Dumb statement of the week.

Perhaps the biggest winner in the 2024 US election was XRP. But why?

Over the last couple of weeks, $XRP has staged an impressive rally. I confess I've never understood the point of it.

➥ All You Need to Know About $YALA Bitcoin's future allure is undeniable, especially with RWA and institution giants stepping in. So, where should we position ourselves? @yalaorg could be the answer and key to unlocking Bitcoin's true potential and liquidity. Let's dive in 🧵 ... — What is Yala? Yala is a decentralized protocol that aims to unlock Bitcoin's liquidity and seamlessly integrate it with DeFi and real-world applications. The process is straightforward: users simply deposit $BTC to mint $YU, a stablecoin backed by overcollateralized Bitcoin, and use it across multi-chain DeFi protocols. To date, Yala already achieved significant milestones: ➠ $214M TVL with 1670 BTC staked ➠ 119M YU minted ➠ 30+ prominent Web3 protocols integrate Yala (Incl. RWA protocol), such as: ✧ @babylonlabs_io ✧ @BotanixLabs ✧ @Bitfi_Org ✧ @centrifuge ✧ @Cobo_Global ✧ @Cookie3_com ✧ @eulerfinance ✧ @Equilibriafi ✧ @FordefiHQ ✧ @KaminoFinance ✧ @MeteoraAG ✧ @nubit_org ✧ @cubistdev ✧ @pendle_fi ✧ @Penpiexyz_io ✧ @RaydiumProtocol ✧ @RateX_Dex ✧ @PythNetwork ✧ @NX_Finance ✧ @solayer_labs ✧ @plumenetwork ✧ @Stacks ✧ @switchboardxyz ✧ @Uniswap ✧ @Securitize ✧ @trmlabs Let's focus on the main menu, $YALA, which is set to launch soon. ... — $YALA - The Core Economic Engine of Yala YALA serves multiple purposes within Yala ecosystem: ➠ Governance Participate in decision-making by voting, proposing improvements, and locking tokens as $veYALA. ➠ Security Enhance protocol security by staking YALA in the Notary Bridge system through @LayerZero_Core decentralized verifier networks. ➠ Stability Pool Rewards Earn YALA by depositing YU into the stability pool, absorbing system debt during liquidations, and gaining liquidation collateral and fees. There will be maximum of 1,000,000,000 YALA with breakdwn of distribution as seen in the graphics (including airdrop for Berries user). The vesting period for each category follows a structured format to prioritize long-term alignment and support sustainable ecosystem growth. ... — Wrap-Up Yala positions itself as the protocol that unlocks Bitcoin's liquidity. Beyond that, it establishes a robust foundation for BTCFi by incorporating RWA assets. I believe Yala could accelerate the BTCFi ecosystem, creating a powerful flywheel impact. P.S.: The airdrop checker is now live. The snapshot was taken on July 8, 2025. For more details, see the link in the post below.

Interesting that over 35% of Democrats voted for this.

Pendle : the new institutional playbook in DeFi Thriving through different market cycles into its 4th year, @pendle_fi has been quietly evolving from a savvy yield-layer platform into a multi-pronged institutional powerhouse, here’s why you should be ultra bullish. For any DeFi protocol, graduating into institutional-grade infrastructure signals a deeper, more mature phase of growth. With a unique fixed yield primitive and a rapidly growing ecosystem, Pendle is poised to become the foundation for institutional access to DeFi yield. ⛩️Pendle V2: Better, Faster, Stronger As we step into a new growth phase, the revamped V2 with sleeker mechanisms is opening up for all the most popular protocols in DeFi, especially yield bearing stablecoins as the strongest asset, offering more sustainable and competitive yields. With over 100 active pools, Pendle is now the indispensable yield market for all. ⛩️Pendle PT dominance Pendle PTs are reshaping the role of collateral in DeFi. Today, over $2.67B worth of PTs are actively used as collateral—and that number’s growing fast. As of today, @aave alone holds over $2.1B in PTs, a staggering endorsement of the model. The protocol has raised supply caps multiple times to keep up with demand. These assets now represent a core yield-bearing layer for lending protocols, enabling capital efficiency while introducing fixed income concepts familiar to TradFi. With cross-chain PTs on the horizon, PT is set to unlock a new wave of adoption across broader lending markets. ⛩️Boros: the ultimate yield trading monster Unlocking funding rates as a robust new yield source, we are taking bold steps to unleash this new beast as its power will be unparalleled. The very first fully on-chain order book of @boros_fi with unprecedented capital efficiency will offer a wide variety of trading strategies. ⛩️The Ethena Squad :Institutional Synergy in Motion Pendle’s deep integration with @ethena_labs is more than a partnership—it’s a strategic alliance. With over 60% of Ethena’s TVL empowered by Pendle, this partnership is growing stronger by day. As a launch partner, Pendle’s unique yield-trading mechanisms will continue to play a crucial role in the growth of @convergeonchain , designed for institutional plays. This Ethereum-compatible chain blends permissionless DeFi with KYC-compliant tokenized RWAs, such as BlackRock’s BUIDL. With strong liquidity flowing into @etherealdex , @Terminal_fi is also gaining traction, attracting over $60 million in liquidity in the blink of an eye. In a nutshell, Pendle is doing what ETFs, swap desks, and structured product desks do in TradFi—but on-chain, composable, and 24/7. Pendle will keep proactively building the infrastructure to lead the way, as Institutional adoption becomes the next step for DeFi. Job's not done, more actions. Pendle

U.S. 🇺🇸 Bitcoin ETFs bought 23,610 Bitcoin this week. Only 3,150 were mined.

Junior PM: My feature got deprioritized again. Engineering says they don't have bandwidth. Senior PM: What did you do next? Junior PM: Told my manager. It's not my fault engineering is understaffed. Senior PM: Is that where it ended? Junior PM: What else can I do? I don't control hiring. Senior PM: You don't control hiring. What do you control? Junior PM: …my roadmap? Senior PM: Keep going. Junior PM: My relationships with engineers? Senior PM: Getting warmer. Junior PM: I could understand why they're overwhelmed? Senior PM: Now you're thinking. What would you find? Junior PM: They're drowning in bugs from the last release. Senior PM: And? Junior PM: If we fixed those bugs, they'd have bandwidth. Senior PM: But that's not your job, right? Junior PM: It's not in my OKRs... Senior PM: There it is. The cage you built. Junior PM: What cage? Senior PM: "Not my job." "Not my fault." "Can't control that." Junior PM: But those are facts. Senior PM: They're excuses dressed as facts. Junior PM: How? Senior PM: Watch this. What if you owned those bugs? Junior PM: But I didn't create them. Senior PM: So? Junior PM: …I could organize a bug bash? Senior PM: What else? Junior PM: Prioritize which bugs actually matter to users? Senior PM: More. Junior PM: Write reproduction steps so engineers save time? Senior PM: Notice what just happened? Junior PM: I found things I could do. Senior PM: You went from victim to owner. Junior PM: But this is extra work. Senior PM: Is getting your feature built extra? Junior PM: …no. Senior PM: Here's what separates good PMs from great ones. Junior PM: Tell me. Senior PM: Good PMs manage their features. Junior PM: And great PMs? Senior PM: Great PMs manage outcomes. However they can. Junior PM: Even if it means doing "engineering work"? Senior PM: There is no "engineering work." There's only "what needs doing." Junior PM: My manager might not like me spending time on bugs. Senior PM: Will they like you shipping nothing? Junior PM: Point taken. Senior PM: But here's the real mindshift. Junior PM: What? Senior PM: Stop asking "whose job is this?" Junior PM: Ask what instead? Senior PM: "What would I do if I was CEO?" Junior PM: CEO's delegate. Senior PM: No. CEOs ensure things get done. Junior PM: There's a difference? Senior PM: Delegation is a method. Ownership is a mindset. Junior PM: So high agency means doing everyone's job? Senior PM: High agency means refusing to be blocked. Junior PM: How do I know if I'm high agency? Senior PM: Simple test. Junior PM: Go on. Senior PM: Count how often you say "they" vs "I" when explaining why something isn't done. Junior PM: Ouch. Senior PM: If "they" outnumber "I" - you're making excuses. Junior PM: But some things really are out of my control. Senior PM: Name one. Junior PM: Budget cuts. Senior PM: What would you do if your kid needed medicine during budget cuts? Junior PM: I'd find a way... Senior PM: Exactly. Junior PM: So it's about caring enough? Senior PM: It's about owning the outcome. Not the circumstances. Junior PM: This is exhausting though. Senior PM: Know what's more exhausting? Junior PM: What? Senior PM: Spending your career waiting for perfect conditions.

Liquity v2 is quietly building the most efficient bribe market in crypto. The bribe meta has been a fixture in DeFi with Curve, Aerodrome, and now Liquity v2. However, bribe incentives come at the expense of token holders through inflationary rewards. This makes emissions-based bribe markets a net negative for token lockers. Liquity solves this with protocol incentivized liquidity (PIL), directed by $LQTY stakers. Instead of using governance tokens as the reward token, Liquity rewards bribers with BOLD from protocol revenue instead. This makes a big difference. 4 main factors contribute to the efficiency of a bribe economy: 1. Incentive token 2. Scope of bribable venues 3. Risk premium of incentivized action 4. Market structure Let’s use Curve as an example. 1. Incentive token The volatility and uncertainty of the incentive token may limit the market’s ability to price it properly. Bribers bid less to avoid overpaying, which leads to less bribes per dollar of incentives. Incentivizing with an emissions-based governance token like CRV likely earns a lower multiple than a stablecoin (BOLD). 2. Scope of bribeable venues (TAM) Curve’s bribe program is limited to Curve. This is necessary or things would get weird, but it places a ceiling on the TAM for bribes. Liquity PIL is venue-agnostic. You can bribe across any chain & protocol. Any project incentivizing liquidity can pay LQTY stakers, get a small bonus, and distribute cold hard cash to users. 3. Risk premium All liquidity mining campaigns must consider the yield threshold at which users are willing to leave lower-risk strategies like Curve 3Pool or Aave USDC. Bribe economies are not absolved from this process, but to see it we have to work backwards. Consider a $100 bribe to a new Aerodrome pool. It receives X votes—let’s assume $150 worth. If the pool attracts $7.8K TVL for the epoch, that implies LPs require 100% APY for that pool. To increase the TVL, you will have to pay more to scale that APY for additional liquidity, and this risk premium will change with implied volatility. The flipside of this is higher risk premiums often come with greater capital efficiency. While Aerodrome will typically earn less per dollar of emissions than Curve, its potential fees from these positions is higher, and projects need less TVL (and thus, less bribes) for the same goal. BOLD’s wide array of potential incentive venues means the risk premium will vary, but it will generally involve liquidity for BOLD and is considered on the safer side. 4. Market structure How does the token structure, vote bribing apparatus, program rules, and behavior of major entities facilitate or inhibit monetization of gauge votes? In other words, how cutthroat is the vote market? As the first mover, Curve has a sloppy infrastructure for native lockers. Lack of native support for liquid wrappers and the bribe economy make monetization of vote power difficult. Aerodrome has robust tooling for lockers and bribers with its veNFTs & Relay feature. This strong setup is part of the reason why liquid wrappers for veAERO haven’t formed. LQTY has native bribe support, but no liquid wrappers or optimization features. There are other factors that influence the success of a bribe economy, but these factors highlight the fundamentals. Liquity has nailed most of the bribe economy design, but still needs things to fall its way to achieve success. The friendly fork ecosystem seems to be the most likely path to achieving the elusive highly competitive BOLD wars narrative.

I had no idea this was a song about football