Important DeFi News
After Elon Musk tweeted a meme related to Miladies, the ERC-20 token $LADYS, seemingly linked to Milady Maker, skyrocketed to a market cap of $150M. However, it has been confirmed that some of the top holders, including DWF Labs, have been blacklisted
$UNI is discussing implementing protocol fees by turning on the fee switch. However, it may have potential regulatory implications as the Uniswap Foundation is US-based
The adoption of BRC-20 has significantly increased, causing severe congestion on the Bitcoin network and leading to high transaction fees. Block fees have overtaken rewards in two blocks, a rare event that has only occurred a few times in Bitcoin's history. Binance has also announced it will support Ordinals in its NFT marketplace
Despite ongoing redeployment of $crvUSD contracts, Curve Finance has declared it will soon launch its user interface
Spark Protocol, MakerDAO’s lending marketplace, has been launched, further increasing the utility and demand for $DAI
PancakeSwap has burned $16M worth of $CAKE and decreased emissions to 3-5%, with plans to further reduce emissions
Synthetix has ramped up weekly $OP trading rewards by 200%, which will positively affect Kwenta and Polynomial users
Instadapp has announced Avocado Multisig, a smart contract multi-chain wallet for both institutional and retail users
Aave V3 has been launched on Metis, potentially triggering a rush of liquidity to the platform
Y2K Finance has announced its V2, touting improved user experience, an Open Builder Platform codebase for building atop the dApp, and support for other ERC-20 tokens
Aragon has abandoned its DAO transition plans due to an attack by activist investors
$CHZ Mainnet, a blockchain infrastructure designed for sports and entertainment, launched
Opensea Pro hinted at the potential inclusion of $PEPE as a payment method
El Dorado Exchange, a perpetual DEX on BNB Chain and Arbitrum has launched $EDET, a staked $EDET token that represents a share of their treasury
Granary Finance, a cross-chain lending market, has started $GRAIN emissions to boost TVL and user growth
AIOZ has finalized its network hard fork and upgraded to v1.4.0, enabling connection to Cosmos and EVM-compatible ecosystems
Kiln, a staking services protocol, is now live on the Sui network
Levana Protocol, a perpetual trading platform, started an incentivized beta on the Sei testnet
Hinkal Protocol, a private transaction and asset storage protocol, is now active on Polygon
With its integration with XP Network, $SCRT NFTs will now be able to go multi-chain
ODOS protocol, a DeFi swap aggregator, is now operational on the Fantom network
Neutrinos Bridge is operational, currently connecting BNB Chain to Neutrinos Mainnet
Prime Protocol, a cross-chain liquidity protocol, is now live
Governance Proposals
Lido Finance is scheduled to vote on May 12th regarding the on-chain deployment of Lido V2 If the vote is successful, Lido V2 is projected to be operational by May 15th
$NFTX is in the process of voting on diversifying the FloorDAO treasury, but the proposal appears likely to fail
A vote will be held concerning the potential reduction of liquidity mining incentives by 38% for $CANTO
Redacted Cartel is currently deliberating over year 2 incentives for $rlBTRFLY
Proposals by Hop Protocol, Balancer, and Uniswap to launch on Polygon zkEVM have received approval from the governance
Stargate DAO members have voted in favor of slashing bribes on Velodrome by 75% and extending the incentives program for an additional 16 weeks
Next Week's Alpha
The Lido V2 upgrade, scheduled for May 15th, will enable $stETH withdrawals. Given Lido's position as the largest ETH staking depositor, this could potentially be the last significant withdrawal wave before net flows turn positive as staking deposits surpass withdrawals
On May 15th, $BIT will unlock $90.9M, which amounts to 2% of the total supply
$APE is set to unlock $51.3M, accounting for 1.6% of the total supply, on May 17th
Arbitrum plans to redistribute accumulated transaction fees back to DAOs
EnLight Finance, an $ETH LSD protocol, is gearing up to launch an incentivized testnet on BSC
The incentivized testnet for Dymension is set to launch soon
Spark Defense, a MOBA defense game, is set to launch on Treasure DAO on May 11th
News
Voyager is planning to self-liquidate its assets, projecting a recovery rate of 36%
Pudgy Penguins has successfully raised $9M to broaden its intellectual property and team
Binance is currently under investigation by the DOJ for allegations of facilitating Russians in evading US sanctions
The co-founder of Paxful is preparing to launch Civ Kit, a peer-to-peer crypto marketplace
NYAG Letitia James has proposed legislation that would mandate crypto firms to refund victims of fraud
Bittrex has filed for bankruptcy in Delaware federal court
Alameda Research has obtained $57.77M from OKX
Amid SEC’s legal action against Binance, $BTC traded at a nearly $650 premium on Binance.US
Solana’s Android phone, Saga, is now available for public orders. Upon setting up the device, owners can claim a Saga genesis token
Quadrigacx is set to start interim distribution for some users, with public instructions on how to file claims expected in the coming weeks
DCG is aiming to refinance outstanding obligations with its bankrupt lending division, Genesis, and raise growth capital
Major entities such as Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, and Deloitte are participating in Canton Network, an institutional blockchain developed by Digital Asset
Paypal has disclosed that its customers’ crypto holdings total nearly ~$1B
The SEC's proposed crypto custody regulation could potentially bar US investment advisors from using centralized exchanges like Coinbase
Grayscale has filed for three new funds: the Ethereum Futures ETF, the Global Bitcoin Composite ETF, and the Privacy ETF
Jane Street and Jump have scaled back on crypto trading as US regulators intensify scrutiny on the industry
Celsius has recommenced re-staking $ETH, depositing an additional 20.4k $ETH thus far
DEXes on zkSync have overtaken DEXes on Avax in terms of daily trading volume
The Karnataka government has implemented a tamper-proof certification system on Polygon
Tweets of the Week
Upcoming Perpetual Protocols by An Ape's Prologue
Large $BTC transaction analysis by An Ape's Prologue
How Frax Finance is solving the stablecoin trilemma by Thor Hartvigsen
Great work/content as usual. I really look forward to seeing your newsletters and podcasts. Thanks so much guys it’s appreciated 🙏