SEC plans to sue Uniswap
SEC plans to sue Uniswap
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Welcome to Stay on-chain! Besides the headline and Solana being slower than Zootropolis’ sloths, the crypto landscape has been flourishing the past week. Aave is settling the fuss with MakerDAO, and Sui announced the first Web3-native gaming console. The time for crypto consumer devices seems to be here.
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The markets this week have been relatively stable. Bitcoin, which reclaimed approximately 3%, fluctuated within its range, and Ethereum showed a similar pattern. Altcoins, however, appeared somewhat weak, with Solana leading the downturn by shedding around 7%. Bitcoin's dominance remains steadfast.
The standout performer this week is TON, the coin associated with Telegram. The Telegram Open Network has recently become quite popular, garnering significant momentum. On the flip side, the least successful contender is W, Wormhole’s token, which, following its very generous airdrop, is facing substantial selling pressure. Notably, for numerous consecutive weeks, there has been a consistent increase in the issuance of stablecoins on-chain.
This week, nothing really happened with our wallet. As we continue farming points across many DeFi protocols, we saw a slight dip in value given that we’re primarily exposed to altcoins. We're still far behind Bitcoin’s performance, but hey, we're sticking to our plan and are currently fully deployed. For the full scoop, check out the Google sheet.
Check out Rabby Wallet — the best EVM wallet we use for everything on-chain. Use our referral code to give Stay on-chain a boost. Thanks for the support!
SEC warned Uniswap with a Wells notice
The SEC has warned Uniswap, the leading decentralized exchange, that it’s facing potential legal action. Uniswap, the de facto most used DeFi protocol, enables traders to swap tokens in a decentralized manner using an AMM. The Wells Notice, which precedes a formal lawsuit, offers Uniswap a final chance to address the allegations. It has been reported that the SEC has been investigating Uniswap for some time, and this move appears to be part of a broader crackdown on the DeFi sector, following actions against exchanges such as Coinbase, Binance, and Kraken.
The crypto community is accusing the SEC of acting in bad faith and failing to consider the specifics of blockchain-based technology. Conversely, Gary Gensler, backed by the White House and Senator Elizabeth Warren, argues that securities laws are unequivocal and that the crypto sector should not expect special treatment.
The founder of Uniswap responded: "I’m not surprised. Just annoyed, disappointed, and ready to fight." He also says:
David versus Goliath: Tether generates 78% as much profits as Morgan Stanley having 0.12% of its personnel — 𝕏/LDNCryptoClub
Sui launches gaming console pioneering Web3 consumer devices
Mysten Labs (the main contributor behind the Sui blockchain) announced at the Sui Basecamp they’ll be launching the first Web3 handheld gaming device — called ‘SuiPlay 0x1’. Available in 2025 and powered by Playtron OS, it’ll offer access to all of the main game launchers (Steam, Epic Games Store, Gog) in a single device, combined with a unique Web3 gaming experience on the Sui blockchain. Rumor has it the price will hover around the $500 figure, with 70+ games on Sui signed up already.
Mass adoption: Listen to Nick Shalek’s 7-minute Ethereum pitch to institutions — 𝕏/TaikiMaeda2
Solana? Can you hear me?
Solana has been seemingly unable to cope with high traffic recently, with users unable to submit transactions unless trying multiple times and using higher fees — usually known for being cheap, fees went up to $1 per transaction in the past few days. Essentially, it’s like Solana is suffering a DDoS attack with its infrastructure being unable to process legitimate transactions and discard spam — as a result, up to 75% of the transactions are failing. After an insane rally, SOL is cooling down 20% from its top.
The flippening: Bitcoin surpasses Ethereum in NFT monthly sales — cryptoslam.io
Eigenlayer launches on mainnet
The restaking protocol EigenLayer and its data availability layer, EigenDA, debuted on the Ethereum mainnet this Tuesday. This development enables restakers to allocate their entire stake to an operator of their choice and allows operators to operate as an actively validated service (AVS). Moreover, it grants AVSs the opportunity to join the beta iteration of EigenDA, the data availability solution.
Shortly following the mainnet launch, the cloud divisions of Coinbase and Google, among various other entities, joined EigenLayer as operators.
Money printer goes brrrrr: Since their inception, Bitcoin ETFs have brought in an average of $213M per day — 𝕏/Sina_21st
Aave’s path to all-time highs
Following Uniswap’s monumental policy shift that opened the debate around enabling the fee switch (i.e. sharing the protocol revenue with token holders), Aave’s governance voice Marc Zeller announced the intention to follow their footsteps and enable the fee switch for AAVE token holders. Considering Aave’s stablecoin GHO is almost back to peg, they have an annual revenue of $60M and a fat treasury, AAVE seems primed to rally in an alt-coin season.
Italians do it better: Giancarlo Devasini, the former CEO of Tether, is the 4th richest man in Italy — Corriere della Sera
Fantom, running it back turbo?
Fantom was once one of the most promising Layer 1 blockchain out there — then the bear market came, a few protocols suffered exploits, and then the Multichain bridge securing the blockchain’s assets went rogue resulting in the depeg of stablecoins and wrapped assets such as ETH and BTC. Its TVL reached $9.2B in early 2022, and is now sitting at $236M two years later, a 97.5% bloodbath.
But.. there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel. The assets missing from Multichain are seemingly in the hands of Chinese prosecutors (Multichain had a Chinese team), and in due time might be handed back to rightful owners. Besides, the leading voice of Fantom Andre Cronje has suddenly become more active within the crypto landscape, hyping up Fantom’s next upgrade Sonic supposed to take the blockchain up to 10,000 TPS.
As a cherry on top, a handful of investors wrote angel checks to the foundation in exchange for discounted FTM tokens: Stani Kulechov (Aave), Michael Egorov (Curve), Robert Leshner (Compound), Fernando Martinelli (Balancer), Tarun Chitra (Gauntlet). Basically, most DeFi pioneers you can think of.
This dude went skiing with VCs over the weekend, here are his insights — 𝕏/reganbozman
Aave settles with Maker on DAI backing controversy
As predicted, solutions for DAI’s new USDe backing came in milder than people expected. Instead of removing DAI as collateral from Aave, the risk management firm Chaos Labs (hired by the Aave DAO) suggested a reduction of the loan-to-value (LTV) of DAI from 75% to 63% — acknowledging thus the additional risks involved, but without being too drastic.
🪂 AIRDROPS
Kamino allocation checker is online — 𝕏/KaminoFinance
Tensor’s TNSR airdrop is live — 𝕏/TensorFdn
Some Solana users are eligible for $WUF — claim.wuffi.io
Zeta Markets announces Z airdrop on Solana, snapshot not taken yet — 𝕏/ZetaMarkets
deBridge unveils points program — 𝕏/deBridgeFinance
Ethena adds ENA staking in its Sats campaign — mirror.xyz
Yield aggregator Gata Hub submits RollApp application highlighting 7% community drop — forum.dymension.xyz
🏦 TRADFI
Do Kwon and Terraform Labs found liable for fraud in SEC trial — 𝕏/News_Of_Alpha
Paypal to enable cross-border transfers using their stablecoin, PYUSD — The Block
Lawmakers stall digital euro bill, leaving future of €1.2B project uncertain — DLnews
Binance executive jailed in Nigeria — DLnews
ETF issuers have met with the SEC to discuss the spot ETH ETF — 𝕏/NateGeraci
Metaplanet stock soars after announcing $6.5M BTC in its balance sheet — CoinDesk
Australian asset manager Monchrome applies with Cboe Australia for spot BTC ETF — CoinDesk
Hong Kong set to approve its first spot BTC ETFs in April — Reuters
⛓️ DEFI
Stride has launched its 14th LST, stSAGA — stride.zone
Fantom to launch USDC.e supported by Circle and Wormhole — 𝕏/FantomFDN
Ethena’s USDe reaches $2B supply and adds BTC as a backing asset — 𝕏/ethena_labs
Fantom is looking to create a safer environment for memecoins — 𝕏/AndreCronjeTech
Metamask now lets you check if you’re eligible for airdrops and NFT claims — The Block
1inch is launching a debit card with Mastercard— Coindesk
🛰️ TECH
Near launches infrastructure committee with $4M in funding — near.org
Jupiter hired Gauntlet risk management firm — jupresear.ch
Restaking wars: Karak vs EigenLayer what are the differences? — 𝕏/IgnasDeFi
a16z unveils Jolt, a new approach to zkVM design — 𝕏/SuccinctJT
Base reached 3M daily transactions on April, 8 — basescan.org
Galxe launches mainnet to enable 'cross-domain pseudonymous identities' — The Block
📱 WEB3
Friend.tech points are now worth $5 each — 𝕏/Tyler_Did_it
Binance to end support for Bitcoin NFTs — binance.com
Ton-focused Universal Basic Smartphone by Oyster Labs is sold out — 𝕏/oysterecosystem
💰 VC
Paradigm leads $225M round for Monad Labs, an upcoming L1, ready to compete with Ethereum and Solana — Fortune
Paradigm leads $20M Series A round for DEX developer Ellipsis Labs — The Block
FTX estate sold $1.6B locked SOL at $64 per token to Galaxy and Pantera — Bloomberg
Mezo, a Bitcoin L2 enabling yield to BTC hodlers, raised $21M Series A led by Pantera — Fortune
🗓️ UPCOMING CALENDAR
April 15th: Expected spot BTC ETF approval in Hong Kong
April 20th: Expected BTC block reward halving
April 24th: Robinhood earnings
April 29th: Doge futures on Coinbase
May 2nd: Coinbase earnings
May 23rd: Spot ETH ETF deadline
Are you an Aptos fellow? Then, you might want to look into LiquidSwap’s LPs. amAPT - APT currently pays a 31% APR to liquidity providers, and ends in 11 days (the LP will be locked for the first 7 days!).
Sanctum on Solana created their basket of SOL liquid staking tokens — called INF — yielding a juicy 9.95% APY. They raised $6M, and are currently tokenless.
More of an Ethereum whale 🐳? sFRAX yield is currently 51%.
Still hungry for yield?! Check out Kano’s suggestions on his 𝕏 profile.
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Disclosure: Authors may own crypto assets named in this newsletter. Stay on-chain is meant for informational and educational purposes only. It is not meant to serve as investment advice. Please consult your investment, tax, or legal advisor before making investment decisions.