DeFi's Next Frontier: The Untapped Potential of On-chain Structured Products

Send Time：2024-04-18 12:58:48

GoldenTree Asset Management has moved the majority of its SUSHI token holdings, sparking fears in the Sushi community that it is exiting its position. At press time, GoldenTree's crypto wallet held just $1 million in SUSHI tokens, a precipitous drop from its nearly $7 million in exposure earlier this week. The move comes as Sushi, a decentralized exchange for trading cryptocurrencies on the Ethereum blockchain, faces fresh scrutiny from U.S. regulators. SUSHI is the governance token for Sushi DAO and gives its holders a voice in how the exchange operates. It was trading at $1.22 immediately before Tuesday's news but has fallen 11% in the days since and was around $1.08 at press time, according to CoinGecko. A GoldenTree employee who goes by MarkOKW, who last October announced the firm's SUSHI investment, didn't immediately comment. Grey declined to comment on GoldenTree's SUSHI position. On-chain activity reveals how GoldenTree has shuffled its holding in recent days. The asset manager started the week with xSUSHI tokens worth over $7 million. Then on Wednesday, it swapped 4.4 million of those tokens for 5.95 million SUSHI tokens that it had staked with Sushi. CoinDesk identified the wallets using Nansen. On Wednesday night and Thursday morning, it sent two batches of tokens valued at $5.4 million total to an address controlled by crypto trading desk Cumberland. Cumberland sent the first half to a Binance deposit address Wednesday night; the other half hadn't moved out of Cumberland's wallet at press time. Members of SUSHI's Discord server speculated the on-chain activity indicated GoldenTree had already sold its position.ApeCoin DAO has passed a community proposal that would see the launch of an Accelerator to support projects utilizing apecoin tokens (APE) and bolster the Bored Ape Yacht Club and ApeCoin ecosystems. The new AIP-209 will incubate and launch community-approved projects that focus on improving the value of the BAYC NFT collection and other projects that use ApeCoin. The 'Ape Accelerator' aims to engage the ApeCoin community as initiators, voters, and participants. Initiators can submit proposals for projects to be incubated, while voters can use their APE tokens to vote on whether the proposed projects should be launched. Participants will be able to support approved projects by purchasing NFTs and other yet-unspecified tokens. Projects which finally launch on the Accelerator will utilize apecoin, which may ultimately accrue value as they generate revenue and returns for holders. ApeCoin was initially issued as a governance token by creator Yuga Labs to holders of the popular BAYC NFT collection, which is composed of 10,000 unique images of cartoon apes that sell at $83,000 apiece as of Thursday. These tokens find use in other Yuga Labs projects, such as Otherside, Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC), CryptoPunks, MeeBits, and Bored Ape Kennel Club (BAKC) – all popular and influential NFT collections. The launchpad within Ape Accelerator will initially operate on the Ethereum network and feature a tiered structure for participation, based on users' APE stakes and qualifying NFT holdings.GMX, the largest protocol on Arbitrum, has announced its integration with Chainlink's low-latency pricing oracles to enhance its derivatives and perpetual swap exchange. The move marks a shift towards low-latency trading in the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector, as trading firms and hedge funds require faster platforms to execute sophisticated trading strategies without delays. The integration follows a community vote, with over 96% of votes approving the integration and 2 million GMX tokens being used to vote. The low-latency oracles will help mitigate the risks of front-running and bring the industry one step closer to the performance level currently existing outside of it. GMX contributors have been working with Chainlink Labs since last year on the specifications of the new oracles. The total value locked (TVL) on Arbitrum is at $2.1 billion, with $567 million of that value from GMX, according to DefiLlama data. The surge in GMX's native token has seen a 78% increase since the turn of the year, as capital continues to flow to Arbitrum-based protocols.Community members are vying for a new model to bolster revenue and sustain a peg to the U.S. dollar for Terra Classic, the original network created by Terraform Labs. The proposed model relies on token buybacks, unidirectional swaps, staking, and an 'algorithmic peg divergence fee' to address the issues with the original design. The fees retained by the protocol would be used to buy back USTC and maintain the peg, and a USTC staking tool is proposed to drive capital to the token and increase its price appreciation. The community believes that a fully-decentralized token is necessary to create a decentralized economy, and hopes to bring the project back to its glory days despite its previous implosion. Edited by Stephen Alpher.Cardano blockchain activity in the second quarter grew in both value locked and transactional metrics from the first quarter amid technical improvements and a rise in developer interest, a report by analytics firm Messari shows. While decentralized exchange Minswap showed the largest absolute growth, several new decentralized applications, or dapps, also contributed to the increase. The report, which was commissioned by Cardano developer Input Output, compared second-quarter developments against first-quarter figures. It noted that while transaction activity grew, the number of active daily users decreased 4% — the fourth drop in address activity in the past five quarters. 'The ratio of transactions to active addresses has been growing steadily over the past five quarters, suggesting that the average user is more active now than they previously were,' the report said. 'In Q2, the Transaction / Active Address ratio of 1.19 was up 6.1% QoQ and 13.2% YoY.' Blockchain load — a measure of how much data is contained in blocks over a certain period — rose to 50% from under 40% in the previous three months. It peaked at 81% in May. DeFiLlama data shows that $175 million worth of tokens are locked on Cardano as of Monday, the highest level for this year, but still about 50% below a lifetime peak of $340 million hit in May 2022. Such activity comes on the back of key Cardano upgrades since the start of this year. A change to reduce 'epoch' transitions and make the blockchain smoother for network users took effect in June. Epochs refer to the time periods on Cardano, with epoch lasting 432,000 slots and each slot being one second. ADA tokens are staked during these epochs during which new blocks on the Cardano network are produced, potentially increasing demand for the tokens as block rewards become more lucrative, based on activity. In March, a feature on Milkomeda, a network that connects blockchains to the Ethereum Virtual Machine, or EVM, began to allow Cardano blockchain users to gain access to EVM smart contracts with any cardano (ADA) wallet, expanding the ecosystem's usefulness. An Ethereum Virtual Machine is where all Ethereum accounts and smart contracts live, serving as a virtual computer used by developers to create dapps. The new feature will allow Ethereum application developers to build on Cardano’s network using Solidity — the computer language used to code Ethereum — without needing to install new toolkits or learn a new computer language. Such applications can then be used solely with Cardano tokens instead of ether (ETH), the native token of the Ethereum network, increasing the tokens' utility for holders.

The native token of decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Compound (COMP) has surged by more than 50% in four days following a spike in volume and outflows on Binance. One wallet deposited $3.5 million worth of USDT and withdrew $7.76 million in Compound's COMP tokens this week, indicating steady accumulation of the DeFi token. The recent rally in COMP follows a period of low volatility trading in the crypto market, with several altcoins posting double-digit gains. The article also mentions the CFTC commissioner's optimism towards spot bitcoin ETFs and the recent increase in Ethereum's average gas fees.The total crypto market capitalization rose, with dogecoin (DOGE) leading gains among major tokens. Hopes surrounding a potential U.S. Bitcoin ETF filing by investment giant BlackRock fueled a bullish sentiment among some traders early Friday. Bitcoin regained the $25,500 level to erase declines of the past two days, when it fell to as low as $24,860. The move provided some respite to major tokens such as Polygon Network’s MATIC and Cardano’s ADA, which eased some losses from a two-day slide. Dogecoin (DOGE) led gains among major tokens with a 4% move in the past 24 hours; litecoin added (LTC) added 3.3%. On Thursday, CoinDesk reported that BlackRock planned to offer a Bitcoin ETF with crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) serving as custodian. This was confirmed later after a filing showed the company’s iShares fund management unit filed paperwork for the formation of a spot bitcoin (BTC) ETF. 'An estimated 20% of Americans have now owned bitcoin at some point. BlackRock’s proposed ETF potentially offers the other 80% an option that is altogether more familiar and accessible,' said Sui Chung, CEO of CF Benchmarks, in an email to CoinDesk. 'BlackRock’s increasing engagement shows Bitcoin continues to be an asset of interest for some of the world’s largest financial institutions.' As such, the market strength of bitcoin impacted shorts – or bets against the currency – the asset with BTC-tracked futures seeing over $16 million in short liquidations in the past 24 hours. This figure was smaller than usual due to large declines in the past week, causing some traders to risk less capital than they normally would. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has previously rejected other attempts by fund managers at listing a spot bitcoin ETF, including those from Grayscale, VanEck, and WisdomTree. However, the stature of BlackRock could make it difficult for the SEC to reject this application – which some say could fuel an outsized bitcoin rally if approved.Crypto markets are looking to recapture momentum following a down week, with trading volume increasing for both bitcoin and ether but trailing their 20-day moving averages. The CoinDesk Bitcoin Trend Indicator has signaled neutral again, and investors will be watching to see if both assets can recapture their average. Volume will be key to watch, as the sentiment behind any directional move will be amplified or muted by the level of trading volume. The steady decline in trading volume for the two assets implies a reluctance for new market participants to take on risk, and existing market participants to add more. The relative strength index (RSI) readings for both are nestled in a neutral range, with bitcoin's at 44.17 and ether's at 46.25. The RSI indicator ranges from 0 to 100, and is often used as a proxy for momentum; readings above 70 imply that an asset may be overbought, while readings below 30 indicate that an asset may be oversold. Since 2015, BTC and ETH's 30-day performance following similar RSI readings has been relatively mild, with bitcoin historically finishing 4.1% higher, and ETH finishing 2% lower. Absent an external catalyst, investors may read the direction of stablecoins as an indication of where prices are going next. The stablecoin supply ratio (SSR) is a bitcoin-specific metric, measuring BTC's market cap versus the market cap of a basket of stablecoins. Lower volumes indicate greater buying power while higher values indicate the opposite. In this regard, the 11% decline in the SSR since May 5, implies that additional buying strength exists within BTC markets. The aggregate supply of stablecoins on exchanges measures the total supply of stablecoins held on exchange addresses. Increases in aggregate supply are an indication of additional capital available for deployment across all cryptocurrencies. Stablecoin exchange balance is down 47% year to date, despite BTC and ETH trading 65% and 53% higher on the year. An increase in stablecoins supplied to exchanges however, could serve as a signal that prices are poised to move higher.Nansen, a blockchain data analytics firm, has launched Nansen Query, a platform that allows clients to programmatically access unique, curated datasets pulled from Nansen’s databases. The new product aims to help firms perform blockchain analyses more efficiently by demystifying on-chain transaction history and pricing data. It promises to offer users a complete overview of markets to value “up to 60 times faster than competitors.”nnThe product provides coverage for 95% of all on-chain total value locked, or TVL, asset data and 98% of stablecoin deposit data across 17 blockchains, including Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum, BNB Chain, Avalanche, Optimism, Ronin and Solana. Nansen Query differs from Nansen’s base-level offering by pairing data with the company’s proprietary and trading indicators like the “wash trading filter,” which helps identify suspicious on-chain activity by scanning trades between several linked wallets and transactions bounced between various trading counterparties. Nansen’s labeling system achieves that goal by facilitating firms’ analyses of on-chain data, which, while recorded on a public ledger system, can sometimes be difficult to access. nnA query is a request for data from a database or a request for action on that data that allows users to edit large information sets and identify trends among them. A programming language, like SQL, is used to create a query. Nansen’s data analytics tools, which were released in 2019, have gained traction among firms throughout the cryptocurrency industry, including prominent players like Coinbase (COIN), OpenSea, MakerDAO, Polygon, Avalanche and Andreessen Horowitz.Lybra Finance, a decentralized stablecoin protocol built on liquid staking derivatives, has seen its total value locked (TVL) skyrocket nearly 400% in the past two weeks, reaching nearly $100 million as of Friday. The protocol, which launched one month ago, leverages Lido Finance-issued ETH proof-of-stake and stETH as its primary components, with plans to support additional LSD assets in the future. The surge in TVL coincides with Lido upgrading to its second version on May 15, which enabled Lido users to unstake their stETH and receive ETH. The native token of the Lybra Protocol, LBR, has jumped 33.8% in the past 24 hours and 173% in the past seven days, standing at $2.23. Decentralized exchanges hold 9.61% of the total LBR supply, a steady decline from 23% two weeks ago, while smart money wallets hold 4.74% of the total LBR supply today, an increase from 0.82% on May 16. The growth of Lybra Finance highlights the increasing demand for decentralized stablecoins and the potential for liquid staking derivatives to provide a more stable and secure stablecoin experience.

Base, the layer 2 blockchain developed by Nasdaq-listed crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN), has completed a series of security audits as it prepares to launch its mainnet with the aim of attracting as many as 1 million new crypto users in coming years. The audits were conducted by Coinbase's protocol security team and over 100 external security researchers to test the blockchain's security and identify potential vulnerabilities. The team used a technique called fuzzing to find implementation bugs and audited all of Optimism's pre-deployments and smart contracts on both layer 1 and layer 2. Cross-chain bridges, which are commonly used attack vectors for hackers and exploiters, were also audited. Base has not provided a date for when the mainnet will go live, but it has said it will not feature a native token unlike other layer 2 blockchains Polygon, Optimism, and Arbitrum. Edited by Sheldon Reback.The floor price of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) collection has slumped to a five-month low of 55.59 ether (ETH), according to Cryptowatch data. The slide in non-fungible token (NFT) prices occurred after pseudonymous holder 'franklinisbored' said on Twitter that he sold the majority of his collection. On-chain data shows that the user sold at least 27 BAYC NFTs over a 12-hour period, securing 1439.5828 ETH ($2.8 million) in the process. Franklinisbored explained his decision was due to 'unfortunate' real-life issues that prompted him to liquidate his NFTs. He fell victim to a rug pull on a nearly 2,000 ETH investment, which appeared 'credible' due to who else had invested in it. ApeCoin (APE), the native governance token for the Bored Ape Yacht Club ecosystem, remains flat over the past 24 hours in terms of its dollar valuation despite falling against ether trading pairs.Base, the layer 2 blockchain developed by Nasdaq-listed crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN), has completed a series of security audits as it prepares to launch its mainnet with the aim of attracting as many as 1 million new crypto users in coming years. The audits were conducted by Coinbase's protocol security team and over 100 external security researchers to test the blockchain's security and identify potential vulnerabilities. The team used a technique called fuzzing to find implementation bugs and audited all of Optimism's pre-deployments and smart contracts on both layer 1 and layer 2. Cross-chain bridges, which are commonly used attack vectors for hackers and exploiters, were also audited. Base has not provided a date for when the mainnet will go live, but it has said it will not feature a native token unlike other layer 2 blockchains Polygon, Optimism, and Arbitrum. Edited by Sheldon Reback.The attacker behind Euler Finance's $200 million exploit has apologized and returned more funds to the protocol, seemingly in a series of messages sent on the blockchain. The hacker, who now identifies as Jacob, sent over 7,000 ether and $10 million worth of dai stablecoins to the protocol in the past 12 hours, bringing the total amount returned to over $120 million. The attacker had previously sent over 51,000 ether to Euler over the weekend. In a message encoded in a transaction, the hacker apologized for their actions, saying 'I f**d up' and 'I didn't mean all that.' The lending protocol suffered an exploit earlier this month that resulted in almost $200 million being lost over four transactions in dai, wrapped bitcoin, staked ether, and USD coin. The attacker used a flash loan to conduct the attack by temporarily tricking the protocol into falsely assuming it held varying amounts of eToken and dToken. Euler had earlier threatened legal action and offered a $1 million bounty to the hacker in return for the funds.Dogecoin's daily transaction volume has reached lifetime highs after the introduction of the DRC-20 token standard, which allows developers to issue tokens that take network fees in the form of dogecoin (DOGE). According to data from BitInfoCharts, the network saw over 645,000 transactions on Sunday, briefly crossing both Bitcoin and Litecoin transactions that day. This is a significant increase from the average daily transaction volume of around 20,000. The introduction of DRC-20 has added value to dogecoin and laid the path for potential decentralized finance (DeFi) services built on the blockchain. However, the token deployment has also attracted criticism, with some pointing out that it may lead to network congestion and that it moves away from dogecoin's aim of being used as an everyday currency. High fees and network congestion are valid concerns for any blockchain, as they may lead to the network becoming expensive and slow for everyday users, potentially damping adoption plans. Bitcoin's own 'Bitcoin Request for Comment' (BRC-20) standard went live in March, opening the floodgates to two-year high fees as a Bitcoin-based meme coin trading frenzy gained notoriety on the network.

Curve founder Michael Egorov has floated a new liquidity pool on his stablecoin-focused decentralized exchange to address concerns around a possible bad debt situation and alleviate bearish sentiment in CRV tokens. The new pool, crvUSD/fFRAX, is dedicated to FraxLend's CRV/FRAX liquidity pool, from which Egorov has borrowed 15.8 million FRAX stablecoin by locking 59 million CRV as collateral. The pool has attracted over $5 million in liquidity and brought down the utilization rate in FraxLend's FRAX/CRV pool to 54.78%. The move is seen as an attempt to incentivize liquidity towards the lending market and decrease the risk of Egorov's debt spiraling out of control. Analysts say the new pool could provide more time for Egorov to repay his loan and alleviate concerns around the potential liquidation of his CRV-backed loan of 63.2 million tether (USDT) from leading and borrowing marketplace Aave. The FRAX loan has been of particular concern due to the high interest rates that can double every 12 hours, subject to the pool's utilization rate holding at 100%. The introduction of the new pool has reduced the utilization rate, bringing down the APY and providing Egorov with more time to repay the loan. The move has been welcomed by the DeFi community, with pseudonymous DeFi researcher Ignas saying that the new pool is attracting capital to the critical FRAX/CRV lending pool on Fraxlend and reducing the borrowing APY. Delphi Digital also tweeted that the new pool is an attempt to incentivize liquidity towards the lending market in order to lower utilization rates and decrease the risk of Egorov's debt spiraling out of control. So far, the pool has attracted over $5 million in liquidity and brought down the utilization rate in FraxLend's FRAX/CRV pool to 54.78%.Layer 1 blockchain protocol Avalanche is picking up steam, reaching a six-month high in daily active addresses earlier this week. According to blockchain data firm Artemis.xyz, Avalanche's daily active addresses hit nearly 80,000 on April 12. Its daily active user base grew 85% in the past 90 days, making it one of the fastest-growing protocols, ahead of BNB Chain, Tron, Ethereum, Aptos, and Bitcoin. Only four protocols grew faster, per Artemis: StarkNet, Arbitrum, Stacks, and Canto. The high-water mark coincided with Avalanche's April 12 partnership with a bevy of financial institutions that will contribute to its network infrastructure, signaling traditional finance companies' increased interest in the Avalanche ecosystem. The price of Avalanche's native token AVAX stands at $18.53 at press time, down 1.34% in the past 24 hours, per CoinDesk data. Avalanche is the seventh-largest blockchain by total value locked, which currently sits at $878.7 million, according to crypto stats website DefiLlama. Edited by Danny Nelson.Bitcoin prices briefly spiked to $138,000 on crypto exchange Binance.US earlier today before immediately reverting to normal levels. The sudden price wick was likely due to low liquidity for bitcoin against tether on the exchange, according to market depth data. The move was unlikely to have been caused by a trader wanting to pay a nearly 450% premium for bitcoin, which currently exchanges hands for just over $29,000 in European morning hours on Wednesday. Market depth data shows a $400,000 bitcoin buy on this trading pair can increase prices by 2%, compared to a minimum of $842,000 for the same impact on a bitcoin/USD trade pair. Binance.US's market depth has dropped 76% compared to May, suggesting market makers and traders have fled from the exchange. The bizarre wick is a reminder of the volatility and unpredictability of cryptocurrency markets.The recent rise of the meme coin bald (BALD) has raised questions about the involvement of Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of Alameda Research. On-chain data suggests that the deployer contract of BALD has interacted with wallets linked to Alameda, and crypto sleuths have found connections between Bankman-Fried's Alameda Research and the deployer wallet. However, it is unlikely that Bankman-Fried is behind the scam, as he is currently under strict bail conditions and has limited access to the internet. The article also explores the connections between BALD and other DeFi projects, and the sudden removal of liquidity from the token's trading pairs. The rise of BALD and its subsequent fall has left many holders in the lurch, and the future of the token remains uncertain.After the frenzied Arbitrum airdrop day, nearly 240,000 addresses still need to claim their governance tokens worth roughly $596 million. According to blockchain analytics firm Nansen, 61% of eligible crypto wallets have already claimed their ARB, leaving 37% of the total 1.1 billion ARB allocated for the airdrop unclaimed. These tokens have yet to enter the market, and eligible addresses have 184 days left to claim their tokens. The airdrop's initial redemption rate was artificially restricted due to the collapse of the claims website due to heavy traffic, which affected the token supply and caused ARB to soar to as high as $14 on some venues before settling out around $1.42 once more wallets had claimed their allocations. The effect that token supply can have on emerging markets was on full display Thursday morning. The unclaimed tokens represent a significant amount of value that could potentially enter the market, which could impact the price of ARB and other cryptocurrencies. The lack of claiming could also indicate a lack of interest in the project or a lack of understanding of the airdrop process. The situation highlights the importance of proper communication and education for a successful airdrop and the potential impact of token supply on emerging markets.

Bored Ape Yacht Club Floor Price Slides to Five-Month Low as Prominent Investor Dumps Holdings

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Crypto Twitter has a new obsession: Pepe the Frog meme coins. The token, which launched just three days ago, has already raked in $30 million in trading volumes and reached a market capitalization of $33 million. The token has gained over 21,000% in the past three days, with hopes of turning a profit pinning the token's popularity. The token has quickly gained popularity, with over 10,000 individual holders on Tuesday, according to data from blockchain tracker Etherscan. The tokens have a circulating supply of 420 trillion, a reference to '4/20,' another popular cannabis culture slang. The tokens have no connection to the actual Pepe the Frog meme or Matt Furie, the meme's original creator. Crypto Twitter has a history of jumping on memecoins, with tokens such as dogecoin and shiba inu gaining tens of billions in market capitalization in the previous bull market. However, most of these do not last beyond a few weeks. Professional investors have previously told CoinDesk that meme coins and their narratives will always remain a part of the crypto ecosystem. 'Meme trading is a risky way to try to seek excessive return, but when it pans out, the upside can be very huge. So even in a bear market, some of the meme coins will have large up-swing, even if it's just short term,' said James Wo, founder at crypto fund DFG. The premise doesn't matter: if there's money to be made peddling trendy topics, expect a market for it somewhere in niche 's**tcoin' circles.GMX, the most popular decentralized exchange on the Arbitrum layer 2 network, has launched version 2 of its trading platform, offering liquidity pools for riskier assets at lower fees. The new version expands the list of tradable assets to include alternative currencies such as dogecoin (DOGE) and offers annualized yields of up to 47%.nnThe initial model of GMX version 2 went live Thursday, attracting over $1.2 million for its liquidity pools in a muted launch. The platform allows users to trade spot and perpetual futures through an on-chain interface at low fees, with part of its recent popularity attributed to the rise of the Ethereum-based Arbitrum. nnThe new version of GMX will exist alongside the current platform, offering traders a service for betting on price movements of major tokens using leverage. Liquidity on V2 is provided through individual GMX Market, or GM, pools, with liquidity providers rewarded with a cut of fees earned from services such as leverage trading, borrowing, and swaps. nnInitial GM pools include solana (SOL), xrp (XRP), litecoin (LTC), dogecoin, and arbitrum (ARB) on the Arbitrum network, alongside SOL, XRP, LTC, and DOGE on the Avalanche network. A GM pool comprises long tokens, which back positions betting on higher prices, a short token, which bets on lower prices, and an index pool token. nnAs of Friday, GM pools for DOGE are paying out as much as 45% annualized, while the solana pool is paying 47%. The rates are subject to change. nnThe introduction of V2 could help GMX's prospects among traders in an increasingly competitive market. Ultimately, attractive rewards and increased revenues could drive value to GMX's namesake governance tokens (GMX). nnGMX locks up over $447 million on Arbitrum and $74 million on the Avalanche network, data from DefiLlama shows. The platform has traded over $117 billion worth of tokens and generated $184 million in fees for its Arbitrum users alone, data shows.

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The price of LQTY, the secondary token for decentralized borrowing protocol Liquity, has gained massive interest following the chaos from the depegging of the second largest stablecoin by market capitalization, Circle's USDC. The price of LQTY was up nearly 20% in the past 24 hours, placing it among the best-performing crypto assets for the period. Moreover, LQTY has soared nearly 500% since the start of the year and was trading around $3.33 at presstime. The most recent price action came after investors balked at Circle's USDC stablecoin, leading to a win for Liquity, a decentralized platform for taking out loans denominated in the protocol's primary token, LUSD. Liquity's LUSD has seen the upside, with a 10% jump in wallets holding the stablecoin since March 6, indicative of a new stablecoin narrative following the depegging of USDC. Liquity allows users to deposit ether (ETH) into the protocol as collateral and take out loans denominated in U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin LUSD. Instead of charging a variable interest rate for drawing loans, Liquity has a 0% interest rate, charging users a one-time fee. With a total value locked (TVL) of $683 million, according to data aggregator DeFiLlama, Liquity has generated $30 million in lifetime revenue. As of March 11, users have borrowed almost $4.5 billion LUSD, according to a dune dashboard created by a Liquity developer. Currently, more than 52 million LQTY worth about $184 million has been staked, which represents 52% of the total supply of LQTY, per blockchain explorer Etherscan. Binance, which opened up trading for spot trading pairs LQTY/BTC and LQTY/USDT on Feb. 28, currently owns roughly 11.57% of the total LQTY supply, data from blockchain analytics firm Nansen shows.Conic Finance, a new tool for capturing yields from the prominent stablecoin swapping service Curve, has attracted over $60 million in deposits just over a week after launch. The platform offers unlocked yield rewards to users by diversifying exposure across the Curve ecosystem while increasing rewards. Each omnipool allocates liquidity of a single asset into different Curve pools, boosting CRV rewards earnings and providing up to 21% annualized yields on USDC, DAI, and FRAX. Holders can lock their CNC tokens for vlCNC to participate in Conic governance and directly control how liquidity is allocated across Curve pools. The high yields offered by Conic could generate value for its own CNC token, making it an attractive option for traders looking to earn yields without locking up their tokens for long time periods. Curve uses smart contracts to offer an efficient way to exchange stablecoins while maintaining low fees and low slippage, and depositors on Curve earn annual yields of up to 4% from one of the many pools on the platform. veCRV allows users to participate in platform governance, earn higher rewards and fees, and receive airdrops, but it effectively locks up liquidity, creating opportunity costs for users. Protocols like Conic offer a solution to this issue, allowing users to gain exposure to the Curve ecosystem without locking up their tokens for long time periods.

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ZkSync-based decentralized exchange (DEX) Merlin plans to compensate users impacted in a nearly $2 million rug pull with blockchain audit firm CertiK. A representative for CertiK told CoinDesk that the company is actively investigating the recent Merlin DEX exit scam, where rogue developers are suspected of causing the loss of around $2 million in user funds. Working closely with the remaining Merlin team, CertiK will initiate a compensation plan to cover the lost funds for affected users. Initial investigations indicate that the rogue developers are based in Europe, and CertiK will collaborate with law enforcement authorities to track them down if direct negotiation is unsuccessful. The rogue developer is urged to return 80% of the stolen funds and accept a 20% white-hat bounty. Merlin was seemingly exploited for over $1.8 million on Wednesday morning during a public sale of its mage (MAGE) tokens. The attack occurred despite Merlin touting an audit conducted by blockchain security firm CertiK. Further analysis by firms and analysts alleged the attack was conducted by a rogue developer who held private keys to Merlin's smart contracts - allowing them to withdraw all liquidity from the protocol.AllianceBlock, a blockchain-agnostic platform designed to link traditional (TradFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi), has signed a deal to add business data from Crunchbase to its ecosystem. The deal is Crunchbase's first foray into the crypto market. The firm's data, which includes funding rounds as well as information on earnings, will initially be available to AllianceBlock’s Data Tunnel users. The tunnel is a tool that lets users publish, share and consume data in a variety of formats. nnThe agreement follows AllianceBlock's recent deal with investment firm ABO Digital to offer institutional and retail investors a series of tokenized investment products. nnThe AllianceBlock token (ALBT) plunged by 51% last month after Bonq, a decentralized borrowing protocol, was struck with an exploit worth around $5 million. AllianceBlock responded by suspending trading of the token, taking a snapshot before issuing a new token to replace the legacy ALBT. nnAllianceBlock have since then resolved the issue and introduced a new token Nexera (NXRA), which has about $46 million of market-cap, according to CoinGecko data. nn'The buying and selling of data is a multibillion-dollar growth industry that shows no signs of slowing down,' said Rachid Ajaja, CEO and co-founder of AllianceBlock. 'However, until now, decentralized and centralized data providers and users have operated in siloes, unable to interact.'