💲MakerDAO Ponders Moving Away From USD - TWJ #207
The Tornado Cash sanctions second-order effect continues.
Hi folks,
On August 8, 2022, the US Treasury sanctions the “Virtual Currency Mixer Tornado Cash”, which it claims to have been utilized to launder $7 billion+ worth of crypto assets since its inception in 2019. Unsurprisingly, the second-order effect of this decision to add a piece of autonomous open-source code, instead of a person or an entity, to the OFAC list for the first time is far-reaching. While previously crypto wallet addresses have been added to the list, it was always geared towards wallet(s) that belong to a specific individual or entity instead of a service or a smart contract.
This action changes the game.
Here are the quick takeaways:
A truly decentralized stablecoin is more important than ever.
For crypto to be fully censorship-resistant, the entire blockchain and crypto market infrastructure needs to be decentralized.
HOT TAKE: if the technology is not good enough for crypto to be fully censorship-resistant, then perhaps all of this is only going to enhance the efficiency of global capital markets, and that’s okay.
The crypto space will diverge based on ideologies to (i) privacy-decentralized maximalist and (ii) web 3.0 via tokens.
In a scenario of ideological divergence, the outcome usually lies in the middle.
In today’s issue:
The crypto market is flat with its total market cap above ~$1.1 trillion. Huobi Token (HT) has been the best performer in the top 100 in the past 24-h. Home sales are down 14% YOY as interest rates hover around 5%.
In other news, MakerDAO founder ponders abandoning USD peg, Huobi seeks to sell $3 billion worth of stake, and BlackRock launches private BTC trust.
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
⎆MakerDAO Founder Ponders Abandoning USD Peg
Post the Tornado Cash sanction fiasco, stablecoin protocol MakerDAO’s founder Rune Christiensen pondered the possibility of abandoning the DAI peg to the USD.
⎆Huobi Seeks to Sell $3 Billion Worth of Stake
Huobi exchange founder Leon Li is in talks about potentially selling his majority stake, in Huobi at a valuation of $3 billion. Leon seeks to sell 60% of the company he founded 10 years ago, and is in talks with big names in the scene.
⎆BlackRock Launches Private BTC Trust
The world’s largest asset manager with $10 trillion in AUM launched a direct BTC exposure via a private trust one week after its partnership announcement with Coinbase.
“Despite the steep downturn in the digital asset market, we are still seeing substantial interest from some institutional clients in how to efficiently and cost-effectively access these assets using our technology and product capabilities,”
👨🏻💻Decentralized Finance (DeFi)
Ethereum’s Merge Now Has Tentative September Dates
Tornado Cash Hit by 79% Decline in Deposits
Oasis to Block Wallet Addresses Deemed at-Risk
Ethereum Classic Hits 4-Month High as Merge Approaches
dYdX Blocking Addresses Associated With Tornado Cash
Energy Web Token Jumps 25% After BlackRock Gives a Shoutout
Maven 11 Launches $30M Lending Pool on Maple
Interlay Launches Trustless BTC Stablecoin Bridge on Polkadot
1inch Plugs into KuCoin Wallet
Beethoven X v2 Beta Launch
Serum Launches Vybe DEX
🏛Governance - Active Proposals
Radicle - Radicle // Gitcoin Public Goods Alliance
Reflexer Ungovernance - Update gas price oracle value (debt floor adjuster)
Yam Finance - Contributors comps for July, claiming sushi for reserves
🦮NFT & Metaverse
OpenSea Introduces New Stolen Item Policy to Combat NFT Theft
Pudgy Penguins NFT Prices Surge After Creator Unveils IRL Toys
Snapple Created a Bodega in the Metaverse
Minted, Cronos-based NFT Platform Launched
Top Sales (Last 24-h); Source: https://dappradar.com/nft
📈Deal Flow & Capital Raise
Gunzilla Games - $46M Unknown Round
Satellite IM - $10.5M Seed Round
Jito Labs - $10M Series A
⚖️Regulatory Update
UN Development Body: Ban Banks From Holding Crypto,
Buenos Aires to Deploy Ethereum Validator Nodes in 2023
Netherlands Arrests Suspected Tornado Cash Developer
Indian Authorities Freeze Nearly $46M Assets of Troubled Crypto Lender Vauld
📚Noteworthy Reads
Onchain Wizard’s Read on Real Yield
Arthur Hayes’s Thread on Current $ETH Futures Term Structure
Olimpio’s Thread on ETHPoW
Feel free to reach out to manoppomarco@gmail.com — feedbacks and constructive criticisms are much appreciated.