How DeFi and Stablecoins Can Prevent a US Debt Crisis

Author: Tim Craig Source: DLNews Translation: Shan Ouba, Golden Finance

DeFi and US Debt

More politicians believe that dollar-backed stablecoins may be the answer to the US government's $33 trillion debt.

Former House Speaker Paul Ryan is the latest. He laid out the case for taking stablecoins seriously in a June 13 op-ed for The Wall Street Journal. He said the promotion of dollar-backed stablecoins could lead to “continued demand for U.S. debt” at a time when previous big buyers are pulling back. That’s because to issue dollar-backed stablecoins, companies like Tether must hold dollars or dollar equivalents (such as U.S. debt) as reserves.

Stablecoins are the lifeblood of DeFi. Traders often gauge market sentiment by the supply of stablecoins.

The decision by policymakers to take stablecoins more seriously and speed up the establishment of a regulatory framework for stablecoins should be good for DeFi.

Others have also noticed this trend.

VanEck Digital Asset Alpha Fund portfolio manager said:Many Republicans recognize the strategic advantages of private-sector dollar stablecoins.

ZK token launch causes network congestion

On Monday morning, recipients of ZKsync's ZK token airdrop rushed to claim the tokens, causing network congestion and questioning the network's ability to scale.

As with previous airdrops, remote procedure calls (RPCs) are the main bottleneck.  

RPCs are protocols that allow users to perform operations involving different servers, such as sending transactions to the blockchain.

At 8 a.m. London time, nearly 700,000 addresses were open to claim 3.6 billion ZK tokens.

According to the ZK Nation X account, more than 45% of the airdropped ZK token supply was claimed by more than 225,000 addresses in the first two hours.

ZKsync is a blockchain built on Ethereum that uses zero-knowledge proofs to provide faster transactions and lower fees.

Tapioca's Options Airdrop

Tapioca DAO, an emerging money market protocol built on LayerZero, tried a different approach to deal with airdrop attackers.

Instead of giving away tokens for free, it airdropped options to let users buy its native token at a discount.

The plan seems to be working. Since the airdrop began on June 14, the protocol has brought in more than $1.5 million in revenue. Tapioca DAO co-founder Matt Marino previously told DL News that the airdrop was inspired by DeFi godfather Andre Cronje, who is behind protocols such as Yearn Finance, Keeper Network and Solidly.

"He talked about call options, and I'm a big fan of Keeper Network," he said. "I'm very much in line with the principles he talked about, and we did it."

Cronje first proposed the idea of ​​using call option incentives in 2021.

This week's data

After strong growth in late 2023 and early 2024, the growth rate of the total market value of stablecoins has slowed down.

Over the past month, Tether's USDT and Ethena's USDe boosted this indicator, while other stablecoins such as Circle's USDC fell by 3%.