As crypto airdrops explode, the rise of DeFi protocols could leave US users neglected – DL News

The version of this article is Distributed May 7th Newsletter.sign up here.

GM, Alex I'll stand in for my colleague Tim here.

Here’s what recently caught my DeFi eye:

• Eigenlayer's upcoming airdrop will exclude Americans.
• Aave's v4 announcement was confusing.
• DL News We may have confirmed the true identity of ZKasino's pseudonymous founder, Derivatives Monke.

It's an air drop

DeFi projects are announcing token airdrops here and there in an attempt to drive up crypto prices.

Just last week, the so-called SocialFi platform friends.tech distributed over 13 million FRIEND tokens to its early users, earning some recipients six-figure airdrops.

However, friend.tech's airdrop may pale in comparison to EIGEN's airdrop scheduled for May 11th.

As of Monday, $13 million in cryptocurrencies had been deposited with friend.tech. Eigenlayer? Over $15 billion.

Undoubtedly, the majority of EigenLayer's deposits come from users in the United States.

Users in the United States were therefore dismayed to learn that they would not be able to participate in future airdrops because they were located in “jurisdictions considered to be high risk regarding airdrops.”

And no, VPNs don't store them.

Excluding Americans from airdrops is not new. Back in 2021, crypto perpetual futures exchange dYdX banned airdrops for US users.

But now airdrops are rarely retroactive. Many protocols have switched to running “points” campaigns to attract more deposits. As a result, airdrops increasingly resemble yield farming.

Many argue that EigenLayer should not have accepted deposits from people in the United States if it had not intended to be included in the airdrop. This is like a bank advertising favorable interest rates but refusing to pay depositors.

And EigenLayer isn’t the only multi-billion dollar DeFi protocol gearing up for an airdrop. Cross-chain bridge LayerZero shares similar plans.

LayerZero and its associated crypto bridge Stargate have no problem with the United States sending cryptocurrencies or providing liquidity for bridge transactions.

Airdrop hopefuls are now closely monitoring whether LayerZero will also ban US users.

OSS drama continues

I find comfort in the steady rhythm of a ticking clock, the bouncing of a basketball, and the founder of a cryptocurrency complaining that a competitor stole his code.

For previous articles on the open source conundrum of cryptocurrencies, see here, here, and here.

Review: Open source development is sacred in cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin, the OG cryptocurrency, is open source. The code is free to use.

After all, those in the industry are trying to create a more open and transparent financial system. It might be a good idea to let everyone take a peek at what's going on inside.

Here's the problem. Good ideas spread quickly, often at the expense of the people who originally conceived them. IP? Copyright? Header about it.

The latest kerfuffle occurred last week when Aave Labs announced Aave 2030. It's an ambitious set of proposals that includes a rebrand and a new version of the company's eponymous lending and borrowing protocol, called V4.

Within hours, competitors expressed their displeasure.

Curve founder Michael Egorov said: DL News He spoke with Aave founder Stani Kulechov and says they are very good friends.

“[Aave] You probably won't copy the algorithm. They are interested in the feature and want to implement it. [it] By myself. That's fine in this case,” Egorov said.

“But it's not important to build. It's like building a rocket. It's good to build it yourself and go to space. … Going to space is a 'concept' that you can steal. Not. ”

Disclaimer: Two of DL News' co-founders were previously core contributors to the Curve protocol.

Who is Derivative Monke?

Last month, crypto gambling platform ZKasino wiped out $30 million in user deposits and exchanged the Ether deposited by users for the protocol-issued token ZKAS.

This switch sparked massive protests as depositors could no longer redeem their Ether.

New documents reveal the identity of one of the founders of the pseudonym, Derivatives Monke.

“FIOD has arrested a 26-year-old man on suspicion of fraud, embezzlement and money laundering,” Dutch agency FIOD Verstingdienst, which fights financial fraud, said in a statement.

“The investigation focuses on a large-scale fraud surrounding the alleged gambling platform ZKasino,” authorities said.

It is not clear who Dutch authorities have arrested in connection with the millions of missing people.

However, the legal document was viewed by DL News show Elham Nurzai, a 26-year-old Dutchman known online under the pseudonym Derivatives Monke, was the central figure behind ZKasino.

Other evidence such as photos on social media, company registration documents, and shared passport scans DL Newssuggests that Nurzai and derivative Monke are one and the same.

Norzai has blasted past accusations on social media, but did not respond to questions. DL News Request for comments.

ZKasino investors are now focused on getting their crypto back.

Previous clawback attempts by crypto projects have met with limited success. However, if Dutch authorities make arrests in connection with ZKasino, it could be a breakthrough in recovering funds.

This week’s data — friends.tech is back?

We'll be keeping an eye on friend.tech's activity to see if last week's airdrop reignites interest in the flagging protocol.

This week in DeFi governance

Proposal: Aave details ambitious 'Aave 2030' plans including major upgrades and rebranding

Vote: GMX is considering ending multiplier point rewards

Vote: Rocket Pool considers scholarships for donors

This week's post

John Paul Corning weighs in on USDT issuer Tether's huge first quarter profits.

What we see…

MakerDAO's ambitious and controversial “Endgame” transformation is about to reveal some big changes.

Founder Rune Christensen believes Endgame will make Maker and its dollar-pegged digital token DAI beyond the reach of governments and impossible to shut down or suspend. And it starts with a stablecoin to replace DAI, codenamed NewStable.

Do you have any DeFi tips? Reach out to tim@dlnews.com.