WhiteboardCrypto Newsletter - Aug 31

Welcome back to this week's edition of our WhiteboardCrypto Newsletter!

Telegram founder in trouble

Pavel Durov, the CEO and co-founder of the Telegram messaging app, was detained on Aug 24 in Paris on allegations of facilitating organized crime, with 12 individual offences. These charges are structured around the lack of content moderation on the platform. The trend this year of jailing developers for how people use their services is an unsettling one, but Durov is out on bail with the requirement that he report in to police regularly. The Open Network, which manages the TON coin and is integrated with the Telegram app, is a separate entity from Telegram itself, but nonetheless the token’s value dropped on the news. Despite its price bouncing a bit, it’s still on a downward trend and it’s unclear how the token will react as the case progresses. Remember, price action is based more on emotion than fact, so predicting future performance is more guesswork than science.

Learn more here.

Lido’s profit puzzle

Lido, the largest Ethereum staking platform, remains unprofitable despite handling over $25 billion in assets. High operational costs and liquidity expenses have kept it in the red for all but seven months since they launched in Dec 2020. But, with higher TVL and more usage, they are starting to get better - in 2023 they had a $40 million loss, but so far in 2024 they’ve only had a $2 million loss. Perhaps times are looking up for them?

Learn more here.

The SEC targets OpenSea

The SEC is investigating OpenSea, a major NFT marketplace, over whether certain NFTs should be classified as securities. OpenSea's CEO, Devin Finzer, said they’re cooperating with regulators but he also says they are ready to fight and that “digital art” should not be regulated “in the same way we regulate collateralized debt obligations.” OpenSea is also offering $5 million to help cover legal fees for artists and devs if they receive a Wells Notice from the SEC.

Learn more here.

MakerDAO’s rebrand

MakerDAO, the largest collateralized debt protocol, rebranded to "Sky" on Aug 27. The move is meant to simplify its structure, enhance user engagement, and promote decentralization. The rebrand will introduce new governance tools including the SKY governance token (coming Sept 18), the USDS stablecoin, a clearer user interface, and a variety of new features for traders. These changes aim to make MakerDAO more accessible to smaller-scale investors and improve transparency. Also, be careful: MakerDAO rebranded on X to @SkyEcosystem, and their new website is sky.money so watch out for scammers impersonating Maker!

Learn more here.

Thanks for reading and I hope you learned something!

- Theodore