DeFi & L1L2 Weekly (16/08/2023)

Curve Finance passes proposal to launch new stableswap pool. Microsoft partners with Aptos Labs to build new blockchain AI tools. Sei mainnet goes live.

Weekly DeFi Index

This week’s market cap index and volume indices were negative at -0.03% and -17.61%, respectively, while the volatility index was positive at +23.75%.

Chart of the Week

Spark Protocol, a lending protocol by MakerDAO and a fork of Aave v3, has reached US$444 million in total value locked (TVL). Launched in May 2023, the platform focuses on DAI, aiming to increase use cases for the stablecoin through borrowing, lending, and staking. To incentivise long-term engagement with Spark Protocol, MakerDAO founder Rune Christensen introduced a proposal to create a new governance token for it to reward users.

News Highlights

• DeFi lending platform Curve Finance passed a proposal to launch a new stableswap pool. The news of launching its next-generation refactored pool came in the wake of ongoing recovery from reentrancy attacks a few weeks ago.  
• Aave DAO has voted to secure 5 million CRV tokens using $2 million worth of USDT. According to the Aave Chan Initiative (who submitted the proposal), the move would help support the wider DeFi ecosystem and present an opportunity to bolster secondary liquidity for Aave’s stablecoin, GHO.
• Aptos Labs announced that it has entered into a partnership with Microsoft to help drive Web3 adoption. Through this partnership, Aptos will leverage Microsoft Azure infrastructure to roll out new AI-powered blockchain tools (like an Aptos Assistant chatbot), integrate Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Service into its network, and explore other blockchain-based financial service solutions and use cases. 
• Sei Labs, the company behind Layer-1 blockchain Sei, has announced that its mainnet is live following a testnet phase. Multiple exchanges, including Crypto.com, is now supporting Sei’s native token, SEI.
• Payment giant Visa has completed the testing of a new way to pay for Ethereum gas fees using Visa cards. The solution eliminates the need for users to hold ETH to cover gas fees, leveraging Ethereum’s ERC-4337 standard and a ‘Paymaster’ contract to enable the feature. 
• Blockchain-based credit marketplace Maple Finance is opening its USDC Cash Management pool to accredited US investors. Powered by US Treasury Bills, the pool allows accredited investors, companies, and DAOs to park their spare USDC and USDT stablecoin stash in one-month US Treasury bills and earn a 4.67% annual yield.
• tBTC made its debut on Solana, making it the first decentralised tokenised Bitcoin on the blockchain and creating new DeFi opportunities for BTC holders. This is tBTC’s first integration with a non-EVM blockchain and the fifth deployment made possible by the Wormhole integration. 
• RocketSwap, a decentralised exchange on the Base mainnet, has been targeted in an attack that drained approximately $865,000 (or 471 ETH as of 15 August) from the protocol. The hack has been attributed to a brute force attack on the protocol’s server, which exploited a vulnerability on its farm contract. The team shared an emergency plan, which will involve redeploying a new farm contract and calling on the hackers to return the assets. 
• DeFi yield aggregator Zunami Protocol confirmed that its liquidity pool on Curve Finance has suffered from a price manipulation attack, resulting in a $2.1 million loss. Zunami confirmed that its collateral remains secure as it begins an investigation into the incident; however, it urged users to refrain from buying zETH and UZD in the meantime.

Recent Research Reports

• Crypto Market Sizing Report H1 2023: Global crypto owners reached 516 million by the first half of 2023.
• Real-World Assets: Bridging Real-World Value to DeFi: Real-World Assets is a promising application for blockchain technology that is gaining traction. We explore notable projects like Centrifuge, Ondo, Tangible, and Toucan.
• Alpha Navigator: Quest for Alpha [July 2023]: Risk assets continued their positive price action in July, although BTC dipped slightly. The macro calendar is quiet until mid-August when we have the US CPI and release of FOMC minutes.

Recent University Articles

• What Are Layer-0 Protocols? Infrastructure for Customised Blockchains: Layer-0 protocols are the infrastructure on which customised Layer-1 blockchains are built. We explore notable projects like Cosmos, Polkadot, and Avalanche.
• Top Governance Tokens to Know in 2023: Discover the top crypto governance tokens making waves in the decentralised finance and blockchain sectors.
• The Future of Ethereum: What to Expect in the Coming Years: Exploring the upcoming upgrades and developments that will shape the Ethereum network’s future.

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