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This Week In DeFi – June 23

This Week In DeFi – June 23

This week, BNB Chain launches an OP-based L2, Polygon proposes transitioning from PoS to zkEVM, Ethereum looks at increasing validator ETH limits, and Curve Finance votes to add WETH as collateral.

June 23, 2023

To the DeFi Community,

This week, BNB Chain has launched its “opBNB” testnet – a Layer-2 network based on Optimism's OP Stack.

The developers estimate that the testnet will achieve speeds of 4,000 transactions per second at a cost of 0.005 cents per transaction. This is comparable to other scaling platforms such as Arbitrum, as well as twice as fast as BNB Chain.

opBNB will be EVM-compatible, continuing to facilitate the easy migration of Ethereum-based applications to the BNB ecosystem.

https://twitter.com/BNBCHAIN/status/1670783527485419521

Polygon developers have proposed transitioning their Proof of Stake (PoS) sidechain into a zero-knowledge-powered validium, similar to a rollup.

The upgrade aims to enhance the network’s security and performance. Existing dApps would be able to operate without changes during the transition.

If a consensus is easily reached, the upgrade could go live before Q1 2024. The proposal follows Polygon's plans to reorganize into a unified multichain ecosystem called Polygon 2.0, focusing on zero-knowledge scaling solutions.

Polygon’s PoS Chain is the largest network in its ecosystem, processing 2.5 million transactions per day and having a total of $930 million in assets locked within its system.

https://twitter.com/0xPolygonLabs/status/1671208777784209441

Ethereum core developers are considering increasing the maximum amount of staked Ether (ETH) required to become a validator from 32 ETH to 2048 ETH.

The proposal aims to address the inflation of the validator set size while making the Ethereum network more efficient over time. Additionally, the proposal suggests auto-compounding validator rewards to allow validators to earn more money on their staked ETH.

The current 32 ETH limit has led to a surge in validator addresses, with over 700,000 validators and a further 90,000 awaiting activation.

The proposal has received mixed reactions from the crypto community, with concerns about potential centralization and skepticism about its benefits to the network.

https://twitter.com/sassal0x/status/1670785867856871424

Curve Finance is currently voting on whether to accept Wrapped Ether (WETH) as collateral for its crvUSD stablecoin.

If approved, users will be able to use WETH to mint up to 200 million crvUSD. WETH is tokenized Ether on the Ethereum blockchain, with its value pegged one-to-one to ETH. Currently, Curve accepts Wrapped Staked Ether and Staked Frax Ether as collateral for minting its stablecoin.

The crvUSD stablecoin, similar to MakerDAO's DAI, is over-collateralized by supported crypto assets. Users can mint crvUSD stablecoins through over-collateralized loans on the Curve platform.

https://twitter.com/chago0x/status/1670717571312631810

Although not DeFi, traditional financial institutions have all piled into the headlines at once this week – causing quite a stir.

Investment behemoth Blackrock has applied for a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), as have asset management firm WisdomTree and Invesco. If successful – which BlackRock appears to almost always be – the move could open the floodgates to spot Bitcoin investment on a never-before-seen scale.

On top of ETF applications, Fidelity, Charles Schwab and Citadel have launched a cryptocurrency exchange called EDX Markets. The new exchange, which conveniently appeared right after a flurry of SEC enforcement actions against established crypto exchanges, will use financial intermediaries to facilitate trades, rather than custody customer funds.

Turning to the actual DeFi side of things, zero-knowledge rollups appear to be gaining more and more popularity from users and developers alike. Polygon developers are proposing switching the network’s popular proof-of-stake platform to a zk-rollup mechnism, BNB Chain has launched its very own rendition of Optimism’s OP stack on testnet, and zkSync has reached half a billion dollars in total value locked – in a bear market.