DeFi the odds

Good morning! Welcome to The Daily Moon. It’s the weekend! Remember the times when Elon Musk’s Tesla sold 75% of its BTC holdings? Now, we know how much he is still holding: $218 million. The company didn’t record any losses on the tokens. Not too much data is available on his DOGE investments. Maybe he’ll tweet about it. 

The markets were flat. Bitcoin traded at ~$19,100 while Ethereum was at $1,290 levels. Nasdaq fell in early trade. Back home, Sensex and Nifty ended marginally higher.

DeFi Stands Out 

Bitcoin and Ethereum are drab right now. There is not much price action on these tokens. In the hunt for alternatives, investors have stumbled on DeFi. These altcoins have seen a price bump this week. 

Breakout performersUniswap, Aave, and Maker have rallied. Token holders have a reason to rejoice. Let’s look at the factors driving the rally: 

1. Uniswap: The token is headed for a bull run on the back of a $165 million fund-raising by Uniswap Labs. a16z has invested too, so the market is interested. It rose ~9.5% over the past week. Analysts predict it will continue to rise.

2. Aave: Aave’s token rose 20% to $82 in the past week. There’s a buzz around the launch of Aave’s GHO stablecoin, something that will make the DeFi protocol a self-sufficient network. Aave is also ready for its V3 (version three) deployment on the Ethereum blockchain. V3 will allow instant loans and higher borrowing for crypto stakers.

3. Maker: The DAO token rose ~17% to $1,081 in the past week. The decentralised finance organisation is in news amidst a proposal to break up MakerDAO into smaller MetaDAOs. These smaller MetaDAOs will have their own tokens. But there is a hurdle too. a16z does not want this makeover to happen.  

Legal tanglesThe draft version of US DeFi laws has leaked. There’s good and bad news. DeFi isn’t getting banned. But it will most likely be regulated. 

A House On NFT

A South Carolina house was sold as an NFT. Yes, an actual house. A property investor bought it for $175,000. This NFT is equivalent to the house keys. There are many more such NFT homes for sale. 

But how is it possible?It’s simple. The buyer converts the property documents into a smart contract. The NFT house looks exactly like the real one. Interested buyers can access the NFT version on digital real estate platforms. 

Similar to physical property, loans are also offered to buyers. For instance, the lending pool USDC Homes offers loans where BTC, ETH, and USDC can be deposited as collateral. 

Why is it a big deal?Ever bought or sold any property? It’s a maze of documents and approvals. Turning it into NFT makes it a one-click transaction. Purchasing a home is a serious business, so it also lends well to improving the credibility of NFTs. We aren’t talking about a random bunch of Apes selling for millions of dollars, but real homes. 

But what if the house NFT is stolen? Does the house now belong to the hacker? A web3 expert claims that this NFT cannot be phished; only transferred by the owner. We’ve heard this one before. 

Closure. Finally!

The Voyager saga may finally come to a close. Partly. If FTX does (and is allowed to) purchase the bankrupt lender, 72% of the funds that were frozen could be released to customers. But for that to happen, a judge will have to sanction the sale. 

The scale of the debacle In July, when the lender went belly up, it claimed to have 100,000 creditors and assets valued at anywhere between $1 billion and $10 billion. But this is not the end of the road. There could be more drama. The judge, hearing the case, said that Voyager has the freedom to cancel the sale if it could find another buyer who could give the creditors and the company better terms. 

Is there another white knight on the horizon? Where is Elon Musk when you need him?

Upvote This For Karma

Reddit users are warming up to wallets. The social networking platform declared that it now has 2.5 million wallets since it opened up NFTs in July. It’s a small drop in the ocean when compared to the 50 million Daily Active Users who spend hours on the app. 

How does it work?If you missed this, Reddit allowed its users to store its community points, and buy awards and avatar skins through crypto. Select users with high karma points were airdropped collectible avatars. The social media platform had tied up with Polygon to generate excitement and increase time spent on the app. 

MeanwhileIn other NFT news, Indian cricket superstar Sachin Tendulkar has invested in the NFT platform Rario. The platform will sell digital collectibles of the cricketer. 

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Who are we? This newsletter’s ambition is to educate (and to entertain). The world of money is changing everyday and we want to help you decode what’s happening in the world of crypto, public markets in the US and India.