DeFi
Crypto ETFs and RWA tokenization serve as a bridge between DeFi and TradFi – Blueberry CEO
(Kitco News) – Ethereum (ETH) is making headlines again as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) scrambles to provide guidance in scouting Ether exchange-traded fund (ETF) candidates after months of obstruction.
The about-face comes as crypto has become a trending topic in the upcoming US election, with Democrats trying to avoid alienating much of the voting base after Trump came out in force with a pro- crypto.
But it’s not just Ether ETFs that have boosted ETH’s outlook in 2024, as the network has undergone several upgrades, including the Dencun hard fork, which has helped reduce the cost of trading on Ethereum protocols of layer two (L2), an issue that was a major problem for the network and remains an issue for transactions that take place directly on the first layer of Ethereum.
To gain insight into the latest developments in the second-largest crypto by market capitalization, Kitco Crypto spoke with Jonathan Thomas, CEO and co-founder of Blueberry Protocol, a DeFi platform that offers a non-custodial prime brokerage experience.
According to Thomas, Blueberry strives to make integration into DeFi easier for individuals and institutions, as the world moves toward widespread integration of blockchain technology into various facets of society.
The conversation took place before the SEC’s about-face on Ether ETFs, and at the time, Thomas said that “the SEC has made it clear that it has no problem taking its time with crypto approvals . While I hope an Ether ETF approval is on the horizon, I don’t think anyone can say with absolute certainty what the outcome will be.
It turns out his hope came true, as Barron’s reported that on Monday, SEC staff told the exchanges where the products would be listed that it was inclined to approve them, according to to user database
“The agency has provided feedback on the applications which, if resolved in time, could result in approvals as soon as this week,” DB said.
Addressing the recently launched Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether ETFs in Hong Kong, the effect they will have on the market and whether they would offer Chinese investors a way to re-engage with cryptos, Thomas said: “Whenever investors can have more access to cryptos, this will have a positive impact. on the ecosystem, but it is important to remember that ETFs are still not available in mainland China.
That said, he noted that “the Hong Kong market will inject new liquidity and likely have a cumulative effect on growing global attention.”
Dencun upgrade
Thomas said he was “cautiously optimistic about the effects of the Dencun upgrade on the Ethereum ecosystem.”
“Decreased transaction fees have improved the accessibility and efficiency of Ethereum for users and developers, potentially driving increased adoption and innovation within the ecosystem,” he said. “I view the Dencun upgrade as a positive development that strengthens the overall health and growth potential of the Ethereum ecosystem, providing new opportunities for projects to thrive.”
Institutions and DeFi
As the conversation shifted to the evolving crypto landscape, the arrival of institutional investors, and how traditional finance (TradFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi) will merge in the coming years, Thomas noted that “Non-custodial prime brokerage services are vital in the current crypto environment, especially with the growing awareness of ETFs and increased interest from major funds such as pensions.
“These services provide institutional investors with access to crypto markets while ensuring asset control and addressing security, regulatory and risk management concerns,” he said. “As institutional involvement grows, these brokerage services become increasingly essential to facilitating secure and efficient trading, liquidity provision, and portfolio management within crypto.”
The launch of several spot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States has opened the door to institutions will start investing in Bitcoin en masse, with Q1 13F filings with the SEC showing that as of May 9, 563 professional investment firms reported holding $3.5 billion in Bitcoin ETFs.
As more and more companies jump into the crypto waters, it’s only a matter of time before they start making their presence felt in DeFi, which will truly start the ball rolling for change in the global financial system.
“Institution-led DeFi marks a fundamental shift in finance, bringing innovation, inclusiveness and democratization,” Thomas said. “This progression should benefit both institutional entities and individual users.”
“However, it is imperative to maintain a delicate balance between institutional commitment and safeguarding the fundamental principles of decentralization, transparency and user empowerment, which constitute the foundation of the DeFi movement,” he stressed.
For institutions to properly engage in DeFi, Thomas said: “Improving regulatory clarity and strengthening DeFi infrastructure are crucial steps to incentivize greater institutional participation in the field.
“Currently, the regulatory landscape for cryptocurrencies in the United States remains ambiguous, leaving many organizations skeptical and confused about the legality of their actions,” he said. “By establishing a clear regulatory framework, institutions can gain a sense of confidence in the crypto sector, fostering an environment in which innovation can thrive.”
Thomas also said work needs to be done on the development side to ensure the level of demand that is sure to come from institutions can be met.
“DeFi protocols need to improve scalability to meet institutional demand, which can be achieved by being optimization-minded, using layer-two solutions, cross-chain messaging services, and further network enhancements main will help reduce congestion on the Ethereum network,” he said. . “Additionally, improved composability between DeFi platforms and blockchain networks facilitates seamless asset transfers and cross-chain transactions, meeting the diverse portfolio management needs of institutional investors across various protocols and ecosystems.”
An emerging trend likely to accelerate the process of institutions getting involved in the world of DeFi is the tokenization of real-world assets (RWA), which has gained momentum in recent months as $1.34 billion in vouchers of the US Treasury have already been tokenized, according to data provided by RWA.xyz.
“RWA is certainly going through a huge moment in 2024,” Thomas said. “We’ve seen incredible use cases across all industry sectors. For institutions in particular, I am confident that RWA will help bridge the gap between TradFi and DeFi.
“Additionally, RWA tokenization allows institutions to expand their investment portfolios and improve risk management by tapping into a wider range of asset classes and global markets,” he added. “Institutions have the ability to tokenize various real-world assets, spanning commercial properties, corporate bonds, infrastructure projects and trade finance tools, thereby maximizing risk-adjusted returns and enhancing the sustainability of the wallet.”
Stablecoins and a digital dollar
Another factor needed to accelerate cryptocurrency adoption in the United States is the passage of stablecoin legislation, which will likely be one of the first steps taken by the government as it moves towards the release of a digital dollar.
“Enacting stablecoin legislation in the United States represents a significant step toward implementing a digital dollar, but it is only one aspect of a broader rollout,” Thomas said . “Clear regulations for stablecoins are essential to ensure consumer protection, financial stability and regulatory compliance, potentially driving the development and adoption of digital dollar initiatives.”
While stablecoin legislation is an important first step, Thomas suggested that “the success of a digital dollar also depends on factors such as technological infrastructure, alternative structures and public acceptance.”
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure the accuracy of the information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is for informational purposes only. This is not a solicitation to trade any commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article accept no liability for loss and/or damage arising from the use of this publication.
DeFi
Haust Network Partners with Gateway to Connect to AggLayer
Dubai, United Arab Emirates, August 1, 2024, Chainwire
Consumer adoption of cryptocurrencies is a snowball that is accelerating by the day. More and more people around the world are clamoring for access to DeFi. However, the user interface and user experience of cryptocurrencies still lag behind their fundamental utility, and users lack the simple and secure access they need to truly on-chain products.
Haust Network is a network and suite of products focused on changing this paradigm and bringing DeFi to the masses. To achieve this goal, Haust Network has announced its far-reaching partnership with bridgeseasoned veterans in rapidly delivering revolutionary blockchain utilities for projects. The Gateway team empowers blockchain developers to build DAOs, NFT platforms, payment services, and more. They drive adoption of crypto primitives for individuals and institutions around the world by helping everyone build their on-chain presence.
Gateway specializes in connecting sovereign blockchains to the Aggregation Layer (AggLayer). The AggLayer is a single unified contract that powers the Ethereum bridge of many disparate blockchains, allowing them all to connect to a single unified liquidity pool. The AggLayer abstracts away the complexities of cross-chain DeFi, making tedious multi-chain transactions as easy for the end user as a single click. It’s all about creating access to DeFi, and with Polygon’s technology and the help of Gateways, Haust is doing just that.
As part of their partnership, Gateway will build an advanced zkEVM blockchain for Haust Network, leveraging its extensive experience to deploy ultra-fast sovereign applications with unmatched security, and enabling Haust Network to deliver its products to its audience.
The recently announced launch of the Haust Wallet is a Telegram mini-app that provides users with access to DeFi directly through the Telegram interface. Users who deposit funds into the wallet will have access to all standard send/receive services and generate an automatic yield on their funds. The yield is generated by Haust Network’s interconnected network of smart contracts, Haustoria, which provides automated and passive DeFi yielding.
As part of this partnership, the Haust Network development team will work closely with Gateway developers to launch Haust Network. Gateway is an implementation provider for Polygon CDK and zkEVM technology, which the Haust wallet will leverage to deliver advanced DeFi tools directly to the wallet users’ fingertips. Haust’s partnership with Gateway comes shortly after the announcement of a high-profile alliance with the Polygon community. Together, the three will work to build Haust Network and connect its products to the AggLayer.
About Haust Network
Haust Network is an application-based absolute liquidity network and will be built to be compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). Haust aims to provide native yield to all users’ assets. In Telegram’s Haust Wallet, users can spend and collect their cryptocurrencies in one easy place, at the same time. Haust operates its network of self-balancing smart contracts that interact across multiple blockchains and then efficiently funnel what has been generated to Haust users.
About Gateway
bridge is a leading white-label blockchain provider that offers no-code protocol deployment. Users can launch custom blockchains in just ten minutes. They are an implementation provider for Polygon CDK and have already helped projects like Wirex, Gnosis Pay, and PalmNFT bring new utility to the crypto landscape.
About Polygon Labs
Polygon Laboratories Polygon Labs is a software development company building and developing a network of aggregated blockchains via the AggLayer, secured by Ethereum. As a public infrastructure, the AggLayer will aggregate the user bases and liquidity of any connected chain, and leverage Ethereum as the settlement layer. Polygon Labs has also contributed to the core development of several widely adopted scaling protocols and tools for launching blockchains, including Polygon PoS, Polygon zkEVM, and Polygon Miden, which is currently under development, as well as the Polygon CDK.
Contact
Lana Kovalski
haustnetwork@gmail.com
DeFi
Ethena downplays danger of letting traders use USDe to back risky bets – DL News
- Ethena and ByBit will allow derivatives traders to use USDe as collateral.
- There is a risk in letting traders use an asset partially backed by derivatives to place more bets.
Ethena has downplayed the dangers of a new feature, which will allow traders to put up its synthetic dollar USDe as collateral when trading derivatives, which are risky bets on the prices of crypto assets.
While allowing users to underwrite their trades with yield-bearing USDe is an attractive prospect, Ethena said there is potential risk in letting traders use an asset partially backed by derivatives to place even more derivatives bets.
“We have taken this risk into account and that is why Ethena operates across more than five different sites,” said Conor Ryder, head of research at Ethena Labs. DL News.
The move comes as competition in the stablecoin sector intensifies.
In recent weeks, PayPal grown up the amount of its stablecoin PYUSD in circulation 96%, while the MakerDAO cooperative plans a rebrandingaiming to increase the supply of its DAI stablecoin to 100 billion.
US dollar growth stagnates
It comes as Ethena has lost momentum after its blockbuster launch in December.
In early July, USDe reached a record level of 3.6 billion in circulation.
That figure has now fallen by 11% to around 3.2 billion.
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New uses for USDe could boost demand for Ethena’s products.
This is where the new plan, announcement Tuesday with ByBit, one of its partner exchanges, is coming.
Ethena users create USDe by depositing Bitcoin or Ether into the protocol.
Ethena then covers these deposits with short positions – bearish bets – on the corresponding asset.
This creates a stable support for USDe, unaffected by price fluctuations in Bitcoin or Ether.
Mitigate risks
While using USDe as collateral for derivatives trading is proving popular, it is unclear what the effects will be if the cryptocurrency market experiences major fluctuations.
Using derivatives as collateral to place more bets has already had disastrous effects.
In June 2022, Lido’s liquid staking token stETH broke its peg to Ether following the fallout from the Terra collapse.
Many traders who used looping leverage to increase their stETH staking yields were liquidated, creating a cascade that caused the price of Ether to drop by more than 43%.
Ethena Labs founder Guy Young said: DL News His office and his partners have taken many precautions.
Ethena spreads bearish bets supporting the USDe across the five exchanges it partners with.
According to Ethena, 48% of short positions supporting USDe are on Binance, 23% on ByBit, 20% on OKX, 5% on Deribit, and 1% on Bitget. website.
In doing so, Ethena aims to minimize the impact of an unforeseen event on a stock market.
The same theory applies to the distribution of risks across different supporting assets.
Fifty percent of USDe is backed by Bitcoin, 30% by Ether, 11% by Ether liquid staking tokens, and 8% by Tether’s USDT stablecoin.
Previous reviews
Ethena has already been criticised regarding the risks associated with USDe.
Some have compared USDe to TerraUSD, an undercollateralized stablecoin that collapsed in 2022.
“It’s not a good design for long-term stability,” said Austin Campbell, an assistant professor at Columbia Business School. said as the USDe launch approaches.
Young replied to critics, saying the industry needs to be more diligent and careful when “marketing products to users who might not understand them as well as we do.”
Ethena has since added a disclaimer on its website stating that USDe is not the same as a fiat stablecoin like USDC or USDT.
“This means that the risks involved are inherently different,” the project says on its website.
Tim Craig is DL News DeFi correspondent based in Edinburgh. Feel free to share your tips with us at tim@dlnews.com.
DeFi
Cryptocurrency and defi firms lost $266 million to hackers in July
In July 2024, the cryptocurrency industry suffered a series of devastating attacks, resulting in losses amounting to approximately $266 million.
Blockchain Research Firm Peck Shield revealed in an X post On August 1, attacks on decentralized protocols in July reached $266 million, a 51% increase from $176 million reported in June.
The most significant breach last month involved WazirX, one of India’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, which lost $230 million in what appears to be a highly sophisticated attack by North Korean hackers. The attack was a major blow to the stock market, leading to a break in withdrawals. Subsequently, WazirX launched a program in order to recover the funds.
Another notable incident involved Compound Finance, a decentralized lending protocol, which suffered a governance attack by a group known as the “Golden Boys,” who passed a proposal who allocated 499,000 COMP tokens – valued at $24 million – to a vault under their control.
The cross-chain liquidity aggregation protocol LI.FI also fell victim On July 16, a hack resulted in losses of $9.73 million. Additionally, Bittensor, a decentralized machine learning network, was one of the first protocols to suffer an exploit last month, loming $8 million on July 3 due to an attack targeting its staking mechanism.
Meanwhile, Rho Markets, a lending protocol, suffered a $7.6 million breach. However, in an interesting twist, the exploiters research to return the stolen funds, claiming the incident was not a hack.
July 31, reports The Terra blockchain protocol was also hacked, resulting in a loss of $6.8 million across multiple cryptocurrencies. As crypto.news reported, the attack exploited a reentrancy vulnerability that had been identified a few months ago.
Dough Finance, a liquidity protocol, lost $1.8 million in Ethereum (ETH) and USD Coin (USDC) to a flash loan attack on July 12. Similarly, Minterest, a lending and borrowing protocol, saw a loss of $1.4 million due to exchange rate manipulation in one of its markets.
Decentralized staking platform MonoSwap also reported a loss of $1.3 million following an attack that allowed the perpetrators to withdraw the liquidity staked on the protocol. Finally, Delta Prime, another decentralized finance platform, suffered a $1 million breach, although $900,000 of the stolen funds was later recovered.
DeFi
The Rise of Bitcoin DeFi: Then and Now
The convergence of Bitcoin’s robust security and Layer 2 scaling solutions has catalyzed the emergence of a vibrant DeFi ecosystem.
By expanding Bitcoin’s utility beyond simple peer-to-peer payments, these advancements have opened up a new frontier of financial possibilities, allowing users to participate in decentralized lending, trading, and other complex smart contract operations on Bitcoin.
Read on to learn about the rise of Bitcoin-based decentralized finance and how the space has expanded to accommodate a new generation of native assets and features.
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What is DeFi?
Decentralized finance (DeFi) represents a paradigm shift in financial services, offering internet-based financial products such as trading, lending, and borrowing through the use of decentralized public blockchains.
By implementing blockchains, smart contracts, and digital assets, DeFi protocols provide financial services through a decentralized ecosystem, where participants do not have to deal with intermediaries when transacting.
What is Bitcoin DeFi?
The inherent limitations of the Bitcoin mainchain in supporting the intricacies of decentralized finance have created the need to develop smart contract-based Layer 2 solutions.
Additionally, the advent of the Ordinals protocol in 2023, which facilitated the emergence of fungible token standards such as BRC-20 and Runes, catalyzed the growth of DeFi on the Bitcoin blockchain.
This expansion in protocol diversity has broadened the applications of the world’s leading cryptocurrency network beyond the core base-layer use cases around value preservation and transactional capabilities.
Therefore, Bitcoin DeFi has become a nascent sector within the digital asset market, after previously being a missing essential part of the Bitcoin ecosystem.
Bitcoin DeFi in its early days
Integrating decentralized finance (DeFi) concepts into the Bitcoin ecosystem has been a journey of innovation and perseverance. Early attempts to bridge the gap between Bitcoin’s fundamental simplicity and DeFi’s complexities have spawned pioneering projects that, while laying essential foundations, have also encountered significant obstacles.
Colored coins
Colored coins represented an early foray into tokenizing real-world assets on the Bitcoin blockchain. By leveraging the existing network to track ownership of assets ranging from stocks to real estate, this approach highlighted Bitcoin’s potential as a platform beyond digital currency. However, scalability and practical implementation challenges have limited its widespread adoption.
Counterpart
Building on the colored coins, Counterparty has become a platform for creating and trading digital assets, including non-fungible tokens (NFTs), on Bitcoin.
The introduction of popular projects like Rare Pepe NFTs has demonstrated the growing appeal of digital collectibles. However, constraints around user experience and network efficiency have hampered its full potential.
These early experiments, while not fully realizing their ambitions, served as valuable stepping stones, informing Bitcoin DeFi’s subsequent developments. Their challenges highlighted the need for more sophisticated infrastructure and protocols to harness the full potential of decentralized finance on the Bitcoin network.
Bitcoin DeFi Today
Today, building DeFi applications on Bitcoin is primarily done in the realm of Layer 2 (L2) networks. This architectural choice is motivated by the limitations of Bitcoin’s base layer in supporting complex programmable smart contracts.
Bitcoin’s original design prioritized security and decentralization over programmability, making it difficult to develop sophisticated DeFi protocols directly on its blockchain. However, the recent emergence of protocols like Ordinals, BRC-20, and Runes, while not DeFi in their own right, has sparked possibilities for future DeFi-like applications on the main chain.
In contrast, L2 solutions offer a scalable and programmable environment built on Bitcoin, enabling the creation of various DeFi products.
By expanding Bitcoin’s capabilities without compromising its core principles, L2s have become the preferred platform for developers looking to build DeFi applications that encompass trading, lending, staking, and more.
Leading L2 networks such as Lightning Network, Rootstock, Stacks, and Build on Bitcoin provide the infrastructure for these efforts. Some of these L2s have even introduced their own native tokens to the network, further expanding Bitcoin’s DeFi ecosystem.
Essentially, while Bitcoin’s core layer presents challenges for DeFi development, its security and decentralization have provided a foundational layer for the innovative L2 landscape to thrive.
Bitcoin Layer 2 offers a promising path to building a robust and thriving Bitcoin-based DeFi ecosystem that offers trading, staking, lending, and borrowing. All you need is a DeFi Wallet like Xverse to access the new world of decentralized financial services secured by Bitcoin.
Conclusion
The integration of DeFi principles into the Bitcoin ecosystem, primarily facilitated by Layer 2 solutions, marks a significant evolution in the digital asset landscape.
Building on the foundational work of pioneers like Colored Coins and Counterparty, the industry has evolved into more sophisticated platforms like Rootstock, Stacks, and Build on Bitcoin to create a thriving Bitcoin-powered DeFi ecosystem.
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