April 11, 2022       /       Unchained Daily       /       Laura Shin

Daily Bits ✍️✍️✍️

• Canaan launched new bitcoin mining hardware in its A12 series.

• Near Protocol is set to launch an algorithmic stablecoin.

• Coinbase disabled a payments network just days after launching in India.

• Twitter scammers are hacking verified accounts to trick people into entering fake NFT airdrop giveaways.

• Polygon announced the date for the testnet release of Avail, a new blockchain network focused on scalability.

• A group of Republican senators published a policy paper on cryptocurrencies.

• The OCC believes that weak stablecoin interoperability is problematic.

• The FDIC is worried about the risks associated with crypto-related activities for banks.

• Ethereum scaler Arbitrum released a major update.

Today in Crypto Adoption…

• Tesla, Block, and Blockstream are working together to mine Bitcoin using solar power in Texas.

• Binance was approved in principle by Abu Dhabi as a digital asset broker-dealer.

• The CME added reference rates for Solana, Cardano, Polygon, and eight other tokens.

• Crypto exchange visitors rose in March.

The $$$ Corner…

• Slow news day!

What Do You Meme?

What’s Poppin’?

Strike Unveiled a New Lightning Network Use Case

Strike, the Jack Mallers-led mobile payments app, announced a new integration with Shopify that will allow the merchants associated with Shopify the option of accepting Bitcoin over the Lightning Network.

“The integration for Shopify merchants, designed with ease of use in mind, allows merchants to easily accept bitcoin payments as dollars,” Strike wrote in a press release. “Strike’s integration also allows Shopify merchants to generate savings through low-cost payment processing. By instantly converting bitcoin payments to dollars, Strike removes certain complexities merchants face in holding bitcoin.”

Strike partnered with the payments firm Blackhawk Network and NCR, the world’s largest point-of-sale supplier, to integrate Shopify. The news came on stage at Bitcoin 2022, the annual conference held in Miami.

Strike’s integration of Shopify is the latest in a string of news about Lightning Network adoption. For example, Robinhood, in the public release of its crypto wallet application last week, revealed that the exchange will add support for bitcoin transactions on the Lightning Network. Furthermore, Cash App, which integrated Lightning Network into its platform in January, recently announced a new feature that will allow users to make near-instantaneous payments using QR-code enabled transactions on Bitcoin’s layer 2 solution.

Recommended Reads

1. a16z on decentralization:

2. @spacepixel on why P2E models are flawed:

3. @slurpxbt on why crypto could be going into a bear market:

On The Pod…

Here’s Why USDN De-Pegged From the Dollar – And Why UST Might Too

Kevin Zhou, co-founder of Galois Capital, discusses a crazy week in the world of algorithmic stablecoins that saw USDN de-peg from the dollar and Terra unveil plans to create a new liquidity pool on Curve to strengthen UST. Show highlights:

• how USDN and Waves works

• what made USD de-peg

• why Kevin thinks algorithmic stablecoins fail so often

• what Kevin thinks about backing UST with BTC

• how 4pool works in the context of Curve Finance, 3pool, UST, Frax Finance, and Redacted Cartel

• why Kevin believes Anchor is the reason UST could de-peg

• what might happen to Terra and the crypto market writ large if UST were to de-peg

• why lowering yields on Anchor could depress LUNA’s price by 8x

• how UST and LUNA redemptions work

Book Update

You can purchase it here: http://bit.ly/cryptopians