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11 Best Free and Paid Crypto Trading Bots [Updated July 2021]

This year has become one of the greatest years for the crypto world. Massive adoption of Bitcoin, Ethereum, altcoins, and stablecoins has been impacting the crypto market. After China banned BTC, it tremendously fell to $48K and within a few days increased to $65K on 19th October. One of the ways of earning on your assets is hodling, but it mostly fits for volatile coins such as BTC, since it may change its price within a few days. But there are ALTs, which do not volatile as much as BTC and ETH, and stables. For those crypto-owners there are several ways of earning, but the safest and the most reliable one is crypto saving accounts. Such service was introduced not that long ago, but until today it is getting more recognizable and used by crypto holders. Especially, since crypto saving accounts offer more APY than regular banks. The most common rate on a market is 8%, although there are some crypto lending platforms, which can offer higher rates on different terms and conditions. If you hodl some crypto in your wallet, then this article may help you to get some profit from your owned coins and tokens. Main Criteria That Define a Great Project Before you could choose a platform, which will suit you the most, you have to keep in mind that the crypto platform market is very different and each has its unique selling point. In this article, we will consider such criteria: and . Types of Supported Assets, APY Rates, Pay Frequency, Security, Procedure Speed and Ease Loyalty Programs & Rewards Types of Supported Assets On a crypto market there are some types of crypto assets: BTC, ETH, Altcoins and Stablecoins. BTC was the first cryptocurrency, which has ever appeared on a market, and since then it has taken a leadership position. ETH was the second one, which was able to succeed. As for Altcoins, they are every coin that are not Bitcoin and Ethereum, such as Cordano, Shiba Inu token, Digibyte. The last but not the least is stablecoins. This type of asset is basically linked to the US dollar and other fiats. There are platforms which offer the most amount of assets: offers 42 different types of assets to crypto deposits , including BTC, ETH, alts and stables; Celsius supports a little less coins than Celsius, to be specific 24, although they expand their list with each day; Nexo accepts only 13, together with BTC, ETH and stables. BlockFi APY Rates The annual percentage yield, or APY, is a rate of earned returns on an investment on crypto saving accounts, taking into account the effect of compound interest. It is calculated periodically and the amount is immediately added to the balance. Although, some lending platforms outhere still stick to the simple interest as (8,25%) and (8,25%) does. BlockFi CoinRabbit Saving accounts that offer the best APY rates: seems to have the best interest rate on the market. The highest one is for stablecoins and equals 12%; YouHodler As for , it offers 10% APY rate to earn interest with crypto deposits; CoinRabbit suggests 6% APY on their savings account, which may or may not be the best one, but it is competitive on a market. Crypto.com Pay Frequency The term Pay Frequency is used to describe how often the payment will be made. It can be called as regularity of payment or recurrence of payment. There are different options for frequency starting from weekly, bi-weekly, semi-weekly, monthly, ending with an option of companies which choose it on their own. When it comes to crypto lending platforms, it depends on their terms and conditions. pays to their clients daily. Due to the fact that you can withdraw your crypto assets anytime you want, they will be able to return your funds, taking into account accrued interest CoinRabbit has the same terms as CoinRabbit does. Unlike them, Nexo Network cannot make a return within a few minutes, it might take some time. But at the end, they do charge interest every day. Nexo is one of the platforms which pays weekly interest. Payment is sent every Monday. Celsius Security If you lose your phone, you will lose all your money. Sometimes even multi-factor authentication does not guarantee safety. Unlike banks, crypto platforms have built a different level of security. The security of a crypto saving account is defined by all the layers, control systems, external and internal solutions. These crypto lending projects deserve to be called the safest in the field: is undeniably the most secure crypto lending venture nowadays. With no doubts it is the excellent vicinity to have confidence with the impervious and safely. BitGo insurance, bank-grade storage, regulatory compliance and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) is solely a section of security measures they have carried out for the services; Nexo holds 100% of personal cryptocurrencies in storage. Users’ fiat currencies are held in regulated custodian bank accounts. Transactions are constantly strictly controlled. All the measures they have carried out makes their provider one of the most impenetrable in the sphere as well; Crypto.com gives transparent and invulnerable services by risk control system and cold wallets. Risk Control System consists of four mechanisms of protection, including checks all the incoming transactions via its hash, executes all the additional and preliminary calculations and confirms all the economy to be correct, confirms the data and signs it, blocks all the system and automatically notifies core team members about an emergency accident to be solved. CoinRabbit Procedure Speed and Ease Time is always important, since no one wants to wait, sitting in front of your computer or mobile phone, looking for a transaction or checking it every single hour. It might take hours to sign up, set up your personal information and get approval. Crypto projects that provide with the fastest procedure speed: is one of the fastest crypto earning projects. It takes under 15 minutes to make a deposit and start earning from your assets. The reason for this is acceptance of KYC (Know Your Customer), so you do not have to fill up all the information, which is usually required from other services; CoinRabbit also has a relatively easy process. It usually takes less than 1 day to sign up and go through the KYC process; BlockFi is also quite simple to use, almost the same with BlockFi since everything there is one ecosystem. Celsius Loyalty Programs & Rewards Loyalty Programs & Rewards at crypto lending platforms give some benefits to their clients like higher APY rate. Usually, it is a four-tier system, which extends benefits depending on the amount of platform tokens client holds across their saving accounts. Some may include in a loyalty program the portfolio balance, which usually include credit line and saving wallets, depending on a platform. Some platforms offer credit cards, which are under their platform, which let users have different benefits, for example: rewards on getting a coin. also has a four-tier loyalty program, which consists of Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum tiers. Unlike Nexo, you have to own 5-10% CEL tokens to get the first level. To get a Platinum you have to store 25-100%; Celsius offers a limited-time promo for anyone who opens a stablecoin savings account until November 30. Each client will get 10% APY and a special FREE 25% earning bonus in $BTC, $XNO, $DGB, $XRP, $FIRO, $DOGE and $SHIB. CoinRabbit suggests to their clients a four-tier system, which includes Base, Silver, Gold and Platinum levels. Your tier depends on the amount of held NEXO tokens you have. To reach the Platinum level you have to compromise at Balance Portfolio 10% of their tokens; Nexo does not have a loyalty program, although it offers to get a MaterCards credit card, which gives rewards in crypto currencies, which are available on Gemini. Moreover, it offers a cashback up to 3% on dining, groceries and all other purchases. Gemini Conclusion Nevertheless, crypto savings account is a relatively new service, the demand on it is growing rapidly. If you are looking for long-term crypto investments, then crypto savings accounts will be your best choice to earn any interest while you keep your assets safe on crypto lending platforms.

6 Crypto-Savings Accounts Compared (2021 Edition)

12 Best Bitcoin Lending Sites to Earn Interest and Borrow [Updated Sep'21]

According to some statistics, around 20 million US citizens have an outstanding personal loan. The lending market is constantly growing because people always need money for real estate purchases, consolidating debt, handling medical expenses, etc. Thanks to cryptocurrencies, there is now finally an alternative to traditional bank loans. New lending systems have been developed, which allow users to borrow money by using digital coins as collateral. What this means for you is easier access to funds and liquidity. The Main Features of Crypto Lending Just like in traditional lending markets, crypto loans are a vast ocean of possibilities, and you need to learn how to navigate them properly. Detailed analysis, comparisons, and considerations are required to find what is best for you. I had to do this research myself because not that long ago, I needed a loan myself, and I now feel confident sharing what I discovered with my readers. For example, if you want to borrow money, you could provide cryptocurrency as collateral for your loan. That’s what crypto lending is. It's not uncommon for people to take out a loan in stablecoins or another kind of digital currency instead of in real cash and fiat money. There are a few main aspects of crypto loans worth considering: How high is the APR and LTV, and how much money can I borrow? APR is the Annual Percentage Rate. It’s the interest and profit a service provider generates to lend out its money. As a borrower, you will, of course, be interested in platforms charging low APRs. Luckily for you, a lot of the service providers in the crypto space do just that. In addition, cryptocurrency loans come with much lower interest rates than what you would get from your local bank. So instead of paying an APR of 20%, you can halve these costs, although they can be as low as a few percent in rare circumstances. Next up is the Loan-To-Value or LTV ratio. You see, your collateral’s value determines how much you can borrow. For example, you can’t expect to receive $1.000 worth of USDT for $1.000 of Bitcoin. Many borrowers could decide to default on their loans, and that way, the lending platforms aren’t making any money. To protect their business, the collateral needs to be more valuable than the borrowed asset. Going for a crypto loan with a high LTV rate is in your best interest because you are getting more value for your collateral that way. You should be aiming for an LTV of 50% or more. That would mean that for $1.000 worth of BTC collateral, for example, the lender would give you $500 of alternative coins. Some crypto lending and borrowing platforms have minimum and maximum sums that can be loaned out. There are no firm rules, and each service provider decides for themselves. If you need a small crypto loan, you should know that certain lenders require their clients to borrow at least $10.000. But luckily, some have no minimum or maximum amounts. Always try to pick services that aren’t forcing you to go above your own limits. LTV and APR rates can be fixed at a certain percentage or dynamic and changeable according to the type of asset or market conditions. Fluctuating rates provide more opportunities but greater uncertainty. Fixed rates are more reliable and less risky. They are better suited for people who prefer no surprises. Crypto lending has several other features that make it attractive: There is a variety of digital coins to select between depending on your demands. A quick onboarding process for clients. Your loan takes less than an hour or a few blockchain confirmations to be approved. Anyone with adequate collateral may get a loan without running through credit and security checks. An Overview of Crypto Loans Services Let’s now take a look at some familiar names in the crypto lending space. Aave is a non-custodial and decentralized liquidity provider. You can borrow various assets in exchange for suitable collateral. The platform has a market size of several billion dollars. It allows its customers to take out a loan instead of liquidating their assets. Aave This decentralized lender offers LTV rates from 40% to 80% and has two different interest rates: stable and variable. The client is free to select and switch between these APR rates from his profile. The stable option includes fixed interest for the entire duration of the loan. Variable rates can change depending on market conditions and the offer and demand. The interest amounts vary from coin to coin and can be between 2% and 16%. Aave has no limits in terms of minimum and maximum loaned amounts or the length of the loan contract. Pros and Cons: Pros: LTV rates of up to 80%. The ability to switch between stable and variable interest rates. Cons: High APR rates of up to 18% for some assets. Not enough liquidity for all currencies. BlockFi offers crypto-backed loans with three different types of fixed LTV and interest rates. The Loan-To-Value amounts to select from are set at 20%, 35%, and 50%. The APR percentages are 4.5, 7.9, and 9.75. This platform has a minimum loan amount of $10,000 and a maximum of $100,000,000. BlockFi However, the geographical location bears a significant effect on the rates you will receive. Customers from the United States may be offered different terms than international clients. The loaned sums are sent out the same day, and the maximum loan period is one year. Suppose the collateral value drops below a certain threshold. In that case, a partial or total liquidation can happen unless additional collateral is provided. Pros and Cons: Pros: Low-interest rates. Customizable LTV ratios. Cons: High minimum loan amounts. Maximum loan period of one year. Differences are made between US and non-US clients. Celsius supports over 40 cryptocurrencies as collateral and allows you to borrow six different stablecoins. On this platform, you can select between interest rates of 1, 6.95, and 8.95 percent, but each category has its own LTV figure. For the lowest APR, you will have to accept a 25% LTV. On the other hand, a Loan-To-Value ratio of 33% is available if you select a 6.95% RTP. To get the biggest 50% LTV rate, your only option is to pick the 8.95% RTP. The Celsius network The minimum stablecoin amount that can be borrowed is fixed at $500, and the assets can be kept for up to three years. Celsius doesn’t offer loans in all countries, and additional limits may apply depending on your location. The network has a native CEL token that can be used to pay back interest with discounts of up to 30%. Pros and Cons: Pros: Borrowing at 1% interest rates. Long loan periods. Cons: Not available worldwide. Low LTV ratios when selecting the lowest APR rates. Minimum loan periods of six months. ChangeNOW (NOWLoans) allows people to take out a loan in USDT or USDC by supplying collateral in Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, or any other supported assets. Clients who need Bitcoin are welcome to deposit stablecoins to the ChangeNOW platform instead. NOWLoans You can keep the borrowed assets indefinitely because there are no time limits. In addition to the fixed APR of 10%, NOWLoans also features an LTV ratio of 50% for all currencies. There are no limits to how much you can borrow, but there is a minimum of $100 worth of crypto. Pros and Cons: Pros: No time limits or maximum loan periods. Low $100 entry loan amount. Identical ARP and LTV figures for all coins. Cons: The platform doesn’t support loans in popular alternative coins. CoinLoan CoinLoan is a custodial borrowing platform with APR rates starting at 4.95%. The site allows you to loan stablecoins as well as fiat currencies. The minimum loan period is one month, and the borrowed funds can be kept for up to three years. CoinLoan offers four Loan-To-Value rates to pick from. The interest increases the higher the LTV is. The APR figures are 4.95%, 7.95%, 9.95%, and 11.95% for the LTV rates of 20, 35, 50, and 70 percent. The platform features a professional live support team, 2FA, and Biometric authentication. Before you can borrow from CoinLoan, you will have to verify your identity, which only takes a couple of minutes. Pros and Cons: Pros: No minimum amounts. Customizable LTV figures. Cons: Necessary to undergo identity verification. The platform charges a 1% origination fee on all loans. Crypto.com is a cryptocurrency platform with over 10 million registered users. One of the services the site renders is lending cryptocurrencies. The maximum loan period is 12 months, after which the interest fees have to be paid. The APR on depends on the amount of staked CRO tokens (the native currency of the platform) and the LTV ratio. The interest rates vary from 2% to 12%. Crypto.com crypto.com In addition to that, digital coins can be borrowed with LTV figures of 25%, 33%, and 50%. Crypto.com users can loan stablecoins, Bitcoin, or Ethereum. The smallest borrowing amount is $100 worth of crypto, while the maximum is $2 million. Pros and Cons: Pros: Lower interest rates when staking the native CRO tokens. Small loan amounts. Cons: Not available in France, the USA, UK, Germany, and several other countries. Multiple loans can’t be taken out. KYC verification is required to be considered for a loan. Nexo is a crypto loans platform that offers digital coins with different interest rates from 6.9% to 13.9%. This provider has a minimum amount of only $50, while the upper limit is $2,000,000. The max loan term is 12 months, but this period can be extended if necessary. Nexo Different coins are assigned different LTV rates. Depending on several factors, you can expect to see Loan-To-Value ratios of 15%, 30%, 50%, 70%, and 90%. Discounts are possible for loyal customers who own NEXO tokens. Pros and Cons: Pros: Low borrowing amounts. Extended benefits for loyalty program customers. Cons: Only two stablecoins can be loaned out. Non-customizable APR and LTV rates. YouHodler is a crypto lending platform that provides instant loans with high Loan-To-Value rates of 90%. More than 30 of the most popular cryptocurrencies can be used as collateral for a USDT loan. When borrowing stablecoins, the loan duration is 15 days, but this can be extended at any time after paying a 1% loan fee. YouHodler The minimum loanable amount is 100 USDT for crypto-backed collateral. Ledger Vault insures $150 million worth of YouHodler assets. If you are interested in taking out a Bitcoin loan, you can do that by depositing various altcoins as collateral. Pros and Cons: Pros: High LTV rates. Long list of crypto-backed collateral. Cons: USDT loan durations are only 15 days. Each loan extension requires a 1% service fee and reopening commission. Unchained Capital is a lending platform for bitcoin-backed loans which does business mainly with US customers. All deposited collateral is held in multi-signature wallets that require the signatures of 2 out of 3 private keys before accessing the funds. The company provides personal, business, and international loans. The minimum borrowing amount for international clients is $100.000, while US citizens can loan no less than $10,000. Unchained Capital The loans can’t be shorter than three months. The maximum holding period is three years. Unchained Capital provides LTV rates of 40% and Annual Percentage Rates from 11.16% to 14.22%. Each loan requires an origination fee of 0.5% to 1% depending on the term. Pros and Cons: Pros: High-security level Cons: High borrowing amounts Each loan requires an origination fee A Comparison of Crypto Lending Platforms Name LTV APR Min. Amount Max. Amount Min. Loan Period Max. Loan Period Aave 40% - 80% 2% - 18% No limits No limits No limits No limits BlockFi 20%, 35%, and 50% 4.5%, 7.9%, and 9,75% $10,000 $100,000,000 No limits 1 year Celsius 25%, 33%, and 50% 1%, 6.95%, and 8.95% $500 No limits No limits 3 years ChangeNOW (NOWLoans) 50% 10% $100 No limits No limits No limits CoinLoan 20%, 35%, 50%, and 70% 4.95%, 7.95%, and 9.95% No limits No limits 1 month 3 years Crypto.com 25%, 33%, and 50% 2% - 12% $100 $2,000,000 No limits 12 months Nexo 15% - 90% 6.9% - 13.9% $50 $2,000,000 No limits 1 year (extendable) YouHodler 90% 1% 100 USDT No limits 15 days 15 days (extendable) Unchained Capital 40% 11.16% - 14.22% $10,000 $1.000,000 3 months 3 years Summary As we can see from the comparison table above, there are two types of crypto lending service providers: platforms with fixed and those with floating rates. Depending on what kind of person you are and how much risk you are willing to take, you will choose what seems the most attractive to you personally. Lending services with floating figures require more detailed analysis. The terms aren’t the same for all assets and deposited collateral. The customers need to perform due diligence to know what works best for them. Nexo offers the lowest loanable amounts in the industry, starting at $50. Unfortunately, their APR can be as high as almost 14%. Lending operators such as BlockFi and Unchained Capital aren’t suitable for small-time players because of their $10.000 borrowing minimums. Aave doesn’t have limitations for loanable amounts or the holding period. Still, certain digital coins have interest rates of up to 18%. No matter which of these platforms you decide to entrust your money to, ensure that you are familiar with their reputation, terms of use, and conditions of your loan.

9 Crypto Lending Platforms To Help You Borrow Funds Against Your Crypto Holdings

7 Best Crypto Saving Accounts to Earn Up To 12% Bitcoin Interest

I probably don’t need to introduce you to Decentralized Finance (DeFi) or Open Finance. DeFi is here to change traditional finance, creating an open ecosystem of financial products. It’s here to stay. Blockchain is the underlying foundation for DeFi. By nature, blockchain has always been dominated by its monetary aspects. Therefore, it’s no surprise many DeFi projects have sprouted throughout recent years. It’s believed 2019 was an amazing year for decentralized finance. However, I dare to argue that 2020 will become an even better year, bringing more advanced DeFi products to the market such as crypto insurance. This article explores the through a curated list of amazing projects that are at the forefront of the space. The projects range from crypto index funds, to crypto insurance for hacks like the DAO, or even automated asset management strategies. Everything you need for building a new, . Let’s explore! power of decentralized finance DeFi open financial system YouHodler is focused on crypto-based lending. However, a more interesting feature that explores the limits of DeFi is . This feature uses the power of the Barbell Strategy where 20% of your funds are invested in high-risk assets and 80% of your funds in low-risk assets. However, this is not a fixed percentage. Users are free to change this balance to any risk appetite they wish such as a 90/10 or 60/40 balance. What is YouHodler? YouHodler Multi HODL YouHodler applied this strategy by allowing you to deposit into a savings account which generates a guaranteed annual profit of 12% without any risks. However, Multi HODL defines that you should invest 20% of your funds into small, speculative bets. Here, your money is exposed to a maximum risk of 50%. This means you can lose only 10% of your funds which is compensated by a guaranteed 12% annual return from your savings account on 80% of your money. stablecoins In other words, worst case scenario, this strategy brings you to a break-even position after a year. Best case, you end up with a 150% profit on your 20% high-risk investment combined with the 12% annual return on the savings account. For this reason, you should start to like the DeFi space. PieDAO - Index Mutual Funds was born with the idea to port the passive index approach to the world of crypto. In traditional finance, have proven to be extremely successful for the simple reason that they spread risk. These risks are spread as the index provides access to a basket of cryptocurrencies to your portfolio. What is PieDAO? PieDAO index mutual funds diversify PieDAO wants to provide users with the ability to participate in the creation of tokenized portfolios. Like this, investors are exposed to many underlying crypto or traditional assets. Such an index of several crypto coins is called a PIE. Furthermore, risk can be further reduced by bundling multiple PIEs to end up with a similar product as mutual index funds. Such a diversified PIE fund can consist of many PIEs that represent different types of assets such as traditional assets, crypto assets, or cash. Opyn - Securing Decentralized Finance is one of the few products that provide insurance for DeFi users. In other words, Opyn provides the protection DeFi users are looking for. DeFi is an amazing emerging financial system, however, there are no guarantees. Many new DeFi apps may present risks to the users investing money into those platforms. It’s only a matter of time before we see another DAO hack. What is Opyn? Opyn Opyn allows users to protect themselves to both technical and financial risks. For example, hacks, bank runs, or even administrative key compromises. If this happens, you can create a claim for payout to receive your DeFi deposit. This is one of the building bricks to make DeFi a more stable environment with increased trust for regular investors. Uniswap - Automated Liquidity Provisioning allows anyone with some spare cash (liquidity providers) to participate in Open Finance. Uniswap allows liquidity providers to provide liquidity to exchanges or applications in return for a small fee. This is a very wanted feature as many exchanges and margin lending products have trouble finding liquidity for their application. What is Uniswap? Uniswap decentralized finance Uniswap solves this problem by providing one big liquidity pool to many applications through their SDK and smart contracts. Set Protocol - Automated Asset Management Strategies is a protocol that allows users to create a basket, also called Set, of underlying assets, similar to PieDAOs offering. In addition, the Set Protocol lets you set management rules for your basket of underlying assets such as how the basket should be rebalanced and when this should happen. Therefore, we can say the Set Protocol allows users to define strategies in the smart contract. What is Set Protocol? Set Protocol non-custodial Currently, two types of sets can be created: Social trading which allows humans to execute strategies. Hard-coded rules that define how the contract should trade. To give an example, there is a that automatically rebalances into USDC when the RSI crosses below 45. If the crosses again above 45, the contract will convert the USDC again back to the LINK token. Pretty amazing! LINK RSI Set RSI Melon Protocol - Asset Management Protocol The is developed to allow participants to set up, manage, and invest in digital assets. This can be any type of digital assets such as PDFs, images, videos, stock photos, or audio files. Also, the Melon Protocol allows developers to define rules in order to create management strategies for your digital assets. What is Melon Protocol? Melon Protocol The goal of Melon Protocol is to tokenize digital assets and minimize the need for trust. Also, it makes the creation of funds on the blockchain much simpler and inexpensive. By nature, Melon allows anyone to invest in other funds without having to trust the fund manager managing this fund as the rules have been defined on-chain and can’t be changed. Synthetix - Track Value of Assets in the Real World With , you can create which represent the value of assets in the real world. For example, Synthetix offers sUSD which tracks the price of USD in the real world. Also, you can trade sXAU which similarly tracks the price of gold. What is Synthetix? Synthetix on-chain Synths The idea here is that you can simply trade an asset without actually holding it. This is a very appealing concept for traders who are interested in trading metals to give an example. Often, heavy costs are involved with buying and storing metals such as gold and silver. Therefore, this is an appealing low-cost way to trade those popular assets. Augur - Crowd Wisdom is a prediction market platform that rewards a user for correctly predicting the future. They allow participants to buy and sell shares in the outcome of an event. The price of an event share is set by the probability of an event actually occurring. For example, the odds for Bitcoin to hit $10.000 within a month are odd. This means that a share on either side costs $0.50 as the total cost of a share is $1. If you guess it correctly, you’ll receive $1 in return. What is Augur? Augur In other words, Augur is based on the scientific principle known as . crowd wisdom BzeroX (bZx) Protocol - Decentralized Lending and Margin Trading is a protocol that offers decentralized lending and margin trading. The fact that bZx is a protocol means that it can be integrated into any project or exchange so they can also reap the benefits of decentralized lending or margin trading. What is BzeroX? bZx The protocol itself uses peer-to-peer margin lending and shorting. To provide liquidity, token holders are encouraged to hold tokens by providing them with rewards. The protocol itself does not collect fees, however, a 10% fee is collected of the earned interest to fund maintenance of an insurance fund for lenders. Aside from this, the protocol itself is very similar to the offering of the . MAKER protocol dYdX - Crypto Derivatives relies on a liquidity pool with interest rates defined by algorithms. It doesn’t engage in as they do not always guarantee liquidity, which is a key element for margin traders that want to quickly open a position. What is dYdX? dYdX p2p loans To expand on this, dYdX is focused on the specific use-case of margin trading. dYdX allows users to open margin positions with a leverage of up to 4x. A trader can send money to a dYdX smart contract that sells the deposit and holds the money in the contract. Once the trader decides to close the margin position, it will buy back the lent amount. Therefore, the user receives its initial deposit back with potential profits if the trade was successful. To finish off the article, here’s a quote about DeFi by . Philipp Sandner “An ecosystem comprised of applications built on top of public distributed ledgers, for the facilitation of permissionless financial services.” Image by Ryan McGuire from Gratisography .

List of Awesome Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Projects

The sudden pause in the acceleration of the global economy due to the COVID-19 pandemic led to a steep decline in the share market. The world stood still with most of the beneficiary markets crashing. Many stocks dropped, from the entertainment industry to the hospitality industry, which were otherwise considered to have the Midas Touch. Disclaimer : This article suggests different stocks. Do your own research when investing in stocks. This is not buyer advice, solely informational. Q1 of 2020 - The downside The first quarter of the US share market recorded a 22.8% decline, whereas the developed and emerging nations alike closed their window at a 22.3% low. Moreover, US-based high-end conglomerates were the most resilient of the major stock indices synchronously posting its worst quarterly return since the . Great Depression Countries like China, the UK, Spain, etc. showcased its stock markets at an all-time low. The Shanghai Stock exchange shrank by 6.8% and the London Stock Exchange was pulled down by 25%. Meanwhile, the pan-Europe stock market fell at a 23.03% low. The emergence of the COVID-19 outbreak quickly affected the financial market from mid-February onwards and put a halt to significant industries. Q2 of 2020 - The surge However, as the world approached the second quarter of the fiscal year, a few nations recorded a surge in its share market, thus controlling the outbreak amongst its populace. Countries like New Zealand, Taiwan, Iceland, Netherlands, etc. managed to control the epidemic with enthusiasm, thus bridging the gap between pay parity. Introducing new opportunities for existing, as well as new, citizens, these nations helped boost the economy in not only in-demand industries, (i.e. pharmaceuticals, medical, e-commerce) but also in currently dormant sectors such as hospitality, entertainment, and so on. Changing the crisis into a convenience showcased a well-taught resilience to the entire world hence recording a definite surge in stock prices. The impact on the share market has been so strong that US citizens pleaded their government to re-open various sectors to resume operations. The same scenario was witnessed in the UK after the stock market crashed due to the COVID-19 crisis. However, mid June, a few industrial operations resumed, helping to boost the economy. With the re-opening of a handful of sectors, the global stock market jolted towards a surge, thus acting as a silver lining during the ongoing pandemic. Now what? Where to find trends? As per the current scenario, avoiding social gathering still comes under “the new normal,” therefore providing a golden opportunity to hospitality, social media, entertainment, and other sectors to experiment with new features on a day to day basis. Social media brands have already started finding ways to engage thoughtfully with their audience, thus helping an increase in their stock prices. According to SocialMediaToday, Snapchat witnessed an , adding 9 million more daily active users in Q2. The entertainment sectors too divulged themselves in cohesively attracting viewership as well as advertising agencies. increase in revenue by 17% The influx of new industries have supported the then drained economy, equally projecting opportunities for investment in various stock portals and benefiting from it altogether. Listed below are the best stocks and trends to benefit from during Q3 of 2020: Dating Apps Digital Tools (software as a service) Sports Equipment Cloud Computing and Tech 1. Dating Apps As all are embracing the social distancing norm, online dating platforms such as Match Group and Bumble witnessed a steep surge in its stock prices. Apart from popular dating apps, and offline executive matchmaking service portal, Selective Search, saw an during the Corona pandemic. increase in memberships According to the founder of Selective Search, Barbie Adler, “…periods of extended time at home tend to make her clients more determined to find love because they start to desire connection more, and she’s encouraged them to try video or phone dates during the public-health crisis. “ Periods of extended time at home make clients desire connection more. A which comprises various online dating platforms such as , Hinge, OkCupid, and so on has shown an increase in downloads as well as subscribers amidst the pandemic. The first-time subscribers were highest during the second quarter of the current fiscal year as June-July had almost 27.07% more downloads than previous years. dating conglomerate like Match Group Tinder Currently , the dating app giant has seen a surge of 4.06% within a week. Showing an exquisite performance in the share market, Match Group’s face value has increased by 18.81% in July 2020, thus ending the quarter with more than 10 million subscribers. floating at 115.38 USD Advice: Dating apps are still in demand, especially during summertime. 2. Digital Tools - Software as a service (SaaS) One of the most potent ways in which technology has supported the global population is making it more accessible. Popular digital platforms, such as Zoom, DocuSign, or Skype have witnessed a three times increase in its usage due to the current corona crisis. Although Skype and Google Drive have been in use for a long while, other digital tools, especially Zoom, came as a boon to firms wherein meetings in large groups could be conducted at ease. Zoom, the US-based company, closed its first quarter at an increase of 49.89%, thus keeping its face value at 72.99 billion USD. Another reliable digital signature service provider, DocuSign, witnessed an increase of 64.87% in the first quarter, whereas July saw a surge of 4.68% more in the stock market. Maintaining its face value at 37.58 billion USD, stock investment in the respective firm would be beneficial. Almost a decade old conglomerate, Microsoft’s Skype saw a rise of 70% new users during the COVID-19 crisis. The current scenario has pushed the entire world to digitize, thus making the already famous company witness its average daily users cross 40 million. Advice: Look for interesting software services that focus on streamlining business operations during times of prolonged remote work. 3. Sports Equipment With over four months of lockdown, the demand for sports equipment has seen a massive surge in pricing. Although the sale has been equally overwhelming, thanks to the urge of staying fit and healthy indoors; the otherwise decrease in commuting has also made it possible to work on our bodies and minds. Moreover, nations like Germany, Japan, and Taiwan have surprisingly witnessed a high demand for bikes. Considered to be a popular outdoor sport in a few countries, cycling or biking is now one of the best ways to stay fit. Conglomerates like closed the stock market at its highest price ever as the demand in bike sales seems to be unending. Other bike-related companies such as Fox Factory, Dorel Industries, and MIPS have seen a similar stock market pattern in the last few weeks. Closing its face value at 20.04 billion USD, the first quarter saw a surge of 35.30%. Shimano Inc. Your new bike won't be in stock until 2021. - by BBC News Taiwan’s bike manufacturing firm with its demand booming two times more than previous years. Despite the hike in prices due to the corona pandemic, the application of bikes as sports equipment tends to be surging. Giant showed an increasing rate of 35.04% Apart from traditional bikes or cycles, people have shown a keen interest in e-bikes or electric scooters. Companies like Pedego, X-Treme, iZip, etc. have proven to be the best in the world. As their market price continues to increase by 400% during the pandemic, the demand for it gives fierce competition to manufacturers. Advice: However, not only bikes have seen high demand. Take a look at other types of sport equipment producers, camping gear producers, or even food supplement producers. 4. Cloud Computing and Hardware Revenue soared from 339 million USD to 2.99 billion USD within a couple of years, the has recorded its sales growth in an explosive way in the stock market. Face value is closed at 1.18 billion USD in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, it’s moving towards a new record of 3.65 billion USD in the second quarter itself. cloud market giant NVIDIA Other technology companies such as Microsoft and Amazon have been in fierce competition during the corona crisis as connecting via technology became the simplest way to keep one and all safe. Moreover, the 6 trillion USD conglomerate, Alibaba Cloud witnessed an increase in revenue by over 58% in the previous fiscal year. With its surging demand, the respective company has seen a surge of 35 to 40% in the last few months. Advice: Don’t only look at cloud providers who support the surge in digital usage but also keep an eye on hardware producers or even chip manufacturers. They are equally important for providing cloud providers with the hardware needed to scale. So, how to build your Corona-proof portfolio? The above four categories are only examples of a few thriving industries during the Coronavirus. However, many more thriving industries can likely be found. Nonetheless, the current pandemic has created many new opportunities you wouldn’t have thought about initially. The most striking example is the increased usage of dating apps while we maintain a socially distant life. Most likely, the human nature to connect has translated to stronger digital connections than ever before. Have you considered investing in cryptocurrencies perhaps? offer you a safe-heaven against crypto volatility while at the same time offering you a . Furthermore, YouHodler provides collateralized by cryptocurrencies when you need some quick cash to make a profitable trade. Lastly, do not forget to diversify your portfolio. Stablecoins 12% yearly return for holding them instant fiat and crypto loans Want to learn more about investing and portfolio creation, check out: 6 Key & Stocks Like a Boss Strategies to Investing in Cryptocurrency ? Here are some tips you should try Diversifying your portfolio for Bitcoin, Stocks, and Commodities in 2020 10 Data-Driven Predictions

How to Build a Corona-proof Stocks Portfolio: 4 Thriving Industries

Disclaimer: This article does not offer financial advice, do your own research when using one of the presented products. Use these projects and services at your own risk. Googling for “decentralised finance adoption” provides you with tons of articles talking about the shift towards decentralised finance (DeFi). An article published by discusses how the grew from a niche market to mainstream finance. Cointelegraph DeFi movement The article presents an interesting statistic about the total value locked in DeFi markets. Over the course of one year, the total value of locked Ether rose from $317 million to over $1 billion. Therefore, we can say that 2020 will see an even bigger shift towards DeFi solutions. Many projects offer multi-collateralised and uncollateralised . However, there is still some feeling of uncertainty about these products as the crypto price volatility is still a tricky challenge to tackle in combination with the scalability of these applications. The majority of the DeFi solutions provide lending products. lending products Nevertheless, we’ve seen the rise of many successful DeFi projects, including: Compound: Allows to earn a yield on non-yielding digital assets dYdX: Focus on borrowing and lending for margin trading YouHodler: Lending provider which offers Multi HODL Synthetix: Decentralised synthetic assets MakerDAO: CDP for stable coin stabilisation Dharma: Lending without a centralised bank So, how has DeFi sparked the search for alternative financial products? Search for Stable Financial Products There is a search for new financial products that offer stable returns. Currently, traditional savings accounts are even facing negative interest. This means you have to pay the bank to store your money. Because of this, a lot of young people are looking for new, interesting alternatives to grow their capital and counteract inflation. Therefore, the boomed at the right moment, providing the ability for users to borrow money and earn stable returns. This explains the fast adoption of DeFi products during these current times of financial uncertainty. DeFi industry Akiva Lai, chief product officer at auditing platform , highlights the significant growth of the space and why the financial uncertainty has boosted adoption: Maxonrow DeFi “It’s pretty astounding, to be honest. $1 billion in locked DeFi value may seem minuscule compared to legacy finance, but we need to examine it for what it could be — not what it currently is. Paired with the ballooning growth of exchange products, from derivatives to staking services, and it’s only natural that more users will tap DeFi products in the never-ending search for yield amid an uncertain economic backdrop of negative interest rates and slow growth.” From this whole economy of lending providers, has developed the protocol . The protocol helps you with obtaining the highest yield. Therefore, we can say that iearn.finance is a lending aggregator that helps you with finding the best deals without having to care about the underlying details. Andre Cronje iearn.finance Let’s learn how Andre Cronje has designed iearn.finance and how you can use it? This article is dedicated to iearn.finance’s product and explains how the product works. To clarify things, iearn.finance does not make any profits. It’s a free, open-source protocol. The team behind iearn.finance does not intend to monetize it and they have revoked admin keys so the product can be 100% non-custodial . Q1: Explain what a lending aggregator is? A lending aggregator simply aggregates the lending services other projects offer into one easy-to-use tool. iearn offers a protocol that looks for lending platforms with the highest yield. In addition to finding the highest yield, the protocol rebalances every week to find the highest yield. Q2: Why consider using iearn.finance for maximising profits? allows you to deposit , USDC, USDT, and TUSD. This means only stable coins can be used for lending money. Therefore, the platform reduces risk as there’s barely volatility associated with those stable coins. Iearn.finance DAI Next, iearn.finance aggregates the following lending platforms to maximise your profits: Compound (disabled) Fulcrum dYdX Aave DDEX Currently, the annual percentage yield (APY) is on average 20%. These statistics can be found on . For those unaware what the APY means, here’s a short explanation: iearn’s website In contrast to APR, the APY of a loan includes the amount earned from compounding. A good example explaining the difference between APR and APY can be found at . ValuePenguin.com In short, iearn.finance helps you to earn a stable interest for your inactive cryptocurrencies. Q3: What are the risks of using iearn.finance? When reviewing a platform, it’s fair to also take a look at the risks. Let’s review both internal and external risks. External risks We can say the risks of losing money are minimised by using stable coins as you don’t have to deal with crypto volatility. However, a stablecoin project can stop its operations or be hacked although the chance this happens is very low. Also, there is a small risk something goes wrong with the lending providers. In short, you have to trust the lending providers that they implement the right security measures and manage the product accordingly. Internal risks Andre Cronje, creator of iearn.finance, explains that the internal risks for iearn include: Smart contract failure. Failure of any software components. However, the team has revoked their admin credentials, so there is no risk associated with custodial services. Iean.finance is a non-custodial product and the project lives as an open-source protocol that can be reviewed by anyone. As Andre Cronje loves to say: Low risk, high yield, stable rewards. Providing youth with new, low-risk investment options. Q4: What about the technicals? Here are some cool, technical facts. Cool #1: On-chain investment decisions The cool part of iearn.finance is that a smart contract takes care of making investment decisions. Moreover, it means that it makes these investment decisions on-chain. This means the contract has to find creative solutions to find out about the interest rate a particular project offers. To give an example, the Compound project provides a smart contract that sets the interest rate. From this constant, the APR can be calculated. You can find an example of how iearn did this in the following . Medium article Cool #2: Automatic rebalancing From another article , we can learn that the smart contract automatically rebalances every time someone interacts with the contract. published by iearn Next, it finds the highest rate and moves the underlying funds there. The full details of this mechanism can again be found in the article. Cool #3: What if the liquidity pool is too large? What happens when your liquidity pool is so large, that when you move to take advantage of a lending providers’ yield, you wipe out the yield? It turned out that a simple call to calculate the APR is not sufficient. The team behind iearn.finance has built an oracle that helps to calculate the APR and takes into account the pool size to optimize the yield. This means the oracle calculates how the pool size affects the APR and where to best put the maximum amount of funds to gain the highest aggregate yield. ( ) source If you want to read more about this scenario, then Andre has published a much more comprehensive in which he expands on this topic. article Want to learn more about iearn? Visit or visit their in case you have further questions. Remember, the product is still in beta, only use it at your own risk. iearn.finance platform Telegram channel Happy lending!

On Building the Upstart DeFi Aggregator iearn.finance with Andre Cronje [Interview]

Today’s goal of cryptocurrency is to make money and payments universally accessible. Every person, no matter where they are in the world, should be able to access and transact digital currencies. However, decentralised finance (DeFi) decides to take this mission one step further. Imagine all the traditional finance products you are using like savings, loans, insurance, and trading. DeFi (or open finance) wants to make these accessible for anyone with a smartphone and internet connection without the need to go through a centralised bank. financial services Definition of DeFi: “An ecosystem comprised of applications built on top of public distributed ledgers, for the facilitation of permissionless financial services.” - Philipp Sandner During 2019, has seen impressive growth. Many DeFi products saw a large adoption. A released by Binance Research revealed that DeFi became one of the critical growth areas for Ethereum since 2019. In particular, decentralised exchanges play a critical role in the DeFi space as they represent 90% of all the DeFi users. DeFi report Binance Research also revealed that there was a growing interest throughout 2019 for financial DeFi products besides exchange-related DeFi products. The below graph shows the monthly unique users in Ethereum DeFi. The last month of 2019 broke all records with 25,925 single users who used financial applications on Ethereum. Source: DApp Review, Binance Research . The price to the most popular DeFi application goes to MakerDAO who’s responsible for $388 million dollar worth of locked Ether. This article will cover the importance of to boost the blockchain and crypto space. Besides, an overview of the top five DeFi projects will be presented. DeFi Benefits of DeFi can be seen as a second layer of applications on top of a blockchain. These applications are able to create a system of open finance, disconnected from any type of traditional finance. So, what are the benefits of such open finance system? DeFi True decentralisation removes any censorship. Users are free to choose which financial instruments they want to use and when they want to use them. Arguably, we can say DeFi brings true financial freedom. Worldwide participation in , providing everyone the same chances to access financial products. In addition, DeFi has the ability to balance out markets between different countries creating a fairer global economy. open finance Full control over your money without the need to trust any third-party with your money. Full financial transparency across all markets. Corruption or any sort of misbehaving is governed by decentralised financial protocols. Lastly, the most important benefit is the cost that comes with traditional banking services. A lot of money has been put in the creation and development of centralised tools and banks to create a sense of trust. A decentralised finance system comes with less overhead, more transparency, and most importantly, with a significantly lower cost than traditional finance systems. Possible drawbacks of DeFi As we are looking on the bright side of decentralised finance, let’s analyse from a different perspective. DeFi Obviously, decentralised finance is still in its infancy. We find low liquidity which makes it sometimes hard to complete transactions for DeFi products. Additionally, there is still a strong lack of clarity from a regulatory point of view. Some expect the true adoption of decentralised finance from the moment governments across the world start to embrace and regulate DeFi applications. There is a need for open finance, however, there is also a need for some sort of regulatory body overlooking the whole process or providing advice. DeFi: The 5 most notable projects Let’s discuss five of the most notable decentralised finance projects. First of all, let’s explore Compound. #1: Compound - Earn a return on non-yielding digital assets When we want to explain ’s finance protocol, we have to understand the concept of yield. The . Therefore, yield is defined as the income that is returned on investment. Compound Compound Finance protocol allows individuals to ‘trade the time value’ of a digital asset However, for . Blockchain assets have a negative yield through storage costs and the risks associated with them. This contributes to the strong price volatility as holding is disincentivized. non-yielding digital assets, there is no income to be made Therefore, Compound’s finance protocol takes an innovative leap by enabling individuals to use borrowed assets for investment use. Furthermore, this enables lenders to earn . yield on non-yielding digital assets In short, by enabling individuals to earn a return on non-yielding digital assets they try to reduce the volatility and bridge the gap between lenders and borrowers. #2: YouHodler - Turbo Lending and Multi HODL is one of the younger fintech platforms that focuses on crypto-based lending. However, it tries to leverage the lending industry by also offering crypto savings products and trading tools. YouHodler Recently, YouHodler has introduced a new powerful feature called which is based on the Barbell Strategy. For those who don’t know the Barbell strategy, I quote : Multi HODL Investopedia “The Barbell Strategy advocates pairing two distinctly different baskets of stocks. One basket holds extremely safe investments, while the other only holds highly-leveraged and speculative investments.” Source: YouHodler Multi HODL . YouHodler implements this strategy in combination with the . This means that . For YouHodler specifically, this sum of money is deposited in a savings account with an annual, guaranteed return of 12%. 80-20 rule 80% of your capital is invested in safe, risk-free assets Meanwhile, the remaining trades which have the potential to return high profits. However, you as an investor are only exposed to a possible risk of losing half of your capital. 20% gets invested in higher risk Lastly, YouHolder offers a “ ” product. This investment product is based on the “cascade of loans” principle. This means you open multiple loans to increase your funds and every loan acts as collateral for another loan in the chain. Next, you can use this money for trading. Turbocharge In short, the “Turbocharge” feature is pretty similar to margin trading, however, the mechanics behind the concept are different. YouHodler’s Turbocharge feature lets you receive an . x6.5 boost of your capital Additionally, what makes YouHodler most unique is their incredibly high of 90% which is found on both the platform’s classic crypto-backed loans and Turbo Loans. LTV #3: Synthetix - Decentralized synthetic assets The platform enables the creation of . For example, we can find synthetic fiat currencies such as . Besides, synthetic commodities exist such as . Synthetix on-chain synthetic assets (Synths) that track the value of assets in the real world sUSD or sAUD gold (sXAU) Source: Synthetix The idea is that you can receive the benefits of You may wonder why you don’t want to hold the actual asset? Good question! holding an asset without actually holding it. To answer this question, I will take a look at my personal finance. Recently, I’ve bought a bit of physical gold as an investment. However, I noticed that it’s not an easy task to quickly buy or sell gold. In case you want to sell gold, you have to make a physical appointment. Hopefully, a few hours later you can actually sell your gold. The price of gold might have been plumped already and you lost your favourable selling opportunity. In addition, we don’t speak about the costs of safely storing gold. Problem? If you take those arguments, it makes sense to be able to quickly trade gold without actually holding the asset and having to deal with custody. From the , we can read: Synthetix blog “We believe Synthetix will play an important role in the proliferation of DeFi. By creating a generalised protocol to issue synthetic assets through collateralised SNX, developers and crypto investors can now gain access to a range of traditional and digital assets. Ultimately, SNX provides a framework to bridge DeFi and legacy finance derivatives.” In short, Synthetix is a great project that tries to . bridge DeFi and legacy finance derivatives #4: Dharma - Lending without a centralised bank has been developed as there is a huge need for transparency in the debt markets. At the moment, debt makes up nearly 85% of the total global wealth. Dharma Dharma enables anyone to . The project defines itself as a where everyone . quickly and efficiently borrow money P2P lending marketplace retains full control over their funds The project introduced underwriters who are agents that identify the risks associated with a loan. Their job is solely to accurately identify the potential for default and liquidity risk and issue an approval or denial for a loan. Normally, a bank would trust on underwriters such as Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, or J.P. Morgan. However, we have seen how . things can go wrong in a non-transparent traditional finance market Therefore, reintroduced underwriters who are incentivised to effectively and accurately assess loans. Dharma Benefits of using Dharma? Transparent debt issuing Ability to trade tokenised debt on Dharma’s platform Lend and borrow money at risk defined interest rates #5: MakerDAO - CDP for stable coin stabilisation Source: MakerDAO In short, is the protocol behind the . The special thing about DAI is not that it’s . MakerDAO well-known stable coin DAI pegged 1:1 to the USD but  that it’s backed by Ether instead of an authorised 3rd party who controls the supply Interestingly, the project . However, they gradually . However, it’s not an easy task to combat crypto’s volatility characteristics. didn’t conduct an ICO started selling MKR tokens to fund their operations Therefore, The more CDPs that get opened, the more stable the DAI token becomes. It’s definitely a unique concept to stabilise a stable coin and provide it with permissionless governance. Maker designed a smart contract platform that allows users to open Collateralised Debt Positions (CDPs). This allows users to actively participate in lending services while at the same time stabilising the network. The Future of DeFi DeFi is expected to as there is a growing interest for decentralised or alternative financial products outside of the regularly banking system. grow in the upcoming months This increased interest for DeFi is likely to . It’s even expected a negative savings rate will be introduced. grow further due to the extremely low returns for saving accounts

The Rise of Decentralised Finance and its Key Players

Decentralized finance (DeFi) is currently disrupting the finance world with many decentralized applications (dApps) and tokens springing up to offer various kinds of financial services to people directly. This wasn’t always the case though. Not so long ago centralized financial institutions like banks, insurances companies, stock brokers etc., were the established means of accessing financial services. Now blockchain technology has changed everything. Inspired by the need to create transparency and democracy in the finance world (i.e., by eliminating middle men), decentralization has ushered in the age of crypto banking. This is the process whereby people can carry out bank transactions using crypto coins and decentralized applications. Through this method people can buy, sell, save, exchange or invest in crypto assets just like they used to transact with traditional financial assets. Initially, crypto banking or DeFi was well separated from traditional banking, also known as centralized finance (CeFi). This was because of practicality issues which limited certain transaction features like using bank cards, ATMs, saving, lending and borrowing etc. to traditional CeFi institutions with physical presence while early DeFi institutions focused on crypto generation, transfer and exchange. Some of these early DeFi applications include Bitcoin, Ethereum Network, Bitcoin Market etc. Hence, crypto banking was mostly limited to decentralized applications which offered services that were easily distinguishable from what could be obtained from traditional banks. As blockchain technology has continued to progress however, more and more financial services are now supported on decentralized platforms making such platforms more like CeDeFi (Centralized Decentralized Finance) applications than just DeFi applications. We now have services like decentralized exchange on apps like Uniswap, Pancakeswap, etc., crypto saving through stable coins, yield farming, and Lending-Borrowing services on applications like CoinRabbit, YouHolder, CoinLoan etc. Several decentralized platforms like CoinBase, Binace, MetaMask etc., even offer all these services in one application. However, a more recent concept is the introduction of platforms that primarily focus on integrating decentralized banking and traditional baking. This trend is noteworthy because it fundamentally switches the focus of crypto banking from just DeFi to more of CeDeFi. Examples of banks promoting this trend include both traditional banks like , and decentralized banks like and which were primarily released with such focus. JP Morgan and HSBC Current AgoraBank Crypto Banking as DeFi Decentralized finance is the foundation of crypto banking and the vast majority of decentralized applications available can be said to focus on DeFi services. DeFi services can be reasonably differentiated from traditional finance services like lending-borrowing, bank card usage etc. Some common DeFi applications are highlighted below. Blockchain networks like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Binance etc. which acts as the foundational software infrastructure for the creation of other cryptocurrencies, and decentralized applications used in carrying out DeFi transactions. Web 3 wallets like TrustWallet, WalletConnect etc. which are used in the generation of and handling of crypto wallet accounts for storing, sending and receiving cryptocurrency. Web 3 wallets focus on enabling individuals to have and manage an account on the blockchain network. Cross chain bridges like Binance bridge, Celer cBridge, Umbria Narni Bridge, Wormhole etc. which allow individual blockchains to relate with one another to facilitate wider reach of crypto transactions. Initially, individual blockchains were isolated in their functioning. Cross chain bridges were developed to facilitate communication between these isolated blockchains and enable the transfer of crypto assets from one blockchain to the other. Recently, technologies like polkadot have been created which allow new blockchains to be created with an inbuilt ability to connect to other blockchains. This list is not exhaustive as other DeFi focused crypto technologies can be identified. However, these are the primary ones and the focus here is to highlight the transition from these technologies. DeFi focused Crypto Banking has major advantages but in order to present customers with other useful banking services obtained on traditional banks, CeDeFi Crypto banking platforms began to emerge. Crypto Banking as CeDeFi The concept of CeDeFi emerged as people on both sides of the finance system (i.e., CeFi and DeFi) began to realize that while these individual systems had great strengths on their own, they were also quite limited when standing alone. For example, traditional banking has legitimacy, physicality and diverse services but is too centralized. Decentralized banking on the other hand is innovative, democratized and people focused but the rather new DeFi platforms are not as well known or dependable as the more established decentralized finance institutions. Also, even though DeFi platforms keep diversifying they still lack certain financial services easily offered by centralized finance institutions. Hence, it became apparent that combining these two methods of offering financial services would have great potential which will place any institution with such capability in a unique position to benefit from both worlds. This has resulted in the emergence of banking institutions which focus on offering both traditional banking services and decentralized banking services. This integration of decentralized banking and traditional banking is occurring in two ways which are highlighted below. 1.      Traditional banks extend their services to the decentralized world. Some existing traditional banks have realized the great potentials of decentralized finance and are looking for different ways to integrate their services with the DeFi world to benefit from such disruptive technology. One popular way that this has been accomplished is the establishing of ‘branches’ in the metaverse by this existing banks. For example, JP Morgan and HSBC have partnered with The SandBox metaverse to establish themselves there while Quontic Bank has in the Decentraland metaverse. established itself This trend may likely continue as more traditional finance institutions try to benefit from the decentralized finance revolution. 2.      Decentralized banks offer decentralized and traditional services. A number of decentralized banks have also discovered the potentials of extending their capabilities to provide customers with both the services that are typically available on decentralized banks and those that are obtainable on traditional banks. Hence, they have begun to market themselves as decentralized banks with traditional banking services. Two examples of such banks are AgoraBank and Current bank. These two are decentralized banks but also offer traditional services like bank card usage, saving with interest, lending and borrowing etc. AgoraBank is an already functional example of these recent decentralized CeDeFi banks so we further explore their operations through AgoraBank. The Agora Project AgoraBank is a decentralized bank developed by a team of well experienced finance professionals to make decentralized and traditional banking services readily available to people without the need of middlemen. On agorabank.io the stated objectives of the bank are; Create a decentralized bank that belongs to its users. Utilize blockchain technology to develop solutions that eliminate intermediaries. Obtain total transparency of financial transactions with maximum security. Leverage DeFi to create an ecosystem that places users at the center of everything we do. Redistribute revenues between AgoraBank and our users fairly and equitably. This exemplifies the focus of these decentralized banks that integrate the services of traditional institutions in their functioning. Conclusion Even though it is a recent technology, crypto banking is evolving very fast and is spreading into the traditional finance world. This is has resulted in the development of centralized and decentralized (CeDeFi) service platforms, a trend which could become the future of finance.

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