Each week, we’ll round up the hottest news across the DeFi ecosystem to help you keep up to speed as things continue to move fast.  This is the DeFi Drop, the best way to stay updated on DeFi.

Uniswap V3 is poised to launch Layer 2 scaling solutions on both Arbitrum and Optimism

Uniswap is one of the most widely used AMM in all of DeFi, and its new V3 implementation AND V2 are each generating more fees daily than Bitcoin. At a time when users are concerned about network fees, incurred by users any time they use DeFi apps (which are secured by the Ethereum blockchain), Uniswap announced two significant efforts to deploy their V3 AMM to not just one, but two major Layer 2 implementations: Arbitrum and Optimism.

Stablecoin settlement on Ethereum has surpassed stable settlement on Bitcoin for the first time in almost a year

According to crypto developer David Mihal’s Money Movers site that tracks settlement values across different blockchains and projects, stablecoin settlement on Ethereum is nearing a revisit of its all-time high, and in the process, has flipped Bitcoin again. This is notable for DeFi users as it signals the on-chain interest of Ethereum’s DeFi protocols.

Mark Cuban backs Polygon

Polgyon ($MATIC), a scaling solution for Ethereum and DeFI apps, has been making noise in the market recently. It comes at a sensible time: With popular DeFi apps and other projects going live on Polygon, users have increasingly turned to the platform to escape the high transaction fees of the Ethereum mainnet. Mark Cuban, a DeFi bull himself, recently announced he has backed Polygon’s team and project, noting in an email: “I was a Polygon user and find myself using it more and more.”

QuickSwap surpasses $1B in TVL (Total Value Locked)

One of the most notable metrics for a DeFi project, especially an AMM like QuickSwap, is their TVL, or how much value the protocol has deposited inside of it. The deposits are not only a signal of utility, but of trust. QuickSwap is the native AMM exchange on Polygon and allows users to transact for little-to-no-fees. The TVL milestone occurred despite the recent market correction, announced by QuickSwap founding member Sameep Singhania.

Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary is hot on DeFi, backs new DeFi Venture company

Kevin O’Leary, co-host of Shark Tank, has been very vocal about the viability of cryptocurrencies. So much so that he recently announced his plans to launch a decentralized finance (DeFi) firm backing promising projects in the space. In a recent interview with popular Bitcoin personality Anthony Pompliano, Kevin gushed about his interest in the DeFi space (understandable for a self-proclaimed “royalties guy”) and proceeded to announce his involvement in the DeFi Ventures firm.

Anchorage Digital rolls out ETH-backed loans with America’s 10th oldest bank

Digital asset bank Anchorage Digital is expanding its DeFi-adjacent offerings by enabling ETH-backed loans via a new partnership with BankProv, a nearly 200-year-old U.S. bank. The tie-up will allow institutions that custody their ETH with Anchorage to put those assets to work.

The daily trading volumes on decentralized exchanges have spiked

According to a gif graph shared by the team at Token Terminal, daily trading volumes on DEXs like Uniswap, Sushiswap, and 0x have gone through the roof over the past 180 days, signaling a frenzy of on-chain activity during this local period of volatility.

Aave founder teases NFT collaterals

Stani Kulechov, the founder and main dev at the popular Aave ($AAVE) project, has announced on Twitter that NFT collateral is coming to the lending and borrowing protocol. On Aave, users can deposit assets and borrow assets against their collateral. Aave is the first major protocol to announce intentions to provide NFTs as collateral for loans.

“DeFi” makes the front page of the Wall Street Journal

Earlier this week, the WSJ published an article to its front page discussing DeFi in depth. As DeFi heats up once again (since what’s colloquially known among crypto users as “DeFi Summer” in 2020), all eyes are on the protocols and how to use them. This article helps WSJ readers, a hyper financially-minded target market, understand DeFi on a tactical level, and covers important applications in the space such as Uniswap, Polygon, and Compound.

Matter Labs ships zkSync 2.0

Among a highly competitive market atmosphere for Layer 2 projects and teams focused on scalability, one of the original projects finally shipped a major update that has put all DeFi eyes on Matter Labs, responsible for the managing the zkSync protocol. This is not a coin or a project, it’s a technology that leverages zero knowledge proofs to improve network security and privacy, and also increase scalability for Ethereum and its many DeFi apps and users.