This Week In DeFi – June 10

This week, Ethereum completed its Ropsten testnet merge, Wintermute unveiled its DEX aggregator and TronDAO decides to overcollateralize USDD

Jun 10, 2022

To the DeFi community,

This week Ethereum completed its Ropsten testnet merge – a test-run of the network’s most major upgrade to date. The merge will now be monitored for any inconsistencies or bugs, with some developers deploying their dApps on the testnet to assist with the process. Additional merge tests will be run on the Sepolia and Goerli testnets before the transition is finally executed on the Ethereum mainnet.

dannyryan 🧱🔥 @dannyryan

Ropsten Merge was a MAJOR success If this were mainnet, I’d be jumping for joy 🎉Congratulations to everyone involved🎉 Quick discussion and contextualization of issues seen during the transition below (thanks @parithosh_j for the details) 1/3

Well-known trading firm Wintermute has unveiled a new decentralized exchange aggregator called Bebop, aiming to eliminate slippage and improve user experience. Bebop will feature new features such as the ability to swap several tokens at once, enabling users to rapidly enter or exit multiple positions.

Bebop @bebop_dex

1/ Introducing Bebop: the decentralized trading platform on a mission to reinvent user experience and execution in #DeFi 💥👇

TronDAO has opted to over-collateralize its USDD stablecoin, in an effort to strengthen its long-term viability and quell comparisons to Terra’s failed UST experiment. According to TronDAO, USDD is currency 201% collateralized, with plans to maintain at least a 130% collateralization ratio. Some in the community, however, do not agree with the way this ratio has been calculated.

TRON DAO @trondao

🎉#USDD has officially become the first over-collateralized #decentralized #stablecoin! 📈With the world’s highest collateral ratio, a guaranteed 130%, #USDD leads as crypto’s new settlement currency, bringing the development of #decentralized #stablecoin to the next level!🚀

USDD @usddio

📢#USDD has officially upgraded to be the first over-collateralized decentralized #StableCoin! Currently collateralized at over 200% with a guaranteed minimum collateral ratio of 130%! USDD will lead the way into a new era for #stablecoins as it grows.🚀 https://t.co/a692Pb20Tt

Chainlink has released a long-term roadmap for future token staking plans, as well as expanding its tools to two major blockchains. Solana has integrated seven different Chainlink price feeds, while Avalanche has received ChainlinkKeepers and Verifiable Random Functions (VRFs).

ChainLinkGod.eth @ChainLinkGod

Something noteworthy brought up on the #Chainlink spaces call was that the deployment of VRF on #Avalanche was not a copy/paste job The @chainlinklabs and @avalabsofficial teams worked closely to adjust parameters based on how the chain operates to ensure security/reliability

With the Ethereum Proof-of-Stake merge process headlining the week, all eyes are on the largest smart-contracts platform in the world right now – some news being exceedingly positive, but also some not so much. Of particular concern is staked Lido Staked Ether (stETH), i.e. tokens representing a claim on Ether (ETH) staked in the mainnet beacon chain in anticipation of the "real" merge. The stETH token is a way to provide some utility to this otherwise-immobile ETH, enabling transferability and other uses across the ecosystem.

However, a possible liquidity crunch and dive in demand for stETH may send some lending platforms (both centralized and decentralized) into a selling frenzy, in a similar manner to a traditional bank-run. At the center of the concern lies Celsius – one of the largest holders of stETH, unfortunately also in the middle of insolvency rumors. With users withdrawing their funds from the platform in a risk-averse bear market, some worry that Celsius will have to begin selling their stETH to cover those claims. Add to this a possible delay to the mainnet merge and price discovery for stETH that doesn't quite match the exact price of ETH, and we have some decently-justified worries to address.