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

Wrapped Bitcoin Token Goes Live on Cardano Testnet

The anetaBTC project aims to attract bitcoin liquidity to the Cardano ecosystem.

(Danny Nelson/CoinDesk)

Finance

DeFi-Focused Layer 1 Berachain Raises $42M Series A at $420.69M Valuation

The round was led by Polychain Capital and included participation from venture capital firms Hack VC, dao5, Tribe Capital, Shima Capital, CitizenX and Robot Ventures.

A brown bear waving. (Getty Images)

Finance

Credit Agency Giant TransUnion Will Deliver Credit Scores for Crypto Lending

TransUnion, one of the largest credit agencies in the U.S., will off-chain credit scores for blockchain-based loan applications in a way that maintains the privacy of consumers.

Puntaje crediticio. (Getty Images, modificado por CoinDesk)

Finance

Crypto Lender Maple Finance Opens U.S. Treasury Bill Pool for Cash Management

Maple’s new lending pool offers accredited investors, crypto firms and DAO treasuries a way to earn yield on their idle stablecoins by investing in one-month U.S. Treasury bills.

(Ryan Quintal/Unsplash, Modified by CoinDesk)

Videos

Crypto Protocol Fetch.ai Unveils AI Trading Tools for Decentralized Exchanges

Fetch.ai, which develops artificial intelligence (AI) tools for crypto, is rolling out a set of enhanced trading products for decentralized exchanges (DEXs). "The Hash" panel discusses the latest move bringing together the worlds of DeFi and AI.

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Finance

Crypto Protocol Fetch.ai Offering AI Trading Tools for Decentralized Exchanges

Fetch.ai aims to facilitate peer-to-peer trading between DeFi users using AI-powered software "agents."

(Dave Francis/Pixabay)

Finance

Lido Considers Using Its ARB Airdrop to Boost Activity on Arbitrum

Under a new proposal Lido would accept its $1.2 million in ARB tokens and reward them to liquidity providers in wrapped staked ether pools.

(lido.fi)

Finance

Rocket Pool Made It Cheaper to Stake ETH Through Its Platform Following Ethereum Shanghai Upgrade

The staking protocol gave users access to their staking rewards and lowered the barrier of entry to create an Ethereum validator.

Statue of Atlas (David Lees/Getty Images)

Finance

LI.FI and InsurAce Pitch Protection for Moving Crypto Between Blockchains

LI.FI partnered with risk cover protocol InsurAce to provide protection for users who are bridging their cryptoassets from one blockchain to another.

Busan, South Korea (Getty Images)

Finance

Safemoon Hacker Strikes Deal With Developers to Return $7.1M

The exploiter will retain 20% of the stolen funds as a bug bounty.

Hacker (Towfiqu Barbhuiya/Unsplash)