DeFi

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.


Markets

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)

Finance

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 Laser Digital by building a compliance wrapper on top of USDC stablecoin.

Alex McFarlane and Mélodie Lamarque, co-founders of Keyring Network (Keyring Network)

Markets

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)

Markets

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.

DOGE Meme shiba inu (Atsuko Sato)

Policy

DeFi Borrower Behavior Key to Gauging Tokenization Risks: BIS Study

The study was designed to look at the largely unexplored "intricacies" of user behavior and dynamics of decentralized finance lending, the authors said.

16:9 BIS tower building (BIS)

Tech

Developers Upload Script of Jerry Seinfeld’s ‘Bee Movie’ on Ethereum as Gas Fees Plunge After Dencun

Copying and pasting the Bee Movie script is a niche internet meme that originated on Tumblr and quickly spread to Reddit, YouTube, Facebook, and other social media platforms.

Bees (Boba Jaglicic/Unsplash, modified by CoinDesk)

Markets

Uniswap's UNI Gains 20% as Token Reward Proposal Inches Closer to Approval

Uniswap's reward sharing mechanism, if approved, could inspire other DeFi protocols to follow suit.

UNI price more than doubled since the plan for the revenue sharing mechanism became public on Feb. 23 (CoinDesk)

Markets

Bernstein Expects DeFi to Make a Big Comeback

Six out of the top 10 revenue-generating protocols are DeFi applications, the report said.

Decentralized finance activity is starting to pick up. (Alina Grubnyak/Unsplash)

Finance

Seeking Yield on $37M Ether Treasury, JPEG'd DAO Mulls Airdrop Farming

"There are possibilities to solidify the treasury at low risk," pseudonymous JPEG'd contributor 0xTutti told CoinDesk.

Farming (James Baltz/Unsplash)

Finance

Ether's Bitcoin Beating Rally Not Just Because of Potential ETF Approval: Bernstein

The amount of ether held on exchanges is at an all-time low of 11%, a sign that more of the cryptocurrency is being locked up for DeFi, the report said.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. (CoinDesk)