1confirmation Newsletter - Issue #73
Crypto always has its fair share of drama, and 2019 was certainly no exception. But underneath the surface, many teams are heads down building open financial products that the world needs. As a fund, we've been focused on backing teams bringing useful products to market this year – and a number of those products are starting to see real usage beyond pure price speculation.
Product usage is ultimately what’s going to push the industry forward in the long-run and we spend a lot of time thinking about what will get product-market fit. Here are three under-the-radar product trends that we believe will break out meaningfully in 2020.
Required reading this week
Illiquidity and Bank Run Risk in Defi — medium.com
Alethio conducts an empirical analysis that examines moments of liquidity risk in the Compound money markets.
Vitalik Buterin explains why quadratic voting is a fundamentally new class of social technology that has the potential to overturn how we make public decisions.
The DETH of Ethereum — medium.com
Dan Elitzer explains how staked ETH derivatives will be both a powerful tool for DeFi and a major centralizing force for the Ethereum network.
Meet the Decentralized Fashion House Bringing Overpriced T-Shirts to Ethereum — www.coindesk.com
Saint Fame, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), is part fashion house, part ethereum subculture.
Stable Coins In 2019 — www.decentralised.co
Joel John summarizes what's been going on with volume and user behavior with stablecoins in the past year according to on-chain data.
Katalyst: Kyber Protocol Upgrade and 2020 Plans — blog.kyber.network
Kyber's major protocol upgrade Katalyst will align stakeholder incentives and better serve the liquidity needs for the ecosystem. Katalyst fulfills 3 goals: drive Kyber adoption, create value for KNC, and improve liquidity for DeFi.
1confirmation portfolio reading this week
The Transfer of MKR Token Control: A Giant Leap Toward System Decentralization — blog.makerdao.com
MakerDAO is taking a big step towards system decentralization by transferring control of the smart contract from the Maker Foundation to MKR holders.
Open Finance Can Protect Those Who Legacy Insurers Can't Serve — thedefiant.substack.com
Camila Russo interviews Hugh Karp, the founder of Nexus Mutual, about how insurance can leverage open finance to increase access for those whom traditional insurers can’t serve.
The Smart Contract Risk in DeFi — medium.com
Jan Xie explains how Nervos' architecture reduces the risk and damage of smart contracts getting hacked.
Kongregate Announces Partnership with Forte — blog.kongregate.com
Kongregate will use the Forte platform to give players the opportunity to earn blockchain-based rewards by completing unique challenges and playing games.