Quick Take

• Australian Bank ANZ launches an AUD pegged stablecoin,

• Yield Protocol adds support for fixed rate ETH lending.

• XCOPY raises over $20 million from an open edition NFT.

• Ramp Network supports purchases for ETH on Arbitrum.

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Australian Bank ANZ Launches A$DC Stablecoin

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) has partnered with crypto custodian Fireblocks to create an AUD pegged stablecoin. Called A$DC, the stablecoin was created on Ethereum with $30 million already minted. The stablecoin will initially be marketed toward institutional clients, with retail availability on an Australian crypto exchange coming at a later date.

It marks the first time a major bank has been involved in the creation of a stablecoin. ANZ says it plans to expand the stablecoin to Hedera and other chains in the near future. OpenZeppelin was the auditor of the smart contracts. Australian dollars will be held in a trust to fully back A$DC at a one-to-one ratio.

Yield Protocol Adds Fixed Rate ETH Lending

Yield Protocol has rolled out support for ether to its fixed rate lending platform. Users can now lend or borrow ether at a guaranteed fixed rate until the loan term expires. Users can also pool their ETH in a fixed term liquidity pool, earning variable yield from borrowers and lenders.

The minimum collateralization ration is about 140%, although Yield recommends a ratio of 240% as a precaution for volatility. Users can use USDC or WBTC as collateral to be used against their loan.Yield Protocol works similar to zero coupon bonds by using ERC-20 tokens that trade at a discount to their redemption value.

XCOPY Raises $23 Million From Open Edition NFT

XCOPY sold 7,394 copies of an open edition NFT at a price of $3,108 each. Open edition means there is no limit on the number of NFTs sold. The artwork featured is also the same for all NFTs minted. Coined as ‘MAX PAIN and Frens’, the new collection generated roughly $23 million in sales.

The sale was hosted on Nifty Gateway, marking the one-year anniversary since XCOPY’s last drop on the platform. XCOPY was one of the earliest crypto artists to release NFTs on Nifty Gateway. The drop also featured auction format sales of 3 other limited-edition NFTs. Current XCOPY holders were also given the opportunity to burn existing “Afterburn” XCOPY NFTs to be able to purchase a new edition.

DeFi Saver Leveraged steCRV Vaults

DeFi Saver has added support for borrowing and leveraging MakerDAO steCRV Vaults. steCRV is an LP token representing a share in the Curve stETH-ETH pool. stETH is Lido’s token representing staked Ether. Users can deposit steCRV into a Maker Vault in order to borrow DAI. DeFi Saver is capable of handling both staking through Lido and depositing into Curve in a single transaction. DeFi Saver is a dashboard for managing assets across multiple protocols. 

Ramp Network Supports Arbitrum ETH Purchases

Ramp Network, a platform that allows dapps to integrate a fiat on-ramp, has added support for ETH on Arbitrum. Users can now purchase Arbitrum ETH directly on applications integrated with Ramp. The platform also supports ETH on zkSync and Loopring. Ramp Network uses open banking APIs to enable users to exchange fiat currencies such as USD, GBP, or EUR for crypto assets. Arbitrum is the leading rollups scaling solution on Ethereum and holds over 50% market share with $3.3 billion in TVL.