📈FedNow vs CBDC - TWJ #211
Federal Reserve governor pumps the brakes on US CBDC.
Hi folks,
The crypto space is full of young people that have strong opinions and are often blinded by ideologies that are not always predicated on realities. As the industry matures, the battle between differing ideologies within the crypto space itself will become much more complex. In this write-up, I cover how crypto networks and protocols can benefit from vertical integration, a common concept in business; but might cause a dilemma for those upholding the decentralization ethos to the fullest.
Here are the quick takeaways:
Centralized players in the crypto space are already doing this.
Execution matters more than innovations in an open-sourced and fork-able industry.
Products that are closest to the end users have the most valuable currency and the highest potential to vertically integrate.
Vertically integrating removes the need for external composability that can introduce additional risks.
The underlying technology might be decentralized, but in near future, the killer products will be centralized.
In today’s issue:
The crypto market is flat with its total market cap above ~$1.1 trillion. Chiliz (CHZ) has been the best performer in the top 100 in the past 7-d. Fed minutes suggest that officials agreed on the need to eventually dial back the pace of interest-rate hikes.
In other news, Fed favors FedNow over US CBDC, Genesis CEO steps down, and EOS jumps following a court ruling on Block.one.
We’re continually improving our content, please reach out if you have ideas or want us to recap another market segment.
- Curated by Marco Manoppo (@manoppomarco)
📰Market News
⎆Fed Favors FedNow Over Us Cbdc
Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman stated that the plan for the upcoming FedNow will fulfill many criteria that US CBDC proponents have argued for.
"The FedNow Service will enable financial institutions of every size, and in every community across America, to provide safe and efficient instant payment services. It is intended to be a flexible, neutral platform that will support a broad variety of instant payments," Bowman said. "My expectation is that FedNow addresses the issues that some have raised about the need for a CBDC."
⎆Genesis CEO Steps Down
CEO Michael Moro is stepping down effective immediately according to a release on Wednesday. COO Derar Islim is currently interim CEO. The firm has also reduced its headcount by 20%.
Genesis lent $2.36 billion to failed crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) – having taken on Genesis' liabilities the Digital Currency Group (DCG) made a $1.2 billion claim against 3AC.
⎆EOS Jumps Following a Court Ruling on Block.one
The Ethereum killer circa 2017-2018 jumped by more than 17% after a court ruling that denied the approval of a $275.m settlement proposed by Block.one.
Block.one is also facing rebellion on other fronts. In December 2021, the EOS community elected to stop ongoing payments to Block.one, over claims that it is no longer acting in the network’s best interests. The decision was led by a group of existing EOS members and block producers called the EOS Network Foundation (ENF). Today, the community also renamed its codebase from EOSIO to Antelope.
👨🏻💻Decentralized Finance (DeFi)
MakerDAO DAI Bridge to Arbitrum Nova is Live
Iron Bank Live on Optimism
Ronin Sidechain Expands to 17 Validators to Boost Security
Jump Crypto Introduces Firedancer
Aave Calls on Members to Commit to Ethereum PoS Chain
EOS Network Foundation Members Switch Support
Solend is Leaning Into 'Permissionless' Loan Markets
Optimism Token Flash Crashes 10% on False Rumors of a Major Hack
Stader Labs NEARx Exploit
Liquid Driver Introduces Shadow Farm
🏛Governance - Active Proposals
Radicle - Radicle // Gitcoin Public Goods Alliance
Reflexer Ungovernor - Stop three year Sablier stream for DAO lead
Uniswap - Create the Uniswap Foundation
🦮NFT & Metaverse
AFL’s First Limited-edition NFT Drop Sells out in Under 12 Hours
Solana Wallet Fires up the Grill to Burn Spam NFTs Out of Existence
Ethereum Name Creation Doubles In Four Months to 2 Million
Top Sales (Last 24-h); Source: https://dappradar.com/nft
📈Deal Flow & Capital Raise
MatchboxDAO - $7.5M Unknown Round
Snackclub - Undisclosed $ Series A
Tessera - $20M Series A
Shima Capital - $200M Web3 Fund
Gatsby - $50M Acquisition by eToro
⚖️Regulatory Update
Ukraine Bought Weapons, Drones With Crypto Donations
Colombia Explores Creating a CBDC to Combat Tax Evasion
EU Lawmakers Seek to Cap Banks’ Bitcoin Holdings
Dutch Officials Say Tornado Cash’s Code Could Be Criminal
Coinbase CEO: We'd Shut Down Ethereum Staking If Threatened by Regulators
📚Noteworthy Reads
Zac Williamson’s Thread on The Future of Privacy Networks
Alana Levin’s Read on Designing Governance Tokens
Charles Yu’s Read on Digital Dollars
Feel free to reach out to manoppomarco@gmail.com — feedbacks and constructive criticisms are much appreciated.