CeFi, DeFi, and Everything In Between
Over the past two weeks, we have seen the bear markets bringing out the worst in digital asset markets. Rumors of insolvency flew rampant in the face of volatility, affecting behemoths that were previously deemed ‘too sophisticated/large to fail.’
Celsius, which we covered in detail in The Tide Pulling Out, was one of the first to waver, fueling fears of contagion in this nascent space. We then wrote about 3AC’s unwinding in Three Arrows (Right to the Chest), noting how even behemoths in the space are susceptible to hubris and mental bias.
It is more important now than ever to discern the rumors from the truth, the guilty from the innocent. Only by continually identifying (ir)responsible actors and extracting learnings from each black swan event, can we advance the space towards mainstream adoption.
CeFi & DeFi
Before diving into the specifics, we attempt to define and outline the differences and similarities of these entities that are crucial infrastructures in digital asset markets. Centralized Finance (CeFi) encompasses intermediaries that work with other centralized service providers to offer financial products and services to their customers. Some prominent examples include crypto exchanges ...Reports you may have missed
FIGURE: PEPE CROSSING BRIDGES TO EXPLORE ALTERNATE LAYER 1S / LAYER 2S Although ETH remains the dominant Layer 1 for most on-chain activity, alternate Layer 1s have demonstrated product-market fit throughout the bull market run of ‘20/’21. Solana (SOL 3.30% ) emerged as the ‘high-throughput chain’ focused on complex DeFi / gaming, BNB Chain (BNB) offers easy fiat on/off-ramps through Binance CEX, while Avalanche (AVAX) and Cosmos (ATOM -0.26% ) are building application-specific blockchains...
CORRECTION: IN THE FIRST DISTRIBUTION OF ‘DEFI DIGEST 14: A REFLECTION ON LIQUIDITY DYNAMICS THROUGH THE CONTAGION & GHO STABLECOIN’, WE INCORRECTLY REFERENCED VOYAGER INSTEAD OF CELSIUS AS HAVING A 1.2B HOLE IN ITS BALANCE SHEET. THE AMOUNT LENT TO 3AC BY VOYAGER WAS $350M IN USDC AND 15,250 IN BTC, WITH THEIR CURRENT ASSET-LIABILITY MISMATCH UNKNOWN. In last week’s DeFi Digest, the team discussed liquidity dynamics that were prevalent...
FIGURE: GHO LAUNCHING AMIDST THE BLOWUPS AROUND IT Seeing the CeFi realm blowing up around us, it is perhaps pertinent to reflect and hammer the lessons into our collective crypto consciousness. Drawing from CeFi, DeFi and Everything in Between, it is clear now that Celsius, BlockFi, and Voyager Digital function as ‘CeDeFi,’ similarly to TradFi banking entities and are prone to the same weaknesses such as position opacity and human...
FIGURE: GCR, GALOIS CAPITAL, 0XHAMZ, FREDDIE RAYNOLDS & CO. EMERGING VICTORIOUS AGAINST TERRA Source: Fundstrat CLOSING THOUGHTS ON TERRA Earlier readers of DeFi Digest will remember our initial primer on Anchor Protocol and the update we published when Anchor introduced the Dynamic Earn Rate. While we attempted to quantify the runway LFG had before they needed to replenish the Yield Reserve, LUNA 7.93% ’s sudden death spiral was difficult to predict. Instead,...
