PayPal's Strategic Solana Incentives, Solana Infrastructure Updates & More

Welcome back!

This is J264G and this week I’ve got these titbits for you:

• Growing PYUSD: PayPal is accelerating the growth of its stablecoin on Solana.

• Solana Evolution: Anatoly makes his case for multiple concurrent leaders.

• Firedancer Updates: New developments incl. a bug bounty programme.

We all know Kamala’s catchphrase, Anatoly’s remix is the best one yet, though 😂

Now, let’s jump right into this week’s newsletter!

Click on any underlined heading/hyperlink to learn more.

Spotlight

Consumer-Focused Crypto

DeFi has evolved significantly since its early days of high-risk, unsustainable yield farming. 

Today, more robust DeFi platforms offer access to sustainable on-chain interest rates. But despite this progress, many users still keep their crypto on centralized exchanges or in hot/cold wallets, overlooking the variety of interest-bearing products available in DeFi, such as lending, interest rate trading, and liquidity provisioning. 

However, as with any investment, higher potential rewards often come with increased risk as well. One of the most reliable strategies in DeFi is lending crypto on over-collateralized platforms such as Kamino. Lending platforms offer dynamic interest rates that can range anywhere from 4% to over 50%, fluctuating frequently. This volatility makes it challenging to predict which lending platform will offer the best rates at any given time, creating an opportunity for active management to maximize returns. 

Lulo emerged to address this challenge, automatically managing users' crypto deposits by continuously moving them to the lending platform with the highest APY. This approach allows users to benefit from consistently higher interest rates — typically in the 15-25% range — making Lulo a competitive savings tool even when compared to traditional finance options. 

Having said that, the crypto space still faces significant smart contract risks, with frequent hacks deterring many users from moving their funds on-chain. To mitigate these risks, we at Lulo are working on security features, including deposit splitting across multiple lending platforms — eliminating single points of failure. This feature will also allow users to customise their risk profiles, enabling better calculation of exposure and risk quantification. 

And as our user base grows, we aim to develop sustainable insurance models by categorizing users based on their on-chain actions. This data-driven approach could attract liquidity providers (LPs) looking to underwrite users or lending platforms in exchange for premiums, creating a positive feedback loop. Increased confidence in Lulo could attract even more users and LPs, potentially leading to more comprehensive deposit insurance options with better rates. 

By developing and implementing these insurance primitives, Lulo has the potential to become a truly consumer-focused crypto product — offering a compelling case for savings that is accessible and understandable even to those unfamiliar with the space.

It's time to call your mom and grandpa and tell them about Lulo!

Charts Of The Week

News Bites

Growing PYUSD: PayPal is actively promoting the adoption and circulation of its stablecoin, PYUSD, on Solana by offering attractive incentives for deposits on Kamino. Currently, PYUSD boasts an 17.62% supply APY on Kamino's main market, ranking second only to USDT's 22.36%.

Solana Evolution: Anatoly, Solana co-founder and Solana Labs CEO, has released an article discussing Solana's evolution. He envisions Solana as a global, permissionless price discovery engine that can rival the best centralised exchanges. To realise this, Anatoly argues that Solana requires multiple concurrent leaders — more on that here.

Firedancer Updates: The developers behind Firedancer, a third-party validator client for Solana built with C and Rust, have released a new update on their progress. A significant milestone is the launch of their inaugural bug bounty program for Firedancer's first version (v0.1), nicknamed "Frankendancer." This initiative aims to enhance the client's security and performance as it works towards improving Solana's network efficiency and transaction processing capabilities. For more details on the bug bounty programme, click here.

Embracing Innovation: OKX, one of the largest centralised crypto exchanges, has integrated support for Solana Blinks in its wallet — marking a significant adoption milestone. If you missed the Actions and Blinks launch and announcement, make sure to read my newsletter from last week to get up to speed.

Resource Repository: For developers looking to get started with the Actions and Blinks toolkit, a comprehensive resource repository is now available. This collection offers valuable guidance and tools to help you navigate and implement Actions and Blinks effectively.

Caught In 4K

Weekly Take

Keks & Giggles

And that's a wrap!

If you'd like to reach me, respond to this newsletter or reach out to me on 𝕏.

Talk soon!

J264G

_{DISCLAIMER
None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research. Lastly, please be advised that we discuss products and services from our partners from which our team members may hold tokens/equity.}