The previous week in the world of decentralized finance (DeFi) was marked by high anticipation for the approval of a United States-based exchange-traded fund (ETF) for Ether, as well as concerns surrounding DeFi regulations. Uniswap, a popular decentralized exchange (DEX), has pledged to combat the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after receiving a Wells notice from the agency. The exchange argues that the SEC’s case is weak and has expressed its readiness to fight the matter in court if necessary.
In other news, Bitcoin Runes, which experienced a surge in popularity in April, has seen a significant decline in transactions, amounting to an 84% drop since then. Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, has called for the use of zero-knowledge (ZK) likes on the newly launched decentralized social media platform Farcaster in order to combat preference falsification.
Following a bullish week of marketwide price momentum, the total value locked in DeFi protocols has increased by $10 billion, surpassing the $100 billion mark once again.
Uniswap Responds to SEC Wells Notice: Ready to Fight for DeFi
Uniswap Labs, the developer behind the Uniswap DEX, has issued a response to the SEC’s Wells notice, indicating a potential enforcement action against the firm. In a blog post on May 21, Uniswap argued that the SEC’s legal arguments in issuing the Wells notice were weak and vowed to fight the matter in court if necessary. The company highlighted its successful representation of other firms, such as Grayscale and Ripple, against the financial regulator. Marvin Ammori, the Chief Legal Officer, stated that the SEC’s case was flawed as it treated all tokens as securities under its jurisdiction.
Bitcoin Runes Hype Fades, Transactions Plummet 84%
The Bitcoin Runes protocol is struggling to maintain its share of Bitcoin (BTC) transactions. Since its launch on April 20, Bitcoin Runes transactions have dominated Bitcoin blockchain traffic on eight different days, primarily during weekends. The launch of Bitcoin Runes coincided with the fourth Bitcoin halving, resulting in a surge in transaction volume on the Bitcoin blockchain. Bitcoin mining revenue surpassed $100 million for the first time, reaching an all-time high of $107.7 million in daily earnings.
Vitalik Buterin Advocates ZK “Likes” on Farcaster After Privacy Shift
Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, has expressed his support for X engineer Haofei’s announcement on the decentralized social media platform Farcaster. Haofei revealed that “Likes” on Farcaster will be made private. On May 20, Buterin expanded on this idea and suggested implementing ZK likes on Farcaster to combat preference falsification, which occurs when true preferences are misrepresented due to social pressure or fear.
StarkWare ZKThreads Solution Could Prevent Fund Lockups Similar to FTX
StarkWare has introduced ZKThreads, a new scaling framework aimed at preventing fund lockups and improving the scalability of decentralized applications. Louis Guthmann, the head of product/market strategy at StarkWare, emphasized the potential impact of ZKThreads, stating that the layer-scaling technology built by StarkWare could prevent incidents similar to the fund lockup experienced by FTX.
DeFi Market Overview
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView indicates a bullish week for the top 100 DeFi tokens by market capitalization. Most tokens experienced gains on the weekly charts after weeks of bearish pressure. The total value locked in DeFi protocols surpassed $100 billion once again.
Thank you for reading our recap of the most significant DeFi developments this week. Join us next Friday for more stories, insights, and education on this rapidly evolving space.