Today in DeFi - Serum Launch, Uniswap Sets New Record, Red Tide
Serum Launches
Serum just launched. Built on Solana, it is cross-chain interoperable with Ethereum, allowing it to support the trading of Ethereum tokens in a non-custodial manner at high speed.
Uniswap Reaches New Record
Decentralized Exchange Uniswap has surpassed Coinbase in volume for the first time, and also achieved a record-high TVL :
All well and good for Uniswap, right? Well, until you consider the reason for the surge.
Sushiswap, an upcoming Uniswap fork with a token, has incentivized yield farming Uniswap LP tokens. This is almost certainly the cause of the increased TVL, and also probably has increased Uniswap trading volume.
The implications are far reaching
Red Tide
Redphonecrypto has an insightful thread explaining the dynamics and implications of the SushiSwap/Uniswap drama.
While Uniswap is the darling of DeFi, its recent raise of $11.8M has also raised a lot of eyebrows in the DeFi community. SushiSwap was made almost in direct response to this, as well as inspired by Martin Krungβs article on Vampire Mining.
By offering a more fair distribution, as well as front-running Uniswapβs token launch, Sushiswap has managed to achieve over $400M TVL, rivaling Uniswap itself.
If this liquidity migrates over to the new Sushiswap exchange - a fork of Uniswap currently undergoing audit - it would present a credible rival to Uniswap since it would have similar (or even greater) liquidity.
I highly recommend reading both redphonecryptoβs thread to understand the long term implications, as well as Martinβs article to understand the immediate implications of Sushiswap.
Please note that this newsletter does not endorse any token. Liquidity Mining is dangerous, involving both smart contract and Impermanent Loss risk. Look for audits before using smart contracts, and Do your own research.