Claiming Terratory

Good morning. Today we lead off with the private sector further isolating Russia financially, followed by a new challenger with a stranglehold on the #2 DeFi slot, plus Circle backing off its API product launch, and more!

Market Update (as of 7:53am ET):

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Top 5:

1. Visa, Mastercard join PayPal in suspending Russian operations. In the next few days, Russian issued Visa cards will only work in Russia and cards issued outside of Russia will no longer work in the country. Mastercard and PayPal have both taken similar steps to prevent international payments from occurring within the country's borders. Cutting everyday citizens and businesses off from international markets ramps up pressure on the government from inside the country and presents opportunities for other countries to offer financial markets access. It could also encourage Russians to adopt crypto as a means of payment for customers outside the country.

2. Terra is now DeFi's network of choice after Ethereum. The DeFi protocol built in the Cosmos ecosystem has moved into the second place slot behind Ethereum for total value locked (TVL) at $23 billion, with the native token LUNA up more than 50% over the last month. During that time period, LUNA was listed on FTX and the foundation backing Terra raised a $1 billion bitcoin treasury to provide a non-correlated asset to back their UST stablecoin reserves. While Terra has separated itself from the pack of Ethereum alternatives, it's still a long way off from matching Ethereum's $108 billion in TVL.

3. Circle delays its DeFi API product, citing need for regulatory guidance. The product, which was announced last June, aimed to provide "seamless, safe, secure and regulated infrastructure for accessing and building on DeFi lending markets." The initial release would have allowed businesses to access the Compound lending protocol. While the company waits for further regulatory clarity, focus will shift to expanding the USDC stablecoin product to additional blockchains and launching Circle Yield.

4. Dozens of tokens tumble as developer calls it quits. Andre Cronje and his colleague Anton Nell are throwing in the towel on DeFi development. Cronje, who is best known for creating Yearn Finance and for being involved in a variety of other DeFi projects, has participated in daily operations at Yearn for some time. That has not stopped crypto markets from dumping tokens from projects he was even loosely associated with including: YFI, BOO, TOMB, LQDR, and others. In Nell's twitter announcement, he also confirmed that several front-end applications developed by the pair will be shutting down at the end of April.

5. Convex Finance bug causes CVX token to sink on forced unlock. The bug was identified in the smart contract vote-locking governance mechanism of the protocol and would have allowed certain users to receive disproportionate rewards. This discovery forced the team to unlock all CVX from existing contracts and to redeploy the contracts after the bug was addressed. Last Friday, 72% of the CVX supply was locked into the protocol, and the unexpected unlocking of tokens caused prices to drop around 20%.

Updates and other stories:
- Healthcare giant CVS files for NFTs and virtual goods trademark...Read More
- Ukraine Cancels Airdrop, OpenSea Bans Users in Iran...Read More
- Metaverse steals shows at world's biggest mobile event...Read More

Top Sharers of the Crypto Top 5:
1. Donna Y. - Nashville, TN
2. Jake Y. - Greenville, SC
3. Forrest H. - Evansville, IN

External Resources:
1. Cryptopedia from Gemini - if you see a word, acronym, or phrase in this newsletter that you don't understand, there's a good chance you can find an explanation here
2. Crypto Explainer+ - intro level courses on Bitcoin, Ethereum, decentralized finance, NFTs, and more
3. Crypto Jobs! - looking for a new job? Check out this page from Anthony Pompliano with hundreds, if not thousands of listings

Disclaimer: The information contained in this newsletter shall not be understood or construed as financial advice. I am not an attorney, accountant, or financial advisor, nor am I holding myself out to be, and the information provided is not a substitute for financial advice from a professional who is aware of the facts and circumstances of your individual situation.