Hello Observers!

A storm called Buterin turned the DeFi side of crypto Twitter upside down this week. The Ethereum co-founder's views on the yield sustainability of the sector's projects led to some serious questions and kicked off heated discussions, with many accusing Buterin of treason and others agreeing with him and calling for a rethinking of DeFi.

The arrest of Pavel Durov last Sunday was another topic that set social media on fire. Internet communities that value privacy and freedom were outraged that Telegram’s CEO was accused of crimes perpetrated using the app he created, a matter over which Durov has little control.

🔥 Week Highlights

  • Coinbase has conducted its first cryptocurrency payment between two AI agents.
  • Bloomberg integrates election odds data from Polymarket into Terminal.
  • Binance freezes Palestinian accounts linked to terrorist organizations following Israeli directive.

🍭 Crypto Highs And Fun Times

  • Since the first phase of the EU MiCA regulation entered into force in late June, users in the region have been underserved by stablecoin issuers. The void left by Tether and others is being filled fast, and this week, Binance started to list EURITE, the first euro-pegged crypto fully compliant with the European Union's new regulatory standards.
  • Russia is changing its stance on crypto and has recently taken favourable steps towards the adoption of digital assets in the country. Putin has approved a bill that makes mining activities legal and one that allows the central bank to create a platform using crypto for international payments.

😈 Crypto Naughty And Sloppy

  • The popular Telegram game Hamster Kombat (finally) announced this week the date for its token airdrop and revealed to be creating a holistic platform for crypto games on the messaging app. While these are all good news, sustainability concerns about the project have been rising, with observers worrying that once the most powerful motivator for keeping users engaged until now - the promise of an upcoming airdrop - is over, there will be little to keep the project's popularity up.
  • Over half of Solana validators are facing financial instability due to their dependence on the Solana Foundation Delegation Program (SFDF). According to a report by infrastructure provider Helius, SFDF supports validators by delegating SOL to them, which allows them to better manage costs by holding only a small number of tokens.

How To Grow A Stablecoin I: Right Network, Right Numbers

PayPal USD Thrives on Solana, Surpassing $1 Billion Market Cap
PYUSD has established itself as an investment instrument. But can this help the stablecoin become a mean of exchange?
Observing moneytech and cryptoAlexander Mardar

PayPal’s stablecoin PYUSD has had some growth issues in the first months after launching but now its market cap has more than tripled.

The recent success is largely due to the large adoption of PYUSD by Solana users. Over 60% of the currency is now issued on the network, where several protocols have been offering attractive incentives for depositing PYUSD in their liquidity pools.

Project Highlight: Celo

DeFi That Buterin Likes: Ultragreen And Externally-Backed Money on Celo
With its initiatives and dApps, Celo protocol offers a glimpse into what Buterin meant by DeFi projects that sought yield outside the sector.
Observing moneytech and cryptoEva Senzaj Pauram

With DeFi's utility and purpose under the microscope following Buterin's comments on the sector, it is a good exercise to look at projects that have externally-base yields and a mission greater than profit.

On Celo protocol, there is plenty to look at.

The layer-one blockchain is currently transitioning to becoming an Ethereum L2 solution, and its initiatives towards ecosystem sustainability have made it one of the top pro-climate projects in the space.

How to Grow A Stablecoin II: Rebranding

MakerDAO, One of Ethereum’s Oldest Projects, Officially Rebrands to Sky
With the rebrand complete, two new tokens, $SKY, and $USDS, are set to be introduced, each designed to streamline governance and enhance regulatory compliance of the project.
Observing moneytech and cryptoAlexander Mardar

The project behind $DAI stablecoin has an “Endgame” plan to become the number one stablecoin project in adoptoin levels within five years. This week, it took an important step towards that direction by rebranding MakerDAO for Sky. The move comes with two new tokens $SKY and stablecoin $USDS (Sky Dollar).

The Review Of The Week

“As families across Wyoming struggle to keep up with soaring inflation rates and our national debt reaches new and unprecedented heights, it is time for us to take bold steps to create a brighter future for generations to come by creating a strategic Bitcoin reserve.”

A month ago U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis introduced a bill to mandate the U.S. Treasury create a one million bitcoin reserve to be purchased by revaluing the gold the country’s government currently has, which is valued at 60 times lower than current market prices. Observers collected all odds in her proposal in the article.

Crypto Markets

And, with this issue, we are closing another month. Look back at our tickers in August's Month in Money to reflect on what seemed to be so important on those days. See you in September!

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