Aave Competing With Big Banks 🏦

Plus, 😍 XRP in demand, 🤝 The fruits of union, 🛣️ Silk Road riches, and more!

December 03, 2024

I’m Juan Aranovich, managing editor of Unchained.

In today’s edition:

  • 🏦 Aave: Making bank

  • 💸 XRP: Roaring trade

  • 🍎 Coinbase/Apple Pay: Bearing fruit

  • 👟 Nike’s RTFKT: Selling its sole

  • 📈 Exchange volumes: Records tumble

  • 🫰 Silk Road funds: On deposit

Unlock zero trading fees, up to 5.1% APY on USDC, boosted staking rewards and more with Coinbase One.

What’s Poppin’?

By Sage D. Young and Tikta

Net deposits at decentralized finance protocol Aave, widely used for its borrowing and lending services, reached a new record as of Sunday, making the DeFi platform bigger than more than 4,000 commercial banks in the U.S.

In the past month, crypto users have added roughly $10.4 billion in net deposits. Aave’s total holdings now stand at around $31.4 billion, a 50% increase from $20.9 billion at the start of November.

XRP has been the most popular token by trading volume in the past 24 hours on several centralized exchanges, including Binance and Coinbase

XRP’s virality on those exchanges comes as the token climbed on Monday to a nearly seven-year high of $2.77, a 40% jump in the previous 24 hours and an increase of more than fivefold, or 433%, over the past 30 days. The Ripple ledger native token currently has a market capitalization of around $158 billion, surpassing both Tether’s USDT and Solana’s SOL, making it the third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap.

Coinbase, Apple Pay Team up for Fiat-to-Crypto Purchases

Crypto exchange Coinbase has partnered with Apple Pay for fiat-to-crypto purchases via Coinbase Onramp — a tool that allows users to buy or transfer cryptocurrency directly from self-custody wallets and apps.

“With Apple Pay, getting onchain only takes seconds,” Coinbase said in an announcement on Monday.

The integration means a faster end-to-end experience when converting fiat funds to crypto, particularly for the 60 million-plus users of Apple Pay in the U.S.

Coinbase Onramp supports more than 60 fiat currencies and 100 cryptocurrencies, applying light-touch know-your-customer protocols to eligible purchases.

Nike NFT Sneaker Firm RTFKT Set to Close

RTFKT (pronounced "artifact"), the company behind a once-viral range of NFT virtual sneakers and wearables, is to shut down its operations by the end of next month.

Today we’re announcing the plan to wind down RTFKT operations,” the company said in a statement on X. “Looking back, we’re incredibly proud of everything we’ve achieved together.”

RTFKT was acquired by Nike at the height of the “NFT summer” in 2021 for an estimated $1 billion.

The company burst onto the digital collectible scene by selling $10,000 worth of sneakers on Nifty Gateway. It was known for developing an ecosystem of Ethereum-based NFTs and physical collectibles, including collaborations with renowned artists such as Takashi Murakami.

Its decision to shutter operations comes less than two months after Nike appointed former longtime senior executive Elliott Hill, who had retired from the shoemaker in 2020, as its new CEO.

RTFKT said it will release one more collection — the MNLH X featuring the “Blade Drop,” a parting effort to showcase its commitment to pushing the boundaries of digital art and products — before officially closing down.

Monthly Crypto Exchange Trading Hits 3-Year High

The volume of cryptocurrency trading on centralized exchanges reached a three-year high in November.

Data from Bitcoin intelligence platform Newhedge shows that spot crypto trading volumes across major global exchanges topped $2.9 trillion — the highest monthly level since May 2021.

Binance continues to account for the lion’s share of trading volume, recording $1.05 trillion in November alone.

Increased crypto trading activity comes amid a slew of developments for the industry as a whole, including the re-election of pro-crypto Donald Trump as U.S. president and the upcoming departure of Gary Gensler from his post as chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

U.S. Sends $1.9B of Silk Road Bitcoin to Coinbase

The U.S. government has transferred 19,800 bitcoins worth around $1.9 billion seized from shuttered online black market Silk Road to Coinbase Prime, according to data from blockchain analytics platform Arkham Intelligence.

The transfer was executed in two parts: a test transfer of 0.001 BTC to a Coinbase Prime deposit address followed by a larger transfer of 19,799.999 BTC to an intermediary wallet before it was sent to Coinbase.

Previous instances of U.S. government wallets making sizable bitcoin transfers have sometimes put downward pressure on bitcoin’s price.

Despite concerns that the latest transfer could imply more selling pressure in the short term, bitcoin's price has remained relatively stable, dropping only 2.2% since the transaction was executed to around $96,000 at press time.

Daily Bits… ✍️✍️✍

  • 🎭 A parody project using the name of the scandal-ridden energy conglomerate Enron launched in Delaware with plans to release a token, sell branded merchandise, and offer crypto services, sparking skepticism and accusations of being a scam despite its satirical framing.

  • 📄 WisdomTree filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a spot XRP exchange-traded fund to be listed on the Cboe BZX Exchange.

  • 💼 Ethena partnered with Derive, the biggest onchain options protocol, to invest millions, align sENA stakers with the Derive DAO, and offer stakers Derive points, marking the second collaboration under the Ethena Network after Ethereal.

  • 📊 MicroStrategy acquired 15,400 bitcoin worth $1.5 billion in the past week, bringing its total holdings to 402,100 BTC, funded by a share sale and averaging $95,976 per token, solidifying its dominance as a corporate bitcoin holder.

  • ⛏️ Bitcoin miner MARA proposed a $700 million convertible note offering to repurchase existing debt and expand its bitcoin holdings following a November addition of 6,474 BTC, bringing its total to nearly 35,000 BTC.

  • 🔗 Sonic Labs announced that its new layer-1 blockchain has produced its first block, setting the stage for a public launch and boasting testnet upgrades promising high transaction speeds and sub-second finality.

What Do You Meme?

📈 Your Market Update 📉

  • BTC is down 0.1%, trading at $94,725

  • ETH is up 0.4%, trading at $3,600

  • BTC dominance: 51.83%

  • Crypto market cap: $3.62T

*All data as of today, 07:53 am ET. Source: CoinGecko

Recommended Reads

  1. Ethereum’s North Star by Jon Charbonneau, co-founder of crypto investment firm DBA

  2. Through the Looking Glass: Conceptualizing Control and Analyzing Criminal Liability For Unlicensed Money Transmitting Businesses Under Section 1960 by Daniel Barabander, Amanda Tuminelli, and Jake Chervinsky

We Are Hiring!

  1. A Part-Time Sponsorships Manager to generate and manage sponsorships across Unchained’s platforms. See the details and apply here. 

  2. A Bitcoin Reporter to cover all things Bitcoin. See the details and apply here. 

  3. An Audience Development Director to broaden the reach of the publication’s content, whether through the web, social media, newsletters, podcast platforms, or videos. See the details and apply here.

🔝 Are you hiring and want to promote the postings in the Unchained newsletter? Let us know!

Thank you for reading Unchained. This post is public so feel free to share it. 📩📤