Top 9 Defi Projects

1. Aave

Aave (AAVE), initiated in 2017 under the name ETHLend, is one of the original DeFi platforms on the market. Aave is a decentralized liquidity platform that allows for borrowing assets and earning rewards on deposits. It brings together lenders and borrowers in a decentralized space to allow for an equal opportunity lending system. You can also earn rewards and discounts by staking the AAVE coin on the Aave DeFi platform.

2. Avalanche

Avalanche (AVAX) markets themselves as “the fastest smart contracts platform in the blockchain industry,” while also solidifying their place in the booming NFT space and building connectivity with other blockchain projects such as SushiSwap (SUSHI), Chainlink (LINK), and the Graph (GRT). The project positions itself as a direct rival to Ethereum due to its ability to provide cheaper transactions in a fraction of the time. Avalanche recently completed $230 million in funding to support its DeFi initiatives, making it a compelling place for DeFi projects to set up shop.

3. Cardano

Cardano (ADA), one of the world’s largest blockchain projects, is sometimes called the “Green Blockchain” because of its impressive energy use reports and proof of stake protocol. Cardano announced last month that it’s getting an ecosystem boost from its recent $100 million investment in decentralized finance, NFTs, and blockchain education.

4. Chainlink

Chainlink (LINK) is a decentralized oracle service that aims to connect smart contracts with data from the real world using oracle technology. Chainlink recently announced the launch of a Programmable Token Bridge that will allow for new communication between DeFi blockchains. This will help DeFi to properly scale and avoid the bottlenecks holding back the earlier generations of blockchain projects.

5. Polkadot

Polkadot (DOT) facilitates an internet where independent blockchains can exchange information and transactions in a trustless way via the Polkadot relay chain. This makes Polkadot, and projects who choose to build on Polkadot, much faster and scalable than Ethereum’s current offering. By acting as a foundation for DeFi projects to build upon, it’s aiding the growth and potential of the network as a whole.

6. Terra Luna

Terra Luna (LUNA) is a next-generation smart contract platform that combines decentralized finance with the concept of stablecoins. Its platform supports stablecoins that offer instant settlements, low fees, and seamless cross-border exchange. Luna functions as the volatile backbone that keeps Terra, its stablecoin sibling, balanced and grounded. Adding the emerging popularity of DeFi to the serious attention stablecoins are getting — from consumers and governments alike —makes LUNA one to watch.

7. Polygon

Polygon (MATIC) is one of the most well-adopted and fastest-growing Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solutions and decentralized application ecosystems. It boasts features such as interoperability, scalability and security. Basically, Polygon adds a few traffic lanes to the heavily traveled Ethereum Layer 1 highway. The majority of DeFi projects are currently housed on the Ethereum blockchain. Therefore, less congestion on Ethereum means faster speeds and more benefits for the DeFi ecosystem.

8. Solana

Solana (SOL) is revolutionizing consensus mechanisms (how platforms verify transitions — ”yep, that trade happened.”) with its proof of history concept. This means that, instead of mining or staking on the platform to validate transactions, all transactions are proven true by a time stamp on the blockchain. Solana is known as Ethereum’s main competitor because it provides fast speeds while still being a Layer 1 platform, meaning it doesn’t need any help from another platform to perform these quick transactions.

9. Uniswap

Uniswap (UNI) is a decentralized exchange that allows users to buy and provide liquidity directly from crypto wallets at minimal costs. Its AMM (automated market maker) provides ample liquidity for robust traffic and fast trading on its platform. Due to its popularity, Uniswap’s native token, UNI, can be found on investment platforms outside of the DeFi network, like Voyager.