Uniswap ready to fight SEC for DeFi, Bitcoin Runes hype fades: Finance redefined
Last week was filled with excitement over the approval of a US-based decentralized finance (DeFi) exchange-traded fund (ETF), as well as concerns about DeFi's regulatory landscape. Popular decentralized exchange (DEX) Uniswap has vowed to fight the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in its response to the agency's notice to Wells, saying the SEC's case is “weak”.
In other news, Bitcoin Runes, which peaked in popularity in April, has seen an 84 percent drop in transactions since then. Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin has called for the use of zero-knowledge (ZK) likes on his newly launched decentralized social media platform Farcaster to fight election fraud.
After almost a week of market-wide price surges, the total value locked in DeFi protocols jumped $10 billion and rose again to over $100 billion.
Uniswap responds to SEC Wells announcement: “We are ready to fight for DeFi”.
Uniswap Labs, the developer behind the Uniswap DEX, responded when the SEC issued a Wells Notice to the firm, suggesting enforcement action.
In a blog post on May 21, Uniswap said the SEC made “weak” legal arguments for issuing Wells' notice to the exchange and was “ready to fight” the case in court if necessary.
The company said its lawyers have successfully represented companies including Greyscale and Ripple before the financial regulator. Chief Legal Officer Marvin Amory called the SEC's case “weak and flawed,” based on all indications that it was warranted.
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As Bitcoin Runes hype fades, transactions drop 84 percent.
The Bitcoin Runes protocol is struggling to maintain its share of Bitcoin (BTC) transactions. Since its launch on April 20, Runes transactions have dominated Bitcoin blockchain traffic on eight separate days, mostly over the weekend.
The launch of Bitcoin Runes coincided with the fourth Bitcoin halving. The resulting boost has seen transaction volume rise on the Bitcoin blockchain. Earnings from Bitcoin mining surpassed $100 million for the first time, with a record daily earnings of $107.7 million.
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Vitalik Buterin supports “likes” on Farcaster after X's privacy change
Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin has expressed his support for X Engineer Haofei's announcement on decentralized social media platform Farcaster. Haofei X revealed that he would make “likes” private.
On May 20, Buterin took the idea further, pointing out that Farcaster Implementation ZK likes to fight election fraud – the misrepresentation of a real election due to social pressure or fear.
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StarkWare's ZKThreads solution prevents lock-ins like FTX
Starkware has announced the introduction of ZKThreads, a new threading framework designed to prevent blockchains and improve the development of decentralized applications.
Reflecting on the impact of ZKThreads, Lewis Guttman, head of product/market strategy at StarWare, told Cointelegraph, “Thread-scale technology. [StarkWare] They are built to prevent a disaster like FTX.
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Overview of the DeFi market
According to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView, DeFi's top 100 tokens had a strong week by market capitalization. Most tokens trade in green on weekly charts. After weeks of bearish pressure, the total value locked in DeFi protocols has passed the $100 billion mark.
Thanks for reading this week's roundup of the most impactful DeFi developments. Join us next Friday for more stories, insights and lessons about this dynamic and evolving space.
