DeFi & L1L2 Weekly – 💰 PYUSD hits US$1 billion market cap; MakerDAO rebrands as Sky and introduces 2 new tokens

PayPal’s PYUSD hits $1 billion market cap. MakerDAO rebrands as Sky and introduced 2 new tokens. Tether plans to develop a stablecoin pegged to the UAE dirham.

Weekly DeFi Index

All the indices were positive last week. The market capitalisation, volume and volatility indices grew by +7.73%, +20.14% and +41.77%, respectively.

• MakerDAO rebranded as Sky and introduced two new tokens: USDS, an upgraded version of the DAI stablecoin, and SKY, a new governance token replacing Maker (MKR). The transition allows users to convert existing DAI and MKR holdings into USDS and SKY respectively. Additionally, Maker SubDAOs will become Sky Stars, remaining as independent decentralised projects that connect the Sky ecosystem. A new platform, Sky.money, will launch to provide non-custodial access to the Sky protocol.
• AAVE proposed the ‘Aavenomics upgrade’, which aims to enhance the platform’s value model. The proposal suggests eliminating the safety module that currently compensates AAVE stakers with inflationary yields, instead redirecting protocol revenue to users staking stablecoins and select assets. The upgrade has generated optimism regarding the token’s future value. Additionally, AAVE launched its V3 iteration on the ZKsync Era, an Ethereum Layer-2 network utilising zero-knowledge technology.

Chart of the Week

PayPal’s PYUSD stablecoin achieved a market capitalisation of US$1 billion, becoming one of the top five stablecoins in the market after its launch on the Solana network partnered with Crypto.com in May. This marked a significant milestone since its launch in August 2023 on the Ethereum. The stablecoin, pegged to the US dollar, aims to facilitate seamless transactions and enhance the utility of digital currencies on various platforms. Its growth reflects increasing interest in stablecoins and digital payments. PYUSD can be used for various transactions, including cryptocurrency purchases and transfers, contributing to the expanding adoption of cryptocurrencies in everyday financial activities.

News Highlights

• EigenDA, EigenLayer’s data availability protocol, now supports native token restaking for Layer-2 scaling networks. This feature allows teams to stake ERC-20 tokens to secure a custom quorum for their rollup, enhancing security and yield for token holders.
• Tether plans to develop a stablecoin pegged to the UAE dirham in collaboration with the Abu Dhabi-based Phoenix Group. This new token aims to provide an alternative to the predominantly USD-pegged stablecoins, as Tether seeks licensing under the UAE central bank’s Payment Token Services Regulation. 
• Mercado Libre, a major Latin American e-commerce company, launched a US dollar-tied stablecoin called ‘Meli Dollar’. The stablecoin is available on Mercado Pago, the company’s digital banking subsidiary, for users in Brazil. Users can buy and sell Meli Dollar using their Brazilian real balances without any fees.
• Sony Block Solutions Lab, a joint venture between Sony Group and Startale Labs, announced an Ethereum Layer-2 blockchain named ‘Soneium’. Soneium leverages the Op Stack and Superchain developed by the Optimism Foundation. The testnet will be launched in partnership with Astar Network, and the blockchain aims to attract developers from sectors including entertainment, gaming, and finance.
• NEAR Protocol launched a significant upgrade called ‘Nightshade 2.0’, which introduces ‘stateless validation’ to enhance scalability and usability. This upgrade allows validators to retrieve necessary information from the network instead of maintaining its local state, improving performance and capacity for more shards. The implementation aims to increase transaction throughput by five times and reduce validator operating costs, promoting greater decentralisation. Nightshade 2.0 has been in development since the first version was introduced in 2022.

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