Bankless

Share this post

Bon Voyager

newsletter.banklesshq.com

Bon Voyager

Voyager Bankrupt | Aave Stablecoin | Crypto Phones | Facebook & Reddit NFTs

Donovan Choy
Jul 9, 2022
24
1
Share this post

Bon Voyager

newsletter.banklesshq.com


Bankless premium members get full access to the July edition of Bankless Token Ratings. This month, we’re rating ATOM, SOL, AVAX, PERP, TRIBE, and SUSHI 👀

Also access the Inner Circle Discord, claim your community badge, and enjoy exclusive Token reports and airdrop guides when you subscribe!


Dear Bankless Nation,

Welcome to the weekly recap of the biggest crypto news for the first week of July.

Voyager Digital Goes Bankrupt

“The company is well capitalized and in a good position to weather this market cycle and protect customer assets.” — Voyager Digital press release, June 14th 2022.

That did not age well.

CeFi firm Voyager Digital filed for bankruptcy this week.

The publicly traded crypto bank got caught up making huge uncollateralized loans of $660M to “too-big-to-fail” crypto hedge fund 3AC, which was in turn making its own leveraged risky trades all over the place.

Voyager customers were in effect lending to 3AC in a game of musical chairs, and the music came to a screeching default halt to the tune of 15250 BTC and 350M USDC.

Now, Voyager has a remaining $110M in assets on hand, plus $1.3B in assets.

The bankruptcy filing means that Voyager customers will likely not receive their assets back in full.

Here’s the company’s rough plan to make customers “whole”:

Voyager customers will receive a combination of some cryptoassets, a share of Voyager’s $660M claim against 3AC (now also bankrupt btw), a bunch of VGX “loyalty” tokens for “boosting rewards'' on crypto deposits, and VOYG shares — upon which trading has been halted on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Something tells me Voyager users won’t be overly keen on receiving shares of a sunken ship.

Here’s how the rest of the pieces in the 3AC pandemic contagion puzzle lay:

  • 3AC has filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy in a New York court in a bid to protects its remaining assets from a legal grab

  • Nexo is making moves to acquire the Coinbase-backed Vauld, another struggling crypto lender that halted withdrawals last week 

  • Facing $80M in losses from its 3AC loan, FTX acquires BlockFi this week for $240M. Its valuation at its peak was ~$4B+. (oof)

  • Genesis Trading is facing hundreds of millions of dollars in losses from its exposure to 3AC.

  • Finally, Celsius has completely paid down its WBTC loan on its Maker vault and gotten all its collateral ($440M) back.

Twitter avatar for @lay2000lbs
Leighton @lay2000lbs
The only lenders Celsius has paid back: @AaveAave @MakerDAO @compoundfinance Smart contracts have a higher liquidation preference than any paper agreement DeFi protects you from Celsius https://t.co/lA68IAI4Bp
Twitter avatar for @Blockworks_
Blockworks @Blockworks_
NEW: Celsius has finished paying its loan to Maker DAO and got 21,962 WBTC (≈$440M) in collateral back
1:12 PM ∙ Jul 7, 2022
1,157Likes235Retweets

Aave proposes GHO stablecoin

Aave’s latest governance proposal is taking DeFi by storm. The DeFi giant is proposing GHO, an overcollateralized USD-pegged stablecoin that lenders can mint against supplied collateral — similar to Maker’s DAI.

Why GHO? The business strategy is to capture stablecoin market share through “organic adoption via L2s.” Aave V3 is currently deployed across six chains, including Polygon and Ethereum L2s Arbitrum and Optimism. GHO will also serve as a revenue generator for Aave, as 100% of interest paid on GHO loans by borrowers will be sent to the DAO.

Obviously, this is huge. Aave is the second largest DeFi protocol by TVL after Maker. An Aave stablecoin would place both protocols in direct competition. For every one GHO in Aave means one less DAI in Aave.

Aave’s massive lending market across multiple chains gives its stablecoin a big advantage in getting off the ground, thanks to its many existing stakeholders and deep liquidity. Aave is tapping well on both of these strengths.

For example: GHO is designed to be highly incentive-compatible with existing AAVE token holders. Aave Safety Module stakers (stkAAVE) can mint GHO at a discounted rate, and sell them on other DeFi protocols for arbitrage profits, driving utility to the AAVE token. This means AAVE holders have a significant interest in seeing GHO passed.

Anxious rumblings are already rumbling on the Maker forums. Aave leaders are doing their best to soothe concerns.

Voting hasn’t begun yet, but keep your eyes peeled for this one. Here are some other salient details:

  • GHO is designed to have a fixed stable borrowing interest rate which “the DAO will be able to decide… and change over time through a governance process,” similar to how MKR holders decide on the mechanics (stability fee, debt ceiling, DAI savings rate) that govern DAI.

  • Only intermediaries known as “facilitators” can mint and burn GHO. Who these facilitators will be, their minting limits, and types of collateral they can accept against minting (see chart) will be decided by the DAO.

  • E-Mode is a stabilizing factor that ensures users access GHO with a 1:1 rate

  • Portal will let users transfer GHO by simple message passing, thereby bypassing bridging risks.


Facebook and Reddit NFTs

Twitter avatar for @navdeep_ua
Navdeep Singh @navdeep_ua
We're launching NFTs on Facebook! Excited to share what I've been working on with the world.
Image
11:37 PM ∙ Jun 29, 2022
791Likes238Retweets

Facebook announced this week that it was testing support for Ethereum and Polygon NFTs on its platform, with Solana and Flow to come. This comes about two months after its sister company Instagram did the same.

Reddit also announced the launch of its own limited edition collection of “Collectible Avatars” that users can display on their profile pictures, designed by artists that were carefully curated by Reddit. These aren’t quite NFTs in the traditional sense. Reddit lets you play dress-up with the way they look, but they are stored on the Polygon chain.

Twitter avatar for @sandeepnailwal
Sandeep | Polygon 💜🔝3️⃣ @sandeepnailwal
GM @0xPolygon Fam! @Reddit is launching its NFT Marketplace on @0xPolygon! Goal : #Top3 by impact - BTC,ETH, Polygon; nothing less, nothing more. Never stop building! WAGMI!
techcrunch.comReddit launches new NFT avatar marketplace – TechCrunchReddit has joined a long list of companies that are experimenting with NFTs.
1:07 PM ∙ Jul 7, 2022
1,165Likes251Retweets

Crypto smartphones are here (again)

Layer-1 blockchains are coming for a slice of the smartphone market.

Solana announced last week Saga, an AndroidOS phone that comes with tools to securely store and trade digital assets. You can track even tracks its sales on-chain and it seems to have stagnated at 2.6K preorders for the $1000 device.

Twitter avatar for @P2E_SecretHub
P2E Secret Hub @P2E_SecretHub
⚡️⚡️.@solana launch #web3-focused smartphone Saga to improve crypto-mobile relationship “This is something that I fundamentally believe the industry needs to do,” Yakovenko said. “We didn’t see a single crypto feature at the Apple developer conference 13 years. #p2esecrethub
Image
1:52 PM ∙ Jul 4, 2022
151Likes108Retweets

While the demand for a crypto smartphone may not be overwhelming, Solana has played the move as the opening bell of a long arc of Web3 integration into mobile phone software and hardware.

Polygon is also launching its own “metaverse phone.” Unlike Solana though, this is in partnership with the Taiwanese tech juggernaut HTC. 

Twitter avatar for @MihailoBjelic
Mihailo Bjelic @MihailoBjelic
Mass adoption of Web3 will happen on mobile and @0xPolygon is preparing for it. Our strategy is not to make our own devices. Instead, we will integrate with existing manufacturers. Today, we are proud to announce the first major integration. Onwards. 🔥 finance.yahoo.com/news/htc-launc…
finance.yahoo.comHTC launches metaverse phone with Ethereum, Polygon supportHTC launched metaverse phone “Desire 22 Pro” on Tuesday, which comes with a digital assets wallet and virtual reality (VR) headset pairing feature, as part of the Taiwanese firm’s Web3 expansion. See related article: Solana bets on mobile, launches US$1,000 ‘Saga’ Web3 phone Fast facts HTC preloaded…
6:06 PM ∙ Jul 4, 2022
1,737Likes374Retweets

These are not the first forays crypto has made into the smartphone sector. Most notably, Sirin Labs launched the Finney smartphone all the way back in 2019, but sales were low and the project ebbed thereafter. Let’s hope this generation of crypto smartphones fares better.


Web3 News Roundup

Aztec Connect launch

Aztec Connect is the “VPN for Ethereum,” according to creators Aztec.

It’s a private roll-up that lets you execute DeFi transactions on Ethereum dapps with complete privacy.

It drops this week and major protocols like Curve and Lido are already deployed.

Go try it out now!

Twitter avatar for @jonwu_
jonwu.(🗽, 🍎) @jonwu_
Today we launched Aztec Connect, the VPN for Ethereum. I just used it to get some $stETH on mainnet Curve for $1.50 in fees, with complete privacy. Fully private DeFi, with huge cost savings. Why I think our private rollup is ridiculously bullish for Ethereum:
Image
10:29 PM ∙ Jul 7, 2022
1,552Likes236Retweets

EU crypto regulation

This week saw the EU finalize MiCA (Markets-in-Crypto-Assets), a base legal framework to regulating crypto.

The good news: They’re leaving PoW mining alone, NFTs and DeFi are (mostly) out of the scope of MiCA.

The bad: Stablecoins get hit hard:

… MiCA will protect consumers by requesting stablecoins issuers to build up a sufficiently liquid reserve, with a 1/1 ratio and partly in the form of deposits. Every so-called “stablecoin” holder will be offered a claim at any time and free of charge by the issuer, and the rules governing the operation of the reserve will also provide for an adequate minimum liquidity…

The development of asset-referenced tokens (ARTs) based on a non-European currency, as a widely used means of payment, will be constrained to preserve our monetary sovereignty. Issuers of ARTs will need to have a registered office in the EU to ensure the proper supervision and monitoring of offers to the public of asset-referenced tokens.


Sepolia merge

The Ethereum Sepolia test network merged successfully!

Two down (Ropsten, Sepolia), one to go (Goerli).

Twitter avatar for @BanklessHQ
bankless.eth @BanklessHQ
BREAKING - Ethereum completes another successful test of The Merge on Sepolia 🐼 Goerli next. Mainnet after. Don't sleep.
Image
4:25 PM ∙ Jul 6, 2022
1,517Likes228Retweets

Immutable X update

If you have ETH on an L2 that you’d like to spend in the real world, you’d babe to offramp it by sending ETH from L2 to a centralized exchange, requesting a withdrawal, and waiting few days before you could spend it.

Immutable X is streamlining this process in one step — with no gas fees!

Caveat: It’s only for ETH for now, and for the UK, EU and select US states.

Twitter avatar for @Immutable
Immutable | $IMX ⓧ @Immutable
1/ Major update! $ETH offramp is now available to any developer building an @Immutable X powered platform Developers can enable their users to sell L2 $ETH and have the proceeds deposited directly to their bank accounts. docs.x.immutable.com/docs/link-cryp… Continue below👇
Image
3:04 AM ∙ Jul 5, 2022
1,111Likes223Retweets


Here’s the line-up for next week:

  1. Ben is going deep on Ethereum vs.Cosmos

  2. WM Peaster shows us how to double up on airdrops

  3. Lyn Alden joins us on the podcast to ask: Is this the end?

Have a great weekend!

- Donovan Choy


🙏 Sponsor: Aave—decentralized, open-sourced, and community governed✨


Recap for the week of July 4, 2022

📺 Josh Rosenthal on The Crypto Revolution

Listen to podcast episode | Apple | Spotify | YouTube | RSS Feed


ACTION RECAP 📚

READ 📚

  1. 📘 The Crypto Revolution

  2. 📘 How to Value NFT Fundamentals

  3. 📘 A Framework for Evaluating Layer 1s

  4. 📘 State of Ethereum Report - Q2, 2022

  5. 💬 So how down bad are you?

WATCH 🔊

  1. 📺 Josh Rosenthal - The Crypto Revolution

  2. 📺 Leaving the Bitcoin Religion with Nic Carter

METAVERSAL 🧙‍♂️

  1. 📘 Watch what you mint 🚨

  2. 📘 Big platforms eye Polygon NFTs 👾

  3. 📘 Sudoswap is leveling up ♨️

BANKLESS DAO 🏴

  1. 📘 Facebook NFTs, Arc8 Mobile Money, and Chrono Glasses From Year 2352

  2. 📘 The Lending Edition | DeFi Download

OVERPRICED JPEGS 🖼️

  1. 📺 Proof of Ownership & Identity with Tokenproof Founder & CEO, Fonz

  2. 📺 ENS Domain Frenzy, Reddit & 9GAG NFTs, and Minions

GREEN PILLED 🌳

  1. 📺 Collective Intelligence with Divya Siddarth & Raymond Zhong

  2. 📺 Collective Decision Making with Matt Prewitt


Weekly Subscriber Perks 🔥

Bankless Premium Members get access to perks like these:

  • Early Access: Is this the end? | Lyn Alden

  • Full Access: The Crypto Revolution | Josh Rosenthal

Launch your own raffle for Bankless Badge holders! Go ahead. We can’t stop you.

Get Bankless Badge


🗞️ Latest Weekly Rollup! Download the week in crypto to your brain in one show.

Listen to podcast episode | Apple | Spotify | YouTube | RSS Feed


Jobs opportunities 🧑‍💼

✨ See all listings on the Bankless Job Board✨

  1. stakefish: Smart Contract Software Engineer

  2. stakefish: Back-end / Full-stack Software Engineer

  3. stakefish: Blockchain Marketer

  4. stakefish: Front-end Software Engineer

  5. stakefish: DevOps Engineer

  6. Alliance DAO: CTO

  7. Alliance DAO: Software Engineer, Full Stack

  8. Alliance DAO: Senior Software Engineer, Full Stack

  9. Alliance DAO: Executive Assistant

  10. Otterspace: Solidity Engineer

  11. Abstract Ventures: Front-End Engineer

  12. Boolean Labs: Founder & CEO of a Web3 Community Analytics Platform

  13. Blockchain Capital: Research Engineer



Go Bankless. $22 / mo. Includes archive access, Inner Circle & Badge—(pay w/ crypto)


🙏Thanks to our sponsor

AAVE

Aave is the leading decentralized liquidity protocol. The latest deployment, V3, was launched on 6 networks (link) and introduces new features like Isolation Mode, Efficiency Mode and Portals. If you’re building in the ecosystem, apply for a grant from Aave Grants - a community run grants program.

Check it out here.


Want to get featured on Bankless? Send your article to submissions@banklesshq.com

Write for Bankless


Not financial or tax advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This newsletter is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.


Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here.

1
Share this post

Bon Voyager

newsletter.banklesshq.com
Previous
Next
1 Comment
Blue Collar Wealth
Writes Blue Collar Wealth
Jul 11, 2022

The publicly traded crypto bank got caught up making huge uncollateralized loans of $660M to “too-big-to-fail” crypto hedge fund 3AC, which was in turn making its own leveraged risky trades all over the place.

The above mentioned is just beyond belief to me. Why no collateral?

Expand full comment
ReplyGift a subscriptionCollapse
TopNewCommunity

No posts

Ready for more?

© 2023 Bankless, LLC.
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start WritingGet the app
Substack is the home for great writing