Crypto OTC, Market Making, Pendle, and More!

This week on Unchained: Don't miss the interviews with Flowdesk's Reed Werbitt and Hanson Birringer, and TN Lee of Pendle. Plus, a new episode of TCB.

August 24, 2024

Pendle Finance saw massive growth earlier this year but has recently faced a significant drop in TVL. How will it bounce back?

Pendle Finance, an innovative protocol that lets users trade yield, surged in popularity earlier this year but is now grappling with a downturn in usage.

In this episode, founder TN Lee shares insights into Pendle’s approach, the factors behind its recent success, and the challenges it faces in recovering user engagement and TVL. Plus, since Pendle’s rise was driven by the points narrative, TN talks about how the protocol can keep growing.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Leaders from Flowdesk, a market maker doing billions in volume, reveal the complexities of token launches and crypto OTC markets.

In this episode, Reed Werbitt, US CEO of Flowdesk, and Hanson Birringer, Head of US OTC Sales, delve into the intricacies of launching a token and the evolving landscape of over-the-counter markets. They discuss what factors teams should consider when choosing market makers and exchanges, how the launch of bitcoin and ether ETFs has impacted the markets, and the role of points systems in attracting users to tokens. The conversation also covers the challenges faced by Bitcoin miners amid recent market developments and the opportunities presented by solving fragmentation.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

L2 Strategy Debates, Prediction Market Innovations, and Ethereum’s Vulnerabilities.

Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest news. This week, the boys discuss Ethereum’s current standing in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, comparing it to the United States regarding capital concentration despite fewer users.

They also dive into the dynamics of prediction markets, focusing on Polymarket’s role in predicting election outcomes. The conversation evolves into an analysis of potential changes to the Ethereum mainnet, driven by competition from Solana and other factors, including block time reductions and gas limit increases. The episode concludes with predictions about Ethereum’s possible upgrades in the next six months and a bet among the hosts about the outcome.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

In Case You Missed It 👀

Here are some articles you will probably want to read:

Drift co-founder Cindy Leow said the startup’s Bullish on Everything (BET) prediction market is trying to take advantage of a Solana-native audience.

BlackRock is the first spot ether ETF issuer to cross the $1 billion mark in net inflows. However, the broader Ethereum ETF landscape faces challenges, with substantial outflows, particularly from Grayscale’s ETHE.

Onchain analytics firm EigenPhi found that the infamous MEV attacker ‘Jaredfromsubway.eth’ could be deploying a new bot with more advanced tricks.

The fundraise is the first time that a16z has led three rounds in a crypto firm since Coinbase. 

Hopes for a “crypto reset” under Kamala Harris fade as the Democratic Party’s latest platform fails to even mention digital assets or Bitcoin.

Users of the Solana-based protocol have deployed nearly 1.2 million tokens so far, but only 32 currently have a market cap of over $1 million, per GeckoTerminal.

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