Bessie Liu

Vishal Talasani, the co-founder of Stride Labs, has proposed a merge between its liquid staking zone and the Cosmos Hub, the blockchain that connects thousands of other networks in the Cosmos ecosystem, by converting Stride’s STRD governance token to Cosmos’ ATOM.&nbsp;



The merger is still in its infancy, and there are yet to be any concrete details on execution, Talasani noted in a talk at Cosmoverse, Istanbul.&nbsp;



Drawing on the concerns of Lido’s control over staked ether on Ethereum, Talasani notes in a press release reviewed by Blockworks that by merging with the Hub and having ATOM, the Cosmos Hub’s native token, become its governance token the project could remove any centralization fears.&nbsp;



“Although Stride has a long way to go before reaching Lido’s scale, we don’t want to ever put a chain in a place where it feels like Stride is a centralization vector,” he said. “So we think it makes sense for <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/atom">ATOM</a> to control Stride.”



Stride currently has a staked total value locked (TVL) of <a href="https://defillama.com/protocol/stride">$36.94 million,</a> according to information available on DeFiLama, with staked ATOM making up almost 80% of these tokens. It is currently the largest liquid staking protocol in the Cosmos ecosystem.



In a separate draft proposal reviewed by Blockworks, Stride Labs co-founder, Aidan Salzmann, suggested that the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/cosmos">Cosmos</a> Hub will provision the ATOM for the conversion and ensure that all STRD is converted to ATOM.&nbsp;



Following this switch, in the current draft of the proposal ATOM will be the only governance token for Stride protocol, and all Stride rewards — $700,000 annualized — will be reallocated to ATOM stakers, according to Talasani. 



“From Stride’s perspective, this would be a good idea because it would greatly increase the decentralization of Stride protocol, which should in turn increase confidence and lead to more liquid staking,” Salzmann wrote in a proposal.&nbsp;



Cosmos Hub will also benefit from the merge, Salzmann noted in that the Stride team can be an independent development team part of the Cosmos Hub, making it more decentralized and removing any anxieties around misaligned governance. 



Avril Dutheil, founder of Neutron, a smart contract protocol within the Cosmos ecosystem, told Blockworks in an interview that the renewed interest in the Cosmos Hub is a good sign, but remains skeptical.



&#8220;It potentially makes sense for some of these projects, but in general, my concerns with these ideas — the mergers — is how do we, as a community, guarantee that the teams working on these projects do become extensions of the Hub,&#8221; he said. 



He added that teams should continue being motivated to improve and iterate on these projects “so that they actually deliver value to them, from engaging, rather than just using this as an exit.”



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Stride wants to become the enshrined LST protocol for Cosmos Hub

Ben Strack

Hut 8 Mining is preparing to merge with US Bitcoin Corp in an &#8220;all-stock equal merger.&#8221; The deal is expected to conclude by the end of the month, as the shareholder voting period nears its end.



The transaction, first revealed in February, is set to bolster Hut 8’s mining capacity and further diversify its revenue streams — giving the firm “arguably the most diversified business model among public peers,” one industry watcher said.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



The combined company is set to be called Hut 8 Corp., and will be based in the US. It intends to list its shares on both the Nasdaq and the Toronto Stock Exchange, trading under the symbol &#8220;HUT&#8221;.



Advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis &amp; Co. <a href="https://hut8.io/2023/08/30/independent-proxy-advisory-firm-glass-lewis-recommends-hut-8-shareholders-vote-for-merger-of-equals-with-us-bitcoin-corp/">recommended </a>for Hut 8 shareholders to approve the deal last month. The deadline is Friday, and votes will be counted on Sept. 12.&nbsp;



The stockholder approval process for US Bitcoin Corp will begin once Hut 8&#8217;s registration statement is effective. A final order from the Supreme Court of British Columbia, set for Sept. 15, is also required for the transaction to close.



If the necessary approvals are obtained, the merger could be finalized on Sept. 30, Hut 8 said in an Aug. 30 statement.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Significance of the deal&nbsp;</h2>



Wolfie Zhao, head of research at TheMinerMag — the research arm of mining consultancy BlocksBridge — noted that Hut 8 and US Bitcoin Corp are complementary to each other in terms of bitcoin balance, capital expenditures intensity, cost of production and geographic footprint.



“Following the merger, [Hut 8] will become yet another mining giant that has multiple sites scattered across Canadian provinces and US states with arguably the most diversified business model among public peers — including self mining, hosting, site management and [high performance computing],” he told Blockworks.



Hut 8’s installed hashrate was 2.6 exahash per second (EH/s), as of June 30. The company reported year-over-year revenue and bitcoin production declines in this year’s second quarter.&nbsp;



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/hut8-mining-q2-earnings-revenue">Hut 8 endures Q2 challenges, but ‘bullish on a diversified strategy’</a>



With campuses in New York, Nebraska and Texas, US Bitcoin Corp operates hundreds of megawatts of bitcoin mining infrastructure independently, and on behalf of clients.



The combined company expects its self-mining capacity to hit 7.5 EH/s across six mining facilities.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Riot Platforms and Marathon Digital — among the Hut 8’s largest rivals — had hash rates of 10.7 EH/s and 19.1 EH/s, respectively, as of Aug. 31.&nbsp;



US Bitcoin Corp.’s portfolio of owned and managed sites accelerates Hut 8’s growth trajectory via greater operating scale, advisory firm Architect Partners said in a February research note. The combination also allows Toronto-based Hut 8 to add hydro, wind and nuclear energy sources, it added.



“In addition, the combined entity now has numerous revenue lines besides self-mining, including hosting other miners, data center management, equipment sales, and rig repairs,” the Architect Partners note states. “This lessens the dependency on the price of bitcoin for “New Hut” and allows for the inclusion of fiat-generating businesses.”



Indeed, Hut 8 CEO Jaime Leverton said in an August statement that Hut 8 is “not here to simply chase exahash” — adding during the company’s second quarter earnings call that diversifying its business is critical before <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/anniversary-of-2016-btc-halving">the next bitcoin halving slated for April</a>.&nbsp;



The company <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/bitcoin-miner-targets-gaming-web3-with-cloud-services-expansion">boosted its high-performance computing capabilities</a> in 2022, and is set to take advantage of US Bitcoin Corp’s hosting and managed infrastructure operations, the CEO noted.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“We’re very much bullish on a diversified strategy,” Leverton added last month. “But I think across our space you’re going to just continue to see miners evolve their businesses in different ways.”



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A deeper look at Hut 8’s imminent merge with US Bitcoin Corp

Jacquelyn Melinek

<div id="highlights-block_61f2cbee2adcc" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2022</li>
 <li>Apifiny has partnered with over 20 of the top 100 crypto exchanges by trading volume including Huobi Global, OKEx, Kucoin, OKCoin and Blockchain.com</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Digital asset trading platform Apifiny Group is the latest crypto company to go public via a special purpose acquisition company.



Apifiny has entered a $530 million agreement with Abri SPAC I&nbsp; to become a publicly traded company on the Nasdaq.&nbsp;



The deal is expected to close in the third quarter, subject to shareholder and regulatory approval. The combined company is valued at $530 million, including a contribution of up to $57 million of cash held in Abri’s trust account



“We aim to build a truly global digital asset trading network,” Haohan Xu, CEO of Apifiny, told Blockworks. “Going public is just the beginning of the journey.”&nbsp;



Apifiny sees going public as a means to accelerate growth, become fully regulated and acquire customers more quickly Erez Simha, the company’s president and CFO, told Blockworks.



“When you look at the profile of the team at Abri, they’re highly operational and have many years of private equity experience which I’m sure will contribute to us later on,” Simha said. “At the end of the day, we want to have fun with what we’re doing and want to focus on the business, and I think this has met the criteria we put to ourselves before choosing a partner.”



Founded in 2018, Apifiny, has partnered with over 20 of the top 100 crypto exchanges by trading volume including Huobi Global, OKEx, Kucoin, OKCoin and Blockchain.com.



Last year, Apifiny was <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/apifiny-reveals-pre-ipo-plans/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">granted</a> a US FINRA broker-dealer license, joining other crypto trading companies like Coinbase, Gemini and Circle. 



The company’s board of members include Tim Murphy, former deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Laurence Charney, former partner of Ernst &amp; Young and; Samuel Shen, CEO of Vnet Group, among others. 



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Crypto Exchange Apifiny to Go Public Via $530M SPAC

Macauley Peterson

<div id="highlights-block_61c28b2f42ea7" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>The combined protocols will operate using one token, TRIBE, but keep their developer teams intact</li>
 <li>Rari’s core product gains a dedicated stablecoin, FEI, while the Fei Protocol will become more useful in DeFi thanks to Rari’s borrowing and lending pools</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



A pair of ambitious DAO communities led by young hotshot developer teams pulled off a massive merger via dual votes that ended Monday at midnight UTC. The precedent-setting example of on-chain governance puts in motion a concatenation of talent and code, in what its backers say will yield a DeFi powerhouse in 2022.&nbsp;



Holders of Rari’s RGT governance token voted <a href="https://www.withtally.com/governance/rari/proposal/9" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">overwhelmingly in favor</a> of the deal, <a href="https://www.withtally.com/governance/fei/proposal/100913008905461844936601668456794711523658459114127771687920359665569753117360" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">as did holders</a> of Fei’s governance token TRIBE, which will subsume the former. But to get to that outcome required some political maneuvering. The Rari and Fei development teams <a href="https://twitter.com/joey__santoro/status/1460693387426729987?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1460693387426729987%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.coindesk.com%2Ftech%2F2021%2F11%2F23%2Frari-capital-fei-protocol-look-to-overcome-bagholder-bias-in-ambitious-defi-merger%2F" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">initially proposed</a> the idea of joining forces in mid-November, however, only after several weeks and a few rounds of modifications to the deal terms did the wider Fei and Rari communities embrace the concept.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">What is Rari?</h3>



Rari Capital was <a href="https://medium.com/rari-capital?p=9c0820944d77" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">founded</a> by Jai Bhavnani, Jack Lipstone and David Lucid in July 2020 — when all were under 20 years old and already had <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/rorymurray/2020/08/03/teen-crypto-entrepreneurs-may-be-the-real-adults-in-the-room" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">one DeFi startup</a> under their belts. Rari started as a sort of robo-advisor for generating yield from stablecoins, but over the past 18 months has grown and evolved into a money market-like protocol with about $1.4 billion in total value locked — mostly stablecoins and DeFi-related tokens on Ethereum.



The chief innovation, the one that comes closest to product-market fit, was the group’s <a href="https://app.rari.capital/fuse" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Fuse</a> offering, an “open interest rate protocol” which permits the permissionless creation of bespoke borrowing and lending pools using dozens of Ethereum-based assets. The FEI stablecoin is already integrated in several such pools.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">What is Fei?</h3>



Fei Protocol launched just nine months ago, as a novel iteration on the concept of a crypto-collateralized stablecoin. Like its forerunner, DAI — the stablecoin launched by <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/?s=makerdao" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">MakerDAO</a> <a href="https://medium.com/@MakerDAO/dai-is-now-live-ad87e34fc826" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">four years ago</a> — FEI is backed mostly by ether. But unlike DAI, FEI is collateralized by an algorithmic reserve of protocol-controlled value (PCV), and it emphasizes liquidity rather than over-collateralization.



At its <a href="https://medium.com/fei-protocol/fei-protocol-genesis-group-d6cf1d266139" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">genesis</a>, FEI was backed solely by ether, but today the PCV consists of about 68% ether and the rest a mix of other assets, primarily other decentralized stablecoins. Unlike centralized stablecoins such as USDT and USDC, which back their issuance with off-chain reserves of US dollars, Treasurys and other assets, FEI’s backing resides entirely in the protocol’s smart contracts running on Ethereum.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/r8YZDyI2sQUub-wY4gMBQxa-RCeP6z2iDLNgqHTr9X5lTkfyb37ChunnCHz8PzV73z8LF3eUkz3GYIP-kVly7ayZ0BfjR5LQ6D1SOWHFl65EGwp8AAT2lYhzfdF-s7IXaEadjsK3" alt=""/><figcaption><meta charset="utf-8">Source: fei.money</figcaption></figure>



Fei was founded by Joey Santoro, a 2019 graduate in computer science at Duke University, who was inspired by an ill-fated algorithmic stablecoin called Empty Set Dollar (ESD), which <a href="https://www.aier.org/article/algorithmic-stablecoins/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">irrevocably lost its peg</a> to the US dollar in December 2020, just a few months after launch. Santoro even did some work on ESD, but felt the system could be radically improved, and began work on Fei, as he related in <a href="https://player.fm/series/epicenter-learn-about-crypto-blockchain-ethereum-bitcoin-and-distributed-technologies-41400/joey-santoro-fei-protocol-introducing-fei-v2" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a recent interview</a> with Epicenter.



Fei Protocol <a href="https://docs.fei.money/protocol/fei-stablecoin" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">mints FEI</a> when users sell ether to the protocol. That ETH is deployed into a <a href="https://v2.info.uniswap.org/pair/0x94b0a3d511b6ecdb17ebf877278ab030acb0a878" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Uniswap liquidity pool</a> — one which is predominantly supplied by the Fei Protocol itself. Economic incentives generally keep FEI <a href="https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/fei-usd/usd#panel" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">within a fraction of a cent</a> of its $1 peg, aided by a novel algorithmic stability mechanism called a <a href="https://docs.fei.money/developer/contract-docs/ethuniswappcvcontroller#reweight" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reweight</a> that is made possible by the fact that Fei owns its own liquidity.



There are about $734 million FEI in circulation, with $1.06 billion in PCV — about 137% over-collateralization. For comparison, the $9.2 billion in DAI has roughly $18.5 billion in ETH, WBTC and the USDC stablecoin backing it — about 200%. So FEI is more capital efficient.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Convincing the critics</h3>



Santoro outlined a symbiotic relationship for the two protocols in <a href="https://twitter.com/joey__santoro/status/1460693390287257600?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">his initial Twitter thread</a> on Nov. 16:



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">“Fei can permissionlessly grow the utility and use cases for Fuse, including streamlined lending bootstrapping and manipulation-resistant oracles. Rari is an ideal platform to enhance FEI demand and utility, as well as a place for PCV to grow via the upcoming Vaults,” Santoro wrote.</blockquote>



But both communities were initially skeptical. Some TRIBE partisans <a href="https://tribe.fei.money/t/fip-51-fei-rari-token-merge/3642/4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">were reluctant</a> to assume liability for <a href="https://halborn.com/explained-the-rari-capital-hack-may-2021/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a May 2021 exploit</a> suffered by Rari, which lost the protocol’s users $11 million in ether. Meanwhile, ardent Rarians <a href="https://forums.rari.capital/d/177-feirari-token-merge/6" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">insisted</a> that RGT was undervalued, and were reluctant to exchange it for TRIBE.



Ultimately, the merger proposal called for a one-year minimum window for RGT holders to swap their tokens for TRIBE at a fixed rate of about 26.7 TRIBE per RGT. There’s also a “TribeRagequit” provision, that will allow TRIBE holders to exchange their tokens for FEI, if they don’t want any part of the combined entity.



The final version attained the support of over 90% of both groups.



<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">You will see Fei and Rari charging forward as a united force bootstrapping L2s and scaling Ethereum together. We will be tackling Ethereum&#39;s scaling issues head on, driving liquidity to L2s, and leaving any doubters of Ethereum&#39;s scaling capabilities with their jaws on the floor.&mdash; Jack Longarzo 1+1=3 (@JackLongarzo) <a href="https://twitter.com/JackLongarzo/status/1468297688848515080?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 7, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">A new model for DAOs to join forces</h3>



Jeff Amico, crypto partner at a16z, <a href="https://twitter.com/_jamico/status/1472982852195205137" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">called the merger</a>, “A new primitive to align incentives between web3 communities going forward.”



This wasn’t the first time that two DeFi protocols linked up. Yearn Finance engaged in token swaps and close collaboration with multiple protocols, <a href="https://thedefiant.io/sushiswap-is-largest-target-in-yearn-merger-wave/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">notably Sushi</a> in 2020. But the fact that Rari and Fei will jointly operate under the TRIBE token makes this case stand out.



<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">The FeiRari merge vote passed and Fei v2 executed on chain in the span of 24h. As if that wasn’t enough, today we are also launching the beautiful v2 web app 🔥 What a way to end the year! 🌲🌄<a href="https://t.co/HHeQHpdxJj">https://t.co/HHeQHpdxJj</a>&mdash; Seb 🌲 (@sdalcega) <a href="https://twitter.com/sdalcega/status/1473086927410765827?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 21, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Will we see more protocols attempt to follow the FeiRari lead? And how fast can this souped-up DAO engine innovate? Both questions DeFi watchers will be contemplating heading into the New Year. 



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A Match Made in DeFi: Rari Capital and Fei Protocol Merge to ‘FeiRari’

<div id="highlights-block_61a6ac6d3f593" class="highlights">
 
</div>


<div id="highlights-block_61a6ad343f594" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Ohio-based self-mining company plans to have 734 megawatts of operational power by 2023</li>
 <li>Merged businesses expected to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker GRDI</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Adit EdTech Acquisition Corp, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), is set to acquire bitcoin self-miner Griid Holdco, the companies revealed Tuesday.



The planned transaction values the combined company, including debt. The mining company will receive $246 million in cash from Adit EdTech’s trust account after the deal is finalized and anticipates its fiscal year 2023 revenue to hit $1.6 billion, it said.&nbsp;



Griid Holdco is the parent company of Cincinnati, Ohio-based Griid Infrastructure (GRIID), a bitcoin-focused self-mining company. Adit EdTech is a publicly listed SPAC focused on mergers, asset acquisition and reorganization. It is sponsored by its affiliate Adit Ventures, an investment adviser firm.&nbsp;



GRIID and Adit EdTech did not immediately return Blockworks’ request for comment.



GRIID <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/blockchain-com-gives-bitcoin-mining-infrastructure-company-griid-525m-credit/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">secured a $525 million credit facility</a> from Blockchain.com last week to help it scale its capabilities, bring on additional mining capacities and build upon its available power. 



“GRIID’s focus on utilizing next-generation computing power for more efficient clean power utilization and grid management demonstrates the broader economic potential of green infrastructure,” Eric Munson, Adit’s founder and managing partner, said in a statement.&nbsp;



GRIID owns and operates carbon-free energy infrastructure and bitcoin mining facilities across the US. It has about 1,300 megawatts (MW) of power, the company reported, and plans to have 734 MW of that power operational by 2023.



“There are a couple other SPACs that have announced deals with bitcoin miners and the deals haven’t closed yet, so this will be like a third one, which may be more than people really want,” Blockworks’ Market Strategist Byron Gilliam said. “But I think it’s good to have as many listed options as possible because lots of asset managers can’t buy crypto directly, so the more listed options you have the better.”



Crypto mining platform <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/crypto-mining-platform-bitdeer-go-public-through-4-bln-spac-merger-2021-11-18/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bitdeer</a> went public earlier this month through a $4 billion SPAC merger with blank-check firm Blue Safari Group Acquisition Corp. That deal came after crypto mining company Core Scientific announced its merger with a SPAC backed by <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/blackrock-ceo-sees-huge-opportunities-in-digital-currency/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BlackRock</a> in July.



Upon closing the proposed acquisition, GRIID and Adit EdTech are expected to operate as Griid Infrastructure Inc. and be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker GRDI. 



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