DeFi

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DeFi, short for decentralized finance, represents a shift in the financial sector by leveraging blockchain technology, primarily Ethereum, to eliminate traditional financial intermediaries. It enables various financial applications, from simple transactions to complex contracts, through smart contracts that execute automatically under specific conditions. Key DeFi applications include decentralized exchanges (DEXs), stablecoins, lending platforms, and prediction markets. DeFi offers financial services like loans and interest-earning opportunities without traditional identity verification, relying instead on collateral, usually in cryptocurrency. This innovative sector promises increased accessibility and efficiency but comes with risks, such as market volatility and unregulated projects.

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Diego Gutierrez Zaldivar image via IOVLabs
Bitcoiners Are Building a Sidechain Version of Ethereum's MakerDAO
The bitcoin community may soon have its own version of ethereum’s flagship decentralized finance (DeFi) platform.
Diego Gutierrez Zaldivar image via IOVLabs

Shutterstock
Developer Flags Big-Money Loophole for Stealing All the ETH in MakerDAO
An ethereum developer has flagged an attack on MakerDAO that could turn $20 million of MKR into $300 million of ETH.
Shutterstock

water drop
Decentralized Liquidity Is the Backbone of DeFi
How decentralized liquidity venues govern the health of DeFi.
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Team image via Zerion
Placeholder Leads $2 Million Seed Round for DeFi Services Provider Zerion
DeFi services provider Zerion has raised $2 million from Placeholder, Blockchain and others to build out its team.
Team image via Zerion

Algorand founder Silvio Micali
Algorand 2.0's New Non-Turing-Complete Smart Contracts Are a Feature, Not a Bug
Thursday's Algorand 2.0 upgrade adds decentralized finance (DeFi) features and smart contracts to the $108 million blockchain.
Algorand founder Silvio Micali

Dai
DAI Is Moving Beyond Ether, But DeFi Isn't Decentralized Just Yet
MakerDAO may be diversifying the assets it works with, but it has a long way to go to decentralize the power to make key decisions.
Dai

Compound founder Robert Leshner
DeFi Startup Compound Finance Raises $25 Million Series A Led by A16z
It's one of the largest venture capital investments in a decentralized finance (DeFi) startup to date.
Compound founder Robert Leshner

(Primakov/Shutterstock)
Bithumb Wants User-Created DEXs With Its New Blockchain Ecosystem
Bithumb Global is launching an "exchange-as-a-service" platform through its new namesake blockchain platform.
(Primakov/Shutterstock)

Varun_Deshpande
Lending Protocol Founders to Launch 'Neo-Bank' Offering Interest on USDC
The founders of Nuo are launching Juno, which will offer a smart-contract wallet with 5.5 percent interest on USDC in a bid to attract retail users.
Varun_Deshpande

Instadapp co-founders Sowmay Jain and Samyak Jain in a photo from 2019.
InstaDApp DeFi Site Raises $2.4 Million From Prominent Crypto Investors
The fourth-largest dapp in DeFi, InstaDApp, is now backed by Naval Ravikant, Balaji Srinivasan, Coinbase Ventures and others.
Instadapp co-founders Sowmay Jain and Samyak Jain in a photo from 2019.