Traders who have yet to join cryptocurrency exchange, Bybit can now enjoy 3% bonuses on their first-time deposits, capped at $3,000 per user. 

In addition, traders with combined trading volumes in both spot and derivatives of at least $100,000 will be automatically included in an exclusive lucky draw featuring a grand prize of 0.1 BTC.

To be eligible to receive the bonuses, traders must first register for Bybit’s deposit blast-off event here before November 18, 2021, 10 am UTC. 

Once registered, traders must make a minimum deposit of $500 worth of eligible assets within seven (7) days for their deposits to be considered in the calculation of their rewards. Any deposits made after this timeframe will not be considered in the calculation of their reward. 

Among the eligible assets include BTC, ETH, BIT, USDT, XRP, DOGE, DOT, EOS, LTC, XLM, AAVE, AXS,…

Decentralized protocols and blockchain-enabled smart contracts are streamlining the way digital transactions are being conducted globally.

Distributed ledger technology (DLT) has the potential to fundamentally transform many different sectors by eliminating the need for third parties and enabling the automated execution of contract terms and conditions. 

This past year has seen the crypto and blockchain sector approach mainstream adoption levels. Decentralized finance (DeFi), a part of the fast-evolving crypto space, has introduced innovative ways to lend, borrow, and even stake digital assets. In early 2019, the DeFi space was valued at well below $500 million, but it has now exploded to reach almost $100 billion. Major decentralized protocols such as Aave (AAVE) and Uniswap (UNI) are now playing a key part in supporting the decentralized economy.

Smart Contacts May Enable…

Today’s “Gensler for a Day” is Michale Shaulov, CEO of decentralized finance (DeFi) infrastructure and custody firm Fireblocks. Fireblocks occupies an extremely interesting position in the DeFi ecosystem: Late last month, it was proposed as the first “whitelister” for Aave Arc, a version of the Aave DeFi protocol aimed at serving institutions. That means higher regulatory compliance, including permissioned access to reduce or eliminate users’ risk of entanglement with money laundering or other malfeasance.

This interview is part of CoinDesk’s Policy Week, a forum for discussing how regulators are reckoning with crypto (and vice versa).

As a DeFi professional who’s very focused on compliance, what’s your wish list for DeFi regulation?

I would like to see basically four important areas addressed. The first one is around the legitimacy of [each] protocol and what it does….

A new play-to-earn (P2E) blockchain game that hopes to emulate the addictive success of 2013 mobile phenomenon Flappy Bird has drawn backing from some of DeFi’s biggest names.

Kain Warwick from Synthetix, Stani Kulechov from Aave, Tyler Ward from Barnbridge, angel investor Santiago Santos (ex-ParaFi Capital) and 0xmaki from Sushi joined a pre seed round this week for the forthcoming Fancy Birds which is due to launch in around a month.

Fancy Birds is a single player mobile game with 8,888 randomly generated NFT characters minted initially with custom features, that fight through levels to earn their spot as “the fanciest bird in the nest”.

Successful players earn 40% of the Fancy (FNC) token supply and upgrades will see the game launch multiplayer mode, with breeding, staking and tournaments planned. The team is in discussions to launch it on Ethereum NFT scaling layer 2 project…

It’s a fresh new week, and most crypto tokens are looking up. Bitcoin has already hit a new record high, while its closest rival, Ethereum, is close to its previous ATH.  

But the crypto tokens that are really attracting our attention are Aave (AAVE/USD) and Polkadot (DOT/USD).

AAVE/USD has Broken a Barrier and is Eyeing Higher Levels

AAVE/USD was subdued below 311.4, which acted as resistance in the past month. However, following the renewed bullish strength, which started on October 20, AAVE/USE rose past the resistance and now looks set to go higher. 

At the time of writing, AAVE was trading at 324.63, with level 311.4 acting as support. The crypto token has gone up by 9.59% in the past 24 hours, taking the total gains for the week to 9.61%.

AAVE/USD – A 4-Hour Technical Outlook

From the 4-hour chart above, we can see that AAVE/USD is towering above the support at 311.4 and…

The vibe is palpable. Bitcoin enthusiasts are celebrating its all-time high this week, and Ethereum’s Ether broke its own record price of $4,357. Make no mistake, it’s a good time to be holding crypto, but it’s better if you’re in the two biggest cryptocurrencies than in DeFi’s blue chips.

The DeFi Pulse Index, a benchmark comprising 10 of the most valuable tokens in decentralized finance, is lagging behind ETH. And not in a small way. The index, which includes tokens from Uniswap, Aave, and MakerDAO, is up a modest 26% in the last 90 days, according to data from CoinGecko. In contrast, ETH has surged more than 102% in that same period.

Measured another way, DPI has actually slid 21.8% against ETH for the last 30 days, and is at the lowest level ever in ETH terms in Coingecko data going back to Sept. 2020.

What gives? It stands to reason that the leading DeFi tokens would…

DeFi Total Value Locked (TVL), which is a metric to gauge the overall DeFi market, hit a new All-Time High (ATH) alongside Bitcoin yesterday, as it traded a high of $233 million.

Data from DeFi Llama, a DeFi monitoring tool that collects data from DeFi protocols across all major blockchain networks, reveals that DeFi TVL hit a new record of $233.88 billion in protocols across the various blockchain networks.

TVL is the sum of all assets deposited in decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols earning rewards, interest, new coins and tokens, fixed income and so on. According to the statistics on DeFi Llama, AAVE leads with $19.04 billion. This is followed by CURVE and WBTC which are both occupying second and third place with $18.07 billion and $14.24 billion respectively.

The biggest gainers in TVL over the past seven days were Trader Joe with a 57.2% increase and Rari Capital…

Crypto index fund manager Bitwise Asset Management has today unveiled the Bitwise Polygon (MATIC) Fund, offering investors exposure to MATIC through a managed investment product.

The Polygon fund is Bitwise’s latest to be released this year following the inception of other funds including the Bitwise Uniswap (UNI) Fund, the Bitwise Aave (AAVE) Fund and the Bitwise DeFi Crypto Index Fund.

With more than $1.5 billion in Assets Under Management (AUM), Bitwise remains the largest global crypto index fund provider and has seen great success following its launch in 2017.

One of its most popular products is the ’10 Ex Bitcoin Crypto Index Fund‘, which provides exposure to ten leading cryptocurrency assets such as Ethereum and Cardano while excluding Bitcoin.

The Bitwise Polygon Fund is now currently available to accredited investors via a private subscription- with a $10,000 minimum…

The total cryptocurrency market cap has soared about 200% this year, hitting $2.5 trillion at the time this was written. Much of that growth has come from Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC), which makes up about 45% of the market, according to Coinmarketcap.com. But over the long term, other digital assets such as Cardano (CRYPTO:ADA) and Aave (CRYPTO:AAVE) could help drive growth and adoption in this exciting sector. Let’s explore why. 

1. Cardano 

Launched in 2017, Cardano is a public blockchain platform that facilitates peer-to-peer transactions through its internal cryptocurrency called Ada. The platform allows users to program decentralized applications (dApps). And it has an edge over rival programable blockchains like Ethereum (CRYPTO:ETH) because of its more environmentally friendly proof-of-stake mining process called Ouroboros.

DeFi lending is an intriguing and competitive space, even though there’s room for improvement. Traditional lenders target a crypto audience, whereas P2P service providers can support a wider variety of assets. Gluwa, with the help of Creditcoin, taps into emerging markets where SME loans are hard to come by.

DeFi Lending Needs To Expand

No one can argue that lending through decentralized finance platforms and protocols has become widely successful. Popular projects, including Aave and Compound, have created a financial solution for thousands, if not millions of people. However, they require that one already own digital assets to act as collateral, which doesn’t suit the needs of the many. Cryptocurrency is a relatively niche market, even in 2021, and the technology allows for much more.

Despite their crypto-only approach, Compound and Aave have amassed a high amount of Total Value…