TLDR Crypto 2022-06-15

OpenSea is changing its backend to its self-developed Seaport protocol. The switch could lower transaction costs on the platform by about 35% and save users $460 million in the next year. Seaport will allow OpenSea to build and release features more quickly. The new protocol lets sellers only pay a one-time fee per collection and it allows users to make offers on entire collections. It will also make wallet signatures easier to read and understand.

This Twitter thread presents a framework for determining the price of ETH based on fees. Based on the model, the current price of ETH is too high. More details about the model and the reasoning behind the framework are available in the thread.

Celsius' on-chain positioning is now significantly healthier. The company has added to its collateral for three main positions. Celsius' positions represent a large portion of all total value locked in DeFi. The impact of Celsius moving all of its funds away from DeFi would be massive. More details about Celsius' current positions are available in the thread.

Celsius is a centralized DeFi company that manages crypto on behalf of its investors. The company promises a fixed interest rate and then puts funds on-chain to earn a yield. The Luna/UST crash and stETH depegging is causing Celsius to face a liquidity crisis. Celsius has about $10 billion in customer assets with about $1.5 billion accounted for in its wallets. Its actions will likely invite regulation, oversight, and legal action from governments, institutions, and critics.

In the past year, NFTs and DeFi have focused largely on price speculation, memes, technology infrastructure, and products that didn't need to leverage web3 technology. A lot of NFT projects had high aspirations without an understanding of what it takes to build a large business. The future of NFT utility will be IP licensing, community, and hyperspeed growth for real products. People paying for NFTs will receive value through access to exclusive networks and premium product utilities.

Tron's USDD stablecoin lost its dollar peg on Monday for more than 24 hours. The TRON DAO Reserve deployed $2 billion to restore the peg but the attempt was not successful. Traders attempting to profit by swapping 1 USDD for $1 worth of TRX are creating immense selling pressure on the TRX token. If the price of TRX cannot be stabilized, more funds will need to be deployed to help maintain USDD's dollar peg. The TRON DAO Reserve currently provides a collateralization ratio of around 248% for the USDD in circulation.

Three Arrows Capital, a Singapore-based crypto hedge fund, may be insolvent. On-chain data showed that the fund sold at least $40 million worth of stETH on Tuesday. It was the largest seller of the token over the past several days. Three Arrows started selling its stETH in May after the collapse of UST. Its co-founder hyped up stETH even as the firm was in the process of dumping it.

Merit Circle DAO voted to buy out Yield Guild's investment at around 30% of what they were owed. The governance proposal originally aimed to remove Yield Guild due to the investors not contributing anything to Merit Circle besides funds. In the original proposal, Yield Guild would be kicked out without any returns on their contribution. A later governance proposal suggested a reduced return on their investment and was passed unanimously. The event could lead to investors being more cautious about funding DAOs.

Coinbase is laying off around 1,100 employees as part of a cost-cutting plan. It aims to have around 5,000 total employees at the end of the current quarter. The company estimates that it will incur up to $45 million in restructuring expenses. Coinbase shares are down almost 80% this year. Other crypto companies such as BlockFi, Crypto.com, and Gemini have also announced job cuts.