🟣 Uniswap's New Wallet

Crypto Adoption vs Payment Networks

Author

Marc-Thomas Arjoon
July 18, 2024

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Welcome back to 0xResearch. Here's what we’ve got for you today:

  • Polymarket bets on talent

  • LI.FI exploited

  • Uniswap’s new wallet

  • Crypto Adoption relative to payment networks

Polymarket bets on talent

Nate Silver, a renowned statistician and journalist known for founding the data-driven news site FiveThirtyEight, has joined Polymarket as an advisor. This move comes as Polymarket, a crypto-based prediction market platform, has seen a surge in popularity, particularly for the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

Polymarket has emerged as the largest forecasting market in the nation, offering a platform where individuals can purchase shares predicting specific outcomes, essentially forming a stock market for the likelihood of various events. The platform encompasses a wide array of events, spanning from political to sporting occurrences.

As of July 2024, Polymarket has taken in more than $400 million in bets this year, with $265 million of that total being placed on the upcoming presidential election. The market currently favors former President Donald Trump, assigning him a 70% chance of winning the election.

The combination of Silver's reputation and Polymarket's innovative approach to prediction markets has the potential to attract more investors and participants, further solidifying the platform's position as a leading destination for political and news-related forecasting

LI.FI Exploit

LI.FI, a decentralized finance platform that enables trading across various blockchains, has experienced an exploit leading to an estimated $11 million loss. The issue stemmed from a smart contract vulnerability, similar to a previous incident in 2022, which allowed unauthorized withdrawals. LI.FI has assured users that the exploit has been contained and only a small number of wallets with infinite approvals were affected. The company is actively investigating the incident with law enforcement and security experts to recover the funds and will provide a detailed report in the future.

This incident is not LI.FI's first security issue. In 2022, the protocol suffered a bug in its swapping feature that resulted in a $600,000 loss. Security firm PeckShield noted that the recent exploit was "basically the same" as the previous one.

The LI.FI hack adds to the growing list of DeFi security incidents in 2024. A report by Immunefi revealed that $473 million worth of crypto was lost to hacks, exploits, and rug pulls in the first half of the year alone

Uniswap’s New Wallet

Uniswap's official release of its wallet browser extension marks a significant advancement in user experience for DeFi interactions. The extension's placement in the browser sidebar sets it apart from traditional wallet extensions, eliminating disruptive pop-ups and allowing users to maintain their browsing context while performing crypto transactions. This seamless integration enables users to swap tokens, sign transactions, and manage their digital assets without interrupting their workflow or navigating away from their current web page.

The Uniswap Extension boasts several powerful features that enhance its functionality and user-friendliness. It supports 11 different blockchains and automatic network switching. Furthermore, the extension integrates smoothly with other Uniswap products, creating a cohesive ecosystem for DeFi interactions. This integration, combined with features like zero-gas swaps powered by UniswapX technology, positions the Uniswap Extension as a comprehensive tool for crypto enthusiasts and DeFi users seeking a more efficient and user-friendly experience.

— Marc-Thomas Arjoon (X: @marcarjoon | Farcaster: @marcarjoon)

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Crypto Adoption vs Traditional Payment Networks

The number of crypto holders has surpassed the number of PayPal accounts. Visa and Mastercard are still the dominant payment networks.

ZKPs enable efficient offchain transaction processing and validation, resulting in increased throughput and reduced fees. Solana's ZK Compression leverages ZKPs to minimize onchain storage costs, while Sui's zkLogin streamlines user onboarding by replacing complex key management with familiar OAuth credentials.

By offering highly granular real estate price feeds and creating new markets, Parcl aims to attract a diverse range of participants and provide new investment and hedging opportunities in the real estate sector, potentially expanding overall RE market activity.

The bitcoin play. Here we go again. Right now, one of the biggest narratives in crypto is political chatter.

Bitcoin currently lacks true layer-2 networks (as the term is used on Ethereum) primarily because existing scaling solutions do not inherit Bitcoin’s security model. Not really.*

The insights, views and outlooks presented in the report are not to be taken as financial advice. Blockworks Research analysts are not registered broker/dealers or financial advisors. Blockworks Research analysts may hold assets mentioned in this report, further outlined in the Firm’s Financial Disclosures.