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Here’s something interesting I noticed:
3 of the biggest things so far this cycle (memecoins, hyperliquid, and a.i. agents) barely have any Venture Capital funds involved.
It’s nice to watch your bags go up without worrying about massive unlocks. I’m trying to get out of the trenches man – that’s more important than a VC’s 3rd Ferrari!
Here’s what we got today:
- Personality as a service. A new under the radar AI Infra project.
- Ethena 2025 roadmap. They’re releasing a new product for TradFi institutions.
- Around the web. F(x) Protocol released its v2, $IDRISS airdrop for Jumper Exchange users, and more.
Today’s email is brought to you by Midas — institutional-grade assets for open web
Here’s your Edge 🗡️!
Sponsored Deep Dive
mBASIS Explained: Maximizing Stablecoin Yield
Key Points:
- mBASIS has generated a 33% YTD yield in a USD delta-neutral strategy, making it the highest yielding strategy for stablecoin in DeFi.
- Midas partnered with Re7 Capital on Morpho Base for an exclusive USDC Vault.
- Midas has grown to over 12,000 new users. (27x growth in just 15 days!)
- Multi-protocol presence. mBASIS is already integrated with Euler, SummerFi, and Morpho (with more to come)
What do you do with your stablecoins? For most people, the answer is simple: nothing. Or earning a measly 4% APY in a DeFi protocol or CEX..
Kind of ironic, isn’t it? Stablecoins are the backbone of crypto—used for trading, liquidity, and weathering market storms. Yet, most of us let them sit idle.
I’ll admit, I used to be guilty of the same thing. My stablecoins collected dust instead of returns.
But here’s the thing: stablecoins can be used for earning reliable, steady yields. The trick is knowing where to look.
2 key questions to answer when looking for stablecoin yields:
- Where can I find the best and safest yields for my stablecoins?
- Where does the yield come from?
This brings us to Midas $mBASIS. With a USD-neutral approach, $mBASIS has generated 33% year-to-date and 42% annualized APY over the past two weeks. This makes mBASIS the highest yielding strategy for stablecoin holders in DeFi.
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Midas leverages institutional-quality strategies to generate huge returns without exposing users to risks.
Curious how $mBASIS achieves this while staying USD-neutral?
Buckle up because we’re about to dive deep into the mechanics of Midas $mBASIS—and why it’s redefining the DeFi stablecoin game.
What is Midas? Midas has a bold mission: to democratize investment-grade assets for everyone. Using blockchain tech, they make opportunities like T-Bills, RWAs, and advanced yield strategies accessible to everyday investors.
Think of them as the bridge between the rigor of TradFi and the innovation of DeFi.
It all started with the 2 founders. With some great background:
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The rest of the team doesn’t stand behind. Members from Midas had experience in their background in companies like Ondo Finance, Anchorage Digital, Solaris Group, and more.
Here’s more information about the team
The backers? Only the best:
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How Does mBASIS work?
Unlike traditional stablecoins like USDC or USDT, mBASIS represents a delta-neutral strategy.
It leverages stablecoins to boost yields through a clever mechanism called “basis trading.”
Here’s how it works:
- Buy spot ETH.
- Short ETH perpetual futures to hedge price risk.
- Earn funding payments and profit from the basis spread.
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Let’s break it down: when futures prices exceed spot prices (this is very common on bull markets), mBASIS captures the gap (the “basis”) to generate yield.
Example:
- Spot price of ETH: $3,000
- Futures price of ETH: $3,020
The “basis” is $20.
With 2x leverage, mBASIS can deliver ~43% APY compared to 20% with the traditional method.
Wait Edgy, if it uses leverage, it means there’s liquidation risk!
Correct. However, since the position on the CEX and DeFi are inverse, the position remains neutral as long as the health ratios are actively maintained. (which is automatically rebalanced in less than 30mins)
Does this mean that this works only on bull markets?
No! In bearish markets, mBASIS adjusts to take advantage of backwardation (negative basis) or reallocates to safe assets like US Treasuries (via mTBILL).
That’s the benefit of having a robust and complex framework for yield generation.
There are risks attached to it. But we’ll cover those later in the deep dive.
Midas checks all the marks when it comes out to “break out” as a protocol. They have superior tech, a strong team, lots of funding, and ways to attract new users/partnerships.
Let’s see how they’re doing numbers wise.
Metrics
Latest mBASIS update:
- APY: 28.5%
- Price: $1.08
- YTD performance: +36.1%
Since the launch on Oct 8, it had massive growth
- 12,487 users
- $18.87M in TVL
- 415k X (Twitter) followers
- 1.470M Telegram subscribers
- 210k Discord members
Where Can You Maximize mBASIS Yields?
Let’s say you decided to jump in $mBASIS.
Where can you supercharge your mBASIS returns? I dug deep and selected a few really cool opportunities. (Remember, all those opportunities generate yield on top of the natural yield mBASIS generates)
1- Morpho Re7 USDC Vault on Base
This is a recent partnership between Midas and Re7 Capital to accept $mBASIS as collateral. APY is floating around 9.52% so far.
2- Ajna Fi x SummerFi Earn Pool
This one nets you around 6.4% APY. It comes from a recent partnership between Midas, Ajna Fi, and SummerFi.
Final Thoughts & Risks
Let’s talk about risks. If you’ve been in the space long enough, you know there can be risks around stablecoins.
What I love is how mBASIS has thought about the risks and has developed mechanisms to address them.
- Liquidation Risk: Positions rebalance automatically in less than 30 minutes to maintain health ratios.
- Counterparty Risk: Midas works with trusted CEXs (OKX, Binance) and DeFi platforms like Morpho.
- Execution Risk: mBASIS uses well-defined execution protocols to limit slippage and maintain efficiency.
- Smart Contract Risk: Audited protocols + proof-of-reserve price oracles ensure transparency.
While no strategy is risk-free, mBASIS is designed with transparency and risk mitigation at its core.
You see platforms like Morpho, Euler, SummerFi (and soon others) have onboarded mBASIS into its ecosystems.
Why? Because borrowers benefit from competitive rates while lenders earn higher supply APRs.
Instant redemptions, full transparency on reserves, and real USD-neutral returns make this worth exploring.
If you’re ready to turn your idle stablecoins into a powerhouse of yield,
Disclaimer: This deep dive is commissioned by Midas. I personally researched and wrote the article myself, and it reflects my honest opinion. This is meant to be an educational piece to bring awareness to Midas, which I’m a fan of. – Edgy
Protocol Research
Soulgraph: Personality-as-a-Service for Agents
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I’m bullish on AI infrastructure projects. Instead of trying to pick the winning agents, just own the “picks and shovels.” We’ve covered frameworks and launchpads such as ai16z and Virtuals for months now.
So I’m always looking for new infrastructure projects that are unique. One has caught my eye.
What’s the Biggest Problem for Agents? Most current AI Agents are bland, forgettable reply guys on X. They’re churning out AI slop, the kind nobody remembers. To stand out, Agents need rich, engaging personalities.
Right now, devs are sinking time and resources into building those personalities from scratch. But this eats into resources they could use to make their agents actually useful.
But what if devs got a template to create engaging personalities for their agents? What if they could build on the work done by other developers?
Enter Soul Graph. It is an open-source tool that helps devs to create rich & engaging personalities for their agents. Soulgraph will give agents a human-like personality. These personalities will even evolve over time as they accumulate memories.
Key point: They’re not competing in the crowded space of agent-building frameworks (like ElizaOS from ai16z). Instead, they’ve carved out a niche—personalities—where they’re leading the charge.
These personalities can be added to agents from other frameworks. Soulgraph doesn’t lock in devs to their platform.
They created the best human-like experience for me. Try it for yourself:
- Visit their website and have a voice call with an agent.
- They’ll soon add avatars and video calls w/ agents as well.
Want the technical details? Check out the documentation.
Soulgraph is already getting traction. Within two weeks,
- 3,000+ souls (agents) created
- 20,000+ minutes of voice2voice served
They’re also looking to improve their tokenomics overall as well. Devs will burn $GRPH when they use their infrastructure. They’ll need to hold a certain amount of $GRPH to access Studio, an editor for devs to create personality more easily.
Developers can share personalities on Soul Graph and earn $GRPH in return. This incentivizes creativity and collaboration.
Have you heard of character.ai? Google bought it for $2.7 billion. People are addicted to character ai and it’s simply personalized chat bots. Add in video + “souls” then we could see the next generation.
With a market cap of just ~$23M, the upside potential is huge if this catches on.
Preview of Soulgraph Studio will launch on January 13th. It can be the catalyst that brings attention to the protocol.
Disclaimer: I have a position that I bought on the open market. This is me sharing my research with you on something I think is cool, rather than trying to get you to buy my bags. Do your own research as always!
Learn more about it below:
- Documentation
- Soulgraph’s roadmap.
- A good thesis for Soulgraph.
Announcements
Ethena: Taking DeFi to the TradFi Table
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Can you imagine DeFi creating a product for TradFi? Well, it’s happening. And Ethena is leading the charge.
Last week, they released their 2025 roadmap. It had several massive announcements.
What’s Ethena? We’ve talked about them several times before (and they’re up ~18% since the last time I did). TLDR: Ethena builds semi-decentralized stablecoins like $USDe and $USDtb.
Last week, they dropped their 2025 roadmap—and it’s packed with massive announcements.
- They’re creating a neobank-like application on Telegram and TON. Users can send, spend, and save on it. Payments from it will go through Apple Pay.
- Ethena Network Chain. They’re launching their own chain, optimized for dollar-focused DeFi applications. Apps built here will add value to $ENA by airdropping tokens to $sENA holders.
The big-ticket item? Ethena is creating a product for TradFi investors: iUSDe.
What is iUSDe? It’s a TradFi wrapper on $sUSDe, Ethena’s staked stablecoin. The wrapper adds compliance and restrictions, making it TradFi-friendly.
Ethena usually gives really high yield (10% to 25%) on sUSDe. (If you’re curious about the mechanics, I’ve broken it down before.)
Why would TradFi grandpas invest in this fancy new product?
- Defined risk. The assets backing iUSDe can be evaluated using TradFi risk models.
- Negatively correlated return. Institutions need returns that don’t track their usual investments. iUSDe offers that.
- High return. Compared to the current 3-month T-bill rate of 4.34%, iUSDe offers significantly better returns. The image below compares TradFi returns with sUSDe returns.
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This will have several second-order impacts as well.
- More sticky money. Institutional capital will back assets like $ETH and $BTC that collateralize $USDe, adding to their price floors.
- Convergence of DeFi & TradFi rates. Institutions will arbitrage yield differences, forcing rates to converge over time.
- Ethena’s dominance grows. As TradFi pours in, Ethena’s network effects will compound.
Apart from ETFs, this could be the next big bridge bringing billions from legacy finance to crypto.
The timing is perfect as well:
- $sUSDe’s infrastructure is already battle-tested.
- With Trump’s election, the regulatory uncertainty is gone.
- Risk-free rates are expected to decline, making iUSDe’s high yield even more attractive.
Ethena is using TradFi partners to bring iUSDe to market. Expect major partnership announcements in the coming weeks and months — each one a potential catalyst for $ENA.
If you’re an investor with a high size that is concerned with the low liquidity of the AI Agent market, Ethena should be on your radar.
🚀 DeFi Catalysts
F(x) Protocol has released its v2. Users can now take leverage on ETH without any funding fees, liquidation, or forced margin calls.
Mode Network has started the epoch 6 of veMODE voting to direct the incentives from the chain. The deadline is 8th January.
Usual Money teased that they’ll be enabling the fee switch from tomorrow. This is good for the value accrual for $USUAL.
Avalanche Foundation launched the InfraBUDL(AI) program. They’re offering up to $15M in funding to accelerate AI projects on their chain.
Jumper Exchange announced a surprise for its users. If the users are level 15 or above in the Loyalty Pass, they’re eligible for $IDRISS genesis airdrop.
🤖 Agent Arena
HyperLiquid has listed $Ai16z and $AIXBT in their platform. Users can now long or short those coins with up to 5x leverage.
Freysa AI launched their documentation. They are thinking about value accrual to $FAI and launching open-source framework to build sovereign agents.
