Pre-launch Convex were whitelisted with Curve to ensure emissions would seamlessly flow through to depositors. Extra CVX were airdropped to veCRV holders to voted to whitelist. Unanimous.
Airdropped $CVX to @CurveFinance believers - those who have discovered the magic of Curve and locked up CRV for veCRV. veCRV holders benefit from the total deposits and swaps on Curve, so clearly they are rooting for the success of Convex bringing more liquidity.
Convex's liquidity mining has been the biggest catalyst for $CRV sinks since @CurveFinance finalized their tokenomics. In order to earn $CVX, users are required to purchase or hold earned $CRV and pair it with cvxCRV. How do you get cvxCRV? You've gotta lock up more CRV on Convex
$CVX is also earned by Curve LPs - higher Curve deposits is good for veCRV, and thus CVX stakers, who earn a share of Convex fees in the form of cvxCRV. cvxCRV? Oh yeah, another yield bearing token:
cvxCRV: "By staking cvxCRV, you’re earning the usual rewards from veCRV (3crv governance fee distribution from Curve + any airdrop), plus a share of 10% of the Convex LPs’ boosted CRV earnings, and CVX tokens on top of that." 🧑🌾🤯
OK now that we've established the Convex/Curve flywheel, let's check in on how the protocol is doing in terms of deposits, locked CRV, and price.
Deposits: $710m and protocol revenues of $1.4m in 12 days. That's $42.5m annualized assuming no growth...and revenues go to cvxCRV and CVX stakers.
Locked CRV - this one is amazing, and hats off to @DefiMoon for tracking this. I expect locked $CRV on Convex will surpass Yearn this weekend.
Price: CVXETH ratio has held extremely well during this significant drawdown. Many DeFi tokens have been crushed on the ratio, while it looks like $CVX is attempting to break out. Not. A. Dump. Token.
Finally, I'm shocked about how few followers @ConvexFinance Twitter has - which makes me think this project is still flying under the radar. For context, @CurveFinance has 124k followers.
Hats off to the @ConvexFinance team for having your shit together from the start. They've changed the same tired and played out 'valueless governance token' narrative to 'rewarding users with dump-resistant tokens having actual value capture' from the start.
So this happened.
When does it stop? @ConvexFinance is 2 weeks old. They are giving all locked crv (protocol veCRV) airdrops to the depositors. Anyone who doesn’t use @CurveFinance for the stablecoin boosts needs to capitulate and lock for the airdrops. Target 50m cvxCRV
I will be releasing my 2023 Predictions and Themes for Blockchain next week, but no Last 168 Hours in DeFi. Happy holidays and New Year to all of my readers.
It's Solidly, but with a top tier, defi native, experienced team, and without the bolt-on extractive protocols like Solidex. Oh and no Fantom drama.
Velodrome will employ governance where LPs are in the form of a NFT. This NFT (veVELO) receives non-dilutive rebases for users who maintain ownership, however, these NFTs are transferable.
This is a powerful primitive that can be composable across DeFi (money markets, DEXes eg)
DEFI:
DeFi TVL will surpass $1t
On-chain reputation will replace the ridiculous ‘whitelisting’ process for new protocols
Argent and Dharma will both launch a token, but announce it in advance, to promote mainstream mobile DeFi adoption
UST will remain the #1 decentralized stablecoin and grow faster than USDT/USDC
Finding new DeFi investment opportunities on Ethereum is difficult with the dominance of Blue Chip projects and farming explosion on EVM compatible Layer 1s. @warpfinance, an evolving money market, provides an exceptional risk/reward opportunity.
1/10
Let's start with the problem. Warp Finance has been slow to market with its V2 because they were waiting on a security audit from @trailofbits, and made the decision to shift from purely focusing on Uni V3 NFT compatability to incorporating @element_fi LP tokens as collateral.
2
The audit was completed, however, documentation leaves a lot to be desired. Warp has not updated their website docs, Discord server is dead, and everything is either on Twitter or Telegram 🤮