This Week in DeFi - April 1

This week, the Fantom Foundation launches a $500M incentives program, 1inch releases a wallet for Android, and DeFi TVL recovers.

Apr 1

To the DeFi community,

This week the Fantom Foundation has announced a brand new incentive program, this time allocating 335 million FTM tokens – worth almost $550M – to boost development on the network. The foundation is working in partnership with Gitcoin, using the organization's Quadratic Funding system to match contributions for participating projects.

Fantom Foundation @FantomFDN

Launching a $480m grant program! After successfully disbursing 35m+ FTM to projects innovating on Fantom, the incentive program is evolving! With @gitcoin Grants, Fantom will strengthen funding support for a growing array of projects, big or small. fantom.foundation/blog/new-335m-…

Cross-chain protocol LayerZero has raised $135 million in Series A funding from Sequoia Capital, a16z, FTX Ventures and others, at a $1 billion valuation. The protocol recently launched Stargate, a cross-chain bridge which attracted more than $2 billion in liquidity.

SBF @SBF_FTX

Super excited to work with @LayerZero_Labs! They're building out a key missing piece of crypto infrastructure--cross-chain liquidity. And more importantly, they're doing a great job of building great products.

FTX: Ramnik @ramnikarora

1/ Today, we're thrilled to announce our co-lead of @LayerZero_Labs's Series A+ with our friends at @sequoia and @a16z . https://t.co/FaE5u60sY3

Yet another fund has entered the space, as gumi Cryptos Capital (gCC) has raised $110 million to invest in early-stage blockchain start-ups, targeting DeFi, gaming, DAOs and more. Each investment is planned to be between $500,000 and $5 million, accepting both equity and tokens.

Dean Takahashi @deantak

Their first fund got a 24.6X return in asset value. Congrats to Miko Matsumura etc. Gumi Cryptos Capital launches $110M fund to invest in blockchain startups #blockchain #GumiCryptosCapital @GamesBeat venturebeat.com/2022/03/30/gum… via @VentureBeat

Gumi Cryptos Capital launches $110M fund to invest in blockchain startupsGumi Cryptos Capital has raised its second fund, an dit’s going to invest its $110 million in capital into early-stage blockchain startups.venturebeat.com

A MakerDAO improvement proposal is looking to onboard traditional loans by Huntingdon Valley Bank as collateral for use within the protocol. If accepted, it would be the first time that a traditional lender has been able to borrow against its assets via DeFi.

Maker @MakerDAO

Huntingdon Valley Bank, a Pennsylvania Chartered Bank founded in 1871, has submitted a Collateral Onboarding Application to MakerDAO. If approved by Governance, it will be the first collateral integration from a US-based bank into the DeFi ecosystem.

MIP6: Huntingdon Valley Bank Loan Syndication Collateral Onboarding ApplicationNote: This is a MIP6 application being submitted by RWA Company LLC (“RWAC”) on behalf of HV Bancorp Inc. (“HVBank”) Authors: Greg Di Prisco (@g_dip) & Max Glass (@maxglass) of RWAC, with Dan Krewson & Hugh Connelly of HVBank DISCLAIMER The content of this communication is for informational purpo…forum.makerdao.com

DeFi total value locked (TVL) is sitting back at the highest levels seen since late January, as the crypto market slightly bounced back from its recent slump.

Decentralized finance and the traditional financial world are experiencing more crossover than ever, as the lines continue to blur significantly between the two areas. Protocols are beginning to consider more purposeful integrations of traditional financial instruments and real-world items, for both collateral and value-exchange. Venture capital continues to pour into the sector, while a growing number of DeFi basket funds now provide traditional investors with more exposure to DeFi assets. On the other hand, regulators continue to creep in with attempts to apply traditional financial rules to cryptocurrency wallets and users – a clash of values and principles indeed, this week headlined by a European Union move to de-anonymize self-custodied wallets.

As traditional and decentralized finance continue to amalgamate, individual cryptocurrency ecosystems are also experiencing a merge of their own. Development and investment alike are beginning to pour more heavily into cross-chain compatibility, as previously garden-walled networks begin to more easily flow between each other. As scalability solutions proliferate and the system becomes more interconnected than ever, the applications and doors opened are more exciting than ever.

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