Friday, March 27, Whop and DeFi: What's cooking?

It's Friday the 27th of March, time for your blockmates bullets in.

In today's breakdowns, the market is looking shaky going into this weekend, crypto back

mortgages are going mainstream and WAP integrates defy rails to offer high yield savings to its

users.

Next talk, we have Bitcoin trading at 66,600 today, ETH is at 1990, Seoul at just $83

and hyperliquid now at $38.

Polymarket traders are seeing the weakness in the crypto market and betting on downside

today, just 5% chance of ending today, green, which requires a closure over $69,000.

The crypto fear and greed index hits single digits again this month, printing as low as

8 on numerous occasions recently, with readings firmly in extreme fear territory.

It's now longed one of the longest streaks in extreme fear since the 2022 collapse, reflecting

deep market anxiety.

Adding to attention, today marks a massive derubit options expiry worth $16.4 billion

across Bitcoin and ETH, with Bitcoin making up $14 billion worth of that.

This quarterly event represents a huge chunk of open interest on the world's largest

crypto options exchange, historically such expires can drive short-term volatility,

with real price impact often unfolding in the days that follow as the positioning on

winds.

The macro backdrop that also remains fragile, the Iran conflict continues to escalate.

The IRGC has prohibited shipping to and from ports linked to Israeli-American allies,

effectively tightening control over key routes and raising fears around the straight-off

whole news.

Global prices have surged on every headline around this, pressuring energy markets and

global sentiments.

Confidence in the administration's ability is a visibly eroding as well.

David Sachs has just stepped down from his role as crypto and AISAR after roughly 130

days, and he shifts to a co-chair position on the President's Council of Advisors on

Science and Technology.

Trump's rhetoric on Iran has whipsword, from threats to obliterate power infrastructure,

if the straight isn't opened to announcing delays and claiming productive talks, only

to adjust timelines again, with most recently adding a pause to strikes until April 6th,

Iran has pushed back down denying formal negotiations in their statements, and the markets,

while they hate uncertainty.

Risk assets including crypto move in sympathy with oil spikes and shifting rate expectations.

Fear is dominating and clear catalysts for a relief are still hard to see in this near

room.

Fannie Mae is now accepting crypto-backed mortgages.

That's a sentence that would have sounded absurd around 3 years ago, and it was just announced

yesterday.

Coinbase and mortgage lender Better Home and Finance have launched a new product that

lets home buyers pledge Bitcoin or USDC as collateral for their down payment without selling.

The structure looks something like this.

You take out a standard 15 or 13-year conforming mortgage with Better, backed by Fannie Mae just

like any other home loan.

Separately you pledge your Bitcoin or USDC from your Coinbase account as collateral for

a second loan that funds the down payments.

Both often bundle into a single monthly payments, and your assets stay in Coinbase-powered

custody.

So what sets this one apart?

Well, no margin calls or volatility-triggered liquidations, so if Bitcoin crashes 50%, terms

stay the same.

Only kicks in after 60 days of payment delinquency, similar to traditional mortgages.

This seems to target younger crypto holders who are asset-rich but cash poor.

It avoids taxable events while keeping your upside exposure to Bitcoin.

Better's leadership called it the Rails for any tokenized asset to help Americans buy

homes, and ETH and SALT could come later.

Whether you see this as a major milestone for crypto and its legitimacy or a warning sign

of some froth, it's worth acknowledging that three years ago Fannie Mae wouldn't have

touched this with a 10-foot pole, and now they're buying the loans.

Whopp just announced a treasury product that lets its 21 million users earn up to 6%

APY on their balances, powered by Arve, on Plasma with Tether providing the underlying

stablecoin infrastructure.

And if you're wondering why a creator marketplace is suddenly sounding like a defy protocol, well

that's the point.

Whopp started out as a platform selling digital products, like courses, software subscriptions,

but over the past year it's quietly transformed into something much bigger.

Last week they launched Whopp Payments Network, a full stack payment system operating across

241 territories with support for Card, Bank, by now pay later and crypto payments.

The fee schedule reads more like Stripe and Shopify, 2.7% plus 30 cents per transaction

on domestic cards.

Now with treasury when a creator or merchant opts in, their idle balance automatically converts

to USDT-0 on the Plasma Network.

It routes through a vader vault, straight into Arve's lending markets, where it starts earning

yields, compounding every second.

No gas fees, no wallet connects, no manual steps, your balance updates in real time inside

the Whopp dashboard, and you can withdraw instantly.

It feels like a high yield saving account, but under the hoods, it's defy infrastructure

running at scale.

This is what mainstream adoption looks like, 21 million users who've never touched a

defy protocol are now earning yields through Arve, and most of them will never even know

it.

Tethers' $200 million investment valued Whopp at $1.6 billion and gave them access to

Tethers wallet development kits.

The roadmap includes Bitcoin and eSupport plus Tethers Gold as a treasury diversification

option.

Arve Founder, Stanley Koolidgeoff, has been saying for years that defy's liquidity is

most powerful when it reaches users who will never interact with it directly.

Whopp is proving him right here, a creator marketplace is now a striped competitor with

embedded defy, and USDT is the settlement layer.

This plumbing is being built out in plain sight.

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