🚨 Coinbase Exchange Disruption

In this edition, we explore Coinbase’s outage, Wisconsin’s BTC investment, Mastercard’s startup programs and more.

💥  Cutting Edge with Shoal Research

In collaboration with Shoal Research, this week’s special feature will dive into Ethena.

Key Terms

ENA: The native token of Ethena Labs.

USDe: Ethena's synthetic dollar designed to enhance stability and scalability.

DeFi: Decentralized finance.

What is it?

Ethena is a stablecoin protocol focusing on providing high-yield returns and creating a stable synthetic dollar (USDe).

What does it do?

Ethena’s primary function is to offer high-yield opportunities through its token and its synthetic dollar. The platform is built on the Ethereum blockchain, relying on its infrastructure to provide scalable and stable financial products within the DeFi space. ENA tokens can be staked to earn yields, participate in governance, and facilitate the creation and maintenance of USDe.

What does it represent to larger crypto sectors?

Ethena's model of combining yield generation with synthetic assets could pave the way for more stable and scalable stablecoins outside of USDC and USDT.

Who is its competitors?

DeFi platforms offering yield generation and synthetic assets, such as MakerDAO (DAI), Aave (AAVE) and Compound (COMP).

Check out Shoal Research’s Substack and Telegram channel.

💡 Coin Spotlight: The N+1 HODL

In this segment, we dive into the N+1 Hodl basket and discuss our altcoins. 

Coin: Solana ($SOL)

Sector: Layer 1 

Narrative: Solana is called the ‘Ethereum killer’ by many supporters. Solana has a strong community that helped the project overcome uncertainty due to its connections with FTX. 

Fundamentals: Solana focuses on smart contracts, proof-of-stake mechanisms and quick transaction speed. However, Solana has had several outages in 2024.

Why do we hold: Solana has gained a great deal of traction, with many big projects being built on it. 

Performance: Solana is up 703% YTD.

⏰ Crypto News Recap

Coinbase Outage 

On May 13th, Coinbase experienced a system wide outage. Users trying to access Coinbase received a "503 Service Temporarily Unavailable" notice. After approximately three hours, Coinbase was back online. However, some users still experienced failures, with notices that the service was degraded. On May 14th, Coinbase reported that the issue had been fully resolved.

Wisconsin Invests in Spot Bitcoin ETF 

The State of Wisconsin has bought 94,562 shares of BlackRock’s Spot Bitcoin ETF, worth nearly $100 million. The state reported the transaction to the SEC for Q1 of 2024. Wisconsin is the first state to report a bitcoin purchase.

Mastercard Supports 5 Startups

On May 15th, Mastercard added 5 startups to its Start Path Blockchain and Digital Assets initiative. The startups involved are Kulipa, Parfin, Peaq, Triangle and Venly. Mastercard’s program is meant to support fintech blockchain and Web3 innovators. The program has been active since 2014 and has supported over 400 projects.

📚 N+1 Recommendations 

The N+1 reading and media recommendations are sourced from our team of experts and offer weekly suggestions for learning more about blockchain, crypto, finance and technology.

This weeks recommendation: Cointelegraph on SocialFi

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N+1 Insights is meant for informational purposes. It is not meant to serve as investment advice.