Weekly News: EthCC takes over Paris; Future of Crypto in RWA’s?; & more!

Diving Into Crypto's Evolution: Insights from EthCC, Breakthroughs in DeFi, Tokenization's Impact on Real World Assets, and the Growth of Institutional Involvement

Attention DeFi Pioneers- Velvet Capital v2 launch is just week away!

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In this week’s DeFi update, Arkham Intelligence fights crypto crime with a new incentive program, and Ethereum’s London Hard Fork is live with the awaited EIP-1559 upgrade. Compound Labs reveal Compound Treasury, offering institutions a 4% APY on USD deposits, and Aave steps up with Aave Pro, a regulated pool for institutions.

But let’s not bury the lead! EthCC just wrapped and it was a huge success — bigger & better than ever! The week was jam-packed with networking, learning, and growth opportunities. The Velvet Team was on the ground and ready to take full advantage! We met some great people and shared some huge updates… 👀.

August will be a busy month for Velvet Capital, with a v2 launch and Founders Club NFT mint right around the corner.

Join the Founders Club today and let’s democratize the future of asset management together: https://velvetdao.org/

Quick Hitting Alpha

Terraform Labs has named Chris Amani, the former COO/CFO of the firm, as the interim CEO, replacing the embattled Do Kwon.

At a recent lecture in Singapore, China’s central bank governor, Yi Gang, announced that the digital yuan transactions have surged from $13B in August last year to nearly $250B by the end of June.

Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes has launched a new NFT collection, “Museum of Mahomes II,” featuring artwork inspired by his NFL career and offering some real-world perks.

Venture capital funding for Web3 startups dropped by 76% in Q2 2023 compared to the same period last year, marking a decline in funding for five consecutive quarters.

Société Générale Forge, the blockchain unit of France’s third largest bank, is the first to receive a digital asset service provider license under France’s new crypto regulations.

Telegram’s CEO, Pavel Durov, has confirmed ownership of Toncoin, causing a 3% increase in TON’s price.

Coinbase has opened its Ethereum L2 network, Base, for developers ahead of its public launch in August.

Gnosis, an Ethereum L2 solution, has launched a debit card in collaboration with the payment processing giant Visa during the Ethereum Community Conference, becoming the world’s first debit card connected to an on-chain self-custodial wallet.

DOJ’s Nicole Argentieri announced a major increase in prosecutors for the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET), making it a permanent part within the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS).

OpenSea has introduced “Deals,” a feature that simplifies direct NFT exchanges between traders, aiming to enhance engagement and user growth in NFT communities.

In the News

8 Big Launches from EthCC 2023

The EthCC 2023 conference in Paris witnessed significant announcements and launches in the Ethereum community. Lens Protocol unveiled its V2 upgrade, introducing a decentralized social layer for the web with new features. Uniswap announced UniswapX, an open-source protocol for advanced crypto trading. Chainlink launched its Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP), while Starknet introduced “Appchains,” allowing teams to create bespoke blockchains. Gnosis launched Gnosis Pay and Gnosis Card, a decentralized payment network and a Visa debit card, respectively. Mantle Network launched its mainnet alpha for developers to create and test applications. ConsenSys opened its Linea zkEVM alpha to the public. Lastly, Tezos and Solana introduced improvements to facilitate Ethereum developers to migrate to their chains.

Proof-of-truth: Countering AI overreach through Cointelegraph’s Historical NFTs

Cointelegraph’s Historical Collection is an innovative initiative that uses NFTs to counter the potential overreach of artificial intelligence in content creation and monetization. By allowing users to mint articles into unique digital collectibles on the Polygon blockchain, Cointelegraph offers a new way to preserve and engage with important blockchain industry news. This approach not only combats the flood of AI-generated content but also supports independent, unbiased journalism. Thus, investing in these NFTs means supporting the future of trusted media and becoming part of blockchain history.

Cymbal Launches ‘Human Readable’ Ethereum Blockchain Explorer — A Social Etherscan

Cymbal, a new Ethereum block explorer, offers a user-friendly platform that displays blockchain data in a visual, social network-like format. The platform focuses on NFTs and plans to extend its offerings to include cryptocurrency transactions, with upcoming support for the Solana blockchain and Ethereum’s scaling network, Polygon. Users can personalize their own “Web3 profile,” with potential future features including messaging and content publishing. Having raised $18.5 million from notable investors, Cymbal aims to generate revenue through targeted advertising and selling curated data to app builders. Its goal is to make the blockchain more accessible to the masses, not just hardcore crypto users.

Tokenize Everything: Institutions Bet That Crypto’s Future Lies in the Real World

Tokenization, the process of converting real-world assets into digital tokens on a blockchain, is garnering interest from Wall Street due to its liquidity creation potential and minimal regulatory oversight. This progressive method enables digitization of various assets like artwork, real estate, and intellectual property, offering numerous benefits over traditional transaction systems. The adoption of tokenization by Wall Street could play a significant role in promoting widespread acceptance of blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies. Beyond just assets, tokenization also applies to stablecoins, essentially making them a digital version of cash. If the U.S. dollar market collateral was placed on the blockchain, it could lead to a transparent global market instrumental in averting future financial crises.

Backlash Over Arkham’s Intelligence Platform Highlights Blockchains’ Double-Edged Sword

Data analytics firm, Arkham Intelligence, has launched a controversial incentive program that offers rewards for information about crypto wallet addresses. Despite criticisms of privacy infringement, CEO Miguel Morel defended the initiative as a tool to find malicious activity and protect legitimate users. The company also denied any government affiliations and selling user data. The protocol operates on a bounty mechanism, with information remaining exclusive to the issuer for 90 days before becoming public. The platform is powered by ARKM tokens, 5% of which recently went on sale on Binance Launchpad.

How Does Velvet.Capital Help You Achieve Crypto Success?

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Crypto can be hard. DeFi can be even harder! But it doesn’t have to be! At Velvet.Capital, we believe in DeFi done right. We’re passionate about the transformational nature of DeFi and want to help onboard the next billion users into crypto.

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