Category: Weekly Recap

Hello Defiers! Happy weekend! Errors and opportunities. The duality of DeFi was on vivid display this week, or as Gala Games’ Jason Brink put it, web3’s capacity to be both “a blessing and a curse.” That line was from Sam Haig’s eye-opening story on a mistaken $1B hack of Gala’s token after

Hello Defiers! Happy Weekend! The world of Ethereum and its connected blockchain systems is complex and arcane, and it’s also filled with outsize personalities and loads of debate. For readers, this can be an intimidating and strange space to navigate. That’s why

Hello Defiers! Happy weekend! It’s been six weeks since The Merge, which is just enough time to take stock of how Ethereum’s shift to Proof of Stake consensus is unfolding and how it’s changing DeFi’s primary network.DeFi, NFT & Web3 Insights – The Defiant is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Hello Defiers! Happy weekend! It was a rough and tumble week in DeFi. Drama was busting out all over the place. First, there was a spate of exploits across the space. Tarang Khaitan covered the scramble by projects to negotiate with hackers and settle bounties. His piece on

Hello Defiers! Happy weekend! This week the watchword in DeFi was innovation… Yes, it’s true, that’s long been the animating force in decentralized finance, but when everyone is freaking out in a bear market it can be hard to focus on the industry and creativity at work in the space. No worries… Our reporters returned from various precincts in DeFi with stories on the new and the promising.

Hello Defiers! Sigh… This week we bid adieu to the indefatigable, incorrigible, and invulnerable Robin Schmidt. For the last two years, Robin and his crew have produced some of the weirdest, and most insightful, segments on DeFi on The Defiant’s YouTube channel

Hello Defiers! Don’t look. Just don’t look. Pretend the crypto market simply doesn’t exist for a spell. It’s on hiatus. That’s the only sensible thing to do at a time when token prices — and numerous other assets — are cratering in the most challenging macroeconomic environment in generations.

Welcome to a post-Merge world! This week Ethereum finally executed its historic fusion of the Beacon Chain and its mainnet. It’s hard to remember when a technology venture underwent an upgrade with so much fanfare — the release of Apple iPhones of yore comes to mind. It’s impossible to recall a time when an online network switched its engine mid-flight without a hitch. Ethereum’s Merge was a first.

Countdown to The Merge

One of the truisms in investing is “follow the smart money”. Contrarians who place outsize bets when the market looks bleak are often ridiculed as fools at the time, and then prescient when the investments pay off down the road. Crazy as it sounds, such might be the case with NFTs.

Hello Defiers! Happy weekend! In the battle between The Merge and the Fed it was the latter that had the last word this week. Jay Powell’s hawkish stance on the “pain” to come as the central bank raises rates to combat inflation punished the equities and crypto markets going into the weekend. Spooked investors sold off top tokens,

The Tornado Sanction. It sounds like the title of the next Jason Bourne movie but it’s no thrill ride for DeFi teams — this may be the most challenging regulatory-enforcement development in the history of crypto. This week our reporters fanned out to cover the impact of the

Hello Defiers! Happy weekend! If you have a pain in your neck don’t feel bad. We are all suffering from whiplash after one of the most tumultuous weeks in crypto in some time. First came the bombshell that the U.S. Department of the Treasury was sanctioned

Hello Defiers! Happy Weekend! Is the bear market over? That was the question buzzing through the DeFi market this week after broad-based rally turned around the fortunes of many leading names. Sam Haig reported the action and spotlighted the surge by

Hello Defiers. Well, we’re coming to you on a somber weekend. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine this week was shocking, and The Defiant immediately went to work reporting on this calamity will impact the crypto community in the embattled nation, and abroad.

Hello Defiers! Happy weekend! This week, as the markets plunged on war fear and storms lashed the U.S. and the Canadian government clamped down on the financial accounts of protestors, we totally geeked out. Sometimes there’s just nothing better than rolling up your sleeves and diving into the mechanics of DeFi, right?

Hello Defiers! Happy weekend! This was the week that the real world caught up with crypto… It wasn’t regulation or taxes and, at least until de Friday close, it wasn’t a market crash. It was “cancel culture,” or to be more precise, the reckoning for people who post offensive comments on social media. In a