GM Digest #389 — BTC LRT Meta
Good Morning with Valuable Alpha / News
Apple Enables Crypto Payments on iPhone
• Apple has announced plans to integrate USDC with tap to pay and other NFC options, opening up possibilities for crypto payments and digital IDs.
• The integration is expected to be available with the release of iOS 18.1, potentially reaching over 1.4 billion iPhone users.
• Additionally, there are rumors that Tesla may soon accept Bitcoin as a payment method.
Sahara AI Raise $43M
• @SaharaLabsAI raised $43 million in a strategic round led by major investors like @PanteraCapital and @BinanceLabs to build a decentralized AI blockchain platform
• This platform aims to democratize AI by enabling fair compensation, data sovereignty, and collaborative AI development
• Key components include a blockchain for secure transactions, an AI marketplace, and development tools for all skill levels
• The funding will ne used to expand the team, improve the tech, and grow the ecosystem, with the upcoming launch of the Sahara AI Marketplace coming soon
Goldilocks Funding Round
• @goldilocksmoney DAO raised $1.5 million in a strategic funding round led by @shimacapital and @hack_vc, with participation from several other investors
• The funds will be used to expand the team and develop DeFi products on Berachain
• Goldilocks DAO is launching three products: Goldiswap (an AMM), Goldilend (an NFT lending platform), and Goldivaults (a yield tokenization platform) on the Berachain testnet
Shezmu's Re Hype Vaults
• @ShezmuTech's upcoming Re Hype Vaults let you borrow $shezETH or $shezUSD while earning interest on your collateral, creating a dual-income strategy
• When you borrow against assets like $weETH, your collateral is used in platforms like Silo Finance to generate lending interest, staking rewards, and potential airdrops
• Even in liquidation, the vault token can be redeemed for collateral. Lower borrowing rates help offset costs with earned interest, maximizing yield while minimizing expenses
Kelp’s Gain is Live
• @KelpDAO’s Airdrop Gain is live — it offers access to multiple L2 networks, restaking platforms and DeFi opportunities with a single click.
• Users simply deposit ETH, rsETH, ETHx, stETH and receive agETH (receipt token). There’ll be LP pool for agETH and soon users will be able to use agETH with many Defi protocols to farm for incentives
Swell Introduces swBTC
• @swellnetworkio introducing swBTC, Bitcoin LRT to offer restaking yield from the Ethereum ecosystem, including Symbiotic (EigenLayer & Karak Soon)
• Real restaking rewards are expected mid-September. Until then, $swBTC earns 3x Black Pearls plus Symbiotic Points. You can also deposit $swBTC in the Swell L2 Pre-Launch (1.5x multiplier) or juice your yields on PancakeSwap or Curve
EtherFi eBTC
• @ether_fi Announcing the Bitcoin LRT vault, eETH with first partner being Symbiotic (Karak & EigenLayer coming soon)
• Users can get access to all the points: Symbiotic points, EtherFi points, and Veda points • Seems like competition on Bitcoin LRT is intensifying between all the major LRT providers
Introducing MultiDA
• @MantaNetwork introduces MultiDA improving network resiliency and builds redundancy by leveraging top DA services including @CelestiaOrg, @eigen_da, @nufflelabs, @0G_labs, @nubit_org and @dill_xyz_
• Integrating with multiple DA solutions allow Manta to improve uptime and resiliency. If any DA service goes offline, MultiDA allows Manta Pacific to seamlessly switch to other DAs
• This MultiDA integration is done as a sidecar with secondary data posting. This means there’s no impact on user experience and fees remain unaffected
Grass Epoch 7 Concludes
• @getgrass_io announced that Epoch 7 has concluded which also ends their Closed Beta
• The team announced that the snapshot has been taken and will be used to determine eligibility in the upcoming airdrop with network participation being used as the baseline for rewards
• Additionally, there is a limited time bonus epoch to encourage users to download the new desktop node. The Desktop App will outperform the Lite Node by using less than 5% of the resources of the Chromium browser while handling 10x more bandwidth