DeFi Digest: Weekly Alpha Edition #8
DeFi Digest: Weekly Alpha Edition #8
Latest DeFi Alphas in a Short, Packed Newsletter.
GM fam,
Every Friday, I curate and deliver the most impactful DeFi news and the hottest yield opportunities straight to your inbox.
DeFi Flash news 🗞️
Meme coin BALD’s 4,000,000% surge seemed to spark the huge inflows to the nascent crypto bridge.
Vyper vulnerability exposes DeFi ecosystem to stress tests
Ethereum’s 8th birthday: Crypto industry shares its top moments
French Data Protection Authority Opens Investigation Into Worldcoin
Curve Founder’s Liquidation Could Trigger Chaos for DeFi
BALD Token Falls 90% Amid Rug Pull Allegations
ConsenSys releases ‘fuzzing’ tool to test smart contract vulnerabilities
Offchain Labs announces BOLD (Bounded Liquidity Delay), their newly invented dispute protocol that facilitates permissionless validation for Arbitrum chains.
Coinbase to Launch ‘Base’ Layer 2 Blockchain, Enabling ETH Bridging and Main Network Rollout Next Week
Yield opportunities 🧐
Hop Protocol (Mainnet) - 46% APR on the ETH Base pool.
Beefy Finance (Arbitrum) - 11% APY on the DAI vault
Pendle Finance (Arbitrum) - 9.82% APY on the GLP liquidity pool
Velodrome Finance (Optimism) - 37.43% APR on the USDC/MAI pool
Kwenta (Optimism) - 34.88% APR when staking KWENTA
August Airdrop pick 🚁
Since the Uniswap airdrop, I, as a DeFi power user, have received numerous airdrops from networks like 1Inch, Dydx, Optimism, and Arbitrum.
In this section, I will share my top three picks for the month of August.
🔵 Zora Network
Name: Zora
Category: Layer 2 & NFT Infrastructure
Confidence of an Airdrop: Very high
Chains: Ethereum mainnet, Zora Network
Why I’m watching it?
Jacob from Zora recently announced on a Bankless episode that a token will be launched when they are ready. In my opinion, after launching a Layer 2, it is ideal to wait until liquidity is flowing before launching a token.
Currently, Zora's Total Value Locked (TVL) isn't very high, which might present an excellent opportunity for users to gain a first-mover advantage.
What is Zora Network?
Zora Network is a layer 2 built on top of Ethereum.
Zora Network is built on the open-source OP Stack, maintained by the Optimism Collective.
Optimize your chances of qualification by:
Bridging to Zora Network via Zora Energy
Buy Some free NFT on Zora using the Zora Network.
Simply Create an NFT collection on Zora Network
🟣 Zk Sync
Name: ZkSync
Category: Layer 2
Confidence of an Airdrop: Very high
Chains: ZkSync Era
Why I’m watching it?
Following the airdrops from Optimism and Arbitrum, it's clear that Layer 2 tokens hold significant short-term value. We haven't yet seen these tokens operate within a bull market territory.
Zk Proofs, a fascinating concept for state validation, gives zkSync a first-mover advantage, in my view.
It's also likely that the token will be utilized to decentralize the sequencer. In my opinion, this is very bullish because it offers a solid use case that is currently absent in optimistic rollups such as Arbitrum and Optimism.
What is zkSync Era?
zkSync Era is a user-centric zk rollup platform from Matter Labs. It is a scaling solution for Ethereum.
Optimize your chances of qualification by:
Bridging to zkSync Era using the native bridge
Depositing some liquidity de ReactorFusion
Depositing some liquidity to SyncSwap
🟢 Public Goods Network
Name: Public Goods Network
Category: Layer 2
Confidence of an Airdrop: Medium
Chains: Public Goods Network
Why I’m watching it?
The Public Goods Network, built by Gitcoin - one of the stellar teams developing in the Ethereum ecosystem, aims to redirect sequencer fees towards Public Goods.
This is unquestionably a net positive for the ecosystem. Although Gitcoin already has a token, they may choose to segregate governance and utilize a governance token to determine which public goods the sequencer fees will be allocated to.
At this stage, of course, much of this is speculative, but I'm convinced that the Public Goods Network will attract a multitude of DApps built atop it, gaining significant traction from Ethereum power users and developers.
What is The Public Goods Network?
The Public Goods Network (PGN) is a new L2 specifically designed to support public goods. It has the same fast, cost-efficient, and scalable features that come with an L2, but with the added benefit of collecting funding for your favorite public goods projects.
Optimize your chances of qualification by:
Bridging to The Public Good Networks
Minting a Gitcoin Impact Report 01: PDF Onchain
Participating in Gitcoin Grants
Dune Dashboard of the week 🧙♀️
Every week, I enjoy sharing a Dune dashboard, which I use extensively for analytical research.
This week, I'd like to share a dashboard that I've used in this newsletter to track the funds bridged to The Public Good Networks.
