Rejection hurts

But we’re still HYPE’d for all-time highs

Author

Luke Leasure
August 15, 2025

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Happy Friday, readers. I’ve put together some weekend reading suggestions on DATCOs, market-making agreements and stablecoin credit ratings for your enjoyment. 

On Monday’s 0xResearch episode we had Omnia and Greenz from Kinetiq, the fastest growing HYPE LST with now over $1.3 billion in deposits — probably one worth paying attention to.

Kinetiq Deep Dive: Liquid staking, HIP-3 and the launch model


Takeaways from Monday’s 0xResearch episode:

  • Kinetiq launched as the first fully onchain liquid staking protocol on Hyperliquid, enabled by the CoreWriter upgrade that allowed smart contracts on HyperEVM to trustlessly delegate stake to HyperCore. 

  • Within three weeks of launch, on July 15, Kinetiq amassed over $862 million in TVL, representing ~2.2% of total HYPE supply and ~6.4% of circulating supply. The first week saw $550 million of inflows, the largest ever weekly inflow for an LST outside of Binance’s ETH staking product. Over 70% of minted kHYPE (~620 million of ~900 million) was already deployed across DeFi integrations including Pendle, Felix, Hyperlend and Valantis.

  • How low native staking yields on Hypercore (~2.2% annually, with ~0.7–0.8% emissions on total supply) drove demand for Kinetiq’s liquid staking, since users preferred liquid positions that could be rehypothecated across DeFi money markets, AMMs and structured yield protocols. Institutional products such as iHYPE were created to provide compliant, isolated stake pools with KYC/KYB validators for funds and custodians, addressing the lack of Tier-1 custodian support for Hyperliquid.

  • Valantis’ dedicated kHYPE AMM, which deployed ~$55 million liquidity within days, is optimizing for low slippage in pegged trading (HYPE/kHYPE) and re-lending idle balances on Hyperlend to generate incremental yield. Total liquidity across HyperEVM for kHYPE exceeded $70 million, with the pool quickly becoming Valantis’ largest by TVL.

  • Kinetiq’s collaboration with Veda on the Earn Vault, which aggregated vetted Hyperliquid DeFi strategies into a single access point. The vault amassed ~$180 million TVL, becoming the largest on Hyperliquid, demonstrating demand for integrated staking plus yield solutions.

Listen to the full podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or X.

This summary was generated with assistance from AI tooling.

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Introducing the Chainlink Reserve — an onchain strategic reserve of LINK tokens.

Designed to support the long-term growth of the Chainlink Network, the Reserve accumulates LINK using revenue from large enterprises adopting Chainlink Platform and onchain service usage.

Chainlink is uniquely positioned to power and benefit from the growing tokenization trend as more and more of the world’s largest financial institutions adopt blockchain to tokenize trillions of dollars of assets onchain.

  1. BitMEX published a blog post outlining the structure and risks of treasury company advisory agreements (TCAAs), which are commonly used by digital asset treasury companies (DATCOs). The post explained how advisory firms negotiate these contracts to secure long-term revenue streams, often through fees linked to assets under management. BitMEX noted that while TCAAs can align advisors with company success, they also create potential conflicts of interest and long-term cost burdens. The post concluded that investors and boards should scrutinize these agreements carefully to understand incentives, risk allocation and governance implications. Read more

  2. Pantera Capital published a blockchain letter outlining their “DAT Value Creation” thesis. The firm explains that Digital Asset Treasury (DAT) companies enhance per‑share value by generating yield—like staking rewards, DeFi returns, and strategic acquisitions—instead of merely holding tokens. Pantera has invested over $300 million across various tokens and geographies. A standout example is BitMine Immersion (BMNR), now the largest Ethereum treasury, which grew its ETH‑per‑share by 330% in its first month, driving a remarkable share price surge. The letter emphasizes that long‑term ETH demand, staking income, and NAV multiple expansion underpin the DAT model’s value proposition. Read more

  3. LoTech published a research report presenting a comprehensive, data-driven analysis of the crypto market making industry, highlighting widespread mistrust due to opaque practices and misaligned incentives. Surveying over 2,000 participants globally, it finds that 52% of the community distrust market makers, with many reporting negative experiences. The report distinguishes good vs. bad market making, explaining key models like retainer and option + loan, and outlines structural risks such as token dumping and frontrunning. It advocates for transparent KPIs, standardized deal structures and onchain infrastructure as pathways to rebuild trust and align incentives in digital asset markets. Read more

  4. S&P Global Ratings assigned Sky Protocol an issuer credit rating of B‑ with a stable outlook. The rating, applied to Sky’s USDS stablecoin and its DeFi platform, reflects concerns about high depositor concentration, centralized governance (exacerbated by low voter turnout and founder Rune Christensen’s 9% governance token control), weak risk‑adjusted capitalization (0.4%), and regulatory uncertainty. Nonetheless, S&P acknowledged the protocol’s transparency, stable performance and the potential to upgrade if these risks are mitigated. Read more

— Luke

It’s the summer of DATs and the party is going strong. 

But when October rolls around, everyone will be looking to DAS: London to hear from these meta-defining voices on where things stand and where they’re headed.

Get your ticket today with promo code: 0X100 for £100 off

📅 October 13-15 | London