DeFi titans Aave and Maker clash over $2M profit-sharing deal – DL News

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General manager, Tim here.

Here’s what caught my attention in DeFi recently:

• Aave DAO calls out MakerDAO for failing to live up to its end of a $2 million profit-sharing agreement.
• Avi Eisenberg is fighting in prison to recover the $14 million he lost on Waves.
• Polkadot defends its $37 million investment in influencers.

An “unapproved fork”?

MakerDAO’s lending protocol Spark — a fork of Aave v3 — is breaking an agreement with Aave DAO, says delegate Marc Zeller.

In February 2023, Phoenix Labs, the company behind Spark, propose 10% share of protocol profits over two years as a thank you for using Aave’s code.

The proposal estimated that Spark would pay Aave a total of $2 million.

But Zeller says Spark is not living up to its end of the bargain.

“With creative accounting on MakerDAO, the actual revenue share is much closer to 1%,” he said.

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Zeller wants a “more synergistic approach” between the two DAOs, urging other members of the Aave DAO to weigh in on the issue.

The request for comment gives the DAO the opportunity to declare MakerDAO in violation of the agreement and Spark an “unapproved fork of the Aave codebase.”

The complaint comes as competition between the two DeFi titans intensifies.

Aave surpassed MakerDAO this year to become the third most valuable DeFi project.

Eisenberg against the waves

Cryptocurrency trader Avraham Eisenberg is in prison awaiting sentencing later this month for his $115 million run on DeFi protocol Mango Markets.

But court documents show he is also devoting his time to another matter.

He is trying to recover $14 million, which he accuses Waves creator Sasha Ivanov of stealing from him on the Waves blockchain in 2022.

Before the case can proceed, Eisenberg must serve the letter directly on Ivanov, which he has so far been unable to do.

Eisenberg previously accused Ivanov, accused of organizing a “bait-and-switch scam” and a “global Ponzi scheme.”

A DL News investigation Last year, crypto wallets linked to Ivanov siphoned off $530 million from a lending protocol on Waves.

Ivanov had previously said he acknowledged that investors’ money had been drained, but denies any involvement.

This time, he did not respond to a request for comment.

Polkadot’s Spending Madness

Polkadot is under fire after releasing details of its first-half spending.

The cooperative that governs Polkadot has spent $37 million on marketing initiatives that critics say have done little to improve its image.

That spending includes $5 million spent on influencers — also known as key opinion leaders, or KOLs — to promote blockchain.

The company also spent $180,000 to put its logo on “an entire fleet of private jets based in Europe” for six months.

“All the networks have similar expenses,” said one of the report’s authors, known by the pseudonym Jeeper. DL News.

“These operations take place behind closed doors, and no one can see what they are paying or to whom.”

Polkadot spending increased 140% to nearly $87 million, up from about $27 million in the second half of 2023.

Data of the week

RootData ranks crypto projects based on the number of clicks and searches they receive, reflecting their popularity.

This week, Sentient topped the rankings after rising $85 million co-led by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund.

Sentient is creating a blockchain protocol where AI developers can market and monetize their models and their data.

Sentient is the hottest crypto project in the last seven days. (Rootdata)

This Week in DeFi Governance

VOTE: Lido to appoint law firm in response to class action

PROPOSAL: Frax may change the token it uses to issue rewards

VOTE: Arbitrum DAO Votes on Treasury Diversification Recommendations

Article of the week

The Wau Holland Foundation, a nonprofit that processes donations on behalf of WikiLeaks, has released a preliminary report on how it spent the 16,593 Ether collected by AssangeDAO in 2022.

What we are looking at

Ethereum Foundation researchers have just officially proposed a dedicated separation between the proposer and the builder.

If adopted, this split will make Ethereum more reliable, among other improvements.

Got any DeFi tips? Contact us at tim@dlnews.com.

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