Paxos unveils USDL, yield bearing stablecoin (2 minute read)
Paxos has launched a new yield-generating stablecoin called Lift Dollar (USDL). The USDL is regulated by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) and offers a programmatic daily yield similar to U.S. Treasury bonds. Issued by Paxos International in the UAE, the USDL is designed to function like a savings product. It provides users with a yield of over 5% while democratizing access to a risk-free rate. The USDL will be initially distributed in Argentina through partners like Ripio and Buenbit.
VanEck Raises 2030 ETH Price Target to $22k (1 minute read)
Influenced by the ETF news, technological improvements, and onchain data, asset manager VanEck has raised its 2030 ETH price target to $22k. This is its base case, with a bull case of $154,000 and a bear case of $2,477. VanEck also reported on how ETH and BTC perform in traditional and crypto-specific portfolios, finding that a 6% allocation in a traditional portfolio can improve risk-adjusted returns.
$COIN Q2 Estimates (1 minute read)
The base case priced in by Wall Street this quarter is a 20% reduction in trading revenue and a 3% reduction in service revenue, with $1.35B in revenue and 87 cents of earnings per share. The optimistic case depends on the start of trading for the ETH ETF and would see $1.52B in revenue with $1.44 EPS.
The Ethereum Government - How Code Changes Are Made to the World's Most Sprawling Blockchain (75 minute read)
This report explains the processes and entities behind Ethereum's decision-making process. Ethereum's decision-making process is primarily shaped by social norms, not formal rules or voting mechanisms. Forums serve as a place of discussion and research, with nine main client team GitHubs hosting the software changes. Though core developers are the main gatekeepers, the trend has been towards consistently upgrading and modifying the chain to optimize toward an ideal endgame.
The Big Bang of Stablecoins (4 minute read)
Stablecoins are in the midst of becoming a massive industry. We may see thousands and potentially the first $1T stablecoin this decade. Even though fiat currency worldwide is experiencing inflation, the current fifth technical revolution means that there will be significant demand for niche products in the digital age. Stablecoins, many with different designs and developer composability, enable a big-bang moment leading to greater capture of the “broad money M2” market.
The Ideal Celebrity Crypto Project (1 minute read)
Vitalik Buterin is unhappy with this cycle's celebrity entrants in the crypto space, criticizing their purely financial and speculative intentions. He cites Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis' Stoner Cats NFT project, which funded a cartoon based on the IP, as the best example of celebrity experimentation. In his view, a respectable project should have a public good goal, fun mechanics, and be long-lasting, with the token price being the last concern for its users.
In Search of Token-Market-Fit (10 minute read)
If tokens are the product, they flip the traditional model of creating value without capturing it first. Tokens serve as a prediction market for investors' interest in a project's direction and the likelihood it will happen, making them a narrative discovery tool and creating tight feedback loops for teams. Since tokens immediately allow teams to receive more capital for a proposed product, they act as a more efficient and faster version of VC funding. Memes are necessary to ensure sufficient and consistent interest and liquidity, keeping the project relevant and with an army of supporters.
Bybit opens registration for Chinese users (1 minute read)
Bybit, the third largest offshore exchange, has controversially opened up registration and authentication for users in China, despite its long-standing policy against Chinese user registration and a clear statement on its certification page that it does not offer services in Mainland China.