Most memecoins are traps. Well, a full-blown Twitter meme turned semi-legit chain…in under 48 hours.
It started with a joke between Solana founder, Anatoly, and lawyer Gabriel. Degens saw the meme potential, rallied around the $GOR ticker, and somehow spun up a Garbage Chain.
The first dev rugged. New devs stepped in. And now the chain's live. (ran up to $40mc)
Zero interest in buying the token, but it was fun to watch.
Here's what we got today:
EigenCloud 101. Everything you need to know about it.
Teller Deep Dive. The stress-free, high-yield lending protocol.
Around the web. Mantle launched UR Neobank, Hibachi went live, Ink chain introduced $INK, and more.
Today's email is brought to you by Teller — the high-yield lending protocol.
EigenLayer introduced the biggest innovation in crypto since smart contracts.
What is it? EigenCloud is an infrastructure where devs can build next-gen crypto apps. It's powered by three primitives.
EigenDA ensures that computation data remains available for independent verification.
EigenVerify removes the need for custom proofs like rollups. It'll handle dispute resolution and verification of application claims.
EigenCompute will be the container for most devs. They can just write their application logic here, and Eigen will convert it into a web3 app.
Apologies for the technical mumbo jumbo. But a rough knowledge of the buzzwords & their relationships is required to understand EigenLayer's potential.
Why is it a big deal? Cuz it can solve crypto's biggest problem: no useful apps.
When building on blockchain directly, devs have several limitations.
In contrast, Web2 development is easy. There are limitless libraries, elastic hardware, and endless scalability. So in web2, devs can create cool applications that come to their mind.
Trying to build web2 apps like YouTube or X on blockchain is impossible. It's like trying to build Burj Khalifa during the Stone Age.
This is why crypto doesn't have many useful applications. Devs literally don't have the tools to build cool apps.
Were the cynics correct all along? Are we doomed to be complicated degen casino?
Enter Chad Sreeram & the cracked Eigen team. Using the restaking magic, they've figured out a way to build web3/crypto apps with Web2-ease.
Wow! That's a bold claim. But first, what's a web3/crypto app?
Verifiability is the core of web3/crypto. It's the ability for *anyone* to verify the claims made by applications. You don't have to trust anyone, just verify onchain.
Did your yield optimizer deposit into Aave? You can verify it onchain. Can the Aave team steal your funds? You can verify that it can't.
(The other benefits of web3, like permissionlessness and trustlessness, are downstream from verifiability. Decentralization is upstream of verifiability.)
How can EigenCloud deliver a web2-level dev experience?
They will run complex application logic offchain. It removes all the limitations they'd have on directly building onchain.
Let's say you're building a Fantasy Sports app. With EigenCloud, you don't need to wrangle with the Ethereum or Solana VM. Choose from a variety of languages, libraries, and specifications. Spin up a GPU cluster if you need to. Go wild.
Only the final state or token-related stuff gets written onchain.
"But wait," you ask, "If the logic is offchain, how can we trust it?"
That's the magic of EigenCloud. Applications on it can send the results of application logic onchain and a verifiable proof that the work was done honestly.
It uses the primitives I mentioned at the beginning of the article. The image below will give you an intuitive idea of the EigenCloud architecture.
Source: Blog.eigencloud.xyz
So with EigenCloud, Fantasy Sports app users don't have to trust the devs. They can see the proof that there was no cheating. Users can verify it themselves.
This independent verification also enables composability & network effects.
If you're the Fantasy Sports dev, you won't have to create an oracle from scratch to inject sports data by yourself. You can just tap into an Oracle AVS that'll provide that data.
EigenCloud will make it easy to develop such applications with high programmability and composability. Here are some potential applications:
Trustworthy AI Agents to be booking agents, trading bots, and service providers.
DeFi vaults that can run very complex trading algorithms and risk management strategies.
Memecoins where token inflation rewards are distributed based on cryptographically verified posting behavior and reach metrics.
Verifiable gambling applications with provable randomness, verifiable game logic, and cryptoeconomic guarantees
Remember those crazy 2017-era ICO ideas that were way ahead of their time? EigenCloud could make them possible.
Right now, $EIGEN market cap is only $370M & FDV is only $2B. Considering the potential of EIGEN, it's undervalued.
EigenLayer is a zero-to-one unlock like $BTC & $ETH. Bitcoin introduced non-sovereign money. Ethereum introduced decentralized applications.
EigenLayer introduced restaking and verifiable applications. $EIGEN sits at the center of this revolution. Most applications built on EigenCloud will need staked $EIGEN, so there'll be high demand for it.
But it doesn't have many pumpamentals right now. And in the short term, there's a war going on.
In the long term, $EIGEN should be on your radar. The thing to watch out for is
Teller: The Stress Free, High-Yield Lending Protocol
DeFi money markets run on margin calls.
That's bad for borrowers. They have to check interest rates & price of their collateral every five minutes to make sure they won't get liquidated. (Stress-induced hair loss, anyone?)
Terms on these money markets aren't standard either. Rates on them change based on factors like supply and demand. They don't have fixed maturity dates either.
In addition, DAOs have to conduct cumbersome risk analysis to create markets for any asset. Thus, DAOs such as Aave only support a limited number of digital assets as collateral. Many constraints on their model reduce capital efficiency as well.
Enter Teller. No Margin Calls. Yields 30%+ APY.
It's a fixed-term lending platform that fixes the above issues. It brings the traditional loan design to DeFi. You'll get the benefits of both worlds on Teller.
For liquidity providers
Yields 30%+ APY. Since the loans don't have margin calls, there'll be a higher proportional collateral ratio & borrow rates. You can usually earn more than alternatives.
Over-collateralized 300-500%. Depending on the collateral asset, pools are often over-collateralized by a significant amount. Thus, if the price drops, there is a buffer to absorb a meaningful drawdown.
Isolated pools per collateral token. Each lending pool is dedicated to a specific collateral token—for example, USDC lending against SPX, or WETH against DAI. This ensures total isolation: risks, terms, and liquidity are compartmentalized.
Set-and-forget liquidity providing. Deposit once, earn passively. No need to manage positions or watch the market. Just collect your yield.
For borrowers
Fixed terms. Borrowers don't have to worry about an interest rate suddenly spiking on a loan. Everything from the collateral details to the loan duration & payment schedule will be fixed and predictable.
No margin calls. Even if a collateral asset drops in price, borrowers don't have to stress about getting liquidated. As long as they pay the scheduled payments, the collateral will be returned.
Permissionless. Borrowers don't necessarily have to do KYC or file 30-page forms to get a loan. It has all the benefits of DeFi.
Supports any asset as collateral. Aped into Murad on SPX6900 memecoin and don't want to sell? Borrowers can get instant long-tail liquidity.
Loan extensions are possible. Borrowers can use flash loans to roll current loans into new loans.
As of now, it's deployed on Ethereum, Base, Mantle, Arbitrum, and Polygon. So you lend or borrow on any of those chains.
All of these sound amazing, but is this reliable? Do you have to worry about rugs or mechanism failure or something else?
Not really. The protocol was launched back in 2021. It's an open-source protocol audited by reputable firms. I'll give a short summary of the protocol below.
How Do Teller Pools Work?
Pre-set, isolated pools Each pool is created for a specific lending token (e.g., USDC) and a specific collateral token (e.g., SPX). The pool deployer sets parameters like collateralization ratio, APR range, max loan duration, and debt ceiling.
Lenders supply capital You deposit lending tokens into a pool. Interest is earned passively as borrowers repay loans. Loans are issued per-pool. No AMM or impermanent loss risk.
Borrowers take instant loans Borrowers can initiate a loan with a single "Deposit and Borrow" call. The collateral is locked in an isolated escrow, with fixed loan terms for repayment.
Fixed repayment, without margin calls Every loan has a set repayment date and APR. Borrowers just repay on time or risk default. Interest repaid accumulates in the pool for all liquidity providers.
Default → Dutch auction If a borrower defaults, the collateral is sold via a 24-hour Dutch auction to repay the pool.
Withdraw when repaid Once loans are repaid or auctions resolve, lenders can withdraw principal + interest. Withdrawals depend on outstanding pool debt and the debt ceiling.
In short,Teller pools are isolated, fixed-term lending markets with pre-set due dates and no price-based liquidations. Lenders supply a single asset, earn borrower interest, and avoid impermanent loss. More details are in the docs, lending pool architecture.
How can you earn?
The most direct way to deposit into pools and earn interest.
Go to the Teller app
Select the asset you want to supply
Go through different pools & their yield.
Evaluating the risks, including a loan default. Ideally, the collateral should be valuable enough that someone will always take over the loan.
Supply to the pool & earn yield.
You can also long or short assets on Teller. But first, some basic concepts.
When you borrow in USD and buy ETH with it, you are long ETH & short USD. That's cuz you have to pay back the debt in USDC and you're exposed to ETH price movements.
When you borrow in ETH and sell it for USD, you are now shorting ETH. Cuz you have to back the debt in ETH.
With Teller, you can implement these strategies under the "Loop" tab. It provides a clear interface where you can input collateral assets, long assets, and short assets.
There are other venues for such strategies. Why use Teller?
Earn a higher yield relative to money markets. Borrowers pay more for no margin-call loans.
You can use niche/illiquid assets as collateral. You won't be able to use them as collateral in most of DeFi.
There's No Liquidation Risk for the collateral asset. You don't have to worry about big money hunting and liquidating you. As long as you pay back your loan on time, you're collateral will be returned.
If you want a stress-free borrowing protocol, check out Teller.
Mantle launched UR Neobank, a crypto-first neobank powered by Mantle Network. It'll allow users to manage both fiat & crypto life from one account.
Moonwell introduced a $cbXRP lending market on the Base chain. It adds onchain utility for XRP.
Kraken announced the $INK token for their Ink Chain. It claims to provide utility for the token, but the utility isn't clear yet.
Sonic announced season two of their airdrop program. The rules for earning points have changed this season.
Hibachi went live on the Celestia mainnet. It's a perps trading platform which doesn't publicise trader positions.
Coinbase is seeking approval to offer tokenized equities trading. Onchain equity trading is a massive opportunity.
Polygon's zkEVM team has spun off into a new zk project called ZisK. This is a result of Polygon's strategic shift to focus on PoS and AggLayer.
Token Transparency Framework is a new token auditing standard introduced by Blockworks. It'll improve our industry standards.
📰 Industry News
US Senate passed the GENIUS Act, which provides regulatory clarity for stablecoins. The next steps are the House of Representatives and the President's signature.
Nansen introduced Nansen Points. You can earn points through actions like subscribing and referring. Rewards are alpha access, discounts, and more.
L2beat updated their framework for categorizing L2s. New requirements include functioning proof systems, a DA bridge for Alt-DAs, and a transparent architecture.
DISCLAIMER: I'm NOT a financial advisor. This content is for education and information purposes only. Crypto and DeFi are risky and speculative. Please do your research before investing. Whenever you're ready, here's how we can help you:
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