@chilla_ct

It's easy to create alarmist headlines during a bear market, saying, "Oh, look, DeFi is ugly and bad, it's collapsed, and people are scared they should run away." It’s easier to ignore the data than to analyze it carefully. After all, shouting to the crowd takes far less effort. Perhaps we should think for a moment and see that, yes, DeFi TVL has fallen by 37% since January 1 2026. But at the same time, the token primarily used in DeFi is ETH, which is down even more (45%). The same goes for Solana, which has fallen by 46%. And so on and so forth for several others. On the other hand, a key data point for actually evaluating current DeFi activity is the stablecoin supply. This has grown by just over 2% ($7B added) since January 1 2026, which is not much, but still enough to be positive. --- It's obvious that the benchmark used in that data comes from the tokens themselves, which are currently struggling because of a bear market. Meanwhile, the supply of crypto's flagship product, stablecoins, is constantly growing. Which, as a second order effect, shows that DeFi is still needed and no, people are not rushing out of it.

There’s a story about the Roman Empire that i recently came across. In a way, they were the first to bring inflation to scale. For centuries, the Roman "denarius" was trusted because it was almost fully backed by silver. It was also the coin primarily used to pay soldiers. But Rome didn’t have more sophisticated tools like public debt to raise money. It mostly relied on conquest to keep its finances clean and move the economy. There were no financing mechanisms or anything similar. At some point, though, military campaigns became more frequent, soldiers demanded higher wages, and government spending had to increase. So, under Emperor Nero, around 64 AD, the silver backing of the denarius was reduced from roughly 98% to about 93%. But nobody really noticed at first. A merchant would still exchange one coin for the same amount of wheat or wine. Even they did not yet fully understand that a currency derives its value not from the number stamped on it, but from a mix of backing and trust in the system. But over the following decades, the prices of goods began to change. At the same time, the costs of war kept rising. Future emperors then tried the same trick again, but the backing of the denarius just kept falling: around 75% under Marcus Aurelius, roughly 50% by the early third century, and eventually close to zero. By chance, all of this coincided with the fall of the Roman Empire. Just a little story, probably nothing to do with today's times.

It's so easy to forget there is a world outside this bubble. And that there are so many things you can do, even if you have no experience with them at all. (Stop trying to be nonchalant. Actually go out and enjoy stuff) So boxing turned out to be an extraordinarily beautiful sport. And competing in a ring is an almost surreal experience. The fear of the unknown, the legs that turn to marble when you climb those 3 steps to get to the ring, the adrenaline that starts flowing through your veins when you're in fight or flight mode, and the feeling of peace when the match ends. It's incredibly difficult to find such a complex mix of mental states anywhere else.

Another one bites the dust. And for these guys in particular it's a shame. I've been following them since the beginning of 2022, and they had a vision and a strong team. This market is hurting even the best.

Breaking: man selling thing says thing is good