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.

Finance

Galaxy Digital Leads $20M Funding Round in DeFi Firm Skolem

Skolem provides data and trade execution services for institutions to access decentralized finance markets.

By Michael BellusciJun 8, 2022

Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz (Danny Nelson/CoinDesk)

Finance

Citi Says Crypto Market Volatility Has Affected User Adoption

Concerns about stablecoins following UST’s collapse have exacerbated declines in digital asset prices, the bank said.

By Will CannyJun 8, 2022

Policy

Outgoing French Lawmaker Calls for Fossil-Based Crypto Mining Ban, DAO Legal Status

Europe needs to stop dithering and capture the crypto opportunity, Pierre Person says.

By Jack SchicklerJun 8, 2022

France's National Assembly in Paris (Edward Berthelot/Getty Images)

Tech

DeversiFi Launches Cross-Chain Swaps for Bridgeless DeFi Transactions

The DEX aims to eliminate the gas fees and extra steps associated with multi-chain ecosystems, even if it sacrifices network security.

By Cam ThompsonJun 8, 2022

DeversiFi is set to launch cross-chain swaps, a new feature for DeFi traders. (cgdeaw/Getty Images)

Finance

Solana Commits $100M to Support South Korean Crypto Projects

The fund, created by Solana Ventures and the Solana Foundation, will focus on virtual gaming and will invest in NFT and DeFi projects.

By Danny NelsonJun 8, 2022

GameFi skeptics say that these games are not fun. (Jens Schlueter/Getty Images)

Learn

What Are Liquidity Pools?

The term refers to a collection of tokens or digital assets locked in a smart contract that provide essential liquidity to decentralized exchanges.

By Mike AntolinJun 7, 2022

Finance

Katie Haun's New Fund Leads $32M Round in Lending Protocol Euler

The funds will go toward treasury diversification for the forthcoming Euler DAO.

By Brandy BetzJun 7, 2022

Layer 2

Cell Protocol Wants to 'Democratize' Liquidity in DeFi

The team, finalists during Web 3 Pitch Fest, wants to expand the network "horizontally and vertically" across exchanges and blockchains.

By Xinyi LuoJun 6, 2022

To preserve the anonymity of some of its founding members, Cell Protocol is using non-fungible tokens. (Cell Protocol, modified by CoinDesk)

Finance

Exchanges descentralizados superan a contrapartes centralizadas en flujos on-chain, según Chainalysis

Con estos datos se plantea el cuestionamiento sobre la regulación de los DEX.

By Cam ThompsonJun 6, 2022

Michael Gronager, CEO de Chainalysis. (Danny Nelson/CoinDesk)

Finance

CoinDesk Confidential: Robin Schmidt

The head of video and multimedia at media company The Defiant answers our questionnaire ahead of Consensus 2022.

By CoinDeskJun 2, 2022

(Robin Schmidt, modified by Melody Wang and Yunha Lee/CoinDesk)