The DeFi realm has registered tremendous growth in the past quarter (Q2) with some products posting some impressive figures. $4.9 Billion was channeled through DeFi dApps, a stellar 67% increase from Q1’s figures. Basic Attention Token (BAT) – a token used to incentivize digital ad consumption on the Brave browser – was the most used coin in DeFi in Q2 2020. BAT’s volumes in DeFi came to $931 million, over $300 million more than ether. The token’s overnight popularity came from generating the best return on Compound, not because of any feature of BAT. Ether saw its active user numbers soar to an All-Time High of 1,258,527 more than doubling Q1’s figures. Their daily average active users have also increased from the 7,682 in the first quarter to over 40% in the second quarter, mostly attributing the COMP governance token launch.
SocGen’s digitised bond passes settlement test
Societe Generale quietly achieved a first: the settlement of a securities trade using a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC). The French bank issued a covered bond in the form of a securitised token on a public blockchain. It then bought back the debt using digital euros issued by the Banque de France. The deal was not large – at €40 million it could be described as a token gesture – but it’s a significant step in the creation of smart contracts that enable instant trade settlement. CBDC could slash the time and cost of settlement, unlocking trapped capital that could be used for other activity and so boosting intraday liquidity.
Wirecard’s core business has been lossmaking for years, audit shows
Wirecard’s internal numbers reveal that the operating performance of its core business — mainly payments processing in Europe and issuing credit cards in Europe and North America — was far worse than previously known. The figures show that those core activities have also become increasingly lossmaking in recent years, despite accounting for half of the company’s reported revenue and almost two-thirds of the transaction volume.
