“DeFi Is so Back” 🚀
“DeFi Is so Back” 🚀
Plus, Going, going, gone 🕰️, Cash out or cling on? 🤔, Pump.fun pounds it 💸, and more.
Thumbs up for Thursday! I’m Juan Aranovich, managing editor of Unchained.
In today’s edition:
🔥 Defining moment for DeFi
🕰️ Gensler’s long goodbye
🎰 Should you pocket it?
🫰 sENA: Pay me
💸 Trading frenzy
🎃 Avalanche ends a horror story
🎉 Memecoin mania
💡 Tether’s $2 billion swap
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What’s Poppin’?
Why DeFi Tokens Have Rallied More Than Everything Else
The crypto community has responded to Trump’s election with optimism, especially in the DeFi sector, which saw token prices skyrocket on hopes for a “DeFi Renaissance.”
Governance tokens like Lido’s LDO and Uniswap’s UNI rallied around 40% and 30%, respectively, as DeFi investors bet on clearer regulations and a more supportive climate under the new administration.
Many DeFi enthusiasts believe Trump’s approach could lead to more transparency around revenue sharing for DeFi projects, potentially allowing tokens to share protocol income with their holders — a long-standing issue for the space.
What’s Next for Gary Gensler as Trump Prepares to Take Office?
As Donald Trump prepares to assume office following his election win, SEC Chair Gary Gensler has about 75 days left in his role.
Known for his hardline stance on crypto, Gensler could use this remaining period to push through enforcement actions, final rulings, or investigations against crypto companies. However, any moves he makes could be reversed by Trump’s new SEC appointee, who will likely adopt a more crypto-friendly approach.
The countdown is on, and Gensler’s final days may determine how much of his “regulation by enforcement” legacy remains after Trump takes office.
Should You Take Profits?
Bitcoin’s market cap surged by over $100 billion, reaching an all-time high of $76,243 as Trump’s pro-crypto stance fueled demand.
Now, investors are weighing whether to take profits or hold on for further gains. Some, like VanEck’s Matthew Sigel, argue that bitcoin’s price has room to run, especially with Trump pledging to establish a U.S. bitcoin reserve.
However, others suggest a more cautious approach, noting that while Bitcoin may continue upward, gains from here may be more moderate.
For now, analysts are split on whether to ride the rally or lock in returns.
Wintermute Pushes for Revenue Sharing With Ethena’s sENA Holders
In the DeFi governance arena, market maker Wintermute proposed a fee switch for Ethena (ENA) holders, aiming to allow staked ENA (sENA) holders to benefit from the protocol’s revenue.
Despite Ethena’s significant revenue from its USDe stablecoin, sENA holders haven’t directly shared in these gains. Wintermute’s proposal calls for clarity and a potential allocation of revenue to sENA holders, with the Ethena Foundation urged to detail historical and future revenue allocation.
And they did so just the day Trump won the elections. Does Wintermute know something?
The price of ENA reacted very positively to this news, jumping around 25% when the news broke.
BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF Trades Hit Record $4.1B
BlackRock’s bitcoin exchange-traded fund, the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), yesterday saw its biggest trading day on record, with more than $4.1 billion changing hands.
“For context, that's more volume than stocks like Berkshire, Netflix, or Visa saw today,” Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas wrote in a post on X. “It was also up 10%, its second-best day since launching.”
Balchunas said that bitcoin ETFs saw a total trading volume of $6 billion on Wednesday, with most registering double their daily average trading volumes.
Despite the record trading activity, IBIT saw $69 million of net outflows on the day, meaning that at least some investors spotted an opportunity to take profits, according to data from SoSoValue.
The bitcoin ETF trading frenzy coincided with the election victory of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Bitcoin also touched a new all-time high of more than $76,000 as Trump inched closer to the 270 electoral college vote threshold for winning the White House on Tuesday.
Avalanche Foundation Buys Back $52M AVAX From Luna Foundation Guard
The Avalanche Foundation has repurchased all the AVAX tokens it sold to Terraform creator Do Kwon’s now-defunct Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) a month ahead of the collapse of the Terra ecosystem in April 2022, according to an announcement on X.
The entity behind the Avalanche blockchain negotiated an agreement to repurchase the 1.97 million AVAX tokens for $52 million, representing a 42% discount on their original sale price.
The purpose of the original sale was to use AVAX as a strategic reserve for LUNA’s algorithmic stablecoin UST. The terms of the deal included putting $100 million of AVAX on LFG’s balance sheet in exchange for $200 million in UST and LUNA on the Avalanche Foundation’s books.
The subsequent collapse of the Terra blockchain in May 2022 and the depegging of UST ultimately damaged Avalanche, but the foundation’s successful bid to repurchase the AVAX was considered a win for its community.
“Just in time for Halloween, one horror story is over,” Aytunç Yildizli, the Avalanche’s CEO and executive director, wrote on X on Oct. 31.
Pump.fun Pulls in Record $30.5M in October
Solana-based memecoin launchpad Pump.fun set a new record for monthly revenue in October, according to data from The Block.
The platform recorded $30.5 million in revenue during the month, a 111% increase on September and a sum that topped the all-time high of $28.6 million it reached in July.
The start of October marked at least a 12-month high for memecoin mindshare — a measure of social attention — according to data from Kaito AI, a platform that uses artificial intelligence to analyze online sentiment.
Pump.fun has generated revenue totaling $170.8 million since it was launched, but despite the platform’s popularity, only a tiny proportion of tokens launched on it — about 1.4% — make it onto decentralized exchanges such as Raydium.
Earlier this year, Unchained reported that more than two-thirds of wallet addresses on Pump.Fun were unprofitable. At the time, only 32 of the 1.2 million tokens created on it had a market cap of more than $1 million.
Tether Swaps $2B USDT to Ethereum
Stablecoin issuer Tether said yesterday that it was executing a large cross-chain swap of more than $2 billion USDT from five different blockchains to Ethereum.
In its Nov. 6 announcement, the firm said it would swap $1 billion USDT from the Tron blockchain to Ethereum, and that it would exchange $600 million from Avalanche. It said it would move smaller sums of USDT from the NEAR blockchain, CELO, and EOS.
Tether said the cross-chain swap was being performed on behalf of a “prominent exchange” that it did not name in the post
A subsequent X post from Binance implied that it was the unidentified exchange.
“If you see funds moving in/out of our hot wallet, it is due to this routine exercise,” Binance said in its post. “Your funds remain SAFU.”
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Is There a Better Way to Launch Tokens in Crypto?
Forget airdrops, sybil farming, and VC coins. The new platform, Legion, aims to reshape token launches by promoting fairer distribution and organic community building.
Crypto networks are meant to be decentralized, community owned systems. But they’re turned out to be dominated by whales and to have more mercenaries who are just interested in getting free tokens to dump them, rather than having long-term believers who want to build the ecosystem. How can tokens be launched in a way that gets token holders aligned with long-term success?
Guests Mike Dudas, founding partner of 6th Man Ventures, and Matt O’Connor, co-founder of Legion, believe there’s room for improvement. In this episode, they share how Legion aims to reshape the process, focusing on fair distribution, incentivizing organic user growth, and building loyal communities. They explore Legion’s approach to token sales, its compatibility with regulatory frameworks, and why it might be the key to bringing new people into crypto.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Daily Bits… ✍️✍️✍
👨⚖️ FTX co-founder Gary Wang sought leniency in his upcoming sentencing, emphasizing his cooperation with authorities and his imminent fatherhood as factors that should count against prison time.
🇺🇸 Ethereum surged by 10% following Donald Trump's election victory, with DeFi investors optimistic about the rollout of potentially pro-crypto policies that could reduce regulatory pressures.
📄 The SEC moved to dismiss Kraken’s key defenses in a lawsuit involving unregistered securities, a motion that the exchange’s attorney criticized as an election day ploy to limit case discovery.
🇫🇷 France’s National Gambling Authority is reportedly considering banning Polymarket after it amassed $3.5 billion in U.S. election trades, spurred by major bets on Trump’s win.
🔗 JPMorgan rebranded its blockchain unit Onyx as Kinexys, and it plans to expand onchain FX settlement for USD and EUR, aiming for greater interoperability and 24/7 multicurrency settlements by early next year.
What Do You Meme?
📈 Your Market Update 📉
BTC is up 0.5%, trading at $74,950
ETH is up 6.3%, trading at $2,805
BTC dominance: 56.24%
Crypto market cap: $2.63T
*All data as of today, 07:15 am ET. Source: CoinGecko
Recommended Reads
Ethereum's distinctive property is hardness by Josh Stark, a researcher at the Ethereum Foundation
Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at crypto VC Dragonfly, on “What Polymarket got Right that the Experts Got Wrong“
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