Thursday links: Points, pancakes, DATs and merger arb

Key Points

1. Airlines defend their rewards programs, with Delta making $6 billion in operating profit, and US consumers paying $187 billion in credit card interchange fees last year.

2. Binance is promoting World Liberty Financial’s USD1 stablecoin, with 90% of trading happening on PancakeSwap, driven by a 'Liquidity Drive' offering prizes up to $1 million.

3. BitMEX Research highlights hidden costs of DATs, such as annual fees ranging from 1.75% to 2% of assets or market capitalization, with some DATs paying additional advisory and management fees.

4. Merger arbitrage in crypto is discussed as a strategy to avoid lazy decision-making, with an example involving the LayerZero Foundation's offer of $0.1675 per token paid in ZRO.

5. The article also mentions various crypto newsletters and upcoming events like Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS).