The Daily Degen - Genesis Edition
A newsletter for and by the IOTA community
From the editorial desk …
The IOTA ecosystem has exploded into something terrific and wonderful, encompassing so many things being developed for IOTA, Assembly, and Shimmer – by the IOTA Foundation and that indefinable enigmatic entity called "The Community". Amidst this Cambrian explosion in ecosystem developments (if not in price), many of us have felt it impossible to keep track of it all. The community has just too many places to learn, invest, experiment, observe, and earn (and occasionally lose) money in. And thus, the IOTA ecosystem newsletter is born – among the anvils of the IOTA Content Creator DAO. Endearingly dubbed "The Daily Degen", we want to be a platform to connect the people with all that's happening around the ecosystem, because there's just so many Discord channels a person can lurk in before burning out! The news, concerns and controversies, debunking of FUD and the occasional generation of hype, job listings and memes and links to other community platforms -- that's what we want to provide. We're absolutely not a platform maxi! We acknowledge and respect the contributions of our predecessors (such as Chris Mueller's incredible IOTA weekly) and contemporaries (far too many to name right now). What we want to do is to help the community discover all of these and more, and stay updated about everything IOTA.
And we cannot do this alone. We are for and by the IOTA community, and it's the community's participation and feedback that will help us succeed. Today's edition is merely a trailer, a baby step to what we are aspiring towards. We hope that with your inputs, guidance, and even the occasional criticism (yes, the comments section is open), we develop into something that actually helps the IOTA community.
So, on the occasion of the World Environment Day, let's talk about all that's happening around the cleanest, greenest, and (soon to be) meanest DLT in the market: IOTA
(P.S.: The name The Daily Degen doesn't mean that the newsletter will be published daily; it just refers to the fact that we are all degens – every single day. The newsletter will be periodic, with the periodicity to be decided soon. For the time being, it will most likely be fortnightly.)
Burn vs Build
[Head over to govern.iota.org to participate in discussions such as this and more, about IOTA governance decisions and TIP (Tangle Improvement Proposals) that affect the direction of the entire ecosystem. Another interesting topic being discussed there is the proposal to increase the Shimmer supply by Kappy @Rob_Daykin. Rob (@DigitalSoulx) is providing a summary here for The Daily Degen.]
If you are new to the community and don’t know about the Build vs Burn Vote happening right now, send us a private message. We don’t want people making fun of you. For everyone else… It's not too late: Update your Firefly wallet and vote! If you’ve already voted, check out the link below to see how the vote is faring:
Live Updates: https://thetangle.org/vote…
Build: ~50 Ti (50 million MIOTA) of unclaimed genesis tokens will be released to the community to bolster the IOTA ecosystem
Burn: ~50 Ti (50 million MIOTA) of unclaimed genesis tokens will be removed from the ledger, permanently decreasing the supply
Voting Period (May 27 to June 3): Votes can be cast, but will not be counted until the counting period.
Counting Period (June 3, 12:00 pm UTC to June 13, 12:00 pm UTC): Votes cast during this time will be counted every 10 seconds, similar to staking. You can change your vote anytime, but it will only affect future votes, not past votes. After the Counting Period has ended, the votes will be tallied by node operators who have activated the Participation plugin and added the event.
Stardust
[A brief summary by Rob (@DigitalSoulx)]
Stardust Press Release: https://coinmarketcap.com/gravity/articles/28997
TL;DR: Stardust transforms IOTA into an infrastructure layer for smart contract chains and introduces custom tokens. The new ledger is capable of conditional transfers and NFTs can function as wallets, while additional protocol improvements protect node resources, eliminate client-side trust assumptions and improve load balancing capabilities of the network. Stardust debuts on the new Shimmer network before being ported to the IOTA mainnet.
Community Member Spotlight: Kevin (@mudkevin)
[Editor’s note: In this section, we’ll have a short conversation (an old-school written interview) with an IOTA community member. In this edition, _tamasik_ from The Daily Degen has a few questions for Kevin. Do write to us, or comment below, if you have someone special in mind that we should contact soon.]
In August 2017 I watched Dominik Schiener’s Rooftop Talk, and that was the moment I decided I was all in! … My dear wife has been very skeptical … and I am afraid I have not been able to convince her. She says she will be convinced if I can use it to pay off our house! I’m still waiting on $7 for that!!
Click the link below to read the wonderful answers from our very own Kevin, the OG “IOTA moron”.
What’s new in Moonaco?
[Editor’s note: We all love ThomasQV’s inimitable creation – The Moonaco Podcast. However, life sometimes gets in the way, making us miss a couple of episodes. So, The Daily Degen will have a special section to cover the happenings in Moonaco. In this edition, ICCD member Mart summarises the past two episodes of the podcast.]
Episode 25: Michele Nati, IOTA Foundation
General overview of the episode:
In this episode, Thomas was joined by Dr Michele Nati, Head of Telco and Infrastructure Development of the IOTA Foundation. Dr Nati gives insights into projects such as TMForum, EBSI, and more that collaborate with IOTA developments and solutions.
TMForum:
An alliance with more than 800 stakeholders from the field of telecommunication
The IOTA Foundation is part of several “Catalyst Programs”, where new solutions to existing problems are being explored – for example, infrastructure as a service
Different providers could share infrastructure on demand on a “Telco asset manager marketplace“
IOTA is working on getting Telco APIs “ledger-ready”
European Grants:
IOTA is part of 4 – 5 sector-specific projects, for example:
ORCHESTRA: Coordination and synchronization of traffic management
SECANT: Security of health data and medical devices
ENSURESEC: E-commerce security
Working on APIs for IOTA Streams and IOTA Identity as a service
Importance of the projects:
Generate value and connect with the right partners
For the community: Giving them building blocks, so they can focus on other areas of their projects
EBSI (European Blockchain Services Infrastructure):
Creating a pan-European distributed ledger infrastructure; member states can then offer different services to their citizens
The current phase (2A) includes two projects:
Digital product passport: Tracking the life of a good from creation to recycling
Intellectual property rights management: Help creatives to track the use of their work, transfer intellectual property, and get compensation
A digital product passport will help to create circular economies – these are only possible with IOTA’s accessibility and scalability
Academia & IOTA:
Leverage the large network of universities’ industrial partners
Validate the core research through the peer-review process
Digital Wallet:
IOTA Foundation not involved right now, but following the process and progress
Once the framework for the wallet is finalized, IOTA will work to be fully compliant
Use case example: Buying age-restricted items on the internet using verifiable credentials – secure, fast, and your data stays with you
Episode 26: Filancore
General overview of the episode:
In this episode, Thomas was joined by Markus Soppa from Filancore GmbH.
Filancore was founded in 2019, and is focused on DID (Decentralized identity) and SSI (self-sovereign identity). The plan is to bring the technology into the industry and to interested companies. One of their main goals is to make it as easy as possible for customers to use their solution, so that the customers can fully focus on their business.
The first version of Filancore’s product is complete, but the product itself is not yet finalized. The decision to use IOTA was obvious, though: The underlying DLT protocol needs to be scalable for thousands or millions of devices, energy efficient, and feeless.
Besides the ETO group (with whom they have partnered for several projects), they have more in the pipeline. Some are still under NDA, and some will be announced by their partners at a later point.
The former IOTA Identity Lead Jelle Millenaar, who is now founding his own company to work with IOTA Identity, had advised them in the past. He is now set to become a “competitor”, but Markus is optimistic that they will have a fruitful cooperation in the future.
For the degens out there: It is unlikely that you will have a chance to invest in Filancore in the near future. Regulations in Germany are very strict. Filancore was thinking about a security token offering, but this is still to be decided in the future.
If you are interested in their work, you can contact them on Twitter: @FilancoreGmbH or on LinkedIn: Markus Soppa.
FUD of the week: Controversies, Confusions, and Clarifications
[Editor’s note: Every community (unfortunately, even IOTA) has its fair share of controversies – usually catalysed by some miscommunication or inadvertent utterings and actions. However, The Daily Degen believes the cliché that “sunlight is the best disinfectant” and that most problems can be solved by diplomatic discussions. In this section, we will highlight certain confusions and controversies in the community. Our goal is not to inflame the situation further or to take sides. What we plan to do is explain the situation barebones, and offer a platform for the relevant parties to present their side of the story – because a multi-piece Twitter thread or emoji-filled/emoji-responded Discord comment is not always the most convenient way of explaining a situation. In this edition, WaywardRaspberry (@Surfyce) and _tamasik_ (@_tamasik_) discuss some controversies in the ecosystem.]
LendeXe revenue sharing
FUD overview: Some vocal people in the community have alleged that LendeXe’s funding plan is too greedy, claiming that it disproportionately favours the team.
Original Tweet: https://twitter.com/lendexefinance/status/1526207675083653126?s=21&t=JX2uNVoEvMqxb5ojpoAXkw
Clarification: After we reached out to LendeXe, we received a response that stated LendeXe’s overall vision and listed its milestones for the next 90 days. You can read the unedited response here. We were also sent a link to the FAQ section of the LendeXe Discord. In case we receive a more personal statement / press release about the controversy, we will publish it in the next edition of The Daily Degen.
SoonLabs: $SOON token price
FUD Overview: SoonLabs halted their $SOON token sale and refunded depositors to rethink their funding strategy after community criticism. This Reddit post gained popularity/notoriety in the community for its criticism of the project. In a comment to the same post, SoonLabs co-founder TangleAccountant (@TangleAcctant) responds to the issues raised.
What followed after the initial outcry: The excited cries of loyal Soonaverse fans came to a screeching halt on May 26 (just 2 days after the $SOON token release) when Soonlabs announced, "The market has spoken! We have heard you and have decided to cancel the token sale, refund all participants and re-evaluate our plans and valuation." In a transparent statement, Soonlabs relayed that the recent market dump drastically impacted their potential profits and ultimately the sale was postponed. The team successfully sold 1.8 Ti but at the current price of IOTA it would apparently not be enough to meet all of their financial goals. In the end they were able to refund all 570 participants in less than 5 minutes. Not bad.
A new token sale will commence on June 14 at 6:00 pm CEST and will last either 7 days or when the tokens are sold out. You can read more about it in their update to the community.
Ecosystem Highlights
Society2: https://society2.com/ | twitter.com/society2
Society2 is releasing its first dApp "Rhei" with "Annotated NFTs," NFTs (art, music, text, etc) as the root of an online conversation. Rhei utilizes IPFS and IOTA to decentralize social media: you choose your feed algorithm, you control your data- real privacy, you profit off of your content.
IOTA Hispano: https://iotahispano.com/ | twitter.com/IotaHispano
One of the oldest active IOTA community projects, IOTA Hispano primary caters to the Spanish-speaking IOTA community, providing a source of original content as well as translated articles. The publication is known for its interviews of IOTA Foundation members, community developers, and other passionate people around IOTA's ecosystem. Get in touch with @Gabriela_Jca on Twitter to collaborate and write on the platform (in Spanish, English, and other languages).
Munkiilab: http://munkiilab.com/ | https://twitter.com/munkiilab
What started off as a small 2D vector'd NFT release on the IOTA Tangle morphed into a full-on Munkii 3D project, a colourful 3D character with a ton of attitude and a story to tell. What to expect - More NFT collections for public sale with exclusive giveaways of limited edition artwork and short animated loops to Munkii 3D NFT holders. Munkii merchandise, i.e., hoodies and T-shirts with the possibility of a vinyl Munkii Figure tied to an NFT. The ultimate goal is a playable 3D Munkii character either through partnerships with other IOTA-based game projects, uploadable to other metaverse worlds, or in Munkii's own game. The possibilities are endless!
IOTAPES: https://linktr.ee/iotapes
ApeDAO is a community-first initiative with its mission being to build a "smart degen" community. One of its main focuses is discussing upcoming DeFi opportunities in the IOTA ecosystem.
TanglePay: https://tanglepay.com/ | twitter.com/tanglepaycom
TanglePay is the self-custody IOTA wallet available for iOS, Android and web extensions serving as the entrance of IOTA ecosystem. It is designed to be an all-in-one IOTA wallet which will support tokens and NFTs on different chains includes IOTA, Shimmer, EVM and Assembly. Staking, DApp market are already implemented and more functions will be delivered.
Daobee: https://www.daobee.io/ | twitter.com/Daobeegame
Daobee will be IOTAs first free2earn NFT-creation game. Players will create art and stories together in fast-paced minigames and share all profits if the resulting NFT gets sold.
TangleHub: https://tanglehub.eu/ | twitter.com/Tanglehub_eu
TangleHUB is the creator of PIPE, an layer 2 data transfer and storage network. “Taking decentralized storage to the next level”.
[Note to readers: Something going on in your project that you want the community to read about? Let us know!]
The collapse of LUNA
[Editor’s note: While IOTA is the best, and the prime focus of this newsletter, we will keep our eyes open for significant news relating to the greater crypto community – especially when such news can make or break a market. In this article, Rob (@DigitalSoulx) from The Daily Degen summarises the collapse of LUNA and the depegging of UST]
Terra / LUNA and the Crypto Market Collapse: Terra's original goal in 2018 was to provide an algorithmic stablecoin and corresponding blockchain network on Cosmos. It had been running successfully for 3 years. The stablecoin was pegged to USD and abbreviated as UST (LUNA, on the other hand, is the crypto). The network's claim was that a user could swap 1 UST for $1 of Luna anytime, regardless of the current value of Luna. However, despite later attempts to back the currency with other assets, these tokens were originally generated without any real backing. Do Kwon (one of the founders) had been very outspoken about the protocol and had even taunted those who criticized it, claiming that it was impervious to attack. This might have added to motivation of the attackers. The market in general was already weak, and this helped to set the stage for Terra's eventual collapse. Paraphrased from @Route2Fl on Twitter:
Terra Labs had pulled $150M of UST liquidity from 3-Pool on Curve to migrate over to 4-Pool. This was done to help maintain balance after a recent massive selloff on Curve. There was now limited liquidity in the active 3-Pool, and the attacker exploited it by swapping $85M of UST to USDC, creating an imbalance in 3-Pool. While all of this is happening, the attackers borrowed 100,000BTC to short. The attackers then buy $1B UST in an OTC trade. Rumors and fear spread like crazy and deposits on Anchor, the protocol on Terra that offered users a 19.5% yield on UST, start falling ~$10M every minute. The US markets open in the red, further adding to the fear and weakness in the macroeconomic environment. This accelerates the selloff in crypto. To help fight the depeg, the Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) starts to sell LUNA and Bitcoin to restore it. This led to downward price pressure on both LUNA and Bitcoin (remember the attackers shorted Bitcoin, betting it would fall!) The LUNA price enters a death spiral because of the re-peg mechanism: more LUNA needs to be issued as UST drops to maintain balance. Attackers keep dumping UST sending the LUNA supply to a massive 6.5 trillion. Bitcoin starts selling off as well due to massive sell pressure. As Bitcoin falls even faster, the rest of the crypto market follows suit (including IOTA)
Here’s another Twitter thread that properly explains the scenario that led to the collapse of LUNA:
Soon after, the Terra / LUNA blockchain was suspended and trading halted on most exchanges. While the protocol does have a number of high-profile supporters, the trust has been eroded to a point that it may be difficult for any sort of meaningful recovery. Meanwhile, a hard fork ensued and a new chain called Terra 2.0 (with a native token LUNA, the original being rebranded to LUNA Classic) started generating blocks. Holders of the original LUNA (Luna Classic) are being airdropped LUNA (2.0) tokens, via an approach that has received widespread criticism.
The blowback from the collapse spilled over to an already weak market and pushed the crypto markets down to local lows. WEN will IOTA finally decouple from this madness!?!
More (degen) stuff intended!
As we grow into more editions, and depending on the community’s feedback, we plan to introduce more elements – such as a weekly price prediction contest, best meme / screenshot from Spec, and more.
When? Soon. How soon? If all goes well, possibly from the second edition itself. Let’s see. Yes, all rewards will be in IOTA.
Also, we are launching a job board here as well. If your team needs a savvy resource and you want to get the word out, write to us and we’ll publish it here.
We’re also planning efforts to get news of IOTA to beyond our community bubble, and would love to hear your ideas about it!
And that’s a wrap! Please like, share, smash that subscribe… or better yet, join us! Do you love to write? Passionate about the IOTA ecosystem? Do you have a project to share? Master at making memes?
We want to help the community discover their strengths and stay updated about everything IOTA. We cannot do this alone. Community participation and feedback will help keep The Daily Degen up-to-date and invaluable. Help us help the ecosystem.
The best way to reach us is through Discord: discord.gg/2BeCTUMPAM
Follow us on Twitter: @IOTAcontentDAO
Leave us a comment and thank you for reading! See you next time!
Special thanks and honourable mentions to all the hardworking ICCD degens who contributed (in the form of written, editorial, design, advisory, and memetic support) to the first edition: _tamasik_, DigitalSoul.x (Rob) , WaywardRaspberry (Surfyce), Linus Naumann, Mart, and Pathin.
If you enjoyed the newsletter and would like to see it continue to grow, you can also donate here: iota1qp7l8s5026k7gvd2m0t8cyj754geslnl6vtt0cxzf0xlsvyeug2pv85rh78