Hello Defiers! Hope you’re having a great weekend.

Summing up last week: A new financial exploit on DeFi started the week off, with traders attempting to manipulate markets to their favor on the iEarn platform. Over 20% yield for ETH deposits on bZx, compared with less than 1% on other platforms, is drawing users back after the biggest exploits in DeFi. Meanwhile, ETH whales are starting to accumulate. EY partnered with Microsoft and ConsenSys to create the Baseline Protocol, which aims to enable companies to use blockchain technology privately. pTokens and Ren helping make cross-chain transaction a reality and bring bitcoin to DeFi. dYdX to introduce trading fees, Instadapp launches DeFi-specific accounts and PieDAO wants to help issue and trade decentralized ETFs. And there’s even more!

Thursday

Dives

• EY-Led Baseline to Provide DeFi Plug-In for Companies: EY announced it’s leading an open source initiative called Baseline Protocol for businesses to connect their processes via distributed networks, without having to reveal their public information.

Sums

• pTokens to Bring Bitcoin Holders and Liquidity to DeFi: Blockchain oracle provider Provable Things launched pTokens to enable transactions across different blockchains. pTokens allow any cryptocurrency holder to use Ethereum-based decentralized applications, even if they’re not holding Ethereum-based tokens.

• Ether Whales Starting to Accumulate: The top 100 ether holders are once again beginning to accumulate higher percentages of the total token supply, according to Santiment.

• Two Large Crypto Hubs Get Regulatory Breakthroughs: South Korean lawmakers passed legislation providing a legal framework for cryptocurrency trading and holding. India struck down a two-year-old ban on cryptocurrency trading. 

Wednesday

Dives

• +20% Yields for Ether Deposits Drawing Users Back to bZx: Users are coming back to bZx, the DeFi platform that was at the center of two exploits about three weeks ago, even as trading hasn’t resumed.

Sums

• dYdX Introduces Trading Fees: DeFi trading platform dYdX is introducing trading fees starting March 10. Taker fees will range between 0.05% and 0.5% of trade volume, depending on trading pair and order size.

• Instadapp Wants to Provide a Single Point of Entry for DeFi: Instadapp, which built a bridge connecting major DeFi lending protocols, is launching  DeFi Smart Accounts to provide users and developers with a single point of access to all of decentralized finance. 

• PieDAO Wants to Become DeFi’s ETF Issuer: PieDAO wants to enable anyone to trade and create investment portfolios, which can include digital and traditional assets via synthetic assets. These portfolios, called PIEs, will be tokenized and available for trading 24/7 by anyone, globally, and with no minimums.

Bytes

• Top DeFi Apps Reached Almost 6K Daily Active Unique Wallets in Past Week: DappRadar

• DeFi: Dependency Hell Meets Finance: Daniel Que

Tuesday

Dives

• Emergencies Complicate DeFi User/Builder Relationship: There was another financial attack to a DeFi platform over the weekend, this time to the iEarn platform. The scheme resulted in a frenzied community who demanded answers from founder, and in the resignation of the founder who felt he was the victim of a witch-hunt.

Sums

• Ren Wants to Connect Non-Ethereum Assets to DeFi: Ren announced an alliance of projects helping secure, develop, and use the project’s RenVM system, which has the goal of enabling transfers across different blockchains.

• Developers Build First Insured Interest-Bearing Dai Token: As of today, there are plenty of tokens that automatically earn interest. Separately, there are ways to protect against the loss of those tokens. SaveDai wants to wrap those things together.

• A Loan Against Virtual Real Estate Was Just Issued: Someone was able to take tokens representing unique plots of land in a virtual world, and use them to take out a loan denominated in MakerDAO’s Dai stablecoin, in what’s probably the first ever transaction of its kind. 

Bytes

• ProgPoW, The Ethereum Community Speaks: Hudson Jameson

💜Community Love💜

Thanking all the amazing Defiers for the support and love this week (and always)!

Ethereal @EtherealSummit

✅Published author ✅Jumpstarted a leading Blockchain media outlet ✅On stage at #EtherealNY 8-9 May Ahead of @EtherealSummit we chatted to @CamiRusso about her favourite #DeFi apps, the biggest threat to the ecosystem & more #IWD #IWD2020 bit.ly/3az9evT

March 6th 2020

8 Retweets29 Likes

Bitcompare @bitcomparenet

If you're a fan of #DeFi, we highly recommend subscribing to @CamiRusso 's newsletter The Defiant. A great thing to wake up to if you want to geek out on #DeFi thedefiant.substack.com 🤓The DefiantA daily newsletter decrypting the intersection of blockchain and financethedefiant.substack.com

March 6th 2020

1 Retweet4 Likes

₿ Dave ₿ @crypto_election

“The world needs an Internet of value. We can share any type of content, but the same hasn't happened with value… #bitcoin was the first step. I think #ethereum can take it further with programmable money.” ~@CamiRusso of The Defiant blog.nomics.com/flippening/eth… via @NomicsFinanceEthereum’s Untold History & Defying Future w/ Camila Russo of The DefiantInterview w/ Camila Russo of The Defiant, a daily newsletter focused on decentralized finance or DeFi. From Ethereum’s early history to DeFi and beyond.blog.nomics.com

March 5th 2020

3 Retweets14 Likes

찌 G 跻 じ ⚡️ 🔑 @DegenSpartan

aites, imma do it @bzxHQ basically offering 25% APR for ETH liquidity worst case scenario i get liquidity rekt and then get stuck in the pool forever, lol

Camila Russo @CamiRusso

In today's Defiant +20% yields for ETH deposits drawing users back to @bzxHQ @dydxprotocol to introduce trading fees PieDAO wants to become the DeFi ETF issuer @InstaDApp wants to create a single-point access for DeFi https://t.co/1uCYA8RUd2 https://t.co/YflrKWrkDg

March 5th 2020

4 Retweets36 Likes

Will L @RBCHI

I just subscribed to The Defiant The DefiantA daily newsletter decrypting the intersection of blockchain and financethedefiant.substack.com

March 4th 2020

2 Retweets11 Likes

₡oach @CoachCryptos

@CamiRusso Thanks for writing this up! Sparked some good conversation in our discord.

March 3rd 2020

1 Like

Dan Matthews | PieDAO @LSDan_DeFi

It's complicated, but explained simply by @CamiRusso. A must read. Brilliant edition of one of my favorite newsletters in the space. It’s Complicated: New Attacks Shine Light on DeFi User/Builder RelationshipAs in any relationship, communication is key. Also, Ren Alliance launches, saveDai wraps interest and insurance, virtual real estate was used to back a loan.thedefiant.substack.com

March 3rd 2020

2 Retweets10 Likes

DeFi Dad - defidad.eth @DeFi_Dad

My wife, who knows enough to be dangerous with #DeFi and crypto, but still gets confused at times just read my interview with @CamiRusso and was like “wow she’s so much better at explaining DeFi.” 😂 Yes, she is.👇🏼 https://t.co/tt0e3WatFNA

Ethereal @EtherealSummit

✅Published author ✅Jumpstarted a leading Blockchain media outlet ✅On stage at #EtherealNY 8-9 May Ahead of @EtherealSummit we chatted to @CamiRusso about her favourite #DeFi apps, the biggest threat to the ecosystem & more #IWD #IWD2020 https://t.co/QJsNmfrEac https://t.co/ChPjuIMW81

March 7th 2020

9 Retweets35 Likes

The Defiant is a daily newsletter focusing on decentralized finance, a new financial system that’s being built on top of open blockchains. The space is evolving at breakneck speed and revolutionizing tech and money. Sign up to learn more and keep up on the latest, most interesting developments. Subscribers get full access at $10/month or $100/year, while free signups get only part of the content.

Click here to pay with DAI.There’s a limited amount of OG Memberships at 70 Dai per annual subscription ($100/yr normal price).

About the author: I’m Camila Russo, a financial journalist writing a book on Ethereum with Harper Collins. (Pre-order The Infinite Machine here). I was previously at Bloomberg News in New York, Madrid and Buenos Aires covering markets. I’ve extensively covered crypto and finance, and now I’m diving into DeFi, the intersection of the two.