Artisan – #30 Weekly: May 2 – 5 | Web3 Narratives

🤔 Analysis & Thoughts

Are underwater ETH stakers a threat? (Read more)

• There was a consensus view that Shanghai would be a “sell-the-news” event. And although that didn’t catalyze immediately, the market is starting to move lower. Some people believed we would see a large swathe of validators unstake and sell their ETH
• Over 72% of stakers are down on their ETH positions in USD since they deposited it into the network (not since they purchased the ETH). Most ETH staking occurred between $1,600 and $3,500. There was approximately 830K ETH staked above $4,000 (oof)
• Overall, one would expect a sharp price drop in ETH to cause a decent chunk of ETH to unstake. It’s human nature to panic at moments like that. In that situation, you would also likely a see massive inflows to staking when price does recover
• Sellers are going to sell anyway — whether its liquid or staked only accounts for a timing difference, not necessarily a change in behavior. As far as changing the dynamic of the way ETH trades, Ashwath doesn’t foresee staking having a massive impact besides reducing the immediately-liquid float for the asset

Eigenlayer is growing to be an important player in the realm of MEV (Read more)

• PEPC for achieving PBS mechanism: PEPC enables PBS through smart contracts on the execution chain. Proposers can make commitments by restaking through Eigenlayer to address the trust issues. And we need to engage attestors to verify the commitments before voting on the block
• MEV-boost++ for protocols who want proposers’ commitments: MEV-boost++ enables proposers to make commitments to third-parties through restaking, and get slashed in the case of violation
• Decentralized sequencers for rollups: Espresso is attempting to engage validators through Eigenlayer, in order to increase the decentralization and shared security with L1. Since sequencing does not require proving or execution, it’s easy for validators to participate

What could tokenised generative AI look like? (Read more)

• This application layer consists of applications to serve specific purposes or solve problems. In a decentralized approach, an open, permissionless API would allow anyone to access, use, and build upon it. Tokens could be used for credits, access, and curation
• In a decentralized functional layer, the AI model would be more open and governed by a diverse group of stakeholders. This can be achieved through a DAO structure, with various tokens used for governance and voting rights
• The data layer consists of datasets used for AI model training in the functional layer. In decentralized operations, a federated group of stakeholders reaches consensus on training datasets. Tokens would provide economic incentives for consensus
• The computational layer refers to computing resources used for prompt computation and model pre-training and reinforcement. In a decentralized approach, tokens provide security and economic incentives for honest computation. Nodes must submit proofs and mismatched submissions may trigger slashing conditions

Lens Protocol is positioned to disrupt traditional social media (Read more)

• Lens Protocol is an open-source social media graph that enables users to own their data. Users mint profile NFTs that record all of their content and engagement and leverage Content URIs that point to data storage services.
• Lens Protocol has seen a substantial spike in monthly transactions and users since the beginning of the new year, recording an all-time high of 4.2M transactions and 125k users in Feb 2023. Engagement by users has also set new records, from 18-20K engagements at the beginning of the year, to an all-time high of 168K at the end of last month. Content NFT collects or mints have also spiked to hit an all-time high of 67.8K collects in Feb 2023
• To handle all of this growth, Lens recently announced an Optimistic L3 scaling solution called Momoka that will process most transactions off-chain, relying on its data-availability layer

Diving into the characteristics of Sui (Read more)

• Sui is an upcoming Layer-1 smart contract platform with a unique, object-centric data model that is key in its ability to scale network throughput
• On Sui, simple transactions like peer-to-peer transfers and NFT mass mints do not undergo consensus, allowing validators to process ~300,000 transfers/simple transactions per second
• Sui throughput is horizontally scalable. Its network throughput grows as more computing power is added to each validator within the existing validator set
• Sui Move, Sui’s programming language, has built-in safety properties that prevent certain types of hacks/exploits

🌍 Layer 1/2s

EigenLayer Stage 1 mainnet to launch soon (Read more)

• EigenLayer will launch in stages throughout this year to ensure security and stability for users, these include onboarding stakers, then validators, and finally launching modules, including EigenDA and more
• Restaking early poses benefits such as helping users secure their spot, skip withdrawal queues, and maximise opportunities when AVSs are launched

BRC-20 token standard gains popularity with memecoins (Read more)

• A total of 8,500 different tokens have been minted using the BRC-20 standard, with the majority of these BRC-20 tokens being memecoins, such as PEPE and MEME
• BRC-20 is an experimental token standard on the Bitcoin blockchain modeled after Ethereum’s ERC-20, allowing programmers to create and send fungible tokens via the Ordinals protocol

MoonPay pushes into retail space with new crypto app (Read more)

• The app, which has been in testing with 15,000 early access users since March, is now widely available on Apple and Google app stores
• It will give users a way to manage multiple crypto wallets and hundreds of different tokens, something MoonPay sees strong demand for among its users, 55% of whom have transacted with three or more wallets

Hashflow partners with MoonPay to simplify payment on-ramps globally (Read more)

• Users can now easily purchase digital assets and trade immediately on Hashflow using debit and credit cards, and transfers from crypto-friendly banks across 160 countries
• To start, Hashflow will support slippage and MEV-free trading of ETH, USDC, USDT, DAI, and other blue chip assets

Flare integrates blockchain API on Google Cloud Marketplace (Read more)

• The EVM-compatible L1 blockchain’s integration will provide high-integrity blockchain data from Flare nodes and connected chain nodes to a large pool of developers and users of the software products and services platform
• This includes blockchain APIs for Algorand, BNB Chain, Bitcoin, Dogecoin, Ethereum, Flare, Litecoin, Songbird, XRP ledger and future-supported blockchain APIs

ETH burn hits a 10-month high as memecoin hype surges (Read more)

• According to ultrasound.money, Ethereum burned $76.7M worth of ETH used in transactions on the network over the past week, with Uniswap accounting for about 35% of all transaction fees
• With the surge in popularity of memecoins, trading pools for some like PEPE were some of the most used in the past 24 hours, facilitating transactions worth over $55M

Bitcoin transactions reach record highs as Inscriptions surge (Read more)

• According to The Block’s data, the 7-day MA of daily transactions on Bitcoin reached a record high of over 408K transactions, surpassing the previous record of 406K
• The record-high daily average transaction count on Bitcoin may be related to Inscriptions, which have increased demand for block space on the leading blockchain

ConsenSys L2 network Linea adds loyalty NFT campaign to drive adoption (Read more)

• The program will reward users with NFTs for performing certain tasks related to using the testnet, aiming to help stress the network and test activities at scale ahead of the network’s mainnet launch expected in the coming months
• The weekly challenges will involve using bridging protocols built on the Linea testnet

💰 DeFi / CeFi / NFTFi

GammaSwap beta testnet live on Goerli (Read more)

• Users are able to experiment with various features, including providing liquidity in various pools and borrow liquidity by longing, shorting, or buying a straddle for any token
• GammaSwap is a composable DEX that supports perpetual leverage trading, offering users the flexibility to take positions that enables LPs to convert Impermanent Loss into an Impermanent Gain

Yearn Finance introduces Dump Services (Read more)

• Developed in partnership with CoWSwap, Dump Services allows users to sell multiple tokens in their wallet with a single click, making the process faster simpler and lowering gas fees
• Additionally, Dump Services also leverages account abstraction to execute sells from different wallets or replace multiple approval and trade signatures

Liquid staking platform Lido surpasses 6M ETH deposits (Read more)

• Lido has enjoyed a net inflow of 105,644 ETH through last week, worth some $199M, pushing deposits to 6,008,480 ETH
• While Lido is still the top liquid staking protocol by far with a 79% market share, it is facing increased competition from up-and-coming players, such as rival platforms Frax Finance and Rocket Pool, that have enjoyed net inflows of $367M altogether

Arbitrum-based DEX Chronos attracts over $217M in TVL (Read more)

• The ve(3,3) style DEX managed to attract over $217M in TVL just 7 days after its launch on Arbitrum, now ranking eighth among the largest DEXs in TVL figures
• The milestone was achieved during the first hours of the day after the protocol kicked off Epoch 1, which enabled CHR token emissions to liquidity pools, and for stakers to begin collecting rewards

Factor introduces v2 (Read more)

• Factor v2 serves as a powerful foundational layer that interconnects DeFi protocols, providing a no-code platform that presents endless possibilities for innovation and collaboration within the DeFi space, and necessary tools and frameworks for the public
• This enables protocols, builders, treasuries, and individuals to create and manage robust financial instruments including vaults, yield pools, lending and liquidity pools, and tokenised baskets, or any combination of the aforementioned

🖼 NFT / 🎮 Gaming / 🎭 Metaverse / Social

Lens Protocol’s scaling solution Bonsai rebrands to Momoka (Read more)

• The rebranding comes a day after its launch, aiming to prevent potential trademark issues and avoid unnecessary brand complications with a similarly named project in the crypto space

NFT lending protocol Blend surpasses $16M in loans (Read more)

• Together, the Azuki, Wrapped CryptoPunks and Milady NFT collections represent the largest collateral, with over 8,000 ETH worth in market value pledged, coming just one day after the protocol’s launch
• There are already 846 active loans on the platform at the time of publication, with eight refinancing events having taken place

CoinMarketCap launching crypto competition TV show (Read more)

• Drawing inspiration from the popular TV series “Shark Tank”, “Killer Whales” will allow entrepreneurs to pitch their projects to the judges made up of entrepreneurs, influencers and founders of Web3 companies
• Beginning on May 2, interested parties can submit their applications to Hello.one and CoinMarketCap

Sotheby’s launches onchain secondary NFT marketplace (Read more)

• The curated P2P secondary marketplace will expand the art auction house’s NFT art offerings, and offer direct transactions between collectors on its platform
• The integrated sales system will be fully onchain via the Ethereum and Polygon networks, and users can pay in either native token ETH or MATIC

Magic Eden announces AMM (Read more)

• Magic Eden’s AMM Pools provide a simple and efficient way for users to manage sell-side, buy-side, and double-sided LPs, regardless of the LP size, easily creating, updating, and cancelling orders as well
• The marketplace is currently offering a 1.3x fee multiplier for liquidity providers on all NFT liquidity pools, with a $50K prize pool available to those who participate in this promotion

🏢 Institutional Adoption / DAO / RWA

Mastercard teams up with blockchain developers on new Crypto Credential standards (Read more)

• Mastercard is teaming with Aptos Labs, Ava Labs, Polygon and The Solana Foundation on Crypto Credential standards in an effort to build the trust of consumers, businesses, and governments in the sector
• Crypto Credential aims to establish a set of common standards and infrastructure that will help attest trusted interactions among consumers and businesses using blockchain networks

OKX adds zkSTARKs to proof-of-reserves verification (Read more)

• By integrating zkSTARKs into its PoR verification, OKX’s users are enabled to independently verify their assets while keeping sensitive user data private
• OKX has also expanded PoR support to include 18 new assets, in addition to the existing coverage of BTC, ETH, and USDT

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The Artisan Narrative is an educational resource intended for informational purposes only. It covers all things Web3 and may discuss assets that the Artisan Collective, ArtisanDAO or writers have financial exposure to. Views are on ours own. None of Artisan Collective, ArtisanDAO, its registered entity or any of its affiliated personnel are licensed to provide any type of financial advice, and nothing on newsletter, website and social media should be construed as financial advice. Artisan Collective, ArtisanDAO, writers might also receives compensation from its sponsor; sponsorship messages do not constitute financial advice or endorsement.