DeFi Weekly Insights: USDT0 expands across all chains, veterans rally back
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DeFi Weekly Insights: USDT0 expands across all chains, veterans rally back
If RWA explodes as expected, then $LINK is a good asset to invest in.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsETH upgrade RWA, cooking in progress, DeFi giants team up for exclusive Lego time—recent week's thoughts on DeFi:
1/ ETH has seen a significant rise over the past two weeks, coinciding with the Pectra upgrade. (1) Personally, I think the price increase is somewhat related but not the main driver. (2) There was excessive FUD before, and now there's anticipation around ETF staking approval. (3) Previously, the ETH/BTC exchange rate had nearly hit its lowest point. Still, this upgrade’s content is worth reviewing—it’s lengthy to explain in detail, so I’ve summarized and organized it into a GitBook.
2/ DeFi Giants Team-Up: Aave & Uniswap
Aave plans to launch a Uniswap V4 Hook enabling Uni V4 LPs to collateralize and borrow GHO. This initiative requires funding from the Uniswap DAO, and in return, future GHO lending interest revenue will be shared with the Uniswap DAO.
This is currently the most practical Hook application, benefiting both giants. It enhances LP capital efficiency, and the composability and flexibility of Hooks are beginning to show. With top projects leading, we can expect more innovation ahead.
3/ DeFi Giants Team-Up: Aave, Pendle & Ethena
(1) Ethena PT tokens integrated into Aave, demand remains strong. (2) Ethena deepens integration with Aave by launching USDtb, increasing supply caps for USDe and sUSDe, as well as raising the cap for PT tokens. After PT entered Aave, veteran DeFi users who love circular lending got back to work. Another triple-win collaboration. As blue-chip DeFi matures, we’re entering an era of exclusive Lego-like stacking among top-tier DeFi projects—more stable and higher capacity than the DeFi Summer Lego days.
4/ Unichain Liquidity Mining Update
(1) Unichain liquidity mining rewards halved. (2) Incentives for WBTC pools are being migrated. Gauntlet stated KPIs were exceeded, hence reduced yields. TVL hasn’t dropped significantly, and returns remain within market-acceptable ranges. Note that 7 days later, WBTC-related pool rewards will gradually shift to WBTC0 (OFT version). Unichain is now deeply tied to L0.
5/ SSV Network announced the launch of SSV 2.0 testnet, introducing a new concept: bApps—new types of decentralized applications that directly leverage Ethereum validators for security instead of relying on additional capital. Validators can earn extra income by providing security services to bApps.
At first glance, this sounds like restaking, but there are key differences: Restaking locks already staked ETH into new protocols to secure them. These assets are slashable—if the protocol fails, validator funds may be lost. Ethereum itself could also be impacted. The key feature of SSV 2.0 is that staked ETH won’t be slashed due to bApp protocol failures, protecting Ethereum from cascading risks. This means if a bApp fails, Ethereum mainnet stability remains unaffected.
Currently, restaking struggles to attract users and lacks sufficient demand, making this service unlikely to gain immediate traction. Mechanically, SSV 2.0 does have unique advantages and appears superior to restaking in theory.
Returning to the DVT sector itself, it failed to gain ground last cycle and faces even tougher challenges this time. The advantage is that demand is relatively certain, but the issue is that most solutions may be absorbed by giants. Both SSV and Obol are actively evolving to break out from different angles. Worth watching, but still to be seen.
6/ Obol Announces Obol Stack
Obol Stack packages validator self-operation, allowing anyone to directly invoke and deploy validator nodes and sequencers. Official or third-party providers will bundle this infrastructure as “Apps” and publish them to the Obol App Store, where users can directly acquire and deploy their own nodes.
This brings us one step closer to Vitalik’s original vision—enabling everyone, everywhere, to run an Ethereum node.
7/ USD₮0 Expanding Rapidly
USDT0 is an omnichain stablecoin jointly launched by Tether and LayerZero, using L0’s OFT technology for cross-chain circulation, already supported on many major chains.
This model directly competes with USDC’s CCTP. The difference is USDC’s approach is more native and centralized, while USDT0 relies on LayerZero. Additionally, USDT0 receives substantial ecosystem support.
For example, it can be mined on Unichain and used to provide liquidity on Flare to receive ecosystem incentives.
Overall, there will be many farming opportunities. Given Tether’s backing, we’ll see more and more USDT (USDT0) on-chain in the future.
8/ Noticed Moves from Two Veteran DeFi Projects
(1) Liquity V2 announced imminent relaunch, fixing vulnerabilities. (2) Alchemix hints at a comeback. Liquity V2 suffered a security vulnerability around April 15, 2025, forcing protocol suspension. The exploit involved a complex attack. Post-relaunch performance remains to be seen. Actually, V1 was one of my favorite designs—simple and effective despite some efficiency and scalability issues. It’s been forked by dozens of projects. V2’s changes represent a breakthrough, but the security handling is somewhat disappointing. Monitoring closely.
Alchemix was one of the standout projects during the previous DeFi 2.0 bull run. It may soon begin reinvention. However, compared to Euler and Maple, Alchemix is more community-driven. If it doesn’t deliver something game-changing, its competitiveness will be limited. Worth keeping an eye on.
9/ Lots of RWA Activity
Securitize issued a wrapped version of BlackRock’s tokenized fund for use in DeFi—this feels like a significant development.
Other updates: (1) VanEck partners with Securitize to launch a tokenized fund. (2) Stripe launches stablecoin financial accounts. (3) Arbitrum approves allocating 35M ARB to tokenized U.S. Treasuries. (4) Horizon, Aave’s RWA platform, partners with AntChain to enable borrowing stablecoins by collateralizing RWA assets. An interesting one: Stripe’s financial account supports USDB, and its incentive mechanism pays developers a fee equivalent to the underlying asset yield (e.g., money market fund interest) when USDB is used.
10/ Another notable RWA update: Chainlink, J.P. Morgan, and Ondo Finance collaborate to enable cross-chain settlement of tokenized U.S. Treasuries.
Ondo Chain is a public chain, while Kinexys is a permissioned chain. Interoperability between these two requires additional technical support, currently provided via Chainlink’s solution.
Looking ahead, Chainlink has already secured a solid position in the RWA cross-chain settlement space. If RWA grows as expected, $LINK becomes a strong investment candidate, backed by its leading oracle position. TechFlow
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