The Daily Index — Wednesday, August 21, 2024

MARKETS & BUSINESS

TLDR Crypto

U.S. ELECTIONS-LINKED BITCOIN OPTIONS DRAW NEARLY $350M IN OPEN INTEREST

Crypto traders have locked in $345M in bitcoin options expiring shortly after the U.S. elections on November 4, demonstrating a bullish sentiment with twice as many calls as puts. These election-dedicated options show traders expect a significant price rise following elections.

coindesk.com · 2 min

TLDR Crypto

CORN: THE SUPER YIELD NETWORK ROOTED IN DIGITAL GOLD

Corn is a new Ethereum Layer 2 network that uses Bitcoin as the gas token, designed to align users, apps, and token holders by creating a yield-driven ecosystem. Following a $6.7 million seed round led by Polychain, Corn aims to incentivize participation through its native tokens, $BTCN and $CORN, offering various ways to engage and earn within the network.

threadreaderapp.com · 6 min

TLDR Crypto

BALAJI'S NETWORK STATE BECOMES A REALITY IN SINGAPORE

Renowned crypto and Silicon Valley investor Balaji Srinivasan has launched a new experimental pop-up city in Singapore called "The Network School". It's a 3-month long pop-up that hopes to redefine education, career development, and community engagement through four core themes: "Learn, Burn, Earn, and Fun". The effort will prioritize providing a platform for "dark talent" and embracing innovative approaches like crypto-credentials.

thedefiant.io · 3 min

TLDR Crypto

SOCIAL MEDIA FOR STARTUP FOUNDERS

Social media offers a chance for startup founders to build their brands and connect directly with their audience. However, crafting an effective social media presence requires a strategic approach, including setting realistic goals, understanding one's audience, prioritizing platforms, and creating engaging content that resonates with users. This approach must be dynamic, adapting to changing platform algorithms and audience expectations, and should incorporate both quantitative and qualitative metrics to gauge success and inform strategy adjustments.

a16zcrypto.com · 20 min

TLDR Crypto

AAVE, THE CORE PILLAR OF DECENTRALIZED FINANCE AND ONCHAIN ECONOMY

Aave is the leading decentralized borrowing and lending protocol, with over $7.5 billion in active loans. Its fundamentals have surpassed previous bull market highs, but the token trades at historically low valuation multiples. With upcoming improvements like Aave v4, revamped tokenomics, and growth from greater crypto adoption, Aave is positioned for significant expansion.

x.com · 10 min

TLDR Crypto

ETH - WHERE DO WE STAND?

The Ethereum debate is increasingly polarized, with strong arguments from both bulls and bears. Bears argue that Ethereum's profitability and dominance are in decline due to fragmented Layer 2s, DeFi's shaky utility, and ETH's lackluster ETF performance, while bulls highlight record-high transactions, Ethereum's robust ecosystem, and its continued role as the primary institutional-grade blockchain, suggesting long-term growth despite recent struggles.

x.com · 5 min

TLDR Crypto

RISK X LIQUID RESTAKING

Liquid restaking protocols must allocate properly to AVSs, otherwise, they risk slashing, liquidity constraints, and node operator reliance. Diversification and regular reassessment of the AVS portfolio will help prevent black swan events from occurring. EtherFi is working with Chaos Labs to ensure a sensible and proper AVS delegation strategy.

threadreaderapp.com · 2 min

TLDR Crypto

PREVIOUS ISSUES WITH MASS ADOPTION

DeFi, even when gamified, was too tedious and complex for regular participants. NFTs were ugly and expensive, becoming more of a modern talking piece than an actual utility. Memecoins hurt the space's reputation. The two good use cases are prediction markets and DePIN, as they enable easy adoption in areas that would otherwise not be possible.

threadreaderapp.com · 2 min

TLDR Crypto

HIGHER CRYPTO MARKET LIQUIDITY

While global M2 is getting attention, the total stablecoin market capitalization has quietly hit a fresh record high above $165 billion, signaling increased liquidity in the crypto markets.

threadreaderapp.com · 1 min

TLDR Crypto

CRYPTO APPS CLOSEST TO PMF

Polymarket, Pump.fun, and Hyperliquid are some of the apps closest to finding product-market fit in the crypto space.

threadreaderapp.com · 1 min

TLDR Crypto

INTRODUCING BOLT: SUB-SECOND PRECONFIRMATIONS

Bolt's alpha launch allows for sub-second preconfirmations and trustless proposer commitments on Ethereum.

threadreaderapp.com · 1 min

TLDR Crypto

REPRIORITIZING ETHEREUM L1 EXECUTION

Ethereum development has prioritized L2 execution for over two years at the expense of the L1, which now lags behind.

threadreaderapp.com · 1 min