This Week In DeFi – July 1

This week, FTX looks to acquire a distressed BlockFi, Compound goes multi-chain and ConsenSys partners with StarkWare.

Jul 1

To the DeFi community,

This week, crypto exchange FTX is reportedly looking to acquire centralized lending platform BlockFi for a sum between $25 million and $50 million. Sources believe the deal is expected to complete by the end of this week, however BlockFi CEO Zac Prince has denied the $25 million figure and FTX has refused to comment on the deal. FTX had already recently provided the distressed company with a $250 million loan to keep it afloat.

Zac Prince @BlockFiZac

Lots of market rumors out there - I can 100% confirm that we aren’t being sold for $25M. I encourage everyone to trust only details that you hear directly from @BlockFi. We will share more w you as soon as we can.

Code has been released for Compound III, a new and improved multi-chain version of the Compound lending protocol. There are several major changes in Compound III when compared to previous versions of the platform, including a single interest-earning base asset with all other assets collateralized. The platform is designed to be portable to all Ethereum virtual machine (EVM) compatible chains.

Compound Labs @compoundfinance

Today we're excited to release a code repository to the Compound community, to enable a next-generation borrowing protocol that can scale across blockchains: Compound III.

☄️ Compound IIIA few months ago, we began the discussion for a new multi-chain strategy; a version of the Compound protocol that can be deployed and run on all EVM compatible chains. Today, Compound Labs is excited to release a code repository to the Compound community, which we hope can form the basis of a multi…comp.xyz

ConsenSys has partnered with StarkWare, the company behind Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solution StarkNet. ConsenSys intends to integrate StarkNet into its products MetaMask and Infura – the well-known web3 wallet and infrastructure service. StarkNet is a ZK-rollup platform which increases transaction throughput and decreases transaction costs. The MetaMask integration is already open to developers for building and testing.

MetaMask 🦊💙 @MetaMask

📣 Today, @ConsenSys and @StarkWareLtd announced a strategic partnership and a set of product integrations that will make StarkNet the first zk-rollup Layer 2 supported by MetaMask. 🦊 consensys.net/blog/news/cons… 🧵

ConsenSys and StarkWare Partner to Bring ZK-Rollups to Infura and MetaMask | ConsenSysConsenSys and StarkWare are bringing ZK-rollups to MetaMask and Infura to give developers more network options for a multi-chain future.consensys.net

Ethereum Layer 2 scaling platform Arbirtum has paused its “Odyssey” introduction program, after transaction fees on the platform spiked past those of the main Ethereum chain (oops!). The overall transaction load surged as users flooded Arbitrum to claim reward NFTs for completing tasks on the network. The development team says that Odyssey will resume once throttle limits are removed from the network – expected soon with the release of an update called Nitro.

Arbitrum @arbitrum

📳🧑‍🚀 𝘈𝘙𝘉𝘐𝘕𝘈𝘜𝘛𝘚, 𝘍𝘈𝘓𝘓 𝘐𝘕 ! The first week or so of the Arbitrum Odyssey has been very exciting to say the least! But we’ve decided to pause the Arbitrum Odyssey as of now, to be resumed after Nitro is released. ⏸️ More info below. 👇

The rebuilding phase appears to be taking place before the destruction has even subsided, as industry giants sweep in to pick up the pieces of centralized crypto lending platforms in hopes of turning them around. FTX appears to be closing in on acquiring a distressed BlockFi after passing on Celsius, while Celsius also reportedly had interest from Goldman Sachs. The centralized lending space isn't the only area seeing this action, with DeFi lending platforms also on the move, development-wise; Compound Finance is going multi-chain with its new Compound III protocol, while Maker continues to explore new territory by going into Treasury bills.

Layer-2 scaling is moving quickly too, with a flurry of activity that has flown somewhat under the radar; Arbitrum with its (temporarily paused) Odyssey program, Optimism doubling its total value locked (TVL) and StarkWare partnering with ConsenSys. These platforms are sending Ethereum scaling full-speed into real-world testing on mainnet, which will eventually result in a brand new DeFi user experience – faster, cheaper and more usable than ever. Combined with new and improved DeFi protocols, we may be in for an exciting new wave of DeFi just a matter of months down the road.

Market prices may be down, poorly-designed protocols may be falling apart, but DeFi is bouncing back – and it may be better than ever.

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