DefiShaka.eth

[Brian Armstrong @brian_armstrong]

People still think (or feel) because Bitcoin is down crypto is down.

Derivatives/perps, stablecoins, prediction markets, etc are all up in crypto.

Crypto touches every area of finance, and is much broader than Bitcoin now. It will take some time for this to sink in.

(And yes - Bitcoin is going to do great and is as important as ever - one of many cycles we've all been through.)

[Michael Egorov @newmichwill]

I see a lot of doomposting about Bitcoin and crypto because crypto is somehow not the favourite toy of the market at the moment (AI stonks are).

I want to remind that crypto is not a toy, and it's serving its true purpose - self-sovereignty of every user, financial rails which are always on and do not stop working. Institutions are also into adopting something which has no clunky intermediaries now, so fundamentally we are better than ever.

AI is foundational, but it will go through its own valley of death: replacing humans by AI would put AI outputs into AI inputs, quality will degrade, and costs will grow exponentially to maintain it. Large companies who push AI everywhere aren't necessarily using it correctly, so they report some overly large expenses.

Both technologies - crypto and AI - are foundational. They are not the same thing though, and they are not competing with each other in principle.

Crypto is the future of Finance!

[Brian Armstrong @brian_armstrong]

The crypto market structure bill has PASSED the Senate Banking Committee with a bi-partisan vote!

Historic day for crypto and for the future of digital assets in America. Grateful for the countless hours from lawmakers and staff to strengthen this legislation. Big improvement from where we were in January on rewards, tokenization, DeFi, and CFTC authority. I'm proud we stood up for our customers in that moment, and the bill is better because of it.

Looking forward to a bipartisan law that cements the US as the world's crypto capital. Let's get CLARITY done.

[DefiShaka.eth @DefiShaka]

Good thread by @JBSDC explaining the US Securities and Exchange Commission guidance on crypto today 👇

[Justin Slaughter @JBSDC]

By and large, this guidance basically agrees with the position of the crypto industry for years. It makes clear most crypto token aren’t securities but some are.

Short thread laying this guidance out.

[DefiShaka.eth @DefiShaka]

👀👀

[U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission @SECGov]

TODAY 🚨: The Commission issued an interpretation that clarifies the application of federal securities laws to crypto assets.

This is a major step to provide greater clarity regarding the Commission’s treatment of crypto assets.

Read the release here: https://t.co/DDykVLHZQI

[DefiShaka.eth @DefiShaka]

[5 month] Farmer Carry Challenge update!

Each week I test how long it takes to perform a 0.5 mile farmer carry with different weights: 35lb dumbbells, 40lb, 45lb, 50lb. 30s rest each time I have to drop the weight.

Today I tested the 40lb dumbbells.
- TOTAL TIME: 9:05, down from 15:06
- TOTAL REST: 1:30, down from 5:03
- # OF RESTS: 3, down from 10 (30s each)

My long-term goal is to be able to carry the 35lb dumbbells the full 0.5mi without rest. I'm still quite far away: I have to extend my longest carry from 4:17 to about 7:30 to complete the distance with no rest (I started with a longest carry of 1:54).

[DefiShaka.eth @DefiShaka]

Farmer carry challenge update!

Each week I test how long it takes to perform a 0.5mi farmer carry. 30s rest each time I have to drop the dumbbells. 35lb dumbbells week 1, 40lb week 2, 45lb week 3, 50lb week 4.

Massive improvements on today's 50lb test. Improved:
* # of carries from 18 to 10
* Total rest time from 8:36 to 4:32
* Total time from 20:28 to 12:55
* Longest carry from 1:08 to 2:11

[Winthorpe @CryptoWinthorpe]

Its immutable smart contracts mean it is still the largest share of CVX Votium incentives and one of the largest incentivized markets. Saying we don't care about it is a blatant lie. We have done a lot to try to help it and continue to do so. As I said, we have spent significantly from the treasury and still do. Every CRV received by the treasury to date has gone toward it in some way.

The gap between us and other protocols is that they receive voting incentives because their design is different. We have a two-token design while they have a single-token design. Instead of voting incentives, ours provides a 10% share of all CRV flowing through our protocol, as well as CVX rewards that we have continued to add to — rewards that would have dried up years ago. If you have a grievance with anything here, it should be that veCRV fees are down and need to be improved, but that is on Curve's side to find a solution.

As I stated in my opening, Convex is immutable — that is why you and many others have trusted Convex so much over the years, whether you realized it or not. We cannot change it or rug the protocol. It has functioned as designed from the start.

We have added a wrapper on top of cvxCRV — which I am sure you are aware of — that allows you to choose which incentives you want to receive: crvUSD or CRV/CVX. However, as you know, this is just a wrapper; we cannot change how cvxCRV works.

[DefiShaka.eth @DefiShaka]

Now is actually a good time to do this if you want to permanently exit your veYB position (the sdYB peg is currently strong)...unlike the user I posted about who did this in a panic in the crash several weeks ago to cover their Hyperliquid positions.
https://t.co/BrMiF15nn0

[Stake DAO @StakeDAOHQ]

Reminder: veYB holders can migrate their veYB lock into sdYB directly on the Stake DAO app to:

↳ Retain voting power
↳ Get boosted @yieldbasis native yield

3 steps: Clear votes → Max lock → Migrate.

[DefiShaka.eth @DefiShaka]

@0xngmi @deeberiroz 🙏

[DefiShaka.eth @DefiShaka]

Others in the Defi space should also take this perspective to heart. A website warning does not absolve poor design.

[XY @xydotdot]

How the fuck is CT grading this response on tone instead of product judgment?

Thinking the issue is that a warning appeared, that a user checked a box, or that the trade could technically be completed, is stupid.

The issue is that a leading interface in DeFi allowed a $50M order to move through a flow where catastrophic execution was an entirely predictable outcome. Once you know the order size, know the available liquidity, know the expected slippage, and know the probable output degradation, responsibility shifts to the system design itself.

At that point, hiding behind user consent is weak as fuck.

Consent inside a badly designed decision environment does not suddenly become good product architecture. Imagine using the same checkbox for acceptable slippage on a normal trade and on a trade that can lose $50M....

What they are doing, through lack of vision and lack of standards, is pushing liability downstream.

What makes this worse is that the solution is obvious.

Extreme order sizes should trigger a different class of interface behavior because they belong to a different class of risk.

Hard execution thresholds, delayed confirmations, forced acknowledgment of minimum output in large font, segmented execution paths, deeper routing logic, stronger friction as size detaches from liquidity, and escalation rules for absurd trades.

None of this requires a research breakthrough.

It requires teams to stop acting like legality at the transaction layer is enough to claim integrity at the product layer.

Aave has enough stature, enough resources, and enough industry visibility to know this.

So when one of the flagship names in crypto answers an event like this with “the warning was shown and the system worked as intended,” what it really communicates is something much uglier: the mindset of too many crypto founders is complacent as fuck, and that is exactly why the industry still struggles to earn the trust it keeps claiming it wants.

[Stake DAO @StakeDAOHQ]

Stake DAO is aware of an issue affecting Votemarket and is actively investigating. Claims are currently disabled. More information will be shared as soon as possible.

[DefiShaka.eth @DefiShaka]

😬

[Stani @StaniKulechov]

Earlier today, a user attempted to buy AAVE using $50M USDT through the Aave interface.

Given the unusually large size of the single order, the Aave interface, like most trading interfaces, warned the user about extraordinary slippage and required confirmation via a checkbox. The user confirmed the warning on their mobile device and proceeded with the swap, accepting the high slippage, which ultimately resulted in receiving only 324 AAVE in return.

The transaction could not be moved forward without the user explicitly accepting the risk through the confirmation checkbox.

The CoW Swap routers functioned as intended, and the integration followed standard industry practices. However, while the user was able to proceed with the swap, the final outcome was clearly far from optimal.

Events like this do occur in DeFi, but the scale of this transaction was significantly larger than what is typically seen in the space.

We sympathize with the user and will try to make a contact with the user and we will return $600K in fees collected from the transaction.

The key takeaway is that while DeFi should remain open and permissionless, allowing users to perform transactions freely, there are additional guardrails the industry can build to better protect users. Our team will be investigating ways to improve these safeguards going forward.

[Convex Finance @ConvexFinance]

tl;dr for anyone who didn't read the whole thing yet: We showed up, locked 53% of the $CRV, won the war, and have been quietly printing yield for lockers every 2 weeks for the past 5 years. Thanks @CredibleCrypto!

[DefiShaka.eth @DefiShaka]

@leondoteth Paradox is exactly right

[DefiShaka.eth @DefiShaka]

It’s the one year anniversary of my mother’s passing from cancer and today’s Achilles workout is in her honor.

In the final months of mom’s life, I found myself, a single bachelor, as mom's primary caretaker. In the early days when she was still strong enough to move around the house, she followed me around like a puppy. As with many family relationships, my mother and I had a lot of baggage, and I found myself resentful at the intrusion.

But over the months we found our little ways to begin connecting; it was a period of thawing. Walking on the beach, playing many rounds of solitaire on the couch, or watching the 1957 Disney show "Zorro" together. I even began to feel connection in the daily preparing her meals (satisfying her cravings for French fries), pouring her tea, putting ice in her cup.

But perhaps the biggest breakthrough came one night when I finally opened up to her and shared about the struggles I was having with my girlfriend. Relationships were an off-limits zone; too personal to share with someone I hadn't felt connected to; too vulnerable and intimate. Sitting before her that night, it was as if I had walked up to the edge of a cliff and peered down into a chasm of the unknown. I could stay safe and keep those personal details private or I could lean forward and jump. As I stood at the precipice my stomach twisted as a battle for intimacy raged within.

But I jumped. From the outside, it wasn't the biggest thing ever. But for me it was symbolic. An olive branch. A reconnecting of whatever cord had been severed so many years before. And she responded just as you'd expect, as a mom giving her son the dating advice she never had a chance to when I was growing up.

As I reflect on those last few months, it was both the hardest of times and most cherished. To be honest, I believe those final months may have been some of mom's happiest…the chance to just be a mom sharing time with her kids.

I love you, momma. I miss you.

The “Achilles” workout is inspired by @rektdiomedes. Give him a follow! Today’s effort: 2 miles, 25lb backpack, 45lb dumbbells. The time was 1 hour and 22 minutes of pain.

[rektdiomedes @rektdiomedes]

Gm lads -

Did this month's Achilles in honor of my home here in Chadistan-By-The-Sea 💪

As many of ya'll know I moved here 2-3 years ago and it was literally the best decision I've ever made...

Its funny because I remember for years I would always tell people:

"If I ever got cancer I would just move somewhere tropical and sleep outside every night and swim in the ocean every day and eat nothing but real foods" and etc...

And then finally it occurred to me- well, if that's what I'd do if I got cancer, then why not just do it anyway?

It was the same with the TV show Lost, which I've always been a massive fan of...

I would watch the show on repeat, on a loop, for years on end...

And I would just constantly think:

"Man... that would be so cool to just live on some tropical island, and chill on the beach all day, and sit around a fire, and hike through the jungle at night having all sorts of adventures..."

So I eventually I decided to move here to the tropics, and all of the above is exactly what I've done...

With that said, I still have an overwhelming love for the mountains, and the north, and the little slice of hyperborea I grew up in.

And I do unequivocally think growing up in the far north makes one tougher and also gives one far greater perspective, and far greater appreciation for the fragility of life and the passing of time and lots of other stuff...

Indeed I really grappled with the question of moving here as a result of that...

I thought to myself:

"If my viking ancestors could survive and thrive in Scandinavia, why shouldn't I be able to survive and thrive in the northern US?"

And I basically came to the conclusion that our day to day life is vastly different now than 1000 years ago, and alot of that makes it much harder to live a healthy lifestyle in cold climates now vs then, and conversely makes it much easier to live a healthy lifestyle in tropical places now vs then...

And basically if I want to absolutely max out my health and quality of life in today's world the best way to do so was moving somewhere tropical...

So, as a result, I am currently on my 'vikings in equatoria' arc, and sleeping under the stars and working out on the beach and everything else :)

And, indeed, I have never felt healthier my entire life....

If you have any opportunity to do the same (and it doesn't involve leaving family behind- as family is the most important thing obviously), then I would highly recommend doing so 🤝

....

But yeah, as always:

'Achilles' workout was two miles of carrying two 70 lb dumbbells while wearing a 70 lb backpack (two miles of successive farmers carry's basically), plus 70 weighted 70 lb pullups at the end...

Time was 2 hours and 56 minutes...

Appreciate you all tremendously my brothers 💪🤝

[DefiShaka.eth @DefiShaka]

@crypto_flynn0x @QuotableCrypto @rektdiomedes Thank you, Flynn 🤙

[DefiShaka.eth @DefiShaka]

@leondoteth Thank you. It's true that sometimes the toughest moments bring us the most growth. It's painful but sometimes we can find meaning in it.

[DefiShaka.eth @DefiShaka]

@_SmokinTed Thank you, ser 🤙

[DefiShaka.eth @DefiShaka]

@QuotableCrypto Thank you, ser. Sorry for your loss as well. An extended family member is dealing with dementia and that is rough.

[DefiShaka.eth @DefiShaka]

@WovenDissent @rektdiomedes Epic

[DefiShaka.eth @DefiShaka]

@WovenDissent @rektdiomedes Oh, man. I need to try this on a mountain trail at some point when I'm stronger. Would be epic.