Espresso Systems Nears TGE! $60M Raised, Mainnet 1.0 Launch Countdown Begins as A16z-Led Hype Soars
Recent Espresso Updates On May 2nd, Espresso Systems announced a three-phase token minting process: Guaranteed Allocation, Over-Allocation, and Public Round. Phase 2 is now live and must be completed by May 15th. Additional participation methods will be unveiled next week. On the same day, Espresso announced a major milestone on its path to Mainnet 1.0: a collaboration with 22 node operators to upgrade the Decaf testnet into a permissionless proof-of-stake system. This upgrade, a critical ste...
Polygon ID Rebrands as Billions, Secures $30M to Advance Trusted Digital Identity
Billions, the first human-AI universal network, aims to extend mobile-first, privacy-first verification to billions of users—and future AI agents—establishing a foundational infrastructure for trusted interactions between humans and machines.$30M Funding Round Led by PolygonEarlier this month, Billions announced a $30 million funding round led by Polygon, with participation from Polychain, Coinbase Ventures, LibertyCity Ventures, BITKRAFT Ventures, and other prominent crypto and AI infrastruc...
The Rise of Bitcoin DeFi: Infrastructure Arms Race and the Coming Explosion
1. From Digital Gold to Yield-Bearing “Platinum” For fifteen years Bitcoin was the world’s most valuable parking lot—you parked, you prayed, you waited. In Q3-2025 the lot sprouted toll booths:BTCFi TVL ↑ 2 200 % YoYLombard community sale 14× oversubscribed, 21 340 wallets, 132 countries.Babylon’s first staking epoch filled 24 000 BTC ($1.5 bn) in 100 minutes—Ticketmaster-level FOMO.The Ferrari is finally leaving the garage.2. Staking 1.0 – Native, Non-Custodial, Liquid BabylonScript-level ti...
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Espresso Systems Nears TGE! $60M Raised, Mainnet 1.0 Launch Countdown Begins as A16z-Led Hype Soars
Recent Espresso Updates On May 2nd, Espresso Systems announced a three-phase token minting process: Guaranteed Allocation, Over-Allocation, and Public Round. Phase 2 is now live and must be completed by May 15th. Additional participation methods will be unveiled next week. On the same day, Espresso announced a major milestone on its path to Mainnet 1.0: a collaboration with 22 node operators to upgrade the Decaf testnet into a permissionless proof-of-stake system. This upgrade, a critical ste...
Polygon ID Rebrands as Billions, Secures $30M to Advance Trusted Digital Identity
Billions, the first human-AI universal network, aims to extend mobile-first, privacy-first verification to billions of users—and future AI agents—establishing a foundational infrastructure for trusted interactions between humans and machines.$30M Funding Round Led by PolygonEarlier this month, Billions announced a $30 million funding round led by Polygon, with participation from Polychain, Coinbase Ventures, LibertyCity Ventures, BITKRAFT Ventures, and other prominent crypto and AI infrastruc...
The Rise of Bitcoin DeFi: Infrastructure Arms Race and the Coming Explosion
1. From Digital Gold to Yield-Bearing “Platinum” For fifteen years Bitcoin was the world’s most valuable parking lot—you parked, you prayed, you waited. In Q3-2025 the lot sprouted toll booths:BTCFi TVL ↑ 2 200 % YoYLombard community sale 14× oversubscribed, 21 340 wallets, 132 countries.Babylon’s first staking epoch filled 24 000 BTC ($1.5 bn) in 100 minutes—Ticketmaster-level FOMO.The Ferrari is finally leaving the garage.2. Staking 1.0 – Native, Non-Custodial, Liquid BabylonScript-level ti...
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High-Yield Wealth Management in Stablecoin Clothing
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High-Yield Wealth Management in Stablecoin Clothing
Flash-Crash in 8 Minutes – the xUSD Story
On 4 Nov 2025, Stream Finance’s “interest-bearing stablecoin” xUSD collapsed from US$1.00 to US$0.12, wiping out 88 % of its market-cap in one afternoon.
Trigger: A 4× leveraged delta-neutral book built on opaque off-chain positions lost US$93 m during the 11 Oct crypto rout.
After-shock: Within seven days > US$1 bn fled every “yield-bearing stablecoin” tracked by StableWatch—an exodus equal to a mid-size city-bank run.
Mirror of 2008 – Packaging Risk as Safety
Stream marketed xUSD as “USD-pegged, auto-compounding, low-risk”.
Reality check on-chain:
Only 30 % of the US$500 m TVL was verifiable; the rest sat in “Schrödinger custody”.
Real leverage > 4×: US$170 m equity, US$530 m borrowed across DeFi loops.
Strategy: high-frequency perp–spot arbitrage—essentially a hedge-fund share, not cash.
Cyvers CEO Deddy Lavid: “Code was fine; humans were the attack vector.”
Curators – the Domino Couriers
Morpho/Euler “Curators” (on-chain fund managers) chased double-digit yields by stuffing vaults with xUSD:
TelosC exposure: US$123 m
K3 Capital lost US$2 m after Elixir (deUSD) secretly rotated US$68 m into Stream; now preparing U.S. litigation.
When gate-keepers become yield-chasers, the fortress falls from inside.
Same Script, Different Decade
2022: 20 % “risk-free” in UST → US$40 b hole.
2008: sub-prime CDOs rated AAA → global margin-call.
Today > 50 yield-stablecoins still sit on > US$8 b TVL, most replicating leveraged basis trades, gamma shorts or repo ladders—dressed as “stable”.
Take-away
A 15 % coupon is not a feature; it’s a disclosure.
If it needs a super-normal yield to seduce you, it was never a stablecoin—just a hedge-fund ticket with a misleading ticker.
Flash-Crash in 8 Minutes – the xUSD Story
On 4 Nov 2025, Stream Finance’s “interest-bearing stablecoin” xUSD collapsed from US$1.00 to US$0.12, wiping out 88 % of its market-cap in one afternoon.
Trigger: A 4× leveraged delta-neutral book built on opaque off-chain positions lost US$93 m during the 11 Oct crypto rout.
After-shock: Within seven days > US$1 bn fled every “yield-bearing stablecoin” tracked by StableWatch—an exodus equal to a mid-size city-bank run.
Mirror of 2008 – Packaging Risk as Safety
Stream marketed xUSD as “USD-pegged, auto-compounding, low-risk”.
Reality check on-chain:
Only 30 % of the US$500 m TVL was verifiable; the rest sat in “Schrödinger custody”.
Real leverage > 4×: US$170 m equity, US$530 m borrowed across DeFi loops.
Strategy: high-frequency perp–spot arbitrage—essentially a hedge-fund share, not cash.
Cyvers CEO Deddy Lavid: “Code was fine; humans were the attack vector.”
Curators – the Domino Couriers
Morpho/Euler “Curators” (on-chain fund managers) chased double-digit yields by stuffing vaults with xUSD:
TelosC exposure: US$123 m
K3 Capital lost US$2 m after Elixir (deUSD) secretly rotated US$68 m into Stream; now preparing U.S. litigation.
When gate-keepers become yield-chasers, the fortress falls from inside.
Same Script, Different Decade
2022: 20 % “risk-free” in UST → US$40 b hole.
2008: sub-prime CDOs rated AAA → global margin-call.
Today > 50 yield-stablecoins still sit on > US$8 b TVL, most replicating leveraged basis trades, gamma shorts or repo ladders—dressed as “stable”.
Take-away
A 15 % coupon is not a feature; it’s a disclosure.
If it needs a super-normal yield to seduce you, it was never a stablecoin—just a hedge-fund ticket with a misleading ticker.
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