Liya.eth, her first Devcon 🇮🇳🫶🏻
even the kiddos are pre-registering for @EFDevcon! are you?
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See you @ethconf 🫶🏻
Excited to be speaking at @ethconf in NYC!
Stablecoins have caught wildfire in the crypto psyche, and “cross-border payments in emerging markets” is a central part of that narrative. But little is explored on the below the surface drivers, where the moats are for builders, and what infra is still needed to serve the stickiest markets in the world.
We’ll unpack those + more at ETHconf
Thank you for having me @ETHGlobal @kartiktalwar @jacobwillemsma 🙌🏾
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songyi.eth 🍄 retweeted
a16z is right about the direction: stablecoins aren’t a crypto niche anymore — they’re becoming a settlement layer beneath global finance. The stack they map (issuance → connectivity → liquidity → apps → credit) is real.
But the map looks different from Africa. Not because the thesis is wrong — but because the constraints are different, and constraints shape markets.
Africa is where the hardest parts of the stack are already being stress-tested.
🧵Here are less explained dynamics of stablecoins in Africa:
But the map looks different from Africa. Not because the thesis is wrong — but because the constraints are different, and constraints shape markets.
Africa is where the hardest parts of the stack are already being stress-tested.
🧵Here are less explained dynamics of stablecoins in Africa:
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songyi.eth 🍄 retweeted
I’m exited to be in Japan next week 🇯🇵
The Africa - Asia corridor is huge: many startups I work with are building the liquidity rails to for value to flow both ways. Cultural links are also growing.
@s3unha and I will be meeting with founders, funds, and large businesses working on these corridors - it’s surprising how active Japanese players are in Africa, let alone the rest of Asia!
Thank you @missbitcoin_mai for supporting our trip 🙏🏽
The Africa - Asia corridor is huge: many startups I work with are building the liquidity rails to for value to flow both ways. Cultural links are also growing.
@s3unha and I will be meeting with founders, funds, and large businesses working on these corridors - it’s surprising how active Japanese players are in Africa, let alone the rest of Asia!
Thank you @missbitcoin_mai for supporting our trip 🙏🏽
友人のYosephが、来日します✈️アフリカマーケット、そしてステーブルコイン動向にご興味ある方は、ミーティングアレンジしますのでご連絡ください。
Yosephは、アフリカと世界をつなぐ金融、インフラ系スタートアップに投資するベンチャーキャピタルファンド LAVA（lavavc.io） 、Vitalik、Aya等のEthereumのコアチームをアフリカでのlearning tripに招き、現地での理解を深める機会を提供してきました。INTMAXもお世話になりました👏
LAVAは、Brian Armstrong（Coinbase CEO）、Matt Huang と Fred Ehrsam（Paradigm創業者）、Dylan Field（Figma CEO） をはじめ、Notion、Base、Polygon、韓国の大手コングロマリットKolon、TADA / MVLの創業者、そして米国・アジア・中南米・アフリカで活動するファンドなど、世界トップクラスの創業者および資本アロケーターから支援を受けています。
LAVAの投資先スタートアップは、アフリカ全域で数十億ドル規模のステーブルコイン取引量を生み出しており、従来の銀行インフラよりも効率的な資本移動のための“配管（インフラ）”を構築しています。これらの決済インフラは、グローバル企業、フィンテック企業、さらには銀行によっても活用され、国境を越えた資金移動を効率的に実現しています。
遠慮なくご連絡ください！
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songyi.eth 🍄 retweeted
P2P is how people move value when the rails don’t serve them.
centralized exchanges scaled it, but their shadows proved why resilience matters.
build the market into a protocol, not a platform: open, instant, trustless.
liquidity will find a way.
centralized exchanges scaled it, but their shadows proved why resilience matters.
build the market into a protocol, not a platform: open, instant, trustless.
liquidity will find a way.
Binance P2P has been the 'stablecoin exchange of the people’
I lived on it for years. Paying rent, flights, restaurants, hotels, taxis - you name it.
The Africa trip with Vitalik and Aya in 2023 + L2 tours + Borderless events? I paid most of our bills using Binance P2P.
Why?
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Welcome onboard @s3unha ❤️🔥I’m so blessed to have you as a friend, family and now as a collaborator at @lavavc_ !
Welcome @s3unha as Venture Partner to the LAVA family!
We're excited to bring a talented founder, investor, and community builder to support LAVA's mission + founders in our portfolio reach new heights.
lavavc.io/team
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songyi.eth 🍄 retweeted
5/ 💡 The Big Idea: "Local currency stablecoins represent the next evolution of financial innovations in Africa - while USD stablecoins create significantly better plumbing for global value exchange, local currency stablecoins promise better plumbing for local economies. These two forces go hand in hand in driving a digital economy revolution." - @yosephayele
Hot take: USD stablecoins' success in Africa might be crypto's biggest failure mode for the continent.
Part I in the @lavavc_ series showed how stablecoins solved USD liquidity fragmentation. But they don't fix the core problem: Africa's ~$400B annual USD leakage.
If crypto n more efficient, we've failed.
The big opportunity? Local currency stablecoins.
What is possible:
→ Transform $208B in intra-African trade (95% cleared outside Africa) with onchain FX
→ Open new credit markets
→ Better local payment rails & USD orchestration
What if Kenya-Tanzania's $785M trade happens with $117M changing hands?
While USD stablecoins create better plumbing for global value exchange, local currency stablecoins promise better plumbing for local economies.
Part II breaks down the opportunity & path forward: writing.lavavc.io/p/stablecoins-…
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Yay! 🥳 🙌
And just like that, we’re officially in @ethereum's second decade. Congrats everyone 🎉
Impossible --> inevitable
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songyi.eth 🍄 retweeted
Tomorrow, celebrate 10 years of Ethereum.
Join the ecosystem in a Livestream to:
- Revisit Ethereum history with @VitalikButerin & @ethereumJoseph
- Envision the next decade with @tkstanczak & @hwwonx
- Hear from builders across the globe
⏰2:30 PM UTC
youtube.com/live/igPIMF1p5…
Join the ecosystem in a Livestream to:
- Revisit Ethereum history with @VitalikButerin & @ethereumJoseph
- Envision the next decade with @tkstanczak & @hwwonx
- Hear from builders across the globe
⏰2:30 PM UTC
youtube.com/live/igPIMF1p5…
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#Stablecoins_in_Africa One of the most interesting phenomena in the world of crypto adoption 🔥👀 @lavavc_
I've been beating the drums about stablecoins in Africa for years.
They've finally hit mainstream in the West!
I'm releasing a 2-part series to look beyond the surface-level takes on why stablecoins thrive in Africa, and seek to understand the forces that led us there.
Part I → Why Africa leaks ~$400B annually
→ How chronic USD shortages made parallel markets a feature (not bug) of African economies (e.g. 90% of Nigeria’s USD liquidity flows outside banks)
→ How stablecoins didn't create something new - they digitized what was already happening at scale
→ What we can speculate about the future
The biggest value? USD stablecoins solve Africa's USD liquidity fragmentation - both inside AND outside banking systems.
Working with founders driving leading stablecoin companies here, we're still early:
- Forces flowing value to stablecoins are stacked
- Regulators coming to the table vs. fighting the market
- Global infrastructure embedding stablecoins
But here's the plot twist...
While USD stablecoins hit PMF and will keep growing, I believe they're crypto's biggest failure mode for Africa long-term if it means dollarizing our economies. Part II dives into this tension.
Read Part I: writing.lavavc.io/p/stablecoins-…
@lavavc_
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songyi.eth 🍄 retweeted
A great piece by Andy (@cryptowanderer) breaking down what we mean by 'trust infrastructure' at @lavavc_ and the types of problems ripe for innovative & practical solutions
writing.lavavc.io/p/what-is-trus…
writing.lavavc.io/p/what-is-trus…
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songyi.eth 🍄 retweeted
magma2 was one of my highlights last year. it really changed how i approached building, and the level of collaborations it has enabled is unmatched
thanks to @yosephayele @iamsonge for making the experience memorable
thanks to @yosephayele @iamsonge for making the experience memorable
Today marks the beginning of magma3, stacked as always with a group of exceptionally talented builders and founders.
Before the week begins, let’s take a quick recap of the magma2 cohort
We cannot wait to meet the builders & founders of cohort 3!
youtu.be/Cy7IVTM7KjU
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songyi.eth 🍄 retweeted
Andy doesn't talk like the standard engineer. Very illuminating and 'integrative':
* Andy Tudhope on Regenerative Mechanism Design: "Programming Money to Be Meaningful".
Video via youtube.com/watch?v=TBfATl…
"Andy Tudhope is the CTO of LAVA. In conversation with Matthew Monahan."
03:36 Meaningful Money and Political Systems
21:20 Field of Mechanism Design
31:14 The Power of Liabilities in Finance
32:02 Cycles: Revolutionizing Debt Settlement
47:03 Web3 in Africa
51:54 Regenerative Finance Reflections
Andy Tudhope: andytudhope.africa
LAVA: lavavc.io
* Andy Tudhope on Regenerative Mechanism Design: "Programming Money to Be Meaningful".
Video via youtube.com/watch?v=TBfATl…
"Andy Tudhope is the CTO of LAVA. In conversation with Matthew Monahan."
03:36 Meaningful Money and Political Systems
21:20 Field of Mechanism Design
31:14 The Power of Liabilities in Finance
32:02 Cycles: Revolutionizing Debt Settlement
47:03 Web3 in Africa
51:54 Regenerative Finance Reflections
Andy Tudhope: andytudhope.africa
LAVA: lavavc.io
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songyi.eth 🍄 retweeted
From the top community builders in Africa - @yosephayele and @iamsonge put great amount of effort in connecting teams from the continent with the global research and capital and add an incredibly attentive and kind approach on top.
The future of African Web3 isn't a single super-app.
It's builders creating 'legos' of a significantly better operating system for Africa's economy - products focused on specific market needs and leverage each other to offer what no single company can build alone.
Using blockchains without leveraging decentralization misses the point.
Africa needs better financial + trust infrastructure.
Our best path? Building 'on top' of each other's products, coordinating our visions & roadmaps, and creating stronger bridges with global communities.
magma ignites such coordination. 2 weeks, in person, with high-potential founders & builders.
The magma community already processes 4-5% of Africa's stablecoin volume and is at the forefront of Web3 product innovation on the continent.
Ready to build together?
Join magma3 to be part of this coordination fabric.
Apply by Jan 30: borderless.africa/magma
🧵Learn more about magma2: borderless.africa/blog/magma2
@borderlessaf
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Are you building FOR/FROM Africa? Read this now🔥 Applications close in less than 24hrs.
The future of African Web3 isn't a single super-app.
It's builders creating 'legos' of a significantly better operating system for Africa's economy - products focused on specific market needs and leverage each other to offer what no single company can build alone.
Using blockchains without leveraging decentralization misses the point.
Africa needs better financial + trust infrastructure.
Our best path? Building 'on top' of each other's products, coordinating our visions & roadmaps, and creating stronger bridges with global communities.
magma ignites such coordination. 2 weeks, in person, with high-potential founders & builders.
The magma community already processes 4-5% of Africa's stablecoin volume and is at the forefront of Web3 product innovation on the continent.
Ready to build together?
Join magma3 to be part of this coordination fabric.
Apply by Jan 30: borderless.africa/magma
🧵Learn more about magma2: borderless.africa/blog/magma2
@borderlessaf
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songyi.eth 🍄 retweeted
The science says for magma to become lava, there must first be a moment of 'cracking open' that occurs.
Applications for magma3 close tomorrow! 🔗 borderless.africa/magma
Applications for magma3 close tomorrow! 🔗 borderless.africa/magma
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💪💪💪
epic sequencing call #17!
Many founders, including 10 rollup founders, shared their support for based and/or native rollups. Below are some their quotes. 1h45min YouTube recording coming ASAP :)
Part 1—based and native rollups
Ben Jones from @Optimism: "Let's get this right. Optimism is willing to support based sequencing and native execution. It's wartime."
Nick Johnson from @ensdomains: "You can count Namechain as based-pilled and native-pilled [...] and consider us fully onboard."
Jesse Pollak from @base: "We need to scale and connect the Ethereum ecosystem and based sequencing and native execution feel like the tools to do it."
Tomasz Stanczak from @nethermind: "Based and native rollups feel super aligned, they are what we're super excited about." "We will be experimenting with Surge, based rollups, and FABRIC."
Hayden Adams from @unichain: [couldn't make it; see recording for my Unichain take]
Steven Goldfeder from @arbitrum: "Diversity makes Ethereum unique [...] We need to find a common core - which is a native rollup, but not stifle innovation on top of it. [...] We're excited to contribute to this direction [...] All of us want Ethereum to win."
Fede Carrone from @class_lambda: "Based? For me, it clicked within seconds"
Ye Zhang from @Scroll_ZKP: "Based sequencing is an important way to stay in the same economic zone with Ethereum. [...] Native rollups are a super interesting idea!"
Part 2—FABRIC: Fabric to Accelerate Based Rollup Infrastructure and Connectivity
Drew Van der Werff from @Commit_Boost: "FABRIC is a shelling point to coordinate and stitch together some of the fragmentation that has emerged"
mteam from @Spire_Labs: "Spire is devoting developer resources to native rollups." "We believe that a unified set of standards based rollups will lead to greater efficiency in development timelines, bring down costs for users, and establish a compatibility zone which is why we’re excited to announce our support of Fabric"
Daniel Wang from @taikoxyz: "we've been waiting for the FABRIC standards so we can work together and provide a full solution" "Taiko is willing to contribute to the Fabric project to make sure we can divide and conquer the problems"
Amir Forouzani from @puffer_finance: "Based rollups were a no-brainer for us, [...] so were native rollups." "FABRIC just makes so much sense, [...] these standardization efforts are so important"
Demi Brener from @OpenZeppelin: "We see based rollups as a promising path towards scaling Ethereum and billions of user." "We are supportive of the FABRIC efforts and are willing to contribute."
Sam Batternally from @risechain: "I am here to voice my support for FABRIC" "the signaling from Ethereum that this is the direction scaling is going which will be huge to pull off and attract more builders"
Vitalik Buterin: "our community thrives on open source, open research [...] It's amazing to see all of this interest and willingness to work together on sequencing and interoperability
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songyi.eth 🍄 retweeted
For the last day of @EFDevcon, we are going full on Asia day at GM hub ( room 107b) ☯️
Led by @viennazero, we will share untold stories from Asia, have matcha tea ceremony 🍵, and show @ethereum community the Asia way we walk! 💖
You don’t wanna miss this!
Led by @viennazero, we will share untold stories from Asia, have matcha tea ceremony 🍵, and show @ethereum community the Asia way we walk! 💖
You don’t wanna miss this!
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