web3surfer

Surfing through the Web3 space.

[Arrakis @ArrakisFinance]

1/ Announcing the Yield-Bearing Asset Strategy powered by Arrakis Pro.

Built on top of @Uniswap v4, this new strategy delivers consistent deep sell-side liquidity for yield bearing assets like @maplefinance’s syrupUSDC, enabling true DeFi composability.

Here’s how it works

[Hilmar @hilmarxo]

🎙️New pod just dropped! I sit down with my old friend @StaniKulechov, Founder of Aave Labs, to deep dive into @aave v4 and its biggest updates compared to v3.

This is Ep. 1 of a new series where I analyze the evolving architecture of onchain lending markets and their impact on DeFi.

Just as onchain spot trading evolved from p2p models like EtherDelta to pooled AMMs like @Uniswap v2—and now to modular designs like Uniswap v4, built as lower-level protocols for sophisticated actors to run custom strategies without fragmenting liquidity—lending is following a similar path.

ETHLend struggled to scale its p2p fixed-rate lending approach and lacked sophisticated actors building on top of the protocol to abstract this complexity. Aave v1 introduced pooled liquidity, making it easier for retail users to borrow and lend using the same strategy dictated by the Aave DAO.

Now, Aave v4 marks a new phase: a modular hub-and-spoke design for deploying bespoke credit markets.

🧩 Hubs = Capital allocators that determine rates & provide credit lines
🛠️ Spokes = isolated, configurable lending strategies that draw capital from a Hub

Use cases range from RWAs to fixed-rate credit to looped LP vaults (e.g., strategies pioneered by @ArrakisFinance on Uniswap v3 + MakerDAO).

Critically, Aave evolves from a vertically integrated DAO—the sole allocator of protocol capital—into a permissionless platform where institutions (e.g., BlackRock) and DAOs can co-allocate capital alongside Aave itself.

This is the beginning of a modular credit layer for all of DeFi.

🎧 Listen here:
https://t.co/paES6iWsNk

📺 Watch here: https://t.co/3gctRqHcAp

📖 Aave v4 proposal: https://t.co/heiPj3UOz4

[Arrakis @ArrakisFinance]

Arrakis ✨ x @PancakeSwap 🥞 x @BNBCHAIN 🟨

The leading onchain market making protocol for token issuers debuts on BNB Chain’s leading liquidity solution.

[Gelato @gelatonetwork]

What AWS is to Web2, Gelato is to Web3.

Infra that powers rollups, wallets, and apps—at scale.
From chain deployment to RPCs to Account Abstraction.

One platform. All of Web3.

[Luis @luis_0x]

https://t.co/StKE6MWZ3e

[Gelato @gelatonetwork]

NEW STACK: Gelato now supports Avalanche Layer 1s.

For the first time, FinTechs, enterprises and institutions can launch fully serviced, production-grade Layer1 @avax blockchains with custom execution, KYC compliance, and native interoperability ↓

[Arrakis @ArrakisFinance]

Our latest deep dive: The Essential Guide to DAO Liquidity Management.

[Arrakis @ArrakisFinance]

ARRAKIS RESEARCH: @Uniswap V4 Hooks are here and talented teams are shipping solutions that will transform the DEX space 🦄🪝

In our latest deep dive feature, we unpack some of the most promising offerings to look out for:

@A51_Fi (Carbon)
@bunni_xyz (Bunni)
@Corkprotocol
@SemanticLayer (Degen Options and Silicon Valley Fund)
@whetstonedotcc (Doppler)
@flaunchgg (Flaunch)
@CollarProtocol (Meridian)
@TenorFinance
UniCast
& The Arrakis Pro Private Hook

👇 for the TL;DR on why

[Arrakis @ArrakisFinance]

Happy UniV4 day to those who celebrate 🦄🦄🦄🦄

Introducing Arrakis Pro x @Uniswap V4

The future of onchain market making is here.

[Gelato @gelatonetwork]

Introducing Gelato Oracles, now available on hundreds of rollups!

Gelato Oracles automatically deliver 2,000+ @StorkOracle price feeds to 100+ chains like @inkonchain, @LiskHQ, @real_rwa & more.

Save weeks & thousands of dollars in deployment fees with 1-Click.

[Gelato @gelatonetwork]

Babe, wake up.
A new @VitalikButerin essay dropped.

Outlining @Ethereum's scaling strategy centering on rollup scalability, interoperability, security, and utility.

At Gelato, we are ready for the future of tens of thousands of rollups.

Are you? All you need to know ↓ 🧵

[Hilmar @hilmarxo]

just realized that 4 out of the top 7 @arbitrum orbit chains by TVL run on @gelatonetwork 🤯

working daily on realizing the rollup-centric roadmap!

[Gelato @gelatonetwork]

It's 2025, X is buzzing with DeFAI, AiFi, and AI Agents.

AI will redefine how we interact with cyrpto apps. Less friction. More seamless user experience.

Explore how Gelato customers are building next-gen DeFAI, AiFI, and AI Agents on their rollups & apps ↓

[Arrakis @ArrakisFinance]

The definitive guide on how to launch a token and master Protocol Owned Liquidity is here.

We’ve guided 50+ teams on their POL from TGE and beyond, including the likes of @eulerfinance, @EtherFi, and @StargateFinance.

This is the most comprehensive feature we’ve published, offering our top insights for projects preparing to bring their tokens to market in the upcoming TGE season.

[mytwogweis 🌳 @mytwogweis]

Why USD0++'s Depeg was Imminent

I used to work on Morgan Stanley’s high-yield bond desk, so I’ve seen my fair share of distressed assets and quirky mechanisms. "High-yield" sounds fancy, but let’s call it what it is: trading the shittiest of shit bonds. Think defaults waiting to happen—the gutter trash of the credit world.

What’s happening with USD0++ feels like déjà vu. Let me clarify: I’m not saying it’s trash—it’s collateralized by very safe assets, but let's say there are definitely some high-yield elements at play, along with a whole lot of tranching.

As of writing, USD0++ is trading at $0.94, a 6% depeg from its supposed $1 peg on DEXes. Why? After the protocol's announcement of its “dual exit” option, hundreds of millions of USD0++ got dumped by DeFi traders, leaving its largest Curve pool wildly imbalanced.

What is USD0 / USD0++?

USD0 is a simple stablecoin. The real point of this entire game is to convert it to USD0++, the staked version. USD0++ is where the action happens because it earns you $USUAL tokens (we’ll get to those in a bit).

But here’s the kicker: Holding USD0++ locks you in for four years—a detail many DeFi farmers glossed over. In essence, USD0++ functions as a zero-coupon bond—you lock up your money and earn nothing until the end of the term.

If you expect 4% annually over four years, the fair value of USD0++ today should be around $0.855. This means you’d buy it at $0.855, hold it for four years, and redeem it at $1 for a risk-free 4% return.

Before today’s announcement, you could redeem USD0++ 1:1. Now, that’s all changing.

The Dual Exit Details for USD0++

Here’s how the new exit mechanisms work:

1. Conditional Exit: Redeem USD0++ at 1:1, but you forfeit part of your accrued yields. This “Early Unstaking” option launches next week - I'm guessing you'll need to burn $USUAL to exit.

2. Unconditional Exit: Redeem at a floor price, currently $0.87, which will gradually rise to $1 over four years. This option is for those who want to keep their upfront rewards.

For those still HODLing their USD0++

There's a trade-off:

1. Choose the speculative strategy by staking USD0 to USD0++ to farm USUAL tokens and chase those headline-grabbing 60% yields.

2. Choose the Base Interest Guarantee option by locking up USD0++ for four years to earn the “real” risk-free yield of 4% annually, payable only at the end.

But why lock up USD0++ for four years when you could buy liquid treasury-backed ETFs from BlackRock, exit anytime, with higher liquidity? DeFi users are farmers, and those shiny 60% yields are what they’re after. Option 1 was the only ‘real’ option—at least, until today’s announcement.

The key takeaway: USD0++ is now being recalibrated to reflect its true nature and value: a zero-coupon bond plus a $USUAL token emission mechanism. But there are more layers to this.

USUAL... USUALx... USUAL*

Right now, the protocol keeps all the revenue from treasury bills, while participants are left with what looks like an ever-emitting token.

There’s a fee-switch coming, though. Soon, 100% of the interest revenue from treasury bills will go to USUAL stakers, who will earn another token called USUALx (with a 10% fee for unstaking). It gets even more complicated: early investors receive a token called USUAL* (or USUAL Star), entitling them to 10% of all USUAL emissions and 33% of penalty fees.

Lots of Moving Pieces

Here’s how to read it:

1. USD0 Holders: surrendering your interest yield to use the stablecoin, effectively financing this game for the other counterparties—USD0++, USUAL holders, USUALx holders, and USUAL* holders.

2. USD0++ holders: surrendering your interest yield for 4 years, effectively financing this game by betting that $USUAL tokens emitted will be worth more than the interest yield.

3. USUAL / USUALx stakers: betting on the USUAL token to rise / capturing the interest yield surrendered by USD0 and USD0++ holders.

4. USUAL* holders: get 10% of all $USUAL emissions, as well as 33% of penalty fees, receiving a percentage of the value chain.

Just my two gweis, and as always, DYOR

[Gelato @gelatonetwork]

We can't stop shipping 🚢 🚢 🚢

Flashback to H1 2024: Where we set the stage to become the #1 RaaS ↓

→ We shipped at least ONE product update every week
→ Enabled 1-click rollup deployments
→ Added support for Alternative-DA
→ Launched Verifier Nodes

[Gelato @gelatonetwork]

The 2nd half of 2024 is when Gelato truly established our leadership position as RaaS Platform.

From Kraken's @inkonchain, to Animoca's @opencampus_xyz, & @ArenaZ supercharged by $11M fundraise, we've pushed the rollup space forward closing the year strong.

Let's dive in ↓

[Arrakis @ArrakisFinance]

- DeFAI becoming the hottest new sector ✅
- AI agents taking over the timeline ✅
- Cult CT AI projects hitting 100x gains ✅
- “AI agents are a multi-trillion dollar opportunity”: NVIDIA CEO ✅

AI season is in full swing. But how do this meta’s top projects approach onchain liquidity?
If you stopped scrolling to read this, chances are you’ve come across autonomous AI agent launchpads like @virtuals_io, @daosdotfun, and @griffaindotcom.

The buzz around them has soared in recent weeks, thanks in part to the success of experiments like ai16z, @aixbt_agent, and @sekoia_vc.

While the price action is fueling the hype, the most interesting part of this new meta might be the way these AI agents are born.

Take @daosdotfun, the platform for launching autonomous hedge fund DAOs. Creators get one week to raise a target amount of SOL. If successful, the DAO is listed on a bonding curve and 10% of the SOL becomes the token’s base asset.

The token gets listed on a Solana DEX (like Raydium) and liquidity gets locked, so the DAO’s token holders can sell at any time. Every fund has an expiration date, after which any SOL raised goes back to the DAO’s token holders (but they can also sell their tokens on the bonding curve before they expire).
Then there’s Virtuals and its “Initial Agent Offerings.” Here, creators lock VIRTUAL on a bonding curve to launch a token on Base. Once the IAO hits a threshold, a VIRTUAL-paired liquidity pool gets created on Uniswap. When the pool launches, the creator becomes the owner and liquidity gets locked for 10 years. Virtuals says this “ensures long-term commitment and stability” as it stops creators from dumping early.
Both designs share similarities with this cycle’s breakout memecoin app, @pumpdotfun. Pump memes also use a bonding curve then liquidity gets deposited to Raydium and a portion gets burned at a set threshold.

Each product uses a “fair launch” that lets anyone get in on the floor. Creators use them in the hope that their token will graduate, i.e. they want enough liquidity to launch the pool.

As these assets start at zero before the pool launches, the entry barrier is low and price discovery happens entirely onchain. It’s a space where anyone can create any token and DEXs launch tokens well before CEXs get a look in.

The latest AI subniche to take off has been dubbed DeFAI, a space that focuses on leveraging AI to make DeFi more efficient. While nascent, this is worth tracking closely.

This trend is not short of critics. But even if the meta fades out tomorrow, it’s clear that the big innovation is happening onchain and AI could help usher in the DeFi Renaissance. DEXs are eating CEXs’ lunch—we saw this with memecoin mania and the AI meta is accelerating it.

At Arrakis, we’re excited to see how AI fits into a world where DEXs embrace innovations like modularity, Hooks, and dynamic pools. The good news is we shouldn’t have long to wait ⏳

[Arrakis @ArrakisFinance]

ARRAKIS RESEARCH: 2024 was a big year for the MEV supply chain.

We crunched the numbers and arrived at a few surprising results.

The key trend? Ethereum L1 is not the only chain leaking $$$ in MEV anymore 🧵

[Gelato @gelatonetwork]

Gelato Web3 Services are LIVE on @withvana!

Vana is the first open network for user-owned data, enabling decentralized AI with data tokens. Users can securely share & be rewarded for contributing their private data to DataDAOs that govern specific datasets used to train AI models.

Vana DataDAO builders can now abstract gas via Gelato Relay ↓