To the DeFi Community,

This week comes to a close on a somewhat sour note.

After months of ‘number go up’, the markets were due for a much-needed correction. I mean, after HOTDOG, KIMCHI, YUNO, and dozens of others legitimate shitcoins I think we can all agree things were getting a bit out of hand.

But, do not let food coins cloud the pace at which DeFi teams continue to push forward the boundaries on both composability and remote-first work.

The term ‘fair launch’ is now on everyone’s mind. Popularized by Fair Launch Capital, projects like SushiSwap and Yam Finance are seriously challenging what it means to be a “community-owned and operated” protocol. Taking a look at new forks like Swerve (a fork of Curve), it feels like we’re entering unchartered territory where anybody and everybody is subject to a forking attack.

But, we need to be conscious of where to draw the line. Perhaps the best ‘fair launch’ – yEarn – is now undergoing new paradigms with key contributors being elected to receive high monthly payments to keep up their crucial work. What starts as a rally around a worthless governance token can quickly evolve into something on the brink of sustainability, a notion that has many VCs questioning where they fit into the mix.

While it makes sense for the community to capture the vast majority of the upside, let’s not forget to leave core contributors out of the mix. Crypto has continually displayed its ability to bootstrap capital faster than any other vertical in the world. What we need to be careful of is shaming founders into a corner for thinking it’s wrong to receive an allocation of a token they launched. Instead, I’m eager to explore how token distributions are retroactively decided through community governance, rather than being set in stone upon launch.

If and when we figure this paradigm out, there’s no denying that DeFi will seep its way into every major vertical of the world.

Until then, welcome back to reality and always be prepared for a black swan!

Till next week!

– Cooper

This Week in DeFi is now supported by Aave! 

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• Cheapest Loan: Maker at 0% with any collateral or dYdX at 3.01%.
• MakerDAO Updates
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• Cheapest Loan: Aave at 3.90%

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yEarn Releases yETH Vault

yEarn releases it’s long-awaited yETH Vault for interest-earning ETH.

bZx Relaunches Margin & Lending Protocol

bZx is back with a newly upgraded Fulcrum & Torque in tandem with BZRX yield farming incentives.

SushiSwap Aggregates $1B+ in TVL for Vamping Mining

SushiSwap sweeps DeFi by storm with a native governance token for Unsiwap LPs.

Compound Reduces COMP Emission Schedule

Compound is reducing it’s COMP liquidity mining rewards by 20% to drive long-term sustainability.

Aave Partners with RealT for REIT Collateral

Aave is partnering with RealT to set up it’s fourth money market for permissionless real-estate loan collateral.

In Other News…

• yEarn Launches Delegated yDAO Funding Vaults
• StarkWare Introduces Turing Complete Layer 2 Platform – Cairo
• Binance Launches EVM Compatible Smart Chain
• SushiSwap Transfers Admin Key Before Migration

Stat Box

• Total Value Locked: $8.9B (up +8% from last week)
• DeFi Market Cap: $15.5B(up +9%)
• DEX 7 Day volume: $6.95B(up +172%)
• DAI supply: 490.7M (up +10%)
• Total DeFi users: 430K (up +11%)

Bonus Reads

• [Jake Chervisnky – Bankless] DeFi Lending Doesn’t Exist (yet)
• [Brian Flynn – Jamm Session] The Rise of the Fair Launche
• [Nic Carter – Coindesk] The Crypto Dollar Surge & the American Opportunity
• [Paul Verdittakit – Pantera] The Bitcoin of DeFi
• [Tyler Winklevoss – Winklevoss Capital]The Case for $500K Bitcoin

Shoutout to Aave for supporting This Week in DeFi!

Aave is a leading lending protocol supporting dozens of the top DeFi tokens. Aave recently showcased an EMI license, giving them the ability to onboard new users directly into DeFi through their parent company – Aave Limited.

We’ve done an extensive amount of coverage on Aavenomics – a new suite of protocol upgrades that incentives protocol safety through AAVE rewards and protocol fees. The best part about Aavenomics is that all of its parameters – including the logistics of Aave yield farming – are governed by tokenholders. There’s a ton of good activity happening on the Aave governance forum and we’d definitely recommend checking it out if you fancy yourself to be an Aavenger.

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Cooper Turley

Cooper is the Editor of DeFi Rate and an active contributor to leading DeFi media outlets like The Defiant, DeFi Pulse, and Bankless. He works with early-stage teams through Fire Eyes DAO to incubate governance models and grassroots community development. He is an ambassador to Set Protocol and an author of a weekly publication called Token Tuesdays. To stay up with Cooper, follow him on Twitter.