【Dapp Pocket】DeFi Weekly Report - August Week 3: Exclusive Interview with FTX CEO-SBF

2020/8/19

Dear DeFi enthusiasts,

YAM once again demonstrates the fast pace of the cryptocurrency world, cautioning everyone not to FOMO into projects they do not understand. Additionally, there is news of a certain netizen deploying a contract for Curve's governance token CRV ahead of time, which we will discuss in more detail. This week's highlights also include Aave announcing the upcoming V2 release; Idle platform integrating liquidity mining rewards; and a look at the global adoption of DeFi, with Taiwan making an appearance on the list.

Featured insights include Ethereum's Vitalik Buterin warning against participating in DeFi projects without understanding them, along with a game recommendation; Anthony from Set paying tribute to YAM; and what analogy does everyone's good friend Ryan Adams use this time, likening LINK to what in 2016?

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This week also sees a long-awaited guest visit, as we welcome the CEO of the derivatives exchange FTX - Sam Bankman-Fried, who will share with us the vision of the decentralized cross-chain exchange Serum, why they chose Solana, how cross-chain functionality is achieved, and whether FTX and Serum will compete for business, among other enriching content.

Table of Contents

1 Expert Visit

We invited FTX CEO – Sam Bankman-Fried to chat with us in detail about the decentralized cross-chain exchange – Serum! The interview content in Chinese will be released later.

2 Our Perspective | CRV Contract Incident and Expectations for Curve's Future Development

CRV Contract Incident

Last Friday (8/14) morning Taiwan time, an unprecedented event occurred in the DeFi community. In a tweet by 0x4ad, he informed Curve that he had created the CRV and DAO contract for them. Curve team responded optimistically two hours later, but stated that further confirmation was needed and the contract was not yet officially recognized. Later, around 10 a.m., the team announced that "as users had started using CRV and DAO, and the team confirmed the contract addresses were correct," they would accept the custom contract, and major exchanges began listing it.

Community and Curve's Perspective

Most of the Curve community was very displeased with this incident. Many found it hard to believe such an operation, and some discovered that about 80,000 CRV were pre-mined when the Curve team reviewed the contract, while others who bought CRV at its peak found themselves immediately stuck. However, according to ivangbi, Curve's official stance was initially skeptical, but after reviewing the user's contract content, the team found that all contract parameters, including the admin key, were correct; deploying such a contract would cost around $8000 in Gas. Rather than feeling nervous or worried, the team had a positive outlook on the situation.

Curve's Follow-up

Currently, Curve has submitted the contract address created by the user to three auditing companies for audit, and the audit reports have been released. Although this incident made the community more skeptical of Curve's team execution capabilities and even distrustful of the contract designed by 0x4ad, Curve's TVL surged straight after 8/14, increasing from 200M to over 1B in a day.

How to View Curve and Our Learning

Most people agree that Curve is innovative in AMM technology. Although the contract was confirmed by the team and auditing companies to be sound, there needs to be a clearer explanation as to why the user helped deploy the contract and why Curve decided to adopt it in order to restore trust in the Curve team. We've learned that even the most outstanding teams in the current DeFi industry will face various unexpected challenges, causing losses to the team or supporters. As Ethereum founder Vitalik said, "In fact, unless you *really* understand what’s going on, it’s likely best to sit out or participate only with very small amounts."

3 This Week's Highlights

Curve CRV Tokens Released Through Contract Deployed by Anonymous Developer

Stablecoin exchange platform Curve originally planned to announce the launch of the CRV token on 8/14 and begin distribution. However, just a few hours before Curve officially announced the launch of CRV, an anonymous developer 0xc4ad disclosed the token contract address and claiming method. Before Curve confirmed it publicly, over 400 addresses had already claimed CRV through the contract address, and CRV trading pairs had appeared on Uniswap. Currently, the smart contract address has been recognized by Curve and audited by three auditing companies.

Decentralized Lending Protocol Aave Releases V2, Introducing Collateral Repayment and Gas Fee Reduction Features

Aave has released V2, aiming to further advance decentralization and create a "new experience of borderless finance" for users. The V2 version introduces a range of new features, such as collateral repayment, which allows users to deleverage or liquidate by directly using collateral for payment in one transaction; debt labeling and credit delegation, where a user's debt status is labeled, and the user receives tokens representing their debt. Debt labeling enables Aave users to manage local positions via cold wallets and implement liquidity mining strategies for specific users. Fixed-rate deposits provide predictable deposit rates, offering liquidity providers a clear income guarantee, regardless of market changes; borrowing rates can be locked in for a certain period, providing stable borrowing rates, and more.

Lending Aggregator Idle to Integrate Liquidity Mining

Idle is a platform that automatically allocates users' deposits to the highest-yield lending platforms through algorithmic investment integration. Last Friday, Idle announced an update that integrates liquidity mining returns from lending platforms. Funds lent to Idle that are allocated to lending pools eligible for yield farming will also yield mining returns. Additionally, Idle announced that it will launch the $Idle token in the future, which will be distributed to users providing liquidity to Idle.

Compound Co-Founder Submits Governance Proposal 019 to Enable Open Price Feed Tool

DeFi lending protocol Compound co-founder Geoffrey Hayes submitted Compound governance proposal 019 to enable the self-developed Open Price Feed tool.

DeFi United Nations: Which Country Loves DeFi the Most, Is Taiwan on the List?

Since 2020, the cryptocurrency investment market has been dominated by DeFi. We have experienced many different trends, from ICOs, STOs, IEOs, Dapps, to the current DeFi liquidity mining frenzy. So, who is playing DeFi? Some basic research on lending platforms, DEXs, and derivative platforms reveals:

Regarding lending platforms, the U.S. has the highest usage, with 23.62% of traffic in the U.S., followed by China and the UK. From the fourth onwards, countries include France, Germany, Canada, Argentina, and others. Taiwan ranks fifteenth, one of the three Asian countries in the top fifteen (alongside China and India), with Compound having the highest usage, accounting for 40% of all traffic.

Other news includes:

4 Data Indicators

This week's data is from 8/11 to 8/17, with price extracted around 6:30 p.m. Total Value Locked (TVL) indicates how much value is locked in that platform. Data source: DeFi Pulse, CoinMarketCap.

Lending Platform Scale

DEX Scale

DeFi Coin Prices (Farmer's Zone)

5 Insights from the Big Players

Vitalik Buterin: Reminder — You Don't Need to Participate in the Newest Hottest DeFi Projects

Ethereum founder Vitalik recently warned again in a tweet that there's no need to blindly follow the newest, hottest DeFi projects. "Unless you really understand these, you should sit on the sidelines and only invest a small amount. Also, check out these cool Dapps."

Anthony Sassano: RIP YAM. 2020-2020

Regarding the rapid rise and fall of Yam, Set Protocol's Anthony Sassano had only one thing to say, "RIP, YAM. 2020-2020."

Ryan Sean Adams: 2020 is Like 2016

Bankless advocate Ryan Sean Adams shared a perspective on Twitter. He said the current cryptocurrency scene is like 2016, with XRP then becoming LINK now; ICOs then becoming liquidity mining now; and DeFi fundraising then becoming the DeFi explosion now. What remains the same is that people discussed Ethereum then and continue to discuss Ethereum now; people discussed Bitcoin then and continue to discuss Bitcoin now.

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