Web3: Tinder for NFTs; MetaMask institutional staking; DeFi asset management on Cosmos
So much zero knowledge
Gm Fintech Futurists —
Welcome to our Web3 newsletter, covering DeFi, digital assets, NFTs, and the emergence of the financial metaverse. Today we highlight the following:
DEFI & DIGITAL ASSETS: Cosmos-Based DeFi Protocol Quasar to Start Mainnet After Raising More Than $11.5MM
CRYPTOECONOMICS & PROTOCOLS: MetaMask Wants To Streamline Institutional Staking
DAOs, NFTs & METAVERSE: Swipe Left To Short, Right To Long: Tinder For NFT Leverage Goes Live
CURATED NEWS
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Web3 Short Takes
⭐ Cosmos-Based DeFi Protocol Quasar to Start Mainnet After Raising More Than $11.5MM - CoinDesk
Quasar Finance, a decentralized asset management protocol built on the Cosmos blockchain ecosystem, has gone live on the mainnet. It enables investors to deposit funds into permissionless, non-custodial vehicles called "vaults " across various blockchains using the Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) Protocol. The move comes after Quasar raised $5.4MM in a funding round led by Shima Capital earlier this year at a $70MM valuation, bringing the total fund raised to $11.5MM+.
Think of vaults as bookkeeping mechanisms, or even robot-mutual funds, monitoring the vault member's identity, assets, rewards, and governance share. These vaults implement the CW-4626 standard, allowing them to act as vehicles for yield-bearing assets and accommodate multi-party membership.
IBC is an interoperability protocol that specifies data transfer between independent blockchains. Quasar uses IBC to transfer assets, execute cross-chain actions, and request queries from remote chains. Quasar's vaults operate with assets using the ICS-20 fungible token transfer standard, which maintains token fungibility and ownership. And ICS-27 is a standard for interchain accounts that enables vaults to execute actions beyond Quasar's appchain (e.g., deposits from multiple blockchains). See here to read Quasar’s Litepaper.
Appchains — a blockchain built specifically for an application — are chosen by developers for their ability to provide greater control over protocol-level customizable features. Under a general-purpose blockchain, all the applications would have to compete for shared limited block space. Having a dedicated chain in the context of DeFi asset management allows for lower transaction fees and high throughput. Cosmos allows all this stuff to network together.
We like onchain asset management, and had been a strong proponent of Yearn and Set Protocol in the earlier DeFi days. Whether investors are interested in the products offered by Quasar, and on what time horizon, is the key question.
⭐ MetaMask Wants To Streamline Institutional Staking - Blockworks
MetaMask Institutional, in partnership with Allnodes, Blockdaemon, and Kiln, has introduced a marketplace that offers aggregated staking services for institutional investors.