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.


Policy

Global Standard Setters Will Team Up to Tackle DeFi Regulation: FSB

Decentralized finance “does not differ substantially” from traditional finance in its functions or vulnerabilities, according to the Financial Stability Board.

(SiberianArt/Getty Images)

Finance

Gaming Network Oasys Onboards Japan Conglomerate SoftBank as Network Validator

Softbank was one of four companies that joined the network, bringing the total number of validators to 25.

(Lev Radin/Shutterstock)

Markets

Privacy-Focused Gnosis Chain Co-Founder Proposes Plan to Reduce Ethereum Dependency for GNO Token

Martin Köppelmann flagged potential security issues in a proposal discussion on Gnosis’ governance forums.

(Tom/Pixabay)

Markets

Ether Staking Service Lido Granted 1M Optimism Tokens to Incentivize Wrapped Staked Ether Adoption

Lido and Optimism aim to increase the availability of wrapped staked ether (wstETH) with OP tokens through the new liquidity mining and user incentives program.

(Micheile/Unsplash)

Tech

Crypto Wallet Messaging Application Push Protocol Expands to BNB Chain

The move to BNB Chain could attract more users to Push, its founder said.

(DALL-E/CoinDesk)

Finance

Nomura’s Crypto Arm Invests in Institutional Hybrid DeFi Protocol Infinity Exchange

The investment showcases a growing trend of merging DeFi infrastructure and TradFi solutions to enable tokenizing traditional assets and to create blockchain-based markets for institutional investors.

Nomura. (charnsitr/Shutterstock)

Tech

Cardano Gets 'Valentine' Upgrade: Here’s How it Benefits ADA Token

The ‘Valentine’ upgrade was pushed live on the mainnet in early Asian hours on Wednesday. Native ADA tokens outperformed crypto majors.

(Getty Images)

Markets

NFT Marketplace Blur's Token Reaches $500M Trading Volume After Airdrop

BLUR prices jumped to as much as $5 before falling 85% on Wednesday morning, price trackers show.

(Pixabay)

Tech

BNB Chain Aims to Double Transaction Speed, Targets ZK Tooling in 2023 Road Map

It also aims to more than triple the number of validators to 100.

(Danny Nelson/CoinDesk)