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.


Consensus Magazine

Adoption of DeFi, ZK Tech, NFTs and More Will Continue to Increase in 2023

The crises of the past year obscured genuine advancement in promising crypto industries, writes Pantera Capital General Partner Paul Veradittakit. Here's where a leading investor sees growth in the coming year.

(Michael Dziedzic/Unsplash)

Markets

Maple Finance's $54M of Sour Debt Shows Risks of Crypto Lending Without Collateral

Maple Finance, the largest unsecured crypto lending platform, is grappling with a debt crisis while gearing up for a major system upgrade. The project's MPL token has plunged, and depositors are likely to stomach big losses. Here's how it happened, and what comes next.

There's some $54 million of sour debt on Maple Finance's lending platform because some of its largest borrowers were devastated in the FTX-blowup. (Michael Diane/Unsplash)

Markets

Grayscale, in the Spotlight as GBTC Discount Widens, Says DeFi Fund Now Trading

The debut of the DEFG fund in over-the-counter markets comes as Grayscale’s largest fund, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), is trading at a record discount and at the center of crypto-market speculation.

Grayscale's Michael Sonnenshein speaks at Invest: NYC 2019 (CoinDesk)

Finance

DeFi Protocol Perennial Launches, Announces $12M in Funding

Polychain Capital and Variant co-led a seed round for the decentralized derivatives protocol.

DeFi protocol Perennial makes public a $12 million fundraise. (Unsplash)

Finance

Attacker Targets Wealthy Crypto Funds Using Telegram Chats

Exchange owners cautioned against downloads of malicious as attackers zeroed in on gullible users with a very relevant and specific narrative.

(Adam Levine/CoinDesk)

Tech

What Does an AI Chatbot ‘Think’ About DeFi? We Asked ChatGPT

ChatGPT, CoinDesk’s new, robot-guest contributor, explains how AI might help (and harm) the future of DeFi.

AI Artwork Robot writing typing writer (DALL-E/CoinDesk)

Tech

DeFi Project Mercurial Plots Revamp and New Tokens Following 'Toxic' Association With FTX

Mercurial would launch some of its popular products as a separate project under the name Meteora.

Piggy bank bent forward change money coins (Andre Taissin/Unsplash, modified by CoinDesk)

Tech

DeFi Protocol SushiSwap Proposes 'Immediate' Action to Support Its Treasury

Developers proposed to divert 100% of fees generated on the platform to Sushi’s multisig for one year or until new tokenomics are implemented.

Los rollups no tienen la seguridad de Ethereum. (Luigi Pozzoli/Unsplash)

Markets

Crypto Audit Platform Sherlock Expects $4M Loss From Troubled Loans on Maple Finance

Sherlock deposited $5 million USDC of its staking pool into the beleaguered credit pool on Maple, which suffered a $31 million hit from Orthogonal Trading’s FTX-induced insolvency.

Mysterious transactions and reconciliation head-scratchers happen in traditional finance, too, but crypto could be uniquely prone to a situation of this sort. (Wikimedia Commons)