Last week brought many exciting developments in the world of decentralized finance (DeFi). From new launches to significant legal victories, here’s a roundup of the most notable events.
Aave, one of the leading DeFi protocols, launched the GHO stablecoin on the Ethereum mainnet. Users staking the AAVE token in the Safety Module can now mint GHO at a discounted rate.
Stader, another DeFi platform, introduced ETHx and offered $1 million in launch incentives. These incentives included a 1.5x staking boost, 800k in LP rewards, and rewards for DAOs and communities.
Starknet launched its v0.12 upgrade on the mainnet, increasing throughput by 10x. This upgrade marks the beginning of the Quant Leap upgrade, enhancing performance and scalability.
Kava 14 went live on the mainnet, introducing an “internal bridge” that enables users to transfer native IBC assets from the Cosmos network to Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) ecosystems.
Ajna, a lending protocol, launched on Ethereum, providing users the ability to borrow against nearly any fungible or non-fungible token and lend any fungible token. Ajna plans to expand to Layer 2 solutions in the future.
Swaap, a market-making protocol, launched its V2 version on both Ethereum and Polygon. V2 introduces several enhancements for liquidity providers, including optimized market-making strategies and partnerships with institutions.
Fuji Finance launched V2, becoming the first cross-chain money markets aggregator to support major lending protocols across different networks, including Polygon, Optimism, Arbitrum, and Gnosis.
APWine, a DeFi interest rates trading protocol, launched its 2.0 version with a new brand called Spectra. Spectra offers features such as fixed interest rates, a yield marketplace, lending/borrowing facilities, and more.
Oku Trade, a trading frontend for Uniswap V3, went live on Ethereum, providing users with an improved trading experience.
Polygon released the whitepaper for POL, an upcoming token upgrade for its MATIC token. POL will allow holders to be multichain validators for all Polygon chains, receiving fees and rewards.
Liquity founder announced the development of Liquity V2, a new product for leverage and borrowing against staked ETH. However, the product is still in the concept stage and is set to launch in 2024.
Celo proposed a transition from its current EVM-compatible Layer 1 network to an Ethereum Layer 2 solution using OP Stack and EigenLayer.
Uniswap V3 was launched on Avalanche, expanding the reach of the popular decentralized exchange to this Layer 1 network.
Ondo, an RWA protocol, expanded to Polygon, enabling investors to access tokenized treasury products and OUSD on the network.
Cega, a structured investments protocol, launched on Arbitrum, introducing an L2 vault offering approximately 63% APY on ARB and OP.
Equilibria, a Pendle yield booster, launched on the Binance Smart Chain, offering enhanced yield opportunities for users.
Yearn Finance enabled yETH deposits, allowing users to lock ETH for st-yETH and participate in the voting process for the yETH basket composition.
Axelar and Microsoft partnered to develop and offer blockchain interoperability products, making Axelar’s solutions available to Microsoft’s customers through the Azure cloud marketplace.
Google Play Store updated its policy to allow developers to integrate NFT rewards in their applications, further promoting the adoption of non-fungible tokens.
Base, an L2 solution, opened its mainnet to builders, providing them with early access to the platform. The network is set to open to the public in August.
MetisDAO introduced the ZKM project, which aims to develop a hybrid rollup combining Optimistic rollup and ZK rollup technology.
The Ribbon community proposed a merger with Aevo, which would entail winding down the Ribbon token and launching the AEVO token to govern the protocol.
Beefy DAO conducted a signaling vote to migrate away from Multichain by redeploying its $BIFI token on the Ethereum network.
In a significant legal victory for Ripple, a US judge ruled that XRP is not a security, dismissing the SEC’s allegations. This ruling carries significant implications for the wider cryptocurrency industry.
Rodeo, an Arbitrum-based leveraged farming protocol, was hacked for $880k due to an oracle dependency. The protocol has paused operations to investigate the attack and is urging the hacker to return the stolen funds.
Algofi, an Algorand-based lending protocol, announced that it will wind down its operations due to the non-viability of its current business model. The protocol’s website is now in withdraw-only mode.
Arkham, an on-chain analysis platform, launched its token sale on Binance Launchpad and introduced the Arkham on-chain wallet information marketplace.
UniSat Wallet announced brc20-swap, the first native swap for Oracles on the Bitcoin network, bringing enhanced functionality to the ecosystem.
These were just some of the highlights from last week in the DeFi space. Subscribers to the Today in DeFi Premium newsletter received early access to promising projects, yield farming tips, and in-depth research to stay ahead in the rapidly evolving DeFi landscape.
