Weekly Bonzo Bytes

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Bonzo Finance Labs
@bonzo_financeJan 23, 2026

The Spaces covered Bonzo Finance product updates, Hedera ecosystem news, broader market and policy developments, and a closing Q&A. Host Gaurang and co-host Brady opened with standard disclaimers, then detailed progress on Bonzo Vaults: additional vaults, UI fixes, and a push to exit beta as early as next week. They’re also building Vaults analytics (following Bonzo Lend’s analytics), tightening metrics before release. A widely requested enhancement—time-series yield display and default yield denomination—has shipped on vault pages. The team coordinated with the Hashtag wallet team so Bonzo Lend supply and debt ERC-20s now display properly, with vault tokens and LayerZero-bridged assets support coming; new docs guide users on ERC-20 display. Stats showed slight TVL declines for Bonzo and Hedera amid choppy markets, though Bonzo’s cross-chain ranking improved to 65. Hedera news included new council community partners (Halborn, Hashtag, Hashcraft Online, Infinity), a multi-year McLaren partnership, and USA House sponsorship at Davos. Market-wise, the Clarity Act was delayed after Coinbase’s opposition on stablecoin yield provisions; Brady noted growing US recognition of crypto/AI as strategic infrastructure. RWA momentum escalated with NYSE’s tokenized securities platform enabling 24/7, instant settlement. Q&A addressed APY utilization dynamics, dust-balance fixes, Orbit’s forthcoming integration of Bonzo Vaults, and a call to balance Hedera’s retail and enterprise focus.

Bonzo Bytes — Full Session Notes

Speakers and Roles Identified

  • Speaker 1: Host from Bonzo Finance (leads agenda; provides TVL/stats; product updates and market commentary).
  • Speaker 2: Co-host from Bonzo Finance (reads disclaimer; provides product detail; handles Q&A; broader ecosystem analysis). In the session, Speaker 1 addresses Speaker 2 as “Pretty” early on and later as “Brady.”
  • Speaker 3: Participant assisting with speaker management at the start.

Kickoff and Disclaimer

  • Technical hiccups at the beginning (Twitter Spaces invite/speaker status issues; brief re-joins).
  • Disclaimer read by Speaker 2: Views are personal and not financial advice; forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties; do your own research and consult professionals; Bonzo Finance and speakers are not liable for actions taken based on the information shared.

Bonzo Finance Product Updates

  • Bonzo Vaults (beta → public launch):
    • Still in beta; internal checklist in place to exit beta and proceed to public launch.
    • Work items: add more vaults (including single-sided vaults), UI polish/fixes.
    • Tentative target: possibly next week, but no firm timelines.
  • Bonzo Vault Analytics:
    • Existing analytics for Bonzo Lend; Vault analytics in development.
    • Focus: tighten metrics, ensure accurate data capture and display.
    • Launch target: roughly the week after Vaults exit beta (no hard date).
  • Vaults UI iteration (yield display):
    • Rapid iteration based on user feedback during beta.
    • Highly requested change implemented: yield information displayed over time, denominated by default in the tokens received as yield, with a clear historical yield view.
  • Token visibility in ecosystem wallets (referred to in-session as “hashtag”):
    • Bonzo Lend supply and debt ERC-20 tokens now visible; vault tokens to be included soon.
    • Bonzo team also worked to ensure LayerZero bridged asset ERC-20 tokens display correctly.
    • Documentation: “ERC20 Token Display” page (docs.bonzo.finance → left nav, near top) provides explicit instructions to get Bonzo tokens and LayerZero bridged assets properly displayed, including icons and associations, for a smoother wallet UX.

Platform and Ecosystem Metrics

  • Bonzo TVL:
    • USD TVL: down from $21.9M to $21.01M (WoW).
    • HBAR-denominated TVL: broadly flat (approx. 190.36M HBAR → ~190.04M HBAR).
    • Lending protocol global ranking: improved from # 66 to # 65.
    • Hedera ranking (TVL): Bonzo remains # 3.
  • Other Hedera DeFi TVL:
    • SaucerSwap (interpreting “sources of op”): down from ~$46M to ~$43M.
  • Hedera network-level stats:
    • Hedera total TVL: down from ~$70M to ~$65.9M.
    • All-chain TVL rank: Hedera unchanged at # 49.
    • USDC on Hedera: down from ~$49M to ~$46M.
    • HBAR price: down from ~$0.115 to ~$0.1101.
  • Commentary:
    • Market is choppy/sideways with geopolitical factors contributing to volatility.

Hedera Community and Partnerships

  • Hedera Council community partners announced:
    • New organizations joining as community partners include Halborn (Bonzo’s auditing partner), HashPack (referred to as “hashtag” in-session), Hashgraph Online, and Infinity.
    • Light banter about many names starting with “H.”
    • View (Speaker 2): positive development if it yields better council education on grassroots Web3 activity; council members are experts in their fields but may need deeper day-to-day Web3 insights.
  • McLaren Racing partnership:
    • Hedera announced a multi-year partnership focused on expanding digital fan engagement using Web3.
    • Speaker 2’s thoughts: enthusiastic; curious about logo placement on the car, cost, and length of engagement; timing aligns with “HyderaCon” (Hedera community event) in Miami in May and the F1 race in Miami right after—potential ecosystem benefits for attendees.
    • Light-hearted chat about supercars, G-forces, and the impracticality of grocery space in supercars.
  • World Economic Forum (Davos):
    • Hedera sponsored the USA House at Davos (Jan 19–23); leadership (e.g., Mance Harmon) present.
    • Speaker 2 noted pro-crypto voices (e.g., David Sacks) and hopes recorded sessions become available.

Market and Industry News

  • U.S. “Clarity Act” delay:
    • Hearing delayed/rescheduled after Coinbase (Brian Armstrong) publicly opposed current provisions and skipped the hearing.
    • Speaker 2’s analysis: Coinbase’s influence appears significant; bank-leaning provisions (esp. around stablecoin yields) likely influenced by TradFi, but industry feedback (especially Coinbase) is pushing a re-think—positive sign that government takes Web3 input seriously.
  • U.S. policy posture on critical tech:
    • Speaker 2: current (and likely bipartisan) view treats AI and crypto infrastructure as critical for U.S. competitiveness.
    • Example: DOE’s Project Genesis (genesis.energy.gov) as a modern government initiative; suggests forward-looking stance across administrations.
  • Real-World Assets (RWA):
    • Narrative gaining momentum; examples mentioned include tokenized stocks (XStocks on Solana/Ethereum) and Ondo Finance.
    • Major development: New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) creating a blockchain-based platform for tokenized securities enabling 24/7 trading and instant settlement.
    • Speaker 1: sees this as a fundamental shift fulfilling early blockchain promises from 2016–2017; personally very excited.
    • Speaker 2: acknowledges long journey; mainstream realization of early “pipe dreams” is significant—people may be desensitized due to the slow pace, but the milestone is enormous.

Q&A Highlights

  • USDC supply vs. borrow APY discrepancy:
    • Question: Is it normal for USDC borrow APY (6%) to exceed supply APY (1.35%) on Bonzo when Aave shows borrow ~4.8% and supply ~3.82%?
    • Answer (Speaker 2): Yes. Driven by pool utilization. Example: if $10M supplied and $2M borrowed (20% utilization), borrowers pay interest on the borrowed amount, which is distributed across all suppliers; low utilization spreads interest thin, lowering supply APY. As utilization rises toward 100%, supply APY increases and the delta between borrow and supply rates typically narrows.
  • “Dust” amounts in supply/borrow positions:
    • Question: Annoying to see tiny residual (“dust”) balances after borrow/lend; any update?
    • Answer: Supply-side dust clearing has been addressed; borrow-side dust clearing is still in development. Current workaround: perform an additional withdraw to clear remaining dust. Dust is mostly cosmetic and doesn’t create a financial issue; at certain thresholds residuals get handled. Team acknowledges it’s a high-effort, low-ROI item competing with other priorities but remains on the radar.
  • Orbit integration (roadmap meaning):
    • Bonzo is actively working with Orbit.
    • Clarification: Bonzo Vaults are autonomous smart contracts; any front-end can integrate and surface their functionality.
    • Orbit has previously integrated SaucerSwap and layered value-add features (like limit orders). For Bonzo, Orbit will at minimum expose Bonzo Vaults in its interface, potentially layering features (e.g., automated swap+deposit flows—example given; not confirmed). Net effect: greater accessibility and a broader user base; positive for protocol growth. Speaker 1 agreed.
  • Hedera’s retail ecosystem vs. pivot to enterprise:
    • Speaker 2’s view (summarized):
      • Historical context: Hedera’s initial enterprise timing was early; the move to retail via Hedera Foundation was strong. Now, with new regulatory posture, there’s a renewed enterprise focus.
      • Market timing today is better, but mainstream enterprise/banking adoption is still some distance away.
      • In emerging tech, retail adoption is critical—it attracts capital and users, sets technical and user standards, and lays foundation for mainstream. “The next big thing always looks like a toy.”
      • Concrete example: Aave’s mainstream app offering >5% yield relies on liquidity/utilization in its DeFi markets; without robust retail DeFi (USDC liquidity on-chain), mainstream simplicity wouldn’t be possible.
      • Conclusion: hopes Hedera’s shift isn’t an abandonment of retail; balance is essential. Retail and native Web3 protocols remain prerequisites for mainstream success. Personal opinion.

Closing

  • No further audience questions; session concluded.
  • Next Bonzo Bytes targeted for the following Friday; thanks to live and recording listeners.