The world of decentralized finance (DeFi) continues to evolve rapidly, with new projects and upgrades being launched and existing ones being improved. Last week was no exception, with several notable developments taking place.
One of the major events was the launch of Polygon’s zkEVM mainnet beta, which combines zero-knowledge proofs and the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) to support faster and cheaper transactions. Quickswap, Uniswap, Balancer, and Aave all voted to deploy on Polygon’s zkEVM, and Immutable is set to launch its gaming-focused solution using the technology.
Consensys also launched its zkEVM Linea with native Metamask integration, while StarkNet alpha v0.11.0 went live on mainnet. SithSwap, a stableswap on StarkNet, also launched, and the public test of ZKX, a perpetual futures DEX, began.
On the Ethereum and BnB chains, PancakeSwap V3 launched, enabling greater capital efficiency, lower slippage, and lower trading fees. Yama also went live on Arbitrum, allowing users to swap between the omnichain stablecoin and USDT without fees or slippage.
Elsewhere, Solana-based wallet Phantom now supports EVM apps on Ethereum, Polygon, and Solana. Noble, an issuance platform for native USDC in the Cosmos ecosystem, is also live, and Balancer has reduced its BAL emissions by 16% to reflect an inflation schedule for halving every four years.
Several staking solutions also launched, including dHedge Staking V2 on Optimism, RON Staking on the Ronin blockchain, and Loopring Staking on L2. RocketPool also plans to launch its Atlas upgrade on April 18.
However, there were also some challenges in the DeFi space. The first governance proposal for Arbitrum was rejected, and the Arbitrum Foundation had already committed to disbursing 750m funds for grants, without providing ARB token holders with an opportunity to make their decision. SafeDAO voted to redistribute 50% of unclaimed airdrop tokens, and Lido will sunset support on Polkadot and Kusama due to “a few key challenges under current implementation that led to unmet financial expectations”.
Ultimately, it was a busy and eventful week in the DeFi space, highlighting the continued growth and evolution of this exciting and innovative sector.
