This Week In DeFi – July 28

This week, Eco launches its Beam wallet with "cash-like" payments, Flashbots obtains unicorn status, Binance lists the new FDUSD stablecoin with zero fees, and MakerDAO votes for an 8% DSR.

Jul 28, 2023

To the DeFi Community,

This week, Beam, a new crypto wallet backed by investors like Coinbase Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz, has been launched by fintech firm Eco.

Unlike typical wallets, Beam allows users to send payments using QR codes, resembling a cash-like experience for crypto transactions.

The wallet operates on Ethereum layer-2 blockchains Optimism and Coinbase's Base, benefiting from Ethereum's ERC-4337 implementation for easy crypto recovery and Optimism's "Superchain" initiative for faster transactions and lower fees.

With mainstream adoption in mind, Beam aims to simplify crypto usage and provide a more accessible solution for everyday transactions.

https://twitter.com/AnnikaSays/status/1684604997986811904

Ethereum infrastructure service Flashbots has successfully raised $60 million in a Series B funding round, valuing the company at $1 billion.

The funds will primarily be used to develop the Suave platform, aimed at enabling cheaper and more private blockchain transactions. The investors involved in the round include prominent venture capital firms, Layer-2 networks, angel investors, decentralized exchanges, apps, and MEV supply chain actors.

Flashbots' service focuses on proposing blocks for Ethereum blockchain validators and aims to address MEV, a technique that exploits transaction sequencing for profitable on-chain trades.

https://twitter.com/EnneZeta/status/1683928677023903746

Binance has listed the First Digital USD stablecoin and is offering zero trading fees for select FDUSD pairs for a limited time.

The exchange will not charge maker fees for specific FDUSD trading pairs and also waives taker fees on others. However, shortly after listing FDUSD, Binance suspended trading due to technical issues faced by the stablecoin's liquidity providers and plans to resume trading later.

The move comes amid controversy surrounding Binance's recent TrueUSD promotion and the phasing away of their own BUSD stablecoin. FDUSD is issued by First Digital Labs and is part of the larger First Digital Group, with plans to support more blockchains in the future.

https://twitter.com/binance/status/1684051409199857664

The MakerDAO community approved a proposal on July 27 to temporarily increase the interest rate for stablecoin Dai, allowing tokenholders to earn yields as high as 8%.

This proposal introduced the “Enhanced Dai Savings Rate” (EDSR), which adjusts the effective Dai Savings Rate (DSR) based on DSR utilization, gradually reducing it as utilization increases.

Despite raising the DSR to 3.49% in June, only a small portion (less than 7%) of the total DAI supply was deposited in the DSR. The proposal aims to address this issue by making better use of the protocol's earnings and surplus.

https://twitter.com/StableLab/status/1684663590257844224

Ease-of-use has been a theme in DeFi and DeFi trading this week, as Telegram trading bots begin to trend. Bots such as Unibot, Swipe and others have become popular both as an automation tool for trading on decentralized exchanges, as well as being an investment themselves (with their own tokens).

However, the trend has drawn some concern from more critical eyes as those community members observe potential for exploits related to what they consider poor security of the protocols – especially associated with surrendering tokens or private keys.

Also in the ease-of-use department, we have the Coinbase and a16z-backed company Eco releasing the Beam wallet, with a specific focus of facilitating everyday payments in crypto – specifically, USDC. Although payment rails such as lightning network have provided the ability for quick and easy crypto payments, they have failed to gather meaningful mainstream adoption. If done correctly, Beam may provide us with a glimpse of what is possible when “crypto” (in this case, a centralized stablecoin), can be used far and wide for everyday purchases.

Other headlines this week appear to revolve around state and corporate-level interest in crypto and DeFi. Italy’s central bank is creating a DeFi pilot program in partnership with Polygon, A&G Bank in Spain is launching a crypto hedge fund for accredited investors, and the US may finally get some much-needed regulatory clarity on crypto assets via their latest bill.