In October, I celebrated my 3-year anniversary at Chainlink Labs. If there's one lesson these 3 years in crypto have taught me, it's this: stay laser-focused on winning, and the results will follow. Our 2024 results speak for themselves, and we're just getting started.

RT @chainlink: Swift. Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC). Euroclear. Clearstream. Central Bank of Brazil. JP Morgan. State St….

Join millions who have switched to Grok.

The recent OpenAI saga is a reminder of the delicate balance between idealism and pragmatism. Hardline idealists often overlook second-order effects, and when these are finally taken into account, they frequently find themselves further from their goals, not closer.

RT @jessepollak: it’s not a bear market.it’s a builder market.

DeFi proved its value and resilience in 2022, and I'm excited to see what 2023 holds. Working in crypto has been the opportunity of a lifetime, and I'm optimistic the best is yet to come.

RT @jchervinsky: It's honestly shocking how resilient DeFi has become. In March 2020, protocols were threatening to break left and right,….

Data for Ethereum lending pools can be found here:.

DeFi is more resilient than ever, despite everything that happened in crypto this week. Top DeFi protocols (e.g. Maker, Aave, Compound, and others) remain a trusted destination for crypto's most important collateral types. On-chain data validates this.

This can't be emphasized enough. The events of the last week reinforce the need for DeFi and smart contracts.

The royalty issue thus won't be solved at the marketplace level. Moreover, if no marketplaces fulfill demand for a feature, a fork will. Proliferation of forked NFT marketplaces and DEXs demonstrates this.

The need for neutral, private digital currency has never been higher.

RT @chainlink: 1/ #Chainlink Economics 2.0 consists of programs focused on:. • Increasing user fees paid to Chainlink service providers.• R….

Shout out to @richardchen39 who created the dashboard I sourced my data from, with some minor tweaks. The dashboard can be found here:.

With their large base of active traders, it'll be interesting to watch how OpenSea builds and executes in a lower-volume environment. Crypto is a highly volatile industry. Personally, I'm confident OpenSea can weather the storm, and I'm excited to watch their business evolve.

4. OpenSea's Solana business has yet to take flight, with only ~10K active traders in August vs. ~40K+ in May, a ~75% decline. In the meantime, Magic Eden continues to dominate the Solana NFT market. We'll see if market share shifts as OpenSea continues to build.

3. Average transaction value has declined significantly. The average value of an Ethereum NFT sold on OpenSea declined to $343 in August, down 80%+ from earlier in the year. My hunch is that this represents a mix shift away from blue-chip NFTs (e.g. Bored Apes).

2. Two on-chain activity metrics, # of NFTs sold and active traders, have declined, but less than volume. Ethereum active traders were 393K in August, -28% vs. Jan and -8% vs. May. The weekly chart below suggests a slowing decline in active traders on Ethereum post-May.

Four takeaways:. 1. USD volume in Aug '22 is down 90% vs. the Jan '22 peak and 81% vs. May '22. Big numbers, but not as bad as some recent media reports suggested.

There's a lot of noise around OpenSea's volume being down 99%. I dug into the data to see for myself and to share insights on OpenSea's on-chain metrics with you. Check out the financial summary and thread below to learn more.

Personal privacy and the freedom to transact are fundamental rights. These rights are now under attack. Technologies that empower individuals to protect their fundamental rights are critical public goods. Developers of these public goods should be protected, not persecuted.