DeFi Voyager

An update on recent progress in crypto projects, top threads, and recommended articles.

The X Crypto Brief #12 - 22.09.2023

The X Crypto Brief #11 - 21.09.2023

The X Crypto Brief #10 - 20.09.2023

The X Crypto Brief #9 - 19.09.2023

What is L0 technology and Layer Zero as part of this technology; Chainlink's CCIP and comparison with Layer Zero; IBC Cosmos; comparison and difference of all these protocols.

Blockchain Bridges Part 2: Cross-Chain Communications - LayerZero, Chainlink CCIP, Cosmos IBC

The X Crypto Brief #7 - 17.09.2023

The X Crypto Brief #8 - 18.09.2023

The Tinkering Society

Insights from builders and thinkers on a mission to further develop the crypto ecosystem through protocol research and incubation.

RWAs have been pitched as one of those ideas to herald in the next bull run. But are they a fix-all and will the future truly be tokenized? With the bera market skimming away hype daily, now is the time to take an honest look at RWAs and understand why world domination shouldn’t be the endgame.

 describes how humans can smell the onset of rain when a bacteria called 

 is released into the air. There’s a similar effect in crypto where influencers are sniffing around for ‘narratives’ to champion. A faint scent appears from across the ether and it becomes a driver for hopium.

Bringing as many assets as possible on-chain has long been a prime Web3 goal. The concept is simple: tokenize any IRL asset with value and it enjoys all of the juicy blockchain benefits. Any market propped up around them becomes permissionless, borderless, and composable.

Ironically, one of the first RWA examples was Digix, a digital representation of gold. The single off-chain asset that Bitcoin is 

 also provided the foundation for crypto’s pilot run. It was a failure, but that didn’t end development. 

While RWAs face significant challenges, which will be discussed more in a moment, they also represent one of DeFi’s most glittering successes. Combined TVL for the market’s stablecoins sits at a lofty ~$125b at the time of writing (September 18, 2023).

'Securities Token Global Market Cap x Ethereum Market Cap' 

Alongside this, we’ve seen substantial growth in projects like 

. These act more like quasi-RWAs, where the protocols wrap tokenization around concepts around off-chain lending, securities, and yield, instead of physical assets like sneakers, trading cards, and gold.

As our off- and on-chain spaces increasingly collide, the hurdles now facing RWAs are becoming more and more obvious. Here is where RWAs are lacking and need to be improved.

Looking at something like real estate as an example, tokenization just isn’t a meaningful growth path right now.

Taking the time to understand the infrastructure around token management and the technology is a time-sink for normies. This really shows us that the issue around RWAs isn’t the assets themselves, but how we intend people to use them.

In this light, it makes sense to prioritize another narrative - account abstraction - over everything else. Forward-thinking protocols like Goldfinch 

 and have made it a central part of their mission.

This uncertainty around the tech extends into KYC, compliance, and regulation.

While the average degen is willing to skirt the fine line of risk around audits and regulation, bonafide industries outside of crypto aren’t going to play this fast and loose.

Again, we’re asking normies to completely reconfigure their understanding of ownership and the implications of concepts like immutability. Without some form of structure and clarity in place, DeFi won’t shake off its ‘wild west’ reputation.

There’s a fair amount of magical thinking around RWAs - tokenize any asset and the masses will flock. The reality is that DeFi liquidity is already fragmented enough to barely facilitate demand for the average shitcoin longer than a few weeks.

The goal becomes even harder when we compare the typical degen’s dopamine-driven pursuit for the next 100x meme coin against practical, everyday applications like a real estate firm managing its property portfolio on-chain.

Stable and secure liquidity will be a prerequisite for any industry looking to tokenize and integrate off-chain assets. Without it, everything stops.

Remove shills and blind decentralization totalitarianism, and the potential for RWAs is still clear. But it’s unlikely that even a fraction of the assets that degens pitch as use cases will ever make it.

Look at the evolution of accounting abstraction over time and we can see that each iteration is designed as an adjunct to the technology before it. In modern society, cash and paper ledgers initially sufficed, then plastic cards were introduced, and finally we have mobile banking.

“Crypto is a use case looking for a problem”

 - this comment recently popped up in a r/cryptocurrency discussion. It was intended as negative but, in actual fact, it feels like a positive when you frame it around RWAs. The true power of asset tokenization in this sense is its near-infinite capacity for flexibility.

RWAs have been painted as a next bull run driver. In reality, the infra framing them isn’t close to being effective. Are they a fix-all or are we glossing over obvious failures?

Petrichor

Router Protocol

Router Protocol is a secure, scalable, modular, composable framework for cross-chain interoperability

We are here to announce the 9th edition of Voyage, a journey that has been incredible for our community and us. After eight successful editions, we’re back with the highly anticipated Voyage 9.0, and we couldn’t be more excited to introduce our partner for this edition, Rootstock! Rootstock is a secure smart contract network that enables decentralised applications to be secured by the Bitcoin Network.

As you already know, we’ve partnered with 

, and you just need to simply bridge $USDT from any supported networks to Rootstock via Voyager (

)! It is going to be as seamless as it sounds, and through on-chain measurements, we will identify the wallets associated with the biggest bridging volumes and duly recognise and reward them.

And what are the rewards we’re looking at?

​​The top 150 addresses with the highest total volume bridged to Rootstock will be the lucky recipients of the rewards. Here’s a breakdown of the same:

But how do you participate? Are there any eligibility criteria?

Yes, there is an eligibility criterion — bridge a minimum of 

 from any supported network to Rootstock using our 

18th of September 2 PM UTC to the 29th of September 2 PM UTC.

Furthermore, to take part in Voyage 9.0, follow these steps:

Voyage 9.0 is your chance to embark on a rewarding journey, bridging the gap to a world of opportunities. Get ready to participate, earn rewards, and be part of something remarkable. We can’t wait to see you on this exciting voyage!

A Cross-Chain Voyage to the pool of $4000

The Voyage is back with its 9th Edition

Due to the huge amount of attacks, please check out my old post, I've added new tips there! 

Please spend some time on your financial security. Stay safe!

https://t.co/xR3nNYVgdK

A curated list of 15 books about blockchain, investments, tech, and innovations by a16z ↓

Bookmark and RT for your future reference.

⊹ Virtual Society: The Metaverse and the New Frontiers of Human Experience by Herman Narula.

⊹ Algorithmic Game Theory edited by Noam Nisan,… https://t.co/CW4qHgs85j

[Thread Compilation] #4

Discover the top 25 must-read threads from this week in this carefully selected and curated compilation, just for you.

1️⃣ Perspectives
2️⃣ Useful Tool &amp; Strategies
3️⃣ Narratives &amp; Alphas
4️⃣ News &amp; Catalysts
5️⃣ Education
6️⃣ Others

🧵 (0/25) https://t.co/8qGzdXQuzJ

Weekly Sunday liquid staking update 🔟

A 🧵on all things liquid staking.

3.9 -&gt; 10.9

1/22 https://t.co/fUzIniN9jP

ToE's Weekly Highlights #41

DMH's spotlight, new concepts and narratives, guides & more!

Alpha issue #57

Let's see how this trio can solve issues like high costs & slow transfers pertaining to cross-border payments.

How Can Ripple, Stellar, And Chainlink Solve Cross-Border Payment Issues?

Over the past year, Chainlink has undergone a transformation, marked by the introduction of Chainlink Economics 2.0. This strategic shift has elevated Chainlink to a pivotal position within the web3 landscape, spanning critical layers such as LayerZero (interoperability), L1s, and L2s.

Chainlink - Analyst Insight | Revelo Intel

How Liquidity Impacts Market Crashes

A Position of F*ck You

Some Hard Truths About Crypto

SOL is up nearly 100% since FTX declared bankruptcy. And up 30% since Gensler labeled it a security. Some people love SOL. Others hate it. But today, we are going to score it. TOKEN TLDR

Token TLDR #2: Scoring Solana

The Relentless Rise of Stablecoins

What to learn from the worst rugs of all time

Top 10 Rug Pulls on Bankless

Monthly Community Report, August 2023

Genesis Incentives(4%) are allocated to community members that contribute the most to the early stages of Aark Digital. Genesis Incentives will be used for various purposes as below: *Trade Mining...

Aark Digital Tokenomics- Genesis of the New Chapter

The X Crypto Brief #6 - 16.09.2023

Trade crypto, forex and commodity with up to 1,000x leverage simply and safely from your wallet on Arbitrum.

HMX - Decentralized Perpetual Exchange

Trade crypto on the MUX protocol with zero price impact, up to 100x leverage and no counterparty risks.

Reputation Score allows you to assess and leverage your onchain reputation by minting it as an SBT.

LayerZero Reputation Score by Nomis

Multichain Reputation Score by Nomis

Premia Blue is a decentralized platform for trading DeFi options and earning yield.

Premia Blue

Interest rates are teetering 🤮

Inflation is persistent. Eurozone in peril 😱

7 must-know economic indicators👇🧵 https://t.co/VrG5ImLJ2o

#RWA has been gaining considerable attention recently.

In just a month, it has jumped from being the 10th largest sector to the 8th.

A thread with everything you need to know about #RWA. ⬇️

🧵(0/29) https://t.co/zG5OECSptW

Grinding is the only way to make it!

I've dedicated countless hours to spotting new projects and market inefficiencies. 💎

Here are 7 projects that have the potential for significant returns! 👇 🧵 https://t.co/QpeQ23qlEN

𝙈𝙖𝙧𝙠 𝘾𝙪𝙗𝙖𝙣 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙢𝙚𝙙 $𝟖𝟕𝟎 𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙝 𝙤𝙛 𝙘𝙧𝙮𝙥𝙩𝙤 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙡𝙚𝙣 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙖𝙢𝙖𝙨𝙠 𝙬𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙩.

People think it's because of metamask.

Truth is, it's because of carelessness.

Here's how he could have simply avoided… https://t.co/R5kAlb4sKF

How the ecosystem around Curve has evolved: Curve Wars; L2 Convex; bribes and infrastructure around bribes; protocols to improve yield; comparing the trajectory of the Curve ecosystem with LSDFi.

The Saga of Curve Finance 2: Curve Ecosystem as a Template for LSDFi

FPIS Buyout, Convex Fee Changes, Frax Monthly Report, FPI + Base and more...

This Week in Frax - September 15, 2023

In this note, I'll give you some quick tips that will help you sleep better at night when using Telegram!

Telegram Security Best Practices

Velodrome is the undisputed liquidity hub of Optimism Mainnet, boasting 2x the TVL and 5x the tokens of every other major DEX combined. By combining the best of UniV2, Curve, and Convex into a single...

Velodrome Slipstream

Welcome Panoptimists to the first edition of the Panoptic Newsletter!

Panoptic Insights: September Newsletter | Panoptic

Stabilization in real estate prices MTD in September

Market Update: September 15th

Y2K could have earned 162 ETH ($260K) over the last nine months by optimizing their protocol owned liquidity ("POL"). This report presents the findings of the backtesting and research Sector Finance...

2x Your LP Value: Report on Automated Liquidity Management (Part I)

Analyses of new Convex proposals to readjust its fee structure

September 15, 2023: Locks, Stakes and Two Smoking Proposals 🔒🗳️

your go-to source for weekly fundamental updates

Artemis Weekly Wrap-up (9/15/2023)

Global changes in crypto happening right now!

More than 800 million active users are coming!

Will it turn the market around? 🧵👇 https://t.co/7yWlHQZnW0

Arbitrum Governance Update 🏛️

There's a proposal to distribute up to 75,000,000 ARB in incentives for Arbitrum protocols in the span of 4 months.

I just voted to support the distribution of up to 50M ARB through Jan 31 2024. 

Some thoughts on the proposal below: 👇

0️⃣ Summary… https://t.co/ObYOIaQqLy

DeFi 3.0 is The Biggest Crypto Narrative. 

Here, we've covered the top 10 DeFi 3.0 projects you should know about.

My Free September 2023 research report co-authored with @0xMughal  🧵 https://t.co/RlEJDzhOiL

so CVX becomes a LST

this highlights the desire to separate CVX lockers from stakers whilst introducing something similar to a dual token model

the major assumption is that voting as the only power is sufficient for vlCVX holders https://t.co/EFG0NiPPMU

☕️ Alpha-Packed: Friday 15 Sep ☕️

1. FTX approved to sell $-billion worth of cryptocurrencies,
2. SEC accuses Binance US of lack of transparency. Management slowly leaving company.
3. Ethereum Holesky testnet is launching today.
4. Ape token unlock over the weekend.
5.… https://t.co/OgVgNatjzx

Do you want to be really early?👀

Spot projects below 1k followers on twitter.🔎

Here are 10 projects below 450 followers that could be the next big thing👇 https://t.co/XPEE4J8UK3

How? I built a tool that can score any token out of 10, using variety of key metrics. Want to see it in action? Introducing a new series: Token TLDR

I turned excel into my personal financial advisor. Introducing TOKEN TLDR

Liquid Restaked Token (LRT) - A Playbook for the New Ponzitokenomics Era.

Early opportunities I've heard of, builders delivering alpha, timely releases coming soon, and state of things!

Andy's Alpha #16 - FriendTech Mania & Much More

🔎The big crypto unlock that no one mentions👀

Frax's relationship with real world assets has been a long and twisting path leading to the creation of the first Public Benefit Company for investing into US treasuries.

What we now know about Frax's RWA strategy for FXB and sFRAX

What should Christians do if an Anti-Christ rises up and institutes the Mark of the Best in our time? Cryptocurrencies could provide the answer for any end times scenario.

Cryptocurrencies And the End Times

Competition in DeFi is good. More competition means more efficient markets, innovation and increasingly optimized ecosystems for us to present to new users when the bull market rolls in. So this blog isn't about pitting protocols against each other - no sir. It's about examining distinguishing features of

The Perps Play-Offs: Synthetix vs. GMX

Recently, leading projects like Optimism, zkSync, Polygon, Arbitrum, and StarkNet, with ETH Layer 2 at the forefront, have each introduced their own Layer 2 stack solutions. These endeavors aim to...

Cosmos & Polkadot V.S. Layer 2 Stacks: Series 1 - An Examination of Underlying Technology

Get Ready for the Reset

Stablecoins Era is Here

🚀 Introducing major updates on Layerswap - from lower fees, new networks and tokens to enhanced UX, and much more. https://t.co/uUNvIhQRlQ

While the markets were relatively slow this past month, gTrade developments and protocol updates were anything but! August was a month of 'bear market building', which included the launch of...