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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Ethena's governance token ENA (Ethena Labs)
Ethena, a $1.3B Yield-Earning Protocol, to Debut Governance Token Next Week
The DeFi protocol, which generates yield from ether derivative funding rates, is set to airdrop 750 million ENA tokens, 5% of the total supply.
Ethena's governance token ENA (Ethena Labs)

ETHFI price (CoinDesk)
Ether.Fi's ETHFI Jumps 50% to Record, May Boost Valuations for Liquid Restaking Token Airdrops: Analyst
Restaking has become one of the hottest sectors in DeFi, with new protocols leveraging Ethereum's proof-of-stake blockchain to secure other networks.
ETHFI price (CoinDesk)

DeFi yields (DefiLlama)
Amid Giant Crypto Rally, Hopes for Another DeFi Summer Soar
Since the approval of spot bitcoin ETFs in January, DeFi looks ascendant, triggering memories of 2020, aka DeFi Summer, when the space bustled with activity.
DeFi yields (DefiLlama)

(Jason Leung/Unsplash, modified by CoinDesk)
TrueFi Unveils Lending Protocol for Tokenized Real-World Assets; TRU Jumps 14%
Investors will be able to take out crypto loans by pledging TrueFi's U.S. Treasury bill tokens, with plans to expand collateral to other types of tokenized RWAs, according to...
(Jason Leung/Unsplash, modified by CoinDesk)

Frax Finance's Sam Kaizeman (Wikipedia)
Frax Finance Targets $100B Value Locked in Singularity Roadmap
Frax's singularity roadmap has set a target of $100 billion in TVL for its layer 2 Fraxtal.
Frax Finance's Sam Kaizeman (Wikipedia)

Vilnius, Lithuania (Shutterstock)
Lithuania-Licensed Crypto Bank Meld to Offer Tokenized RWAs to Retail Investors
Meld, which is in partnership with the layer-1 blockchain of the same name, has an agreement with DeFi platform Swarm Markets, which started a real-world asset platform in Dec...
Vilnius, Lithuania (Shutterstock)

Top blockchains by DEX volume. (DefiLlama)
Solana Leapfrogs Ethereum on DEX Volume
The meme coin frenzy seems to have catalyzed higher volumes on the Solana blockchain, which also boasts greater capital efficiency than Ethereum.
Top blockchains by DEX volume. (DefiLlama)

Alex McFarlane and Mélodie Lamarque, co-founders of Keyring Network (Courtesy Keyring Network)
Crypto Compliance Platform Keyring Raises $6M to Unlock DeFi for Institutions
The company allows institutional investors to comply with regulations when interacting with DeFi, and recently facilitated a proof of concept trial with Nomura's crypto arm La...
Alex McFarlane and Mélodie Lamarque, co-founders of Keyring Network (Courtesy Keyring Network)

Aevo volume (DefiLlama)
Billion-Dollar Volumes and Then a Steep Drop Prompts Allegations of Wash Trading on Aevo
In response, Aevo says customers suddenly traded more on its decentralized exchange to try to get some of its airdrop.
Aevo volume (DefiLlama)

A shiba inu. (Atsuko Sato)
Meme Coins Strongly Correlated to Network Growth: Franklin Templeton
Meme coin markets have boomed in tandem with the growth of addresses on their underlying blockchains.
A shiba inu. (Atsuko Sato)