I just want to highlight that while fuel use is down in China due to rapid EV adoption, coal generation is *also DOWN.*
*That’s* how much solar they’re building.
(everybody should do this)
“If you wait for the robins spring will be over.”
- Ben Cowen ( @benjamincowen )
His point is simple:
"If you waited until the Genius Act... if you waited until Trump to take office… if you waited until all this stuff to go out and buy Bitcoin, you waited until you saw the robins and spring was already over by that point.”
"DeFi is dead."
Not the technology. The category.
In a few years, institutions won't distinguish between DeFi and TradFi.
This is the thesis we're building @maplefinance around as the leading Onchain Asset Manager.
Full article with @CoinDesk
https://t.co/EwCmWRLgjb
Integrity is good @syrupsid especially when you deal with a reputable organisation like @Coredao_Org with ground breaking innovations.
However, Sid Powell, don’t you think your integrity is questionable if you have to return 85% of the lender’s BTC principal❓
Why not 100% ❓
The lesson from the Maple / Core fallout is that real yield for BTC remains unsolved.
The mechanism of this product was always questionable: a complex series of loans and hedging with significant counterparty risk that was ultimately propped up by CORE inflation.
And yet, the TAM for BTC yield is still massive. Every exchange and fintech on the planet is sitting on billions in idle BTC and looking for safe ways to deploy it.
We will continue to see experimentation, but this is just a reminder to never abandon first principles thinking "where does the yield come from"
Maple vs Core: while most focus on a business dispute, I focus on an alleged BTC ‘impairment’ - how can BTC be ‘impaired’ if its just a simple staking product.
Before the maple BTC product came along, Solv also offered a BTC staking product with @Coredao_Org, SolvBTC.CORE. The structure was simple, user deposit BTC, solv provides CORE for dual staking. The CORE exposure was not hedged, so yields vary (mostly decline, really) to a point our users started to opt for Solv’s other offerings for higher BTC yield.
When maple rolled out lstBTC, I thought was very smart, CORE was hedged, an improvement to SolvBTC.CORE. I was skeptical to an advertised 5% return though, I work in this yield long enough to know a safe BTC staking (not rehypothecated or lent out) is <1%.
Turns out it isn’t that simple - The BTC is put up as collateral. The lending part was never mentioned in the maple website. But it is mentioned in the coredao docs.
So looks like what happens is:
- BTC is lent to maple, who uses it to borrow USDC then buy CORE.
- CoreDao sells cash-collateralised put option to maple to hedge CORE exposure.
- CORE price has dropped from $0.5 to $0.1 from 02/2025.
- CoreDao honoured every put expiries until it found out maple potentially had a breach of contract.
- The injuction forbids maple from selling CORE, hedge stops functioning, maple potentially couldn’t repay its borrowing.
- In extreme case, the BTC collateral can be liquidated to cover the debt.
- Maple will return 85% to BTC lenders now, the rest 15% is left for dispute.
Update!
🧵🥞
@maplefinance Q4 Ecosystem Call took place on Wednesday, and there was all sorts of extremely bullish stuff discussed :)
Maple co-founders @joe_defi and @syrupsid spoke at length all about Maple's success in 2025 (see first clip below!) and plans for 2026 and beyond!
Here's some highlights:
1/x
Bitcoin had a death cross today.
Note that prior death crosses marked local lows in the market.
Of course, when the cycle is over, the death cross rally fails.
The time for Bitcoin to bounce if the cycle is not over would be starting within the next week.
If no bounce occurs within 1 week, probably another dump before a larger rally back to the 200D SMA which would then mark a macro lower high.
Trade the market you have, not the market you want.
The @virtuals_io ecosystem is making another unexpected comeback.
Its price nearly doubled after the 10/10 crash. Several new catalysts
such as Robotics, x402, and more are taking effect.
Here's an 80/20 of what's happening:
UPGRADE #1: ACP - Agent Payments Are Happening
Virtuals’ Agent Commerce Protocol (ACP) is now the plumbing behind the entire ecosystem.
Imagine agents trading services with each other using USDC, all automated.
ACP handles it: escrow, verification and settlement. Fully onchain.
Think Fiverr meets Stripe, but for AI agents. This becomes the base layer for the agent economy.
UPGRADE #2: x402 connection
With @coinbase’s x402 standard taking off (pay-per-call agent payments via stablecoins), ACP becomes even more relevant.
Agents can now:
• Pay each other per API call.
• Monetize data in micro amounts.
• Run machine-to-machine economies.
• Plug x402 into ACP and you get instant, machine-to-machine micropayments without API keys or subscriptions - exactly what agents need to operate at scale.
You’ll hear a lot more about ACP as x402 spreads. Virtuals already has it live.
UPGRADE #3: Butler - The Onramp to All of It.
Butler is like ChatGPT, but crypto-native and live on X. You can now open perps in DMs with 70+ assets & up to 200x leverage on $BTC/$ETH
• Want alpha? Ask @aixbt_agent.
• Need token swaps? DM @AIxVC_Axelrod.
• Want to stake? Butler can route you to agents.
All of this works over DMs on Twitter. No app. No browser extension. Just tag @Butler_Agent and go.
Butler routes jobs to specialist agents and settles through ACP/x402.
UPGRADE #4: Unicorn Launchpad - New Launch Model
Their old “Genesis” launchpad got farmed to death. Everyone farmed points, sold tokens & moved on.
So the team decided to scrap it.
Unicorn is the new system:
• Anti-sniper tax at launch
• Team unlocks tied to FDV milestones
• 3% ecosystem airdrop to people actually using Butler/ACP.
It works like an airdrop, but actually rewarding users who use the ecosystem, not random farmers.
UPGRADE #5: Robotics Expansion
Virtuals is now helping build the open-source data layer for robotics.
Through “SeeSaw”, people can film themselves doing basic actions (like making a sandwich) and robots use this to learn real-world movement.
All recorded submissions are verified as “Verifiable Robotic Work” and rewarded.
Virtuals takes the “Middle Way”: own the data + capital infra (SeeSaw + Unicorn), not the hardware.
It’s live on the @BitRobotNetwork as SN/05 with more quests + rewards coming soon.
UPGRADE #6: Lastly, Luna fun
AI Memes + Tokens launchpad on BNB network by @luna_virtuals
At Luna dot fun, anyone can launch a token and instantly spin up AI-generated meme content using agents.
Agents create and post media for your token. ACP attributes work and x402 settles payments - fully on-chain attention without any kind of human hand-holding.
And to keep expectations grounded: Here are some points to keep in mind before jumping again into the Virtuals trenches.
• Liquidity across agent tokens is still terrible right now.
• Most of the ecosystem is early, thinly traded and highly narrative-driven.
• Virtuals is building a full agentic economy…but economies take time to form and right now it’s still a cluster of early adopters pushing the flywheel.
The entire market is in a high-rotation phase. Narratives catch fire quickly - but they also cool off just as fast.
Virtuals has the vision and the traction, but fundamentals and liquidity don’t always move on the same timeline.
So, what’s the result of these upgrades? Now you’ve got:
• Agents running hedge funds, media desks, DeFi yield vaults
• ACP as the payment + coordination layer
• x402 for micropayments
• Butler as the interface
• Unicorn for funding
• Robotics for embodiment
• Luna fun for content
Also @fundstrat now frames Virtuals as the “agentic stack” with ~20k daily active wallets and meaningful daily revenue from trading taxes.
It’s one of the few protocols actually building infra for the agent economy and they’re doing it across all layers.
If you rotated out of $VIRTUAL earlier this year, this might be a good time to look again.
Because this time? If agentic GDP is the next wave, Virtuals built the rails and finally turned them on.
Welcome @luna_virtuals to BNB Chain, a meme launchpad with built-in AI-generated content!
Note: This post is for informational purposes only and not financial advice. DYOR.
https://t.co/ZcG3ChDi3q
Now tracking https://t.co/Nf7IckKngg @luna_virtuals on our Fees & Revenue Dashboard
A meme launchpad with built-in AI-generated content (AIGC). Each token includes its own AI content engine, where agents automatically post memes across X to promote on-chain engagement