Ryze Ledger: Edition 1
Unlocking the potential of crypto, one insight at a time. Don't miss our portfolio news and emerging market focus.
Contents
What to Expect
Market Overview
Spotlight: Clearpool
Regulatory Updates
Ryze Labs Portfolio News
Emerging Markets Focus
1. What to Expect
In this edition, we bring you a quick overview of the crypto market, diving deep into Clearpool—a decentralized capital markets ecosystem. We'll also keep you updated on the latest regulatory news that's shaping the industry.
Don't miss our Ryze Labs Portfolio News section, where we highlight exciting developments from our portfolio companies like OpenTrade, Rise, LayerZero, ArDrive, BLOCKLORDS, ParaSwap, Mintbase, and Delta Exchange.
Finally, we turn our focus to emerging markets, exploring key trends and updates that are setting the stage for the next wave of crypto adoption.
2. Market Overview
Over the past 30 days, the crypto market has seen mixed trends. Bitcoin has experienced a modest increase of 2.76%, currently priced at $26,868 with a market cap of $524.3 billion. Ethereum, on the other hand, has seen a 2.95% decline, trading at $1,546 and holding a market cap of $186.3 billion. Solana has been the standout performer with a 19.5% surge, priced at $21.51 and a market cap of $9 billion. Polygon has also shown promise with a 0.75% increase, trading at $0.51 and a market cap of $4.8 billion.
3. Spotlight: A Deep Dive into Clearpool
What Is Clearpool?
Clearpool is a decentralized capital markets ecosystem that aims to revolutionize the way institutions access unsecured capital. It merges the sophistication of traditional financial markets with the benefits of blockchain and decentralization. Clearpool is designed to provide a dynamic marketplace for unsecured institutional capital, thereby significantly improving the landscape for both borrowers and lenders in the DeFi space. It aims to eliminate risks of liquidation for borrowers while offering attractive risk-adjusted returns for lenders.
How Does It Work?
Clearpool operates through permissionless single-borrower pools driven by market forces of supply and demand. Institutions must first become whitelisted to gain access to these pools, a process that involves due diligence, KYC, and AML procedures. Once whitelisted, the borrower pool becomes visible on Clearpool's main dashboard, where liquidity providers (LPs) can view and fund it. LPs receive cpTokens in return, which represent the amount of liquidity supplied and accrue interest on every Ethereum block.
Key Products
cpTokens: These tokens are not just a representation of liquidity but also a new paradigm in risk management. They are transferable, tradable, and programmable, opening up unprecedented opportunities in risk management solutions.
Thematic Pools: These are governance-created multi-borrower liquidity pools that provide benefits of diversification. Liquidity is algorithmically distributed to multiple borrower pools.
CPOOL Token: This is the utility and governance token that enables various staking and voting interactions.
Clearpool is thus not just a borrowing and lending platform but a comprehensive ecosystem aiming to redefine decentralized capital markets.
Find more about Clearpool and its founder here:
Unsecured Liquidity & DeFi with Clearpool’s CEO Robert Alcorn
The debt capital markets are being changed by DeFi company Clearpool, sparking a change in the way that institutions obtain uncollateralized liquidity.
4. Regulatory Updates
Federal Judge Denies SEC Appeal in Ripple Case: A Federal judge denied the SEC's appeal in its ongoing lawsuit against Ripple, the company behind XRP. The judge ruled that the SEC failed to prove uncertainties about the law or basis for differences in opinion, affirming that Ripple did not violate federal securities laws.
SEC Opposes Coinbase's Motion to Dismiss Lawsuit: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has asked the court to deny Coinbase's motion for pretrial judgment in an ongoing lawsuit. The SEC argues that its original complaint sufficiently makes the case for the charges against Coinbase, which include allegations that the exchange operated as a broker and that the crypto assets offered were securities.
Ethereum Futures ETFs Debut with Low Volume: Nine Ethereum futures ETFs debuted in the U.S. after SEC approval but saw less than $2 million in total trading volume on their first day. The SEC remains skeptical towards approving crypto spot ETFs, extending deadlines for decisions on such products.
5. Ryze Labs Portfolio News
OpenTrade Launches Tokenized Treasury Bills: OpenTrade has launched a tokenized treasury bill product for accredited investors. The product is developed in partnership with Circle and utilizes Perimeter Protocol to bring USDC into real-world assets. OpenTrade aims to add utility to the digital asset space, particularly for yield products. The product offers transparency, security, and allows for secured lending of USDC against treasury bills. It is unregulated globally and has also partnered with crypto exchange WOO X to offer these tokenized T-Bills in Asia. The product is open to a wide range of investors including individual accredited investors, companies, funds, DAOs, and regulated institutions.
Rise on Automating Crypto and Fiat Payments: Rise published a blog post discussing the importance of automating and scaling crypto and fiat payments. The article highlights the inefficiencies of traditional payroll systems and the benefits of blockchain technology for global workforce compensation. Rise offers an all-in-one payroll and compliance solution that supports both fiat and crypto payments, ensuring tax compliance worldwide.
LayerZero Partners with Google Cloud: LayerZero has partnered with Google Cloud to enhance its cross-chain messaging protocol. Google Cloud will serve as the default oracle provider for LayerZero, verifying transactions across blockchains. The partnership aims to bolster security and efficiency, allowing LayerZero to support up to 15 different blockchains including Ethereum, Arbitrum, Polygon, BNB, and Avalanche.
ArDrive launches credit card rails for fee payment: ArDrive, an app that allows users to pay-once and forever store their data to the Arweave blockchain, launched their “Turbo Update” which allows users to pay fees via credit card. ArDrive makes up roughly 18% of data stored on Arweave. Since the launch of Turbo, 1700 unique users have used ArDrive’s product. Furthermore, the Turbo SDK, which will be released by the end-of-the-month giving developers an easy-to-integrate solution for uploading to the permaweb.
ParaSwap Integrates with Aave: Aave has activated a smart contract adapter with ParaSwap. This enables features like repayment with collateral, collateral switch, and debt switch for the BuildOnBase market on the Aave Interface.
Delta Exchange Partners with Kaiko: Kaiko is strengthening its relationship with Delta Exchange. The partnership will allow Kaiko to deliver Delta Exchange's market data in a high-quality, institutional manner, and aims to provide traders with more comprehensive data to make informed decisions.
BLOCKLORDS Soft Launches on Epic Games Store: BLOCKLORDS has officially soft-launched and is now available on the Epic Games Store. The game allows players to farm their way to prominence and promises battles in its upcoming Season 1.
Mintbase is testing the first seedless, gassless, cryptoless, noncustodial wallet: you can try it out now by minting a selfie.
6. Emerging Markets Focus
Hong Kong Launches Blockchain-Based Settlement Platform: Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) is launching HKEX Synapse, a blockchain-based settlement platform aimed at boosting operational efficiencies and lowering settlement risks. The platform uses DAML smart contract language and is part of the Stock Connect program linking markets in Hong Kong and mainland China.
Ripple Obtains License from Monetary Authority of Singapore: Ripple has received a Major Payments Institution (MPI) license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, allowing it to offer regulated digital asset token services in the country. Ripple aims to continue prioritizing crypto adoption in the Asia Pacific, one of its fastest-growing regions.
Buenos Aires Adopts Blockchain-Based Digital Identity: Buenos Aires is integrating its bureaucracy with blockchain technology, allowing residents to access identity documents like birth and marriage certificates via a digital wallet. The project is built by Web3 firm Extrimian and uses zkSync Era, an Ethereum scaling protocol.
Argentinian Presidential Candidate Pledges CBDC Launch: Sergio Massa, an Argentinian presidential candidate, has pledged to launch a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) if elected. The move aims to address Argentina's long-standing inflation crisis. Massa is competing against Javier Milei, a libertarian candidate who won the primary elections, in the upcoming general election scheduled for October 22.