This Week In DeFi – September 9

This week, Ethereum activates its Bellatrix upgrade, Binance removes USDC markets and Coinbase goes against the US Treasury over Tornado Cash sanctions.

Sep 9

This week, Ethereum’s Bellatrix upgrade has been successfully activated – the final preparatory step before the Merge next week. Bellatrix was an important step on the Beacon Chain, adding a vital “execution payload” parameter for nodes to be able to process transactions post-Merge.

The Merge will be activated via the “Paris” upgrade at a Terminal Total Difficulty (TTD) of 58750000000000000000000, estimated to occur September 14-15.

terence.eth @terencechain

Bellatrix activated! 🎉 Next stop: the merge See you on the other side💫

Binance has removed USDC as an independent tradable asset – converting USDC, USDP and TUSD deposits into BUSD, its own Binance USD stablecoin. The exchange says the move is designed to improve liquidity and capital efficiency.

Users will still be able to make withdrawals in USDC, USDP and TUSD at a 1:1 ratio to their BUSD account balance.

Jeremy Allaire @jerallaire

Sharing some perspective on Binance forced conversion of USDC. Lots of misleading headlines and interpretations. Binance is not ending support for USDC, and change will likely lead to more USDC flowing to Binance. Here’s why. 1/

Multiple employees from crypto exchange Coinbase are filing a suit to challenge the US Treasury’s sanctions on Tornado Cash.

The suit challenges the authority of the Treasury to sanction smart contract code, rather than a person or entity. The distinction between smart contract and individual crypto address is a highly important one, with potentially profound implications for the future of blockchain apps.

Brian Armstrong - barmstrong.eth @brian_armstrong

1/ Coinbase is funding a lawsuit brought by six individuals challenging the Treasury's sanction of the Tornado Cash smart contracts.

Defending Privacy in CryptoTl;dr: Coinbase is funding a lawsuit brought by six people challenging the U.S. Treasury Department’s sanctions of the Tornado Cash smart…blog.coinbase.com

Curve Finance has released front-end code on GitHub for its upcoming crvUSD stablecoin, giving away some clues to features on the new token. So far, it appears that crvUSD may be an over-collateralized stablecoin, backed by ETH or one or more of Curve protocol’s largest liquidity pools.

curvecap.lens @CurveCap

Sept. 6, 2022: curve-stablecoin.js 🦙💵 Six things we can infer about $crvUSD from the newly public @CurveFinance repo curve.substack.com/p/sept-6-2022-… 🧵👇

Sept. 6, 2022: curve-stablecoin.js 🦙💵What we can infer about $crvUSD from the newly public Curve repocurve.substack.com

Ethereum’s Merge looks as though it will be happening right on time, as US regulators decide to crack down on crypto mining and its energy consumption. The shift to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) will place Ethereum out of the way of any mining-based regulation, meanwhile Proof-of-Work (PoW) miners on Bitcoin or Ethereum forks may have to go green, or even worse – shut down altogether.

Implications of the research and the subsequent outcomes could be substantial for the future of Bitcoin within the country and elsewhere, as the EU seems to be heading down the same path.

Ethereum staking may also get a boost from large players, as SEBA bank pushes to provide staking services to institutions.

The threat of regulation also looms over stablecoins, as Fed Chair Jerome Powell calls for legislation to tame the ever-growing stablecoin market. Centralized stablecoins will be the first to feel the heat, adding to the pressure of the inter-stablecoin wars already in motion.

USDC has been effectively scrubbed from Binance, as the exchange giant consolidates USDC balances into Binance USD (BUSD), in an effort to improve liquidity and BUSD dominance.

On the horizon, we also have Curve’s stablecoin, expected to launch shortly after the Merge. The finer details of the token are still yet to be disclosed, however one thing is for certain – the sheer size of the protocol and its influence in DeFi will ensure that crvUSD captures a significant market share.