⚡The Coming Crypto Superapps
Tether dominates stablecoin transfers, Solana consumer dApps and more
The Dynamo DeFi newsletter covers the most interesting stats, trends, and tools in crypto each week.
📈Trends and Narratives
The Coming Crypto Superapps
This year’s emergence of Telegram trading bots, AI text-processing apps, and mobile-first crypto apps (ex: friend.tech) have sparked discussion that crypto superapps may be on the horizon.
Joel John hypothesizes that Telegram is in a good position to become that superapp due to their already huge userbase, especially within the crypto industry.
redphone paints a vision of what this might look like in the future, where you can make crypto transactions happen simply by expressing your wish for them to happen. The tech stack for this to happen is closer than people think with AI, bot-generated wallets, and recently launched “intents” from teams like CoWSwap.
It wouldn’t surprise me if by the end of the next bull run, our methods of doing transactions manually pre-2023 look primitive to future users.
Solana Positions Itself as the Consumer-dApp Chain
DRiP, one of the flagship Solana dApps, released a host of new features this week. DRiP allows users to collect limited edition NFT drops from creators, with some creators amassing tens of thousands of subscribers.
And what does all of this mean?
Solana is positioning themselves as the chain for consumer-focused dApps in a way that other chains, particularly those with higher fees, are not.
0xMert writes a detailed post about how Solana isn’t as centralized as many people think, with over 3K globally distributed nodes. He makes the case that you can’t argue that Layer 2 Rollup sequencers will decentralize over time, without making allowances that Solana will also continue to decentralize.
Last week, I wrote an in-depth breakdown of the unique features of the Solana ecosystem for paid subscribers. You can view a free preview of the article here:
⚡Become a Better Crypto Investor
I’ve turned on paid subscriptions for this newsletter. The paid version of Dynamo DeFi, which I’ve dubbed Dynamo Research, will teach you to be a better crypto investor and give you deeper insight into which investments I’m personally looking at.
For $11/month (less than lunch in most countries), premium subscribers get:
⚡NEW Discord to discuss on-chain data and trades. Based on feedback, I’ve commissioned a private Discord for paid newsletter subscribers. This should be ready within 1-2 weeks.
⚡Exclusive weekly newsletters & on-chain data indicators. Actionable insights about which tokens have strong fundamentals.
⚡Pre-recorded videos. These will be longer in-depth videos where I show my research process.
⚡Monthly group calls. Each month, I’ll conduct a group video call to discuss the market, latest crypto trends, and more.
🔢On-Chain Analysis
Tether Rules the World
Despite half a decade of intermittent fear about its solvency, Tether’s USDT continues to rule the world of stablecoins, with no abatement of its dominance in sight.
In August, USDT did a shocking 14X the volume of transactions as USDC. Interestingly, much of USDT’s volume is conducted on Tron, making that chain a potential second-order beneficiary of USDT’s dominance.
USDT’s share of the total stablecoin market cap has also been on the rise, crossing 67% recently to hit its highest point since early 2021.
SoFi TVL Booms Past $50M
Continued inflows to friend.tech as well as a host of copycat SoFi (Social Finance) applications pushed SoFi TVL to new heights this week.
Total funds locked in SoFi apps now top $50M, a remarkable jump for a category that barely existed 2 months ago.
A quick look at the top applications in this category shows that friend.tech still dominates TVL by a huge margin. However, regardless of whether one of the many SoFi upstarts is able to capture significant market share, competition is good and is already pushing friend.tech to add new features.
Time will tell whether the SoFi boom is able to persist past friend.tech’s airdrop; however, it’s already established more staying power and healthier growth than most new trends this year.
🛠️Tool Spotlight
Track crypto developer activity with CryptoMiso
During the frosty months of Crypto Winter, a good way to find undervalued projects can be those whose chart is down and flat, but whose teams have kept building.
Use CryptoMiso to track developer activity across crypto projects. Note that different developers might commit at different frequencies, so comparing project to project isn’t always reliable.
📅Key Events This Week
Prepare for the Next Bull Market with Double Your DeFi This Fall
My friend The DeFi Edge and I are teaching another cohort of our Double Your DeFi course this November. This is an intensive course to transform your DeFi skills in 5 weeks.
I secured a $300 discount for the first 5 people that sign up from my email list.
Use the coupon code: DynamoDeFi
That’s all for this week. For more frequent content, follow me on Twitter and YouTube.
Until next time,
Patrick Scott
Dynamo DeFi