The Rise of Privacy Coins
That feel when you worry more about your car gas fees than ETH gas fees.
Today I’ll be talking about:
- Andre Cronje leaving DeFi. The Godfather of DeFi has ragequit.
- Avax Subnets. AVAX launches a $290m fund for subnets.
- DeFiKingdoms. DFK is directly benefiting from the subnet fund.
- Privacy coins. The Russia Sanctions should be a boom for Privacy
Let’s dive in!
What’s Happening in Defi
Andre Cronje Has Left the Building
Andre and his partner announced that they’re leaving the DeFi space completely. Their communication style has been abysmal. Seriously, why do none of these guys hire a Public Relations firm?
The good news is that their projects such as Yearn, Solidly, & Keep3r Network will still continue. Yearn has already been in development without Andre for the past year. Some of the other projects will transition over to other teams.
The blowback has been strong with FTM at -38% TVL as of this writing.
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So what happened?
A few speculations:
1. He’s completely burned out.
Andre wanted to be behind the scenes and just build. But there’s way too much drama in the DeFi space.
2. There’s heat and regulation coming for DeFi.
Or maybe they got served some legal papers. But some peopel are speculating that they’ll disappear, and re-emerge under anonymous identities.
3. This is a soft rug pull
They’re taking all the cash and dipping. That doesn’t seem likely to me as Andre has already made a ton of money.
Overall, I’m not too confused. The DeFi space has plenty of amazing talent. It doesn’t live or die because of one person.
AVAX is launching a $290m Subnet Incentive Fund
AVAX is slowly becoming a Layer 0 solution with subnets.
AVAX is the main blockchain, but people can build blockchains under AVAX. The benefits? You set your own rules. You can choose how people pay gas fees. And you’re isolated from the rest of the network.
Initial projects: Defi Kingdoms, AAVE, Crabada, Jump Crypto, Valkyrie, etc.
If you’re bullish on GameFi, then you should be bullish on AVAX. I’m predicting that many games will be migrating to their own subnets.
Read the Official Announcement
How DeFiKingdoms is Benefiting
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You know I’m a DeFiKingdoms bull.
DeFiKingdoms is building out its own blockchain that’s built on Avalanche’s subnet.
Each subnet has its own rules and ways of paying for gas. DFK’s gas will be paid for using $Jewel.
Here’s what you need to know:
• DFK’s gas will be paid for using $Jewel.
- ~$15m will be allocated towards the launch of Crystalvale. The funds will be used for airdrops + Ice Garden emissions (aka LP pools in the gardens).
- No need Jewel will be created. See below.
“A portion will be burnt. This will continuously increase the value of JEWEL by implementing a consistent burn mechanic and deflating the supply.”
Terra Luna Breaks all Time Highs
Everything’s bleeding in the marketplace, yet Terra’s killing it.
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We’re kinda in a bear market right now that’s full of uncertainty.
Terra’s biggest dapp is Anchor Protocol which offers 19.5% APY in a stablecoin.
More and more people are parking their coins in Anchor Protocol which drives the demand up for Luna.
A Quick Look at Privacy Coins
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It’s important to have different long term theses when you’re investing. It gives you a sense of direction to your portfolio. One of my long term visions is the need for privacy.
Look, I’m not trying to buy drugs or do anything sketch. Privacy is a fundamental right. Maybe I want to do a transaction with someone and not have it permanently recorded on the blockchain.
Monero & zCash led the first wave as a currency play. Privacy is starting to evolve in terms of data and smart contracts.
Everyone always talks about money laundering or buying drugs.
Some legit reasons why you’d want privacy:
- Trading and entering farms without people “wallet watching”
- Sensitive data. Do you want your health or financial records being public?
The world has shut Russia out of its economic systems. I can’t help to think about the 2nd order consequences as a result.
If I were a country, I’d want to have BTC / ETH as a safety net. And I’d be hoarding a stash of privacy coins so no one else knows.
Here’s a quick look at privacy coins:
Currencies:
- Monero – The OG, and the king. No one has been able to “crack” monero as far as we know. The IRS is offering a $625k bounty for anyone that can crack Monero.
Layer 1 Privacy:
- Secret Network. It’s a Layer 1 blockchain built using Cosmos. Everything’s private by default. Being built on Cosmos means it’s part of the IBC (Internet of Blockchains).
- Oasis Rose – Founded by Dawn Song – Professor of C.S. at U.C. Berkeley. She has one of the most impressive backgrounds I’ve seen for a founder. Oasis is backed by huge V.C.s such as a16z & Polychain capital.
Researchers at Stanford have raised $32m to build a privacy blockchain called Expresso.
Bringing Privacy to Ethereum
- Railgun – it brings zk-SNARK privacy onto existing Layer 1’s. It started with Ethereum but has expanded to BSC, Polygon. There are plans to expand to Solana & Polkadot.
Others to keep an eye on: Dusk, Aztec, zCash, PirateChain
Consider adding some privacy coins to your portfolio.
More sectors = more diversity.
Tweets of the Week
Some of my strategies on navigating the bear market. I did write a post on this around January. Some of it is rehashed, but I’ve added in additional content.
Must read.
An introduction to the Cosmos ecosystem. I’m bullish on Cosmos and will be covering it more this year.
The market was holding their breath for Biden’s executive order on Crypto.
Overall it looks great. Jack sums it up in this thread.
