🎉 Happy Father’s Day (belated)!
Also, read about crypto options, the Merge readiness checklist, and Buterin Father-son duos’ viewpoints on crypto.
It’s been a while since we haven’t share the DPI chart here (trying not to be too repetitive) but today it deserves a screenshot: DeFi is looking hot🔥
Uniswap announced it has acquired NFT marketplace aggregator Genie (and your airdrop is safu!)
Synthetix Now Among Top-Earning Crypto Protocols After Atomic Swaps Take Off
Also, don’t forget that Ethereum is scaling!
Today, June 21st, Arbitrum launched the Arbitrum Odyssey. The 8-week program will see people performing on-chain quests as a way to tour some top dapps currently on Arbitrum. If you’re sad because invested most of your NFT time and money trading on Gem instead of Genie, don’t forget to participate this time! Also, it’s really important for scaling solutions like Arbitrum to have a high volume of early adopters (that also understand all risks involved) to test the protocols, share their experience and increase adoption. You can check William’s detailed explanation on the Odyssey here. - DeFinn
😳 Driving crypto and DeFi regulatory updates
Musk, Tesla, SpaceX are sued for alleged Dogecoin pyramid scheme.
HM Treasury changes course on collecting data around unhosted crypto wallets.
Chinese messaging app WeChat bans accounts involved in crypto.
Ukraine becomes the third non-EU country to join the European blockchain partnership.
Coinbase is facing class-action suits over unstable stablecoins GYEN, USTC.
US Lawmakers urge EPA to think about the potential crypto mining benefits.
🐻Bear is boring? Let’s help you learn about the foundation of our financial future in the stillness. This time featuring: Switzerland’s DLT regulation.
In September 2020, the Parliament passed the distributed ledger technology (DLT) blanket act which selectively adapts 10 existing federal laws. The DLT law introduced a new concept of DLT securities under the Swiss code of obligations allowing the tokenization of rights, claims, and financial instruments. A new licensing category of DLT- Trading Venture is also introduced which clarifies on the treatment of cryptocurrencies in case of insolvency proceedings. Read more here!
Implications:
By introducing ledger-based securities, the new DLT Act provides greater legal clarity in the tokenization of rights and shares.
Another feature of the new DLT Act is that it will make it easier to deal with payment tokens in pooled custody wallets by introducing a new sub-category of the FinTech license rather than the entire banking license that was previously necessary.
Because Switzerland lacked similar license types, this will undoubtedly make Swiss legislation more competitive in terms of European payment institution licenses.
Finally, the aggressive expansion of AML regulation to DeFi business models will drive DeFi businesses to quit uncontrolled software development in Switzerland and relocate the rest of their operations to an offshore jurisdiction with no laws.
Now, it's movie time! What if Hollywood made a movie about crypto: 2 Fast 2 Fungible.
🎯 The Sector Pulse
Crypto market sentiment trough Scalara’s indices.
📈 DeFi Pulse Index (DPI): $76.35 (+20.08%)
📈 Inverse ETH Flexible Leverage Index (iETH-FLI-P) - $196.85 (1.58%)
👉 Also Read: DeFi Pulse Index: A methodology deep dive
👀 Latest News you shouldn’t miss
Circle launches Euro-backed stablecoin.
BNB Beacon Chain goes open-source.
Alchemy 25m Grants Initiative.
Drift research competition.
9 month recovery plan for Celsius announced by lead investor Bnk to the Future.
Babel Finance suspends withdrawals as crypto markets slump.
Bancor pauses impermanent loss protection.
ZigZag DEX to sell governance tokens with airdrop down the line.
Are you a solo staker or a validator offering staking services? Here's the Merge readiness checklist to help you prepare beforehand.
The Merge, Ethereum's long-awaited switch to proof-of-stake, is swiftly approaching, bringing Ethereum one step closer to a more sustainable ecosystem. There are a few things lone stakers and validator services should be aware of before the transfer and a few chores you may need to complete:
Both Layers Required
An Ethereum node will consist of both an execution layer (EL) client and a consensus layer (CL) client after the Merge. Therefore, Ethereum = EL + CL. Infura and Alchemy will no longer be viable candidates for outsourcing execution layer responsibilities at the time of the Merge. If you haven't already done so, make sure your node is running both an EL and a CL client to avoid downtime during the Merge.
Authenticate Engine API
To stay safe, the execution and consensus levels work closely together and require authentication. A JWT (JSON Web Token) secret is required for two-way communication between the EL and CL clients and for your node to work. The steps for setting this JWT secret differ by the client; node operators should consult their clients' documentation for details on generating and configuring these. For instance,
Set fee recipient
Validators will be rewarded with fees, so don't miss out! As a result, to collect these incentives, stakers must supply a fee recipient address to their consensus client. This is a standard Ethereum address that you're probably familiar with. When your validator proposes blocks, you will not earn transaction fees if you do not offer an address to your client. Client-specific details on setting this can be found in your consensus layer client documentation, such as:
Bonus: Don't forget to join the EthStaker Discord, where you'll find a #TestingTheMerge🐼 channel full of information on becoming more involved and prepared.
Ethereum updates and upgrades🥁
Mainnet-shadow-fork-7 merges June 22, equal client split, test fixes deployed on Ropsten
Mainnet-shadow-fork-7 config: github.com/eth-clients/me… Test fixes deployed on Ropsten, make sure there are no regressions. TTD planned: Wed June 22 ~2PM UTC. Equal client split for all validators. Tooling: …stats.mainnetshadowfork7.ethdevops.io …lorer.mainnetshadowfork7.ethdevops.io …chain.mainnetshadowfork7.ethdevops.io
The Ethereum Sepolia testnet launched and ready for trial merge
On block 15,050,000 (approximately June 29), Gray Glacier upgrade will delay the difficulty bomb by 700k blocks (100 days) and set a strict deadline for the Merge (unless major issues are found in testing requiring a bomb delay). Don't forget to update your EL clients ahead of the upgrade!
Stay tuned for further updates in the DeFi Pulse's upcoming newsletters.
Ethereum mining is going away, and miners are not happy
TLDR: The switch from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake will drastically reduce power usage, leaving some pricey technologies looking for new applications. On the other hand, miners are dissatisfied because the profitability of mining with GPUs has been continuously declining over time;Biggest ‘stETH’ pool almost empty, complicating exit for would-be sellers
TLDR: Large institutional investors such as Alameda Research and Three Arrows Capital used a trading pool to dump their "stETH" tokens, leaving the pool completely depleted and extremely imbalanced, potentially trapping retail investors and the beleaguered crypto lender Celsius;Ethereum risks another 60% drop after breaking below $1K to 18-month lows
TLDR: Ether fell to $975, its lowest level since January 2021, having lost 80% of its value since its November 2021 high. Concerns about the Federal Reserve's 75-basis-point rate hike fueled the drop, sending both cryptocurrencies and stocks into a deep bear market;Vitalik and Dmitry (Dima) Buterin: think of how else crypto could be used
TLDR: Both Vitalik and Dima said they expect to see more applications outside of finance while continuing to improve Ethereum and its technology. Their conduct supports this: Following Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine in February, Vitalik and Dima backed the Ukraine DAO, which raised millions of dollars to aid Ukrainians amid the war.
Nansen Connect: The Messaging App of Web3
Users can log in with their crypto wallets, choose a username based on their Nansen wallet labels, join groups based on crypto holdings and onchain behaviors, send DMs to other users (encrypted end-to-end), monitor key collection statistics and user holding information in real-time, and eventually build OTC channels for more efficient trading using Nansen Connect.
A beginner’s guide to crypto options
An option is a financial contract granting buyers the right to buy or sell an asset at a specific price on or before a particular expiration date. An option’s target price is known as its “strike price” and its specified expiration as its “expiry.” Accordingly, options are a type of financial derivative since they derive value from the underlying assets they track. Traders use these instruments to speculate on asset prices or hedge against risk. Sounds exciting?
9 great threads w crypto lessons to prepare for bull market
Hard times don't last forever, but your knowledge does!
Learning more about blockchain technology is undoubtedly a wise choice right now because if blockchain’s usage spreads globally, those who acquired blockchain experience during its present time of significant expansion will be in high demand. So don't wait, then! It's a fantastic industry, full of incredible individuals from various backgrounds. Whether you want to be a game developer, a graphic artist, a quant trader, a content writer, a research analyst, or a digital marketer, acquire the required skills on time to land a career in Web3.
Bonus: Fill out this form if you’re interested in a freelance research role at DeFi Pulse. The best course of action in 2022 might be to future-proof your profession- @eyeguneet
All info in this newsletter is purely educational and should only be used as research. DeFi Pulse is not offering investment advice, endorsement of any project or approach, or promising any outcome. This post is prepared using public information (which does not account for specific goals or financial situations) and links provided to third-party sites are for informational purposes. Such sites are not under the control of DeFi Pulse, so DeFi Pulse or the author are not responsible for the accuracy of the content on such third-party sites. Be careful and keep up the honest work!