Weekly Update - DeFi and Layer 1 & Layer 2 News (Week 23,01/06/2023 - 07/06/2023)

MakerDAO votes to add US$1.28B in US Treasury bonds. Curve stablecoin crvUSD to support Lido’s stETH. Optimism completes Bedrock upgrade.

Weekly DeFi Index

This week's market cap index was negative at -3.75%, while volume and volatility indices were positive at +12.43 and +58.97, respectively.

Chart of the Week

Tether (USDT), the world’s largest stablecoin, continues to dominate the market, setting a new all-time high market cap of US$83.2 billion and surpassing its previous record high in May 2022. This comes after Tether reported outstanding performance in Q1 2023 with a net profit of $1.48 billion and with a market dominance reaching a two-year high of 64.45%.

News Highlights

• The MakerDAO community voted to open a new real-world asset (RWA) vault dedicated to investing up to $1.28 billion in US Treasury bonds via crypto asset manager BlockTower Capital. 

• Curve Finance passed a proposal for Curve’s stablecoin, crvUSD, to onboard Lido’s liquid staking token, stETH. The addition of stETH allows crvUSD to scale, increasing its debt ceiling by 15 times. 

• Crypto payments company Circle announced its plan to launch a native version of its USDC stablecoin on the Arbitrum blockchain, which is scheduled to be released on 8 June. All USDC on Arbitrum is currently bridged from Ethereum.

• Layer-2 blockchain Optimism completed its Bedrock upgrade on 6 June, which introduced a series of improvements, including lower gas fees and 90% faster deposit-confirmation times. 

• The majority of the Uniswap community rejected a proposal to turn on protocol fees for liquidity providers, with over 45% of votes in favour of the no-fee option. 

• Cryptocurrency wallet service Atomic Wallet experienced a significant security breach over the weekend, resulting in users losing over $35 million of assets. In a tweet, Atomic Wallet said that “less than 1%” of its monthly active users were impacted in the breach, and the investigation is ongoing.

Recent Research Reports

• Alpha Navigator: Quest for Alpha [May 2023]: Asset classes mostly dipped in May and crypto remains the best performer YTD. US debt ceiling dispute defused. Interest rate decisions from multiple central banks in the coming month.

• The Evolution of Memes and What Makes Them Successful: What are memes, how have they evolved, and what makes them successful? We also explore the role they play in crypto and Web3, and what the future holds for memes.

• Monthly Research Roundup (April 2023): In this issue, we feature trending market insights, and our latest research reports take a closer look into Bitcoin’s expanding ecosystem, specifically Layer 2s, DeFi, and NFTs.

Recent University Articles

• What is Cryptocurrency: Still wondering what cryptocurrency actually is, how it works, and how to use it? We’ve got the answers in this crypto beginner’s guide.

• A Short History of Bitcoin Price: The price of BTC has experienced peaks and valleys ever since it launched in 2009. Learn all about Bitcoin's price history.

• How to Buy Bitcoin and Other Cryptocurrencies: Wondering how to buy your first Bitcoin? Or cryptocurrency in general? Here's a step-by-step guide on crypto buying for beginners.

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