attention than it’s getting.

“I strongly disagree that innovation is not happening in defi. It does! The market just does not recognize it enough. Take Pendle, which deals with interest rate markets, or Ethena, a stablecoin leveraging shorts and Ethereum staking – both are excellent examples of ongoing innovation,” Egorov told crypto.news.

RWAs on defi chains

Defi ecosystems, particularly Ethereum (ETH), have been touted as prime hubs for improving existing financial instruments, such as bonds, equity, stocks, and real estate. 

The concept, known as tokenizing real-world assets, has a $7.3 billion market. Experts predict the RWA crypto industry could hit $16 trillion by 2030 and $30 trillion by 2034.

Egorov said Ethereum and the larger web3 economy could potentially operate a full tokenized RWA ecosystem. However, according to Curve’s founder, regulatory and compliance requirements have kneecapped advancements so far.

Egorov remarked that the situation may improve greatly when RWA tokens aren’t just created on-chain and arbitraged with real markets.

“This would probably enable those RWAs to be used in more permissionless products, expanding their integration within the DeFi ecosystem,” Curve’s founder added.

Solving web2 loopholes and TON opportunity

In the exclusive interview with crypto.news, Egorov also said that decentralized technology solves web2 vulnerabilities and that the industry must pivot toward more on-chain solutions for hosting services.

The comments responded to compromised domains stemming from a Squarespace registrar issue. Protocols like Celer Network and Compound Finance were impacted, and nearly a dozen other platforms were also listed as possible targets. 

“The real dealbreaker would be native support of ENS and similar decentralized DNS services by major browsers. And yes, decentralized hosting would be a very nice addition. This would eliminate most of the web2 issues,” Egorov argued while speaking with crypto.news.

Shifting to Telegram and its growing status as a crypto powerhouse due to The Open Network, Egorov stated that TON has unlocked a new user set that’s just now experiencing defi application. Despite difficulty building dapps on TON, Curve’s founder said the blockchain presents an opportunity for native defi development and Ethereum Virtual Machine Support.

Egorov said that he thinks “DeFi apps have a very good chance of gaining traction in the TON ecosystem as soon as it can be fully launched (which, from what I hear, could be the case very soon).”

Tap-to-earn mini-games like Notcoin and Hamster Kombat have already attracted millions of daily users, active wallets, and airdrop hunters to TON’s ecosystem.

Egorov declined to answer questions on his infamous CRV loan and its eventual liquidation.

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Theo Crypto News

DeFi

Cosmos Hub proposes transfer of 1m ATOM to liquidity protocol Hydro

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Cosmos Hub has submitted a governance proposal seeking community approval to transfer 1 million ATOM to liquidity protocol Hydro.

The platform said on July 26 that Cosmos Hub’s (ATOM) proposal is live in the community forum. If the community approves the plan, Cosmos Hub will transfer 1 million ATOM tokens from its community pool to the Hydro committee.

Accordingly, 500,000 ATOM will be used to seed an ATOM liquidity pool on the interchain auction protocol. Meanwhile, the other 500,000 ATOM will be staked with liquid staking platform Stride to seed the stATOM liquidity bucket.

Stride is the Cosmos ecosystem’s top liquid staking platform, currently boasting nearly 120,000 liquid staking users. At the time of writing, the protocol’s assets were close to $100 million.

What is Hydro?

Hydro is an interchain liquidity management platform that leverages the Cosmos Hub for liquidity, governance, and community growth. The protocol generates value from bidders and through yield accrued by deploying liquidity into decentralized finance protocols.

As for how Hydro works, Cosmos Hub says it’s a set of smart contracts that projects can tap into to deploy protocol-owned liquidity. These deployments allow DeFi protocols to bid for liquidity and are governed by the Cosmos Hub community. Value accrued from these transactions benefits all ATOM holders.

Thyborg, a Cosmos Hub contributor Informal Systems strategist, outlined the proposal as introducing a new liquidity injection ahead of the Hydro platform launch.

Hydro is currently in testnet.

Deployment of ATOM tokens

ATOM is currently the second largest native token for liquidity on Osmosis, while it accounts for a significant portion of the total value locked on Astroport, a Cosmos liquidity protocol.

Per DefiLlama, Astroport’s TVL currently stands at approximately $28.89 million, while volume year-to-date is over $1.3 billion.

The ATOM token is also deployed across 15 dApps in the Cosmos ecosystem, including Canto, Injective, Archway, Dymension, and Kava.

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Theo Crypto News

DeFi

ZachXBT: Arbitrum lender likely an exit scam

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A new lending protocol on Arbitrum’s network may be a scam platform, says on-chain investigator ZachXBT.

Crypto sleuth ZachXBT has called out newly launched defi lender Sorta Finance as a possible exit scam, and part of a criminal group stealing funds across blockchains. According to ZachXBT, the Arbitrum-based protocol bears the same signature as past rug pulls like Magnate Finance, Solfire, and HashDAO.

The modus operandi usually involved forking Compound’s lending smart contract on Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible chains. Malicious developers would then pause the protocol and withdraw user deposits from the total value locked. 

ZachXBT said the bad actors gained legitimacy on EVM chains and accrued TVL by tapping shady audit firms. Low-tier crypto influencers were also paid to promote the platforms. The crypto-native term for this is a process called “shilling.” 

Furthermore, the crypto investigator noted that a Tornado Cash withdrawal funded an early Sorta Finance user. Tornado Cash is a U.S.-sanctioned crypto mixer used to obfuscate transactions. Lawmakers have frequently noted that criminals use the tool to hide where funds originated from. 

As of July 25, Sorta Finance had less than $100,000 in TVL. But ZachXBT stressed that similar protocols seemingly masterminded by the same person led to millions of deposits. The blockchain Sherlock Holmes surmised that individuals behind Sorta Finance and other scams have pocketed over $25 million to date. 

ZachXBT’s post highlights an emerging crypto trend that focuses on preventing blockchain crime before it happens. Individuals and collaborative entities are dedicating resources to improve on-chain safety by bootstrapping public vigilance.

Companies like Coinbase and initiatives like SEAL 911 have formed digital information sharing and analysis centers or ISAC to pool data on hacks, malicious activity, and criminal operations to better defi’s ecosystem.

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Theo Crypto News

DeFi

India to publish crypto policy discussion paper by September 2024

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Regulators in India are looking to publish a discussion paper regarding the nation’s stance on cryptocurrencies by the end of 2024.

In a recent interview, Ajay Seth, secretary of Economic Affairs, said the discussion paper will shed light on the government’s stance towards crypto. The paper will look to solicit comments from relevant stakeholders in crafting crypto policy in one of the world’s most populous countries.

“In India it (cryptocurrencies) is being regulated from the perspective of AML and EFT alone. Regulation starts and ends there, it cannot be beyond that, so should the remit be more? What should be the policy stance? All that will come out in the discussion paper.”

Ajay Seth, secretary of Economic Affairs

An inter-ministerial group comprising multiple regulators is drafting the discussion paper. The group is reportedly exploring a “wider policy for cryptocurrencies,” says Seth.

The discussion paper is expected to come out before September.

The group includes the Reserve Bank of India, the nation’s central bank, and the Securities and Exchange Board of India, its market regulator.

The RBI has historically opposed allowing cryptocurrencies in India, citing risks to the nation’s economic stability. As such, the central bank has proposed a complete ban on cryptocurrencies instead of regulating them.

Meanwhile, India’s securities regulator has portrayed a more favorable stance. In May 2024, SEBI said the nation should take a multi-agency approach to crypto legislation. The suggestions, presented to an advisory panel, outlined plans to delegate oversight to various agencies like the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India.

Further, Seth pointed to an IMF-FSB synthesis paper published in July 2023, advising against an outright ban on digital currencies. The finance ministers and central bank governors (FMCBG) from G20 nations adopted the global regulator’s proposal in October.

The IMF-FSB proposal came during India’s presidency at last year’s G20 summit. Seth hinted that those frameworks might be considered when drafting the policy paper.

Sumit Gupta, co-founder of Indian crypto exchange CoinDCX, lauded the move, stating that it is a “significant step” towards regulating the crypto sector.

“As key stakeholders in this sector, we urge the government to actively seek input from domestic businesses. Engaging with local businesses will ensure that the regulatory framework is robust, inclusive, and supportive of innovation,” Gupta told crypto.news.

India currently doesn’t have a crypto regulatory framework in place but has imposed a 30% tax on profits generated via cryptocurrencies, alongside a 1% tax deducted at the source. However, that hasn’t stopped the regulators from clamping down on the sector.

India’s Financial Intelligence Unit has mandated licensing for crypto service providers operating in the nation, and as a result, several off-shore crypto exchanges were blocked earlier this year.

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Theo Crypto News

DeFi

Mystiko Network accused of insider trading in second airdrop  

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Allegations of insider trading have marred Mystiko Network’s second airdrop after a few select wallets amassed more airdropped tokens than regular users.

The accusations started with an X post from blockchain reporter Colin Wu, who highlighted suspicious activities involving newly created addresses and large token distributions.

Notably, Mystiko Network’s second airdrop is meant to reward holders of the vXZK, the ERC-20 wrapped version of the XZK, which functions as the governance token. The team disclosed that the second airdrop was distributed, according to a snapshot of vXZK balances, from June 30 to July 17.

Interestingly, citing on-chain data, Wu revealed that on July 5, the official Mystiko-Vault Community Incentives wallet moved 20 million XZK tokens to 1,487 newly created addresses using Multisender, a crypto app that allows market participants to send tokens to multiple addresses.

The new addresses then received gas funds from major exchanges like OKX or Bybit just a day after receiving the airdrop. The community has attributed such coordinated actions to an orchestration aimed at favoring insiders, who then benefited from these substantial token allocations.

Moreover, the number of airdropped tokens received by these new addresses was notably higher than that of regular users, prompting accusations of insider trading. The event has intensified scrutiny on Mystiko Network, especially since the project secured $18 million in a funding round led by Sequoia Capital India in March.

Mystiko Network responds

In response to these allegations, the Mystiko Network team issued a statement on X, addressing the community’s concerns and outlining their steps to investigate the matter. 

Mystiko stated that they immediately launched an internal investigation upon learning about the allegations. The investigation confirmed the existence of the addresses in question and reviewed their transaction history. 

The team stressed that these addresses met the criteria for early contributors to the ecosystem, having conducted multiple transactions within the network. This marks the second airdrop controversy in two months following the lack of anti-Sybil concerns around the zkSync airdrop.

Meanwhile, the Mystiko Network has continued to attract over 150,000 users and over $276 million in transaction volume. since the mainnet launch in March 2023. 

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Theo Crypto News

DeFi

Flow soars 17% After OKX Australia listing and key network updates

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FLOW, the native token of the Layer-1 blockchain network Flow, has surged 17% over the past day, making it the top gainer among the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap.

Currently, Flow (FLOW) is trading at $0.6283, according to data from crypto.news. The token’s trading volume has increased by 361%, reaching approximately $150 million. Additionally, FLOW’s market capitalization has surged to $950 million. Despite this rise, FLOW remains 98.6% below its all-time high of $46.16, recorded on April 5.

FLOW 24-hour price chart | Source: TradingView

Flow, developed by Dapper Labs, is designed to support decentralized applications (dApps) and digital assets. The platform aims to offer a high-performance, user-friendly environment that addresses scalability without compromising decentralization. Its architecture enables developers to create secure and efficient smart contracts.

FLOW serves multiple purposes within the Flow ecosystem, including paying transaction fees, staking, and participating in network governance. The increasing number of dApps and users on the platform has driven demand for FLOW, influencing its price.

The recent surge in FLOW’s value follows a July 24 announcement by Flowverse, a discovery hub and NFT marketplace for the Flow blockchain, stating that OKX Australia has listed Flow on their exchange.

Additionally, on-chain data analyst Adrià highlighted several key developments in a July 24 announcement. These updates include the unveiling of the Crescendo Testnet, set for Aug. 14, and the BETA by NBA Top Shot reaching $100k in total value locked.

Furthermore, 3,500 contracts have been created on Flow, and a new open-source category has been introduced on Flowverse.

Other notable achievements include MFL, a web3 Football Management game on Flow, hitting 50k in secondary sales. Sean P. Robb also shared insights on scaling Ethereum applications using the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) on Flow.

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Theo Crypto News

Altcoin

Nostra CEO steps down days after NSTR token launch

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David Garai, founder of Starknet-powered crypto project Nostra, has stepped down as the CEO just days after the launch of the project’s native token, NSTR.

Nostra is a platform that allows users to lend, borrow, swap, and bridge crypto.

The project launched its token on June 17, with 100% of the total supply unlocked during the token generation (TGE) event. Meanwhile, Garai resigned as the platform’s CEO today, June 28.

“I have resigned as CEO of Nostra,” Garai said in a statement posted on X. “The great @RTPthefirst will take over as the day-to-day lead of Nostra Labs,” he added, referring to Nostra head of product Richard Thomas-Pryce.

Head of Product to lead Nostra team

Garai said that while he is leaving to take a “lil break for the first time in four years,” Thomas-Price and the team are ready to continue building Nostra.

“Over the last 2.5 years, our team has built Nostra into the largest and most profitable protocol on Starknet, earning $2.5M annually with over $180M TVL. Of course, development doesn’t stop here,” the former CEO wrote. “Under the leadership of [Thomas-Price], Nostra (and its 12 full-time builders) will continue developing the product suite for the Super App, with Nostra Earn coming soon, as well as STRK liquid staking, for which Nostra is well positioned to be the frontrunner.”

Nostra token price drops after news

Nostra launched with a total supply of 100 million NSTR tokens, 11% of which went to an airdrop targeted for the community. The project allocated 25% to the treasury, earmarked 14% for future airdrops, and handed investors and the team 26.2% and 23.8%, respectively.

There was no vesting period for the tokens.

According to data from CoinMarketCap, Nostra’s market cap is currently at $9.62 million, and its price hovers near $0.096. Garai’s resignation news has coincided with a 4% decline for NSTR. On June 17, NSTR’s price reached a high of $0.21.

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Theo Crypto News

Altcoin

Altcoins suffer heavy losses as BTC recedes 8%

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On July 5, the majority of altcoins, including PEPE, BRETT, JASMY and FLOKI, fell over 20%, as Bitcoin, the largest crypto asset, dropped 8% in 24 hour trading.

At the time of writing, the Ethereum-based meme coin, PEPE, was down 15% in the last 24 hours, and hands were exchanged at $0.0000082. In the same timeframe, the daily trading volume of crypto assets hovered around $1.29 billion. Meanwhile, its market cap had slumped by 15%, now standing at $3.46 billion.

PEPE 24-hour price chart | Source: CoinMarketCap

BRETT, the memecoin which launched four months ago, also dropped 20%, exchanging hands at $0.1143, according to data from CoinMarketCap (CMC). In the same period, the meme coin, inspired by a character from the “Boy’s Club” comic, had a daily trading volume of $71.3 million.

BRETT 24-hour price chart | Source: CoinMarketCap

Meanwhile, the crypto asset’s market cap fell to $1.13 billion, bringing it down to the 59th largest cryptocurrency per CMC.

JASMY, the native cryptocurrency that enables all the activities inside the Jasmy ecosystem, is also being affected by the recent Bitcoin price action. At press time, it was down 15% in the last 24 hours, being traded at $0.02083 with a daily trading volume of $177 million. The token’s market cap had fallen to $1 billion.

JASMY 24-hour price chart | Source: CoinMarketCap

Solana-based meme coin FLOKI was also seen in the red with a drop of 15%, trading at $0.00013 at the time of publication. Its daily trading volume stood at $309 million, while the token also witnessed a drop in its market cap to $1.25 billion. The crypto asset has fallen to 55th rank among the top 100 leading cryptocurrencies.

FLOKI 24-hour price chart | Source: CoinMarketCap

The general sharp in all these altcoins follows the decline in the leading cryptocurrency by market cap, Bitcoin, which fell by 8% in the past day to $54,426 on Friday morning. Its 24-hour lows and highs were recorded as $53,717 and $58,591, respectively.

Bitcoin’s decline in price coincided with Mt. Gox transferring 47,229 BTC worth $2.7 billion worth of to an unknown wallet. Additionally, US spot Bitcoin ETFs experienced outflows of $20.45 million, sparking investor concerns.

Bitcoin’s dominance increased by 0.58% from the previous day, reflecting a notable decrease in altcoin market activity.

Ethereum, the largest altcoin, had dropped 11% in the last 24 hours, being traded at $2860 at the time of reporting.

The sharp decline in the altcoin market is often linked to Bitcoin’s performance due to its significant influence and market dominance.

When Bitcoin experiences substantial price drops, it tends to create a ripple effect across the cryptocurrency market, leading to widespread declines in altcoin values as investor confidence wanes and market sentiment turns bearish.

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Theo Crypto News

DeFi

Ethena rises 11% following $34m proposal from BlackRock’s BUIDL distributor

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Ethena gained bullish momentum after Securitize, the distributor of BlackRock’s USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), proposed a significant investment.

Late on July 23, Ethena Labs, the company behind the USDe stablecoin, posted on X that Securitize requested a $34 million allocation in BUIDL from the company’s $45 million reserve fund. This could allow Ethena Labs to gain exposure to the U.S. Treasury funds and make “low-risk” investments and generate yield. 

Following the announcement, Ethena (ENA) surged by 11.2% and is trading at $0.5 at the time of writing. The asset’s market cap is hovering close to the $850 million mark. Notably, the ENA daily trading volume rallied by 81%, reaching $150 million.

According to data provided by Santiment, the number of whale transactions consisting of at least $100,000 worth of ENA almost doubled over the past 24 hours — rising from 16 to 31 unique transactions per day.

ENA price, whale activity, RSI and daily active addresses – July 24 | Source: Santiment

On the other hand, data from the market intelligence platform shows that the number of Ethena daily active addresses plunged by 19% over the past day — falling from 1,042 to 844 active unique wallets.

At this point, the decline in the number of active addresses while the whale activity around the asset rises shows the possibility of high price volatility due to potential short-term whale profit-taking.

Per Santiment, the ENA Relative Strength Index (RSI) is currently hovering at 46. The indicator shows that Ethena is sitting in a good spot for a price hike. However, a short price correction would be expected due to the high amount of whale transactions.

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Theo Crypto News