Donovan Choy

Compound Protocol is considering a major shift in its revenue distribution following a recent governance fiasco.&nbsp;



The protocol plans to introduce a fee switch that will allocate 30% of protocol reserves to staked COMP token holders through a new product called stCOMP.&nbsp;



The <a href="https://www.comp.xyz/t/alphagrowth-stake-compound-product/5478">proposal</a>, led by Compound head of growth Bryan Colligan, aims to enhance the financial utility and attractiveness of COMP tokens by providing yield-bearing opportunities. Like all DeFi lending protocols, Compound’s revenues are generated from fees charged to loan borrowers. A portion of these fee revenues are typically paid to liquidity providers to incentivize protocol liquidity. However, <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/comp">COMP</a> token holders currently do not receive a share of these revenues — as is common with many DeFi protocols, such as Uniswap.



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/uniswap-token-pumps-fee-switch-proposal">Uniswap token pumps following governance fee switch proposal</a>



Ironically, the discussions to return revenue to token holders follow a botched governance attempt to do the same.



Compound was widely perceived as being “governance attacked” two days ago by an anonymous delegate group by the name of the Golden Boys. Its de facto leader “Humpy” had <a href="https://etherscan.io/tx/0x64ba499fcbcf9fb750f179d0f350b4a4128da89885224e5f63181289c442d414">acquired</a> $4.5 million worth of COMP from ByBit exchange 88 days ago, which was then used to <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research/issue/post_3b3eab17-89d8-44b0-a8bc-4e61ab1f4c30">vote in a proposal</a> at a narrow margin of 52%.



Proposal 289 would have approved the payment of 499,000 COMP ($24 million) to a vault controlled by the Golden Boys for use in a DeFi strategy where users could lock up their COMP in a <a href="https://app.balancer.fi/#/ethereum/pool/0x56bc9d9987edec2fc6e1990e27af4a0987b53096000200000000000000000686">Balancer pool</a> to generate yield.



The governance vote was seen as an illegitimate attack as it was the third attempt by the Golden Boys to pass such a vote. There had been two previously failed proposals on <a href="https://link.mail.beehiiv.com/ss/c/u001.mb4TPkyM6AxfTE9x1LWQFpPGYg-_ZXQ0xbVrGz0mDQISz0ORIk-cARcBxlhbgC_yeciNJstJUY2O87wrRiFkWOY4kUgI04AvZbeTSZiJN13JRTb_e6XCaHlxXJtY_xNJ2GbNzphiinpB1a38hKzZNh9497VARM1IMh5HH1nkZPZ3Brd5WGC4SWojNxBh9Fvy1rDNR_5gBW8mad3wPN1fGstdOUAPTZNn1LobX9tw_9g/48g/pw_Cq46mTDe7hTmFkMX6cg/h24/h001.dpBOs90xFoH_18NoO0WVujixYfXkkAEP2ZOEVRKW8fU">May 6 </a>and<a href="https://link.mail.beehiiv.com/ss/c/u001.cimPrdOxg4th-m1rJvZlpf59e0LJGMkpMMP-nBnAt5wOcpb7_3Z_EjcEBAob2fFFcPxsjI6Tc-iO9OdjK70Z67qJeGZn1jJAL6tiEawdDCtqdRp70RWab9nY6YHtohtKVD78kfdNxt_to_46G8cmncNBTGwtl4ypBEXVVhPijfq7tfwan3tgzoF2M7Sokooow-XpxkCkJRpWy9TQG9So9-e23PbIS0zbyoX9tgIB1uo/48g/pw_Cq46mTDe7hTmFkMX6cg/h25/h001.SKnCddXqmSStAqu0FeFaLbDiWYifMyXH4mNaQZUyY9M"> July 19</a> that OpenZeppelin had flagged as a potential “coordinated governance attack.”&nbsp;



Now it appears this episode of DAO drama will have a happy ending after all, as DAO stakeholders find an amicable solution.



Based on the latest forum <a href="https://www.comp.xyz/t/alphagrowth-stake-compound-product/5478">proposal</a>, the DAO has struck a truce with the Golden Boys to return the approved funds from Proposal 289 and negate the previous onchain vote.



In exchange, the DAO would consider a revenue-sharing program in the form of a new staking product, stCOMP, that was already on the protocol’s roadmap.



“We’re considering a yield-bearing aspect for COMP token holders and also how to increase liquidity around COMP pools for downside protection,” Colligan told Blockworks. “Right now, we’re speaking to three or four different vendors that we&#8217;re potentially running a trial with,” he said.



Governance delegates from Wintermute, Consensys and OpenZeppelin were seen voicing their approval of the truce proposal.



Before the truce was reached, the DAO also sought to pass a subsequent <a href="https://compound.finance/governance/proposals/290">proposal</a> that would introduce a two-day time-lock delay on future fund approvals. As part of the agreement with the Golden Boys, this proposal has also been canceled.



The peaceful resolution of this conflict has been well received by markets. The token price of COMP has recovered to its previous levels of $51.8, before the governance debacle.



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Compound

Compound considers fee redistribution after $24M COMP truce

Sebastian Sinclair

A federal judge in California denied a motion on Thursday to dismiss a case against key figures in Compound Labs and its associated entities, following allegations they violated financial regulations by selling unregistered securities in the form of COMP governance tokens.



Plaintiffs in the case, initially filed 13 months ago, argue those in control of Compound effectively acted as unregistered &#8220;sellers&#8221; of securities under their soliciting role.



&#8220;They assert one cause of action against a range of defendants for violation of sections 5 and 12(a) of the Securities Act of 1933,&#8221; according to a court filing in the US District Court of Northern California on Tuesday.&nbsp;



They’re also unhappy with the price of the tokens, which have since fallen significantly from a peak in May 2021, when it reached more than $850. COMP is currently trading at a little over $38, down more than 95% from its all-time high.



The individual defendants include Compound Labs&#8217; co-founders Robert Leshner and Geoffrey Hayes. Associated entities include Bain Capital Ventures, Polychain Academy, AH Capital Management, Paradigm Operations and Gauntlet Networks.



Collectively, these entities allegedly control a significant portion of the <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/comp">COMP</a> token voting power, per the filing. It’s alleged fewer than ten people control over 50% of COMP tokens and, therefore, have significant influence over the protocol’s governance.



Blockworks reached out to Leshner and Compound representatives but has yet to receive a response.



Compound was initially created by Hayes and Leshner in 2017 with its Mainnet launching a year later. The protocol allows users to lend and borrow crypto, relying on smart contracts to handle operations.



Each COMP token holder can suggest and vote on modifications to the protocol, including the way its reserves and treasury are managed. A single COMP token equates to one vote, purportedly allowing for democratic decision-making.&nbsp;



If a token holder chooses not to participate in voting personally, they can assign their voting rights to another holder wanting to be actively involved.



The court found that the plaintiffs had &#8220;plausibly alleged&#8221; that each defendant solicited the public to purchase COMP tokens, thereby denying the motion to dismiss the case. A case management conference is scheduled for Oct. 10.



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Securities lawsuit against Compound founders, investors to proceed

Jack Kubinec

As DeFi adoption fails to keep pace with its technological sophistication, the question of whether TradFi institutions are DeFi’s competition — or its white knight —&nbsp;is emerging.



At the Permissionless conference in Austin, Texas, on Tuesday, Compound founder Robert Leshner was unequivocal.



“I have a strong view here,” Leshner said. “The institutions aren’t coming.”



Leshner, now the CEO of blockchain finance company Superstate, argued that TradFi institutions want to use DeFi tech without buying into the token economy on which the ecosystem was built. In his view, DeFi’s onboarding of legacy financial firms will require the tokenization of traditional finance assets and a surrender on crypto-native assets.



“This is the big divide that is going to define the next ten years of DeFi,” Leshner said.



Pushing back, Blockworks co-founder Michael Ippolito pointed out that some TradFi institutions have already entered DeFi with crypto asset backing, noting <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/visa-usdc-solana-stablecoin-expansion">Visa’s use of the Solana blockchain</a> for settlement on the credit card giant’s USDC payment program.



The exchange perhaps highlighted a tension at the conference: that the crypto world both needs <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/permissionless-day-one">institutional adoption</a> and regards it with suspicion.&nbsp;



When asked about Uniswap’s philosophy on its users, Mary-Catherine Lader, the DEX’s chief operating officer, said Uniswap is currently focused on its crypto-native users while building a product that can provide value to institutions in the future.&nbsp;



“[Uniswap is] not putting on suits and going to pitch JPMorgan tomorrow,” Lader said.



“No offense to anyone who’s from JPMorgan,” Ippolito added after a short pause, prompting a laugh from the audience.



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Compound founder Leshner on DeFi: ‘The institutions aren’t coming’

Andrew Thurman

During the month of July, some of the largest and oldest assets in the DeFi space have experienced significant growth. However, multiple crypto funds appear to be capitalizing on this surge to trim their positions rather than increasing them.



Index Coop’s DPI (DeFi Pulse Index), a market cap-weighted DeFi index fund, is up 25% on the month. The leading contributors to this growth are assets such as MakerDAO’s MKR, up 70% on a 30-day basis, and Synthetix’s SNX, up 38%.&nbsp;



The rise comes after months — if not years — of languid price action with many top names, such as Compound’s COMP, falling as much as 95% peak-to-trough from 2021 highs. The DPI has also outperformed majors such as ETH and BTC, which are largely flat on the month.&nbsp;



Much of the recent price action is attributable to traders speculating on tokenomic updates and new products from DeFi development teams. DeFi mainstays such as Curve and Aave have both launched stablecoins, while Synthetix has released a host of new products. Chainlink recently unveiled a new cross-chain interoperability protocol, and MakerDAO has begun pursuing a major strategy overhaul led by founder Rune Christensen.&nbsp;



The number of new wallets and users is also on the rise for many DeFi assets. According to a Dune <a href="https://dune.com/jefftshaw/Balancer">dashboard</a>, Uniswap’s monthly active users are up significantly from June 2022 lows, and the number of holders for COMP, AAVE and SNX are at or near all-time highs, per Nansen data.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Crypto funds cut positions</h2>



Despite the bullish market action and the new developments from many projects, trading firms and venture capital funds overwhelmingly appear to be selling into the DeFi bounce, according to on-chain data.&nbsp;



One wallet, <a href="https://pro.nansen.ai/wallet-profiler?address=0x2efb50e952580f4ff32d8d2122853432bbf2e204">labeled</a> Jump trading by Nansen, controls .5% of the AAVE circulating supply. It has offloaded 12% of that position — worth $500,000 — to an ancillary <a href="https://debank.com/profile/0x4f86c2f941aa8d6d5eb0368b60e3358cc0f33317/history">address</a> in the past 30 days. This address in turn sends the tokens to market maker Wintermute in batches — a possible sign of over-the-counter deals.&nbsp;



The same Jump addresses also appear to have offloaded 62,000 COMP tokens worth $4.3 million, and 200,000 UNI worth $11.8 million.&nbsp;



The presence of venture capital selling has been most pronounced in MKR, however. Over the past month investing giant a16z has offloaded over 24,000 tokens, worth over $30 million, after the <a href="https://pro.nansen.ai/wallet-profiler-for-token?address=0x05e793ce0c6027323ac150f6d45c2344d28b6019&amp;token_address=0x9f8f72aa9304c8b593d555f12ef6589cc3a579a2">address</a> in question first received tokens over 4 years ago. Much like Jump, an a16z address sends to <a href="https://etherscan.io/address/0x127941a7741bf11b0391fe995beb60852e5ec13f">intermediary</a> <a href="https://etherscan.io/address/0x1a82173fe17904c520a3596f090d0aaef25b4a0a">wallets</a> before sending to Coinbase, presumably to sell. 



In addition to a16z, Parafi Capital has also <a href="https://platform.arkhamintelligence.com/explorer/entity/parafi-capital">sent</a> 13,000 tokens to Coinbase Custody throughout the month of July. However, earlier today they withdrew 1,300 tokens, implying at least a portion of deposits were not sold. It is impossible to tell if tokens deposited to centralized exchanges are sold.



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Aave

DeFi surging despite possible VC sell pressure

Shalini Nagarajan

Macauley Peterson

Apple just released a new high-yield deposit account in partnership with Goldman Sachs, and users are already excited that it promises a better rate than most banks. But what about crypto and DeFi?



The feature enables Apple Card users to grow their Daily Cash rewards — the cashback rewards for using the card — by placing them in a savings account that offers an annual percentage yield (APY) of 4.15%.



Apple&#8217;s rate is more than 10x the national average, <a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2023/04/apple-cards-new-high-yield-savings-account-is-now-available-offering-a-4-point-15-percent-apy/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Apple said</a>, citing data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Users can set up their savings accounts with no minimum deposits and no minimum balance requirements.



For comparison, Coinbase offers <a href="https://www.coinbase.com/learn/tips-and-tutorials/how-to-earn-crypto-rewards#:~:text=Via%20the%20main%20Coinbase%20app,com%2Fstaking%20to%20learn%20more." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">up to 6%</a> APY on staking certain assets including ETH, Tezos or Cosmos. Bybit also offers <a href="https://www.bybit.com/en-US/earn/home/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">up to 6%</a> APY on staked ETH.&nbsp;



But those are volatile crypto assets for which some of the yield can be a result of token inflation. It’s not an apple to Apple comparison.



Limiting a search for crypto yields to stablecoins, we can find Crypto.com offering <a href="https://crypto.com/product-news/crypto-earn-updates-available-tokens" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">4.5%</a> on USDC, DAI and USDT, with a 3-month lockup, but only if customers additionally stake a balance of the exchange’s CRO token.



<a href="https://blockworks.co/category/defi">DeFi</a> has the advantage of global permissionless access, but basic savings yields are generally lower than those from Apple’s product, although the latter is currently available to only US-based users.



Borrowing and lending protocols Aave and Compound have variable supply rates currently around 2%, according to <a href="https://defiprime.com/defi-rates" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">defiprime</a>, while relative newcomer <a href="https://www.notional.finance/lend" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Notional Finance</a>, offers fixed rate lending of DAI and USDC at between 5.9% and 6% with a 3-month term.



Apple’s offering is more flexible and benefits from FDIC insurance, while DeFi alternatives are uninsured by default. To protect against certain smart contract risks, via insurance protocol <a href="https://app.nexusmutual.io/cover" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nexus Mutual</a>, will set you back about 1.5-2% annually for Compound and Aave. And there is currently no capacity available to insure Notional Finance positions.



Aside from its global reach, with no need to jump through any hoops to open an account, DeFi has one other feature users may appreciate: deposits can simultaneously be used as collateral to borrow.



For instance, a USDC deposit on Compound can be used to borrow ETH which can then be staked elsewhere to earn a return. That can make the yields available more competitive, but also introduces complexity, such as the need to monitor collateral ratios to ensure there’s no risk of liquidation and to take on additional smart contract risk.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Apples to others comparison</h2>



Rick McCracken, a Cardano stake pool operator, said on <a href="https://twitter.com/RichardMcCrackn/status/1648052395245436928" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Twitter</a> that it was hard to pass up on Apple’s 4.15% APY as he was already using Apple cashback.



“Now I have to see if I am earning better returns on my crypto rewards on the Coinbase card or if this [Apple] deal is better,” he said.



Apple Card users don’t have to rely only on their cashback rewards as a base to grow their returns. They can also add money to this savings account directly from an existing bank account, meaning you can transfer a chunk of funds if you wish to do so.



“Our goal is to build tools that help users lead healthier financial lives, and building Savings into Apple Card in Wallet enables them to spend, send, and save Daily Cash directly and seamlessly — all from one place,” Jennifer Bailey, vice president of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet, said in a statement.



Apple’s announcement follows customers deciding to move their funds from smaller lenders to banking giants after the failures of Signature Bank and Silicon Valley Bank.



Although Apple’s product doesn’t provide the highest available APY, it is useful for those who already have Daily Cash from their use of Apple Card. Still, Apple warned that the APY may change at any time.



For those new to crypto, finding yields competitive to Apple’s savings product, without taking degen-like risks, is a challenge — especially in a macro environment where <a href="https://ycharts.com/indicators/3_month_t_bill" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">3-month Treasury bonds</a> are at 5%. But the DeFi landscape is evolving fast, and consumer-focused offerings with low fees and features like built-in insurance are sure to follow.



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How Does Apple Card’s New Savings Account Compare to Crypto?

Bessie Liu

<div id="highlights-block_6324cf9fe39fe" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Supported ERC-20 digital tokens can be used to borrow USD and USDC at a fixed 6% APR</li>
 <li>Client collateral will not be lent out and will stay in the Compound Treasury</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Compound Treasury — powered by the algorithmic, autonomous interest rate protocol Compound Labs — launched a new feature that allows institutions to borrow via digital assets as collateral.



Authorized institutions can use supported ERC-20 digital assets, including bitcoin and ether, as collateral to borrow USD and USDC at a fixed rate starting at a 6% annual percentage rate (APR). No repayment schedules are necessary as long as the loan remains overcollateralized.&nbsp;



Compound Treasury launched over a year ago with the vision to become “the bridge for non-crypto financial institutions to deliver the core benefits of DeFi to the next billion users.”



At the time, fintech clients, crypto companies and banks could wire US dollars into its Compound Treasury accounts and earn up to 4% in yields each year, Robert Leshner, founder of Compound Finance, told Blockworks.



“Now in addition to accepting dollars and paying institutions a yield, we&#8217;re going to allow institutions to borrow from Compound Treasury,” Leshner said.



Compound Treasury is monitored by a rating agency and recently <a href="https://medium.com/compound-finance/compound-treasury-sp-credit-rating-897aff3a6f8c" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">received a B- credit rating </a>from S&amp;P Global, giving it an “external source of accountability,” Lesnher said. Additionally, Leshner said client collateral would not be rehypothecated, ideally preventing Celcius-like incidents from reoccurring.



“When we receive ether or bitcoin, it will stay in the Compound Treasury — so we will never lend out collateral assets,” he said.&nbsp;



In traditional CeFi businesses, risk management of client assets is often complex and can be miscalculated, but Leshner says that Compound Treasury will be relying on the Compound protocol to offer the service.



“If there are more customers supplying liquidity to Compound Treasury than there are borrowers, we put the excess in the Compound Protocol,” he said. “Then when there’s more borrower demand, then there are customers providing liquidity and earning yield, we will source liquidity from the Compound Protocol.”



As the space evolves, Leshner believes it is important that non-crypto financial institutions lean into the benefits of DeFi.&nbsp;



“Over time more traditional businesses are going to use DeFi protocols to back end their businesses instead of using spreadsheets and paper contracts —I think it’s just a precursor of where the industry will move towards.”



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Compound Is Marrying a CeFi Business Model With a DeFi Protocol

<div id="highlights-block_6308dd97b6629" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>In Compound III, collateral will remain the property of the supplier</li>
 <li>Users can borrow USDC using ETH, WBTC, LINK, UNI, and COMP as collateral</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



DeFi developer Compound Labs has officially launched Compound III, a streamlined version of the protocol emphasizing security, efficiency and user experience.



The governance <a href="https://compound.finance/governance/proposals/116" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">proposal</a> to initialize Compound III was first submitted on August 18, 2022, and received overwhelmingly positive support from governance, receiving 100% approval.



“The most profound change was to move away from a pooled-risk model, where users can borrow any asset,” Robert Leshner founder of Compound Finance <a href="https://medium.com/compound-finance/compound-iii-is-live-a7983dee7e60" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">wrote</a> in a blog post.



&#8220;Safer risk management in crypto has been a thesis that is emerging as a result of opaque financial practices in CeFi,&#8221; Paul Veradittakit, General Partner at Pantera Capital, told Blockworks. 



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">&#8220;Continued enhancement of DeFi risk practices will continue to demonstrate DeFi&#8217;s resilience in this bear market and in the next bull market,&#8221; Veradittakit said.</blockquote>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Building on past Compound versions</h3>



Compound was first launched in September 2018 and is an interest rate protocol which pioneered the on-chain borrowing and lending concept. Users can earn interest on deposited funds without a third party intervening. Borrowers can take out loans against their cryptoassets deposited with the protocol. 



The second version of Compound launched in May 2019, introducing liquid tokenized collateral in the form of cTokens to the protocol. It was also the turning point for the protocol to become community-governed via COMP, with a governance system that has been widely adopted by other protocols and DAOs.&nbsp;



In the first two versions of the protocol, with a pooled-risk model, one single bad asset could theoretically drain all assets from the protocol because collateral could be re-used. That’s why Compound has always limited the number of asset types it supports.



In the latest version, cTokens are no more, and collateral remains the property of the supplier, Leshner said.



“Compound III features a single borrowable asset. When you supply collateral, it remains your property. It can never be withdrawn by other users except during liquidation,” he said.



The latest version of Compound will allow its users to borrow USDC using ETH, WBTC, LINK, UNI, and COMP as collateral.



“While you won’t earn interest on collateral anymore, you’ll be able to borrow more; with less risk of liquidation and lower liquidation penalties; while spending less on gas,” Leshner said.



The new version launched with a Business Source License (BSL), which is meant to limit the ability of other teams to fork the protocol’s open-source code without governance approval. This scheme has been effective for Uniswap Labs which launched its V3 under the same license. Both Uniswap and Compound saw dozens of forks using their second iteration with more permissive licensing.



Jeremy Allaire, CEO of Circle, <a href="https://twitter.com/jerallaire/status/1563185488131149829" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">praised</a> Compound III on Twitter as “simpler, safer, more efficient, and provides one of the best possible platforms for USDC borrowing.”



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Borrowing

With Compound III Launch, DeFi Pioneer Emphasizes Security

<div id="highlights-block_1b74c1d73c9f0ad738c7fe439099684d" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Aave- and Compound-based stablecoin rates launched on Voltz earlier last month</li>
 <li>Traders can de-risk their portfolio by &#8220;locking in&#8221; a fixed interest rate</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



With Ethereum&#8217;s anticipated transition from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/ethereum-activates-grey-glacier-hard-fork-merge-likely-in-september/">expected to occur</a> in a few months, Voltz protocol is offering traders a new way to speculate returns with interest rate swaps (IRS).



The company announced today that staked ether from Lido (stETH) and Rocket Pool (rETH) will join its growing trading pool that currently comprises Aave- and Compound-based stablecoin rates. Each pool will have a liquidity provider margin cap of $1.5 million, and the amount will gradually increase over time.&nbsp;



In traditional finance (TradFi), an IRS involves two counterparties that agree to exchange future interest payments with each other. Traders acknowledge that they prefer each other&#8217;s interest rates and enter a contract to switch future interest payments.&nbsp;



An IRS can be used to speculate, manage credit risks and hedge against losses — it is a necessary tool for many everyday financial services. Voltz aims to offer IRS services for DeFi trading, which is known to be volatile in nature.&nbsp;



“What interest rate swaps unlock at the most macro level is it provides an ability to transition from something that&#8217;s variable, to something that&#8217;s stable,” Simon Jones, CEO of Voltz, told Blockworks.



Voltz is an automated market maker (AMM) designed to simulate IRS on the blockchain, making it synthetic and adaptable to new pools and assets — this will likely allow for a wide range of financial products and trading strategies to be built on the protocol.



“When The Merge occurs, the rates of return a validator node generates are going to change, and that is going to translate into a change in the value of [ether],” Jones said. “What we’re doing by launching these pools is enabling people to take specific views and to start trading those market views in a synthetic way.”



Presently, IRS operations are limited. Other than Voltz, only a few other protocols are in the IRS space, including: Element Fi, Strips, Pendle, Tempus and Swivel, all of which are still very new to DeFi (decentralized finance).



For Jones, the relatively untapped market of IRS protocols serves as a great opportunity for his team to design a product that is “actually providing fundamental value.”



“One of the big design decisions we made was to make the protocol as composable as possible. Everything is on-chain, which enables us to be a super low-level primitive that a lot of products are built on top,” Jones said. “If you believe a portion of rates trading will go through smart contract-based markets in the future, the long-term opportunity for Voltz is to displace all of the trading activity in interest rate swaps that takes place even in traditional finance.”



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Interest Rate Swap Protocol Voltz Onboards Lido and Rocket Pool

Jocelyn Yang

<div id="highlights-block_62b19d97ac78c" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>USD Coin interest rates are lower than four-week Treasury bills amid the crisis</li>
 <li>Despite a bear market, analysts think going forward the rates of DeFi will come closer to being in-line with, if not above, traditional markets</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



The DeFi space has seen a sharp drop off as the market continued to be battered following <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/celsius-withdrawal-halt-reveals-run-risks-on-other-crypto-banks/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Celsius</a>&#8216; liquidity crisis and the butterfly effect going on this week. The ability to generate low-risk yield in DeFi (decentralized finance) has fallen, followed by an outflow of liquidity, hitting stablecoins&#8217; interest rates in the lending market. 



USD Coin (USDC) interest rates on money market protocol <a href="https://app.aave.com/markets/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Aave</a> stand at 0.76% and on <a href="https://compound.finance/markets" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Compound</a> at 0.24% as of Tuesday at 6:00 am ET — both lower than the latest 1.18% yield on <a href="https://ycharts.com/indicators/4_week_treasury_bill_rate#:~:text=4%20Week%20Treasury%20Bill%20Rate%20is%20at%201.16%25%2C%20compared%20to,long%20term%20average%20of%201.15%25." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">four-week Treasury bill</a> — reversing the scene from the bull market. 



“Some people called it a utopian virtuous cycle. Others just called it greed,” analyst Ben Giovo <a href="https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/is-defi-ded" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">wrote</a> in Bankless’ newsletter. “The thing is: reflexivity cuts both ways.”



On-chain activity fell as prices dropped, which made deploying capital in DeFi less attractive as returns are lower, he explained in the post. 



In May, the top four stablecoins market capitalization <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/top-stablecoins-shed-7b-in-may-as-traders-redeem-tokens-en-masse/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">fell by nearly $7 billion</a> as investors looked to redeem their tokens for cash. After all, why take the risk of holding stablecoins at all, if there’s nowhere to generate a safe yield in excess of the traditionally risk-free rate?



Yet, Giovo wasn’t overly concerned, arguing that “DeFi lenders are intersecting with meatspace businesses to get this jack out of its box.”



Dustin Teander, research analyst at Messari, agreed, thinking the lower deposit rates compared to traditional markets are due to a smaller serviceable market rather than a structural shortcoming of the protocols. 



“At its present state, the business of DeFi lending is largely limited to funding shorter-term, speculative trading leverage,” he told Blockworks. During a bull market, borrowers were willing to pay up for leverage. But now, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/crashing-prices-expose-bitcoin-mining-industrys-addiction-to-leverage/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">deleveraging is de rigueur</a>.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“As we have seen prices decline, the demand for leverage and borrowing has significantly pulled back, ultimately lowering deposit rates in the process.”</blockquote>



Teander believes that going forward, the rates of DeFi will “come closer to being in-line, if not above, traditional markets&#8221; along with the expansion of serviceable markets. He highlighted protocols have already built lending businesses that are more integrated with traditional markets, such as MakerDAO’s real-world asset lending and <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/aave-arc-to-provide-30-financial-institutions-access-to-private-pools-of-defi-liquidity/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Aave’s Arc</a> protocol. 



“Over time, this will open the door for DeFi deposit rates to decouple away from being purely driven by speculative trading demand and move to be more commerce-driven as seen in traditional markets,” he said.



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Is There a Silver Lining in DeFi Yield Inversion?

<div id="highlights-block_62965ba34bd01" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>The no-loss lottery has been the target of a politically-motivated lawsuit from a former staffer for Elizabeth Warren</li>
 <li>PoolTogether’s NFTs have so far raised 463 ETH</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



DeFi protocol PoolTogether, which offers prize-linked savings accounts, has been embroiled in a class action lawsuit since last October. But now, co-founder Leighton Cusack is raising defense funds in a novel way with a crypto twist — using NFTs.



Defendants include Delaware-based ​​PoolTogether Inc., founded by Cusack, but also Cusack personally, plus investors in the protocol such as venture capital funds Dragonfly, Nascent and Galaxy Digital. The “Pooly NFT” (non-fungible token) comes in a series of 1,110, available at three donation levels. The goal is to raise about $1.5 million of ether in a month.



PoolTogether lets users deposit cryptoassets — chiefly the USDC stablecoin — which are pooled into money market protocols Compound and Aave to generate yield. The interest funds daily random prize drawings.



Each depositor&#8217;s odds of winning is proportional to their stake. Unlike a conventional lottery, users can withdraw 100% of their principal, as well as any prize winnings. Otherwise, deposits remain in the pool and are automatically entered into the next drawing.



The concept is a modern incarnation of the mid-20th century “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/money/2019/nov/01/premium-bonds-go-on-sale-for-the-first-time-archive-1956" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">premium bonds</a>” offered by the British government. It encourages saving by offering participants a small chance of winning a large prize. In the case of PoolTogether, a $100 deposit into the Polygon pool today, for example, would offer the player about a 1 in 275 chance of winning a prize. Multiple prizes are awarded each day, starting at $5.



The lawsuit alleges the defendants operate and promote an “illegal lottery” in New York.



The lead plaintiff, Joe Kent, is a software engineer who led a technology team for Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s 2020 presidential bid. The thrust of the suit is overtly political; the complaint <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VlgbQiw8Ac1SyGk6W6o3xw05Pylq9Vz6/view" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">notes</a> that Kent “is gravely concerned that the cryptocurrency ecosystem — which requires the use of enormous amounts of electricity — is accelerating climate change and allowing people to evade financial regulations and scam consumers.”



The relevance to PoolTogether is its presence on Ethereum, which relies on electricity-consuming proof-of-work consensus until after <a href="https://www.blockworksresearch.com/research/the-merge-what-effects-will-it-have-on-eth/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Merge</a> — the completion of its transition to proof-of-stake, which is projected to <a href="https://blog.ethereum.org/2021/05/18/country-power-no-more/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reduce energy consumption</a> by 99.9%. But PoolTogether has also been <a href="https://medium.com/pooltogether/pooltogether-on-polygon-2730010478b8" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">available on Polygon</a> since March 2021 <a href="https://twitter.com/PoolTogether_/status/1473383880044462085" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">and Avalanche</a> since December 2021, both of which already use proof of stake.



The suit also states that “sending cryptocurrency to PoolTogether is remarkably expensive,” and that “because PoolTogether keeps up to 50% of each weekly prize as a ‘reserve,’ which may never be paid out, PoolTogether may never offer a positive expected value.”&nbsp;



Kent’s alleged harm stems from his fees to use the Ethereum blockchain while depositing a total of $12 of GUSD and USDC stablecoins to PoolTogether. Ethereum has — during periods of high demand — required high transaction fees, but both Polygon and Avalanche do not. In all cases, the transaction fees are external to PoolTogether, which, assuming it operates as intended, always offers participants a positive expected value.



The reserve is used to increase the size of the pool generating interest and is <a href="https://medium.com/pooltogether/perpetual-growth-db101a47791" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">controlled by a DAO</a> (decentralized autonomous organization), which was <a href="https://medium.com/pooltogether/governance-101-fca9ab8b8ba2" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">created in February 2021</a>.



That’s not to say PoolTogether is risk-free — the protocol documentation includes thorough <a href="https://docs.pooltogether.com/security/risks" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">risk disclosures</a> and <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210813172059/https://docs.pooltogether.com/security/risks" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">has done so</a> prior to the filing of Kent’s complaint.



The legal defense NFT campaign has attracted some high-profile support, including from Chris Dixon of Andreessen Horowitz, which purchased one of the 75 ETH (about $148,000) variety.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">We just bought a 75 ETH Pooly Judge to support. <a href="https://t.co/MCxTMIJUI7">https://t.co/MCxTMIJUI7</a> <a href="https://t.co/IhrpOR2WXT">https://t.co/IhrpOR2WXT</a>&mdash; cdixon.eth (@cdixon) <a href="https://twitter.com/cdixon/status/1530295948051525632?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 27, 2022</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Due to the ongoing litigation, Cusack was unable to comment to Blockworks other than to say, “I trust anyone who has familiarity with my work would share my belief that the case is without merit.”



Kent referred Blockworks to his legal counsel, who declined to comment.



To date, the effort has raised about $914,000 toward its $1.5 million goal. If all NFTs offered are sold, they will raise 1,076 ETH, or about $2.2 million as of 1 pm ET Tuesday.



“Litigation is unpredictable,” <a href="https://mint.pooltogether.com/#about" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the website</a> states. “The important thing is to have enough funding to see the lawsuit through until its conclusion.”



This story was updated on May 31, 2022, at 4:00 pm ET.



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a16z

PoolTogether Flocks to NFTs To Raise Legal Defense Funds

Sam Martin

Fed Speeds Tapering, Borrowing Activity on Aave, Compound, Maker, Anchor Slides: Markets Wrap

<div id="highlights-block_617725d07bf3f" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Bitcoin experienced intense volatility that coincided with the closing of CME futures markets</li>
 <li>AAVE, MKR and COMP battle it out for DeFi marketshare</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Bitcoin (BTC) experienced a mini flash crash around 2:15 PM ET today but quickly recovered.



Perpetual funding rates remain an important metric to keep an eye on. 



Some industry experts believe that the volatility can be attributed to the recently approved BTC ETF.



The borrowing and lending space in DeFi may be large enough for AAVE, COMP and MKR to all thrive. 



Despite recent turbulence in the NFT space, there remains a lot of catalysts for price appreciation. 



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Latest in Macro:</h3>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>S&amp;P 500: 4,596, +.98%</li><li>NASDAQ: 15,448, +1.39%</li><li>Gold: $1,799, +.03%</li><li>WTI Crude Oil: $83.06, +.48%</li><li>10-Year Treasury: 1.578%, +.049%</li></ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Latest in Crypto:</h3>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>BTC: $60,972, +3.40%</li><li>ETH: $4,264, +6.38%</li><li>ETH/BTC: .0700, +4.31%</li><li>BTC.D: 44.65%, -.84%</li></ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">BTC liquidation cascade</h3>



Bitcoin experienced an intense period of volatility today around 2:15 PM ET, with the BTC price falling as low as $57,653 before quickly recovering. There was a strong rally in the middle of last night from $58,000 up to nearly $62,000 right before the sell-off.



It appears speculators got too excited too quickly, as perpetual funding rates were racing higher as the price action traded in a range right before the sell-off. 



&#8220;The funding rate is derived from the difference between the market price of perpetuals and the spot index it’s anchored to. Excessive buying of perps increases the spread between perp price and the spot index, causing funding to go up. Conversely, negative funding is incited by an influx of perp shorting, forcing the contract’s price to fall lower than spot prices,&#8221; <a href="https://members.delphidigital.io/reports/leverage-wipes-out-but-is-the-worst-behind-us/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">wrote</a> Ashwath Balakrishnan of Delphi Digital.



He continued, &#8220;For funding to fall lower, one of two things needs to happen: either existing longs get shaken out and are forced to cover, or there’s an increase in bearish sentiment prompting traders to go net short. Either way, it’s unclear whether we’ve found a local bottom yet.&#8221;



As seen in the following chart, open interest weighted funding rates raced higher prior to the dip in price. Unfortunately, traders began getting aggressive quickly after the correction which signals additional caution may be appropriate. 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/oi-weighted-funding-rate-2-1024x683.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-10064" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/oi-weighted-funding-rate-2-1024x683.jpeg?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/oi-weighted-funding-rate-2-1024x683.jpeg?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/oi-weighted-funding-rate-2-1024x683.jpeg?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/oi-weighted-funding-rate-2-1024x683.jpeg?w=386 386w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/oi-weighted-funding-rate-2-1024x683.jpeg?w=392 392w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/oi-weighted-funding-rate-2-1024x683.jpeg?w=329 329w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/oi-weighted-funding-rate-2-1024x683.jpeg?w=80 80w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/oi-weighted-funding-rate-2-1024x683.jpeg?w=1200 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Source: Laevitas.ch</figcaption></figure>



According to Skew, roughly $32 million worth of futures positions were liquidated in just a 10-minute window. 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="869" height="333" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-4.00.35-PM.png" alt="" class="wp-image-10060" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-4.00.35-PM.png?w=869 869w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-4.00.35-PM.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-4.00.35-PM.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-4.00.35-PM.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-4.00.35-PM.png?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-4.00.35-PM.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-4.00.35-PM.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 869px) 100vw, 869px" /><figcaption>Source: Skew.com</figcaption></figure>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Are BTC ETFs to blame?</h3>



Some industry experts believe that the volatility can be attributed to the recently <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/first-bitcoin-futures-etf-nears-1b-on-first-day-of-trading/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">approved</a> BTC ETF, which is backed by leveraged positions in the form of cash-settled futures contracts. 



Caitlin Long, 22-year Wall Street Veteran and founder of Avanti, took to Twitter to share her thoughts:



<figure class="wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">ANOTHER LEVERAGED SLAMDOWN in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/bitcoin?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#bitcoin</a> trading mkts today. Again, this is the type of foreseeable event that happens with the bad kind of financialization (the leveraged kind). It increases the cost of capital for the whole sector. smh <a href="https://t.co/hC1sbEtiXx">https://t.co/hC1sbEtiXx</a>&mdash; Caitlin Long 🔑⚡️🟠 (@CaitlinLong_) <a href="https://twitter.com/CaitlinLong_/status/1453807532443455488?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 28, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



It is unclear if the added leverage via ETF approvals to the BTC ecosystem is to blame for the volatility in price.



It is worth noting, however, that the CME only accounts for roughly 20% of aggregated futures open interest albeit a growing portion. This is significant to add because the CME is where all of the futures are being traded that back the aforementioned ETFs. 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="572" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/skew_btc_futures__aggregated_open_interest-1024x572.png" alt="" class="wp-image-10067" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/skew_btc_futures__aggregated_open_interest-1024x572.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/skew_btc_futures__aggregated_open_interest-1024x572.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/skew_btc_futures__aggregated_open_interest-1024x572.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/skew_btc_futures__aggregated_open_interest-1024x572.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/skew_btc_futures__aggregated_open_interest-1024x572.png?w=467 467w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/skew_btc_futures__aggregated_open_interest-1024x572.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/skew_btc_futures__aggregated_open_interest-1024x572.png?w=80 80w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/skew_btc_futures__aggregated_open_interest-1024x572.png?w=1200 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Source: Skew.com</figcaption></figure>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Aave, Compound and MakerDAO battle it out for marketshare</h3>



Aave (AAVE) and Compound (COMP) facilitate peer-to-peer borrowing and lending. Liquidity providers (LPs/lenders) earn interest for their services, while borrowers pay interest on top of their loans to pay the LPs. 



MakerDAO (MKR) allows users to take out loans by locking up digital assets as collateral in return for a decentralized stablecoin, DAI. However, borrowers need to be attentive to their loan-to-collateral ratio as asset prices fluctuate in order to avoid having their collateral liquidated. 



AAVE, COMP and MKR all compete for users&#8217; appetites to take on leverage via borrowing. However, when it comes to lending it is really just AAVE and COMP battling for market share because they have peer-to-peer ecosystems versus MKR&#8217;s collateralized debt position (CDP) model. 



AAVE currently leads based on total valued locked (TVL) in its platform, followed by MKR at third and COMP at seventh: 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1001" height="379" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-5.14.40-PM.png" alt="" class="wp-image-10074" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-5.14.40-PM.png?w=1001 1001w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-5.14.40-PM.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-5.14.40-PM.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-5.14.40-PM.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-5.14.40-PM.png?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-5.14.40-PM.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-5.14.40-PM.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1001px) 100vw, 1001px" /><figcaption>Source: DefiLlama</figcaption></figure>



According to the following Dune Analytics dashboard, the percentage of market participants interacting with COMP has remained consistent since mid-2020, whereas AAVE has stolen a lot of marketshare away from MKR. 



COMP and MKR each hold a 25% market share of active addresses versus AAVE with 50%. 



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="625" height="281" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-5.21.24-PM.png" alt="" class="wp-image-10076" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-5.21.24-PM.png?w=625 625w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-5.21.24-PM.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-5.21.24-PM.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-5.21.24-PM.png?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-5.21.24-PM.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-5.21.24-PM.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 625px) 100vw, 625px" /></figure></div>



However, the picture looks a lot different when looking at the market share of loans outstanding per project. AAVE leads with a 35.7% market share, with MKR in 2nd with 34.5%, and COMP in last with 29.9%. 



This implies that while there are fewer active addresses on MKR taking out loans, they are players with very big pockets and trust the stablecoin, Dai, is a pristine asset.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="410" height="318" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-5.27.46-PM.png" alt="" class="wp-image-10077" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-5.27.46-PM.png?w=410 410w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-5.27.46-PM.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-5.27.46-PM.png?w=331 331w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-5.27.46-PM.png?w=337 337w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-5.27.46-PM.png?w=282 282w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-5.27.46-PM.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 410px) 100vw, 410px" /></figure></div>



With roughly $80 billion of loans outstanding between the three protocols and only 3.5 million DeFi users, the total addressable market and growth run way is extremely large. Only time will tell if all three protocols can thrive side by side.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)</h3>



<figure class="wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">&#8211; Twitter is implementing NFTs &#8211; Coinbase is building an NFT marketplace &#8211; Facebook is all in on Metaverse &#8211; GameStop is building an NFT marketplace &#8211; Nike working on NFT verification of shoes &#8211; Warner Bros looking to release music NFTs Heck yeah I&#39;m bullish&mdash; Cobble ᵍᵐ (@cobble) <a href="https://twitter.com/cobble/status/1453692007046647810?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 28, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Trading data from <a href="https://opensea.io/rankings" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">OpenSea</a> and <a href="https://solanalysis.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Solanalysis</a> of some of the top Solana and Ethereum projects can be found in the photos below:



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="331" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-5.44.13-PM-1024x331.png" alt="" class="wp-image-10078" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-5.44.13-PM-1024x331.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-5.44.13-PM-1024x331.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-5.44.13-PM-1024x331.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-5.44.13-PM-1024x331.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-5.44.13-PM-1024x331.png?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-5.44.13-PM-1024x331.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-5.44.13-PM-1024x331.png?w=80 80w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-5.44.13-PM-1024x331.png?w=1234 1234w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Top Ethereum Projects</figcaption></figure></div>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="282" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-5.43.56-PM-1024x282.png" alt="" class="wp-image-10079" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-5.43.56-PM-1024x282.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-5.43.56-PM-1024x282.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-5.43.56-PM-1024x282.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-5.43.56-PM-1024x282.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-5.43.56-PM-1024x282.png?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-5.43.56-PM-1024x282.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-5.43.56-PM-1024x282.png?w=80 80w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-5.43.56-PM-1024x282.png?w=1208 1208w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Top Solana Projects </figcaption></figure></div>



If you made it this far, thanks for reading! Looking forward to catching up tomorrow.



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