If you’re reading this then congrats, you are still with us. I myself represent #neverleftgang, but took a break from crypto newsletters to work on irl ventures. However, I am always in tune with the gwei. This will be a brief overview of what’s been going in TradFi and what’s taking place in the realm of DeFi. Shall we begin?
TradFI
The only thing thats peaking my interest from the TradFi perspective is the ETF news. Blackrock and VanEck are working on BTC & ETH ETF’s that can be purchased through centralized exchanges. From a decentralized perspective, this is a double edged sword. Yes, mass adoption will pursue and help drive our bags up however, many users will be trapped on that exchange and not have actual ownership of their assets. If only we could bridge the gap sooner and have them accumulate through decentralized exchanges (sigh).
This will most likely start a marketing war between exchanges to see who can drive the most volume to their exchange. The rich are about to get richer. Although these ETF’s have been delayed I believe it will go through eventually so it’s still important to be well-positioned regardless.
DEFI
Now that we got the boring stuff out the way, what’s alpha? Narratives have been flying in back to back and majority of them have been sticking around for a while. Some I am interested in are…
Real World Assets (RWA)
Chain Abstraction
SocialFi
Real World Assets
RWA will probably be the trojan horse of mass adoption. Through tokenizing real world assets, it will help more people actually grasp why we have been trying to get them to learn DeFi for so long. From earning on tokenized assets to tokenizing your own, there will be a new realm of opportunities provided. Fractionalized RE is one of my favorites right now. This lowers the barriers of entry for those who may not be savvy enough to execute on RE irl. What perfect way then to be able to manage it all through the blockchain?
People are already taking out loans against their Rolex’s, it won’t be long until people catch wind and start to replicate this amongst different collectibles as well.
Realio Network
I like this project because they are focused on becoming the Web3 ecosystem for digital & real world assets. They have the potential to become the global market place for RWA’s.
Their token $RIO/$RST can be utilized by staking to earn block rewards. Later on there will be more utility like revenue/fee sharing, liquidity pools, and more.
What stands out is that they also cultivated their own metaverse called RelioVerse. This combines AR, VR, and gaming infra all in one! This will provide broader opportunities to purchase, develop, and utilize virtual land in different ways.
LandX Finance
LandX is bringing a different perspective to the space. I actually got a chance to participate in the testnet it was super cool. LandX is merging commodities on-chain. Yeap, tokenized real-world crops. Sounds crazy but it’s a fire idea. Agriculture commodities are one of the biggest and most important sectors of the economy. This could be a huge growth area as it develops overtime.
This will be executing by farmers entering a revenue sharing agreement with LandX which tokenizes their crops as a NFT on chain. Then, the farmer receives yield bearing xTokens from it. Talk about putting crops to work!
After that, DeFi investors like you and I can buy these yield bearing tokens and begin to hold and earn stable yield from them. The yield is payed out in cTokens and then converted into USDC. You don’t necessarily have to invest in the crops neither. Just by holding $LNDX the utility token, you can receive a percentage of token yields.
Many people have wanted to invest in commodities and RE but were limited due to age, geographical location, and capital. RWA’s give us the perfect entry to begin to navigate these realms and generate revenue.
Chain Abstraction
This is a newly formed narrative following Account Abstraction. Chain Abstraction was presented by BiFrost Finance, an omnichain protocol. “Abstraction” means masking complexities, so the idea of Chain Abstraction involves simplifying various different chains into a “full-chain architecture” with a simplified UI. I covered Omnichain in depth in "An Omnichain Future” so check out that article if you need more clarity on the concept!
The OP Stack from Optimism is also focusing on creating a Superchain that maximizes interoperability and composability in one layer so this will be very interesting to see how it plays out. This as well will help drive in that mass adoption because things will be greater simplified for the ones who aren’t savvy navigating the blockchain.
Social Finance
SocialFi is probably one of the more interesting narratives arising lately from the discovery of Lens Protocol and Friend Tech. Imagine being able to make money off of your social media accounts, real ownership! That’s exactly what these are. Both protocols offer you the opportunity to grow your network and network simultaneously.
Lens Protocol
Lens is a base layer social graph that enables users to own a single profile that’s compatible across products. Btw, this profile is minted as a unique NFT as well.
They have a variety of applications such as Lenster (desktop social platform), DumplingTV (desktop streaming platform), Lenstube (youtube), Orb and Phaver (mobile apps) and more. Their ecosystem is valid and is a great way to merge irl platforms with Web3 giving users ownership of their content and social capital.
FriendTech
FriendTech has caught a massive wave early in the game. This platform allows users to buy and sell share’s of themselves and their friends. They have a lot of features like a chat amongst holders, dashboards, and more to personalize the experience. People have caught waves by holding prominent figures shares while the price drives up. It’s definitely a unique opportunity to grow along with your community.
Other projects have been building an ecosystem around this platform which may ensure longevity. Platforms like Frengate have a tool suite to customize the friendtech experience for creators and holders. Then, we have Frenscore which is a ranking tool that uses a point system to identify key holders. There’s even a DAO that has been created that did a launch sale on Velocimeter DEX. I love how creative the space gets and it takes no time for things to be shipped!
Conclusion
The space never fails to rapidly innovate and offer value. It’s amazing to see how far we have came since 2021. It’s only been 2 years. There’s so much to cover and so much not being talked about amongst channels but eventually it will surface. Imagine when this tech is proved and developed over time. We are still early but I believe the “early” gate will be closing very soon. Subscribe for more DeFi related material in the near future!