Sup, nerds!

Here’s what you’re getting in today’s edition:

• 💅 This is cool: Staking on steroids

• 🔎 This seems important: Wen Ethereum ETFs? (New prediction)

• 🤝 Partner: A Gold IRA can diversify your portfolio and safeguard your retirement​

• 🔪 Let's dissect this: The latest beef in Web3

Terms used in this edition (click for an explanation, or ask Web(GPT)3!):
 DeFi, layers, stake, decentralized, web3.

💅 This is cool:

Staking on Steroids

In one sentence: ‘DeFi abstraction layers’ allow anyone to contribute crypto, have the algorithm trade/lend it out, and return higher yields than basic staking (that’s the idea at least).

No one wants a quarter inch drill bit — they want a quarter inch hole.

That’s marketing-speak for “most, if not all, purchases are the result of outcome-based desires.”

Putting that into a crypto context:

Most people aren’t learning how to code complex trading algorithms for sh*ts and giggles — what they really want is to turn a profit.

This is usually a pretty defendable business — cause very few people are willing to go through the grueling dual process of learning how to code and trade effectively.

This is why ‘DeFi abstraction layers,’ like Veda (which has just partnered with EtherFi) continue to grab our attention.

The basic gist of the project (and projects like them), are this:

Veda builds closed, proprietary trading algorithms that are designed to earn yields higher than your basic “stake to earn 5% per year” offer.

And we know, we know: 

‘Closed systems’ and ‘proprietary tech’ are dirty terms in the open and decentralized world of crypto — but there’s a reason here…

These algorithms need to be closed in order to function properly — cause if they were commonplace, the strategies behind them would lose their edge.

What these ‘DeFi abstraction layers’ do is allow anyone/everyone to contribute their crypto, have the algorithm lend/trade their crypto, and earn higher yields as a result (that’s the idea at least).

Which speaks to us, because:

We don’t want a quarter inch drill bit to learn how to code trading algorithms — we just want a quarter inch hole higher yields.

🥇 Want the news before anyone else?

🔎 This seems important:

Wen Ethereum ETFs?

In one sentence: According to the ETH ETF sage Eric Balchunas, based on early engagement from the SEC, we could see the ETH ETFs launch at the end of June.

You know that nervous excitement you used to feel after you’d strong armed your parents into buying you something in the future?

E.g. “If you complete your weekly chores on schedule for the next three months, we’ll buy you the Poke-ee-mons game that you want.”

…then for the next quarter — you’re cleaning your room and stacking the dish washer, mid-shaking-fit, like you’ve just chugged a gallon of Red Bull.

Yeah, well, that’s the energy the Ethereum community is giving in the lead up to the launch of the Ethereum ETFs — and we’re here for it!

The worry was: we might be stuck in ‘launch limbo’ for a hot minute, because these ETF approvals were RUSHED compared to the Bitcoin ETFs…

But good news just broke:

The SEC has asked ETF issuers to get their S-1 forms in by today.

According to the ETH ETF sage Eric Balchunas, this early engagement from the SEC means we could see the ETFs launch at the end of June, if not early July.

Will our bodies be able sustain this level of adrenaline for that long?

No idea ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Gonna pound some blood pressure medication just to be safe.

🤝 Partner:

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🔪 Let's dissect this:

The Latest Beef in Web3

In one sentence: Matter Labs has filed trademark applications in nine countries to claim the term “zero-knowledge” as the firm’s exclusive intellectual property and other big web3 firms aren’t happy.

Drake and Kendrick? That’s old news.

There’s a new beef in town, and this time it’s happening in the web3 space.

Here’s what’s happened so far:

A company called Matter Labs has filed trademark applications in nine countries to claim the term “zero-knowledge” as the firm’s exclusive intellectual property.

They claim that, because they developed ‘zkSync’ (a product that helps scale Ethereum), they should be able to claim the trademark.

Problem is, a lot of companies have used zero-knowledge (ZK) technology.

Getting a trademark for ZK tech is akin to getting a trademark on ‘the internet’ because you made a website.

Or as the CEO of StarkWare, Eli Ben-Sasson, put it: “It’s as absurd as an individual baker trying to impose a blanket patent on bread.”

As a symbol of goodwill, Polyhedra Network announced yesterday that they will go with the ticker “ZKJ” for their Friday listing instead of the originally planned “ZK” ticker.

Polyhedra, Polygon and StarkWare also published a joint statement signed by each that ZK “should remain a public good.”

Right now we’re waiting to hear how Matter Labs will respond, but our feeling is they’ll let the legal battle in all nine countries run it’s course and hope for the best.

Problem is, reputation is so important in web3.

Get users off-side and you could be in some serious trouble.

Let’s see how this plays out.

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Zero-Knowledge Technology Explained