This Week In DeFi – July 22

This week, Curve hints at launching its own stablecoin, Polygon announces zkEVM rollups and SkyBridge may be launching a web3 fund.

Jul 22, 2022

To the DeFi community,

This week, Curve Finance founder Michael Egorov has hinted that Curve may be the latest DeFi protocol to launch its own stablecoin. Egorov alluded to an over-collateralized model in a short quote from Redefine Tomorrow 2022, a DeFi and Web3 virtual summit organized by SCB 10X.

This likely means a similar backing mechanism to MakerDAO’s Dai, which holds reserve crypto assets with a value that exceeds the number of outstanding Dai tokens. The move comes on the tails of Aave’s recent proposal to launch its own stablecoin, GHO.

Hsaka @HsakaTrades

Curve launching a stable too. Guess they got tired of serving as the battlefield of stablecoin wars and decided to enter the arena themselves. Now we wait for the most important bit, the ticker.

區塊先生 ⚠️ (rock #58) @mrblocktw

you know you know curve - stablecoin incoming 👀 $CRV 🚀 #stablecoinWAR https://t.co/sYg13WRLYz

Polygon has announced zkEVM, a zero-knowledge rollup scaling solution planned for launch in 2023. The platform aims to cut Ethereum transaction costs by 90%, as well as triple the current transaction throughput. A testnet version of the platform is expected to launch sometime during this summer.

Polygon Readies ZK Rollup Testnet, Eyes Mainnet Launch in 2023

Polygon - MATIC 💜 @0xPolygon

We are proud to announce a giant leap forward for Ethereum scaling and ZK innovation. Introducing Polygon #zkEVM, the first EVM-equivalent ZK L2. Today we’re releasing a complete implementation, fully open-source, and we’re just getting started. [1/6]

It has been reported that Anthony Scaramucci's SkyBridge Capital will be launching a fund directed at web3 and crypto, set to be announced in September. The fund will focus on privately-held web3 companies and late-stage crypto firms.

SkyBridge had previously filed with the SEC for a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in 2020, and has also invested in Bitcoin directly.

db @tier10k

[DB] Scaramucci's SkyBridge to Launch Web3 VC Fund: Insider

Web3 and DeFi incubator Cumberland Lab has moved into the public sphere, following a quiet building period since March this year. The company is based in Singapore now has around 20 employees with five more on the way, identifying “crypto winter” as a favorable time to make business moves. Cumberland Lab was founded by partners of Cumberland DRW, the crypto trading giant.

The crypto market may have found a local bottom, as the entire market including DeFi continues to rally after several months of downward action. Despite reports of decreasing venture capital in the space, web3-focused funds keep appearing left, right and center. This week especially has had some big-name additions, including SkyBridge, Christie’s and Cumberland.

The Layer-2 scaling race also continues, as zero-knowledge rollups capture headlines this week. zkSync has promised a mainnet launch within 100 days, while Polygon followed up strongly with its own zkEVM testnet scheduled for this summer. As optimistic rollup platforms continue with their own token programs, it will prove interesting to see which projects garner the most adoption and usage.

Another interesting space to watch is web3 social media, being dubbed “SocialFi”. As the technological restrictions of Layer-1 blockchains are eased, decentralized social media platforms are becoming more viable. Add to this the growing strain of censorship on existing social media, and we have a significant incentive to move things over to web3. Although highly experimental, innovation in the SocialFi niche is beginning to gain steam, with fascinating implications and opportunities – keep your eyes peeled!