Updated August 31, 2020
has grown into one of the most active sectors of blockchain, now with over $8 billion total value locked in DeFi smart contracts. From decentralized exchanges to lending and insurance platforms, the DeFi ecosystem is flourishing and unlocking a parallel financial system that is setting new standards for access, resilience, and transparency.What has emerged is a vast spectrum of activity: on one end, there are open finance platforms that empower individuals around the world in engaging with new and remodeled financial systems. And on the other, decentralized finance solutions are transforming the approach of traditional institutions by bringing decentralized solutions into play. All in all, decentralized finance projects now range in the thousands, and we’re witnessing the emergence of a whole new, global infrastructure for financial activity.Below, we've put together a wide-reaching list of the projects pioneering decentralized finance, broken down by category. We built on excellent research by
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Decentralized Exchanges vs. Centralized Exchanges.
If you're new to the world of decentralized finance, check out our
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DAOs
Aragon: An open source framework for easily creating and managing decentralized organizations on Ethereum.
Compound DAO: A decentralized community of COMP token-holders and their delegates, who propose and vote on upgrades to the Compound protocol.
DXdao: Develops, governs, and grows DeFi protocols, such as DXswap, Mesa, Mix, and Omen.
Maker DAO: MKR holders responsible for governing the Maker protocol, which includes adjusting policy for the Dai stablecoin, choosing new collateral types, and improving governance itself.
Data and analytics
Codefi Data: Data, analytics, compliance, and risk management for digital assets.
DeFi Pulse: A decentralized finance live tracker for total value locked across protocols.
Etherscan: Ethereum blockchain explorer with searchable addresses, transaction hashes, blocks, and more.
Bloxy: Analytical reports based on real-time blockchain data.
Curious Giraffe: Ethereum blockchain analytics for decentralized finance platforms
MKR Tools: A platform analytics dashboard to track CDPs, overall system statistics, Dai and MKR transactions.
MakerScan: A MakerDAO CDP explorer.
Maker Governance Dashboard: System statistics around staked MCKR, total votes, voter behavior, and more.
0x Tracker: A 0x trade explorer.
LoanScan: Ethereum loan explorer tracking loans on MakerDAO, Compound Finance, and Dharma.
Augur Leaderboard: Number of trades and profits on Augur by Ethereum address
Stablecoin Index: Tracks and monitors the price, volume, and stability of stablecoins.
Uniswap Vision: A community-made trading view for Uniswap markets.
Derivatives
Universal Market Access (UMA): A decentralized financial contracts platform that utilizes self-enforcing contract design patterns and provably honest oracle mechanisms
bZx: A decentralized margin lending protocol on Ethereum.
dYdX: A protocol for short selling and derivatives built on Ethereum.
Hegic: On-chain options trading protocol.
Synthetix: Derivatives liquidity protocol.
Developer and infrastructure tooling
Truffle Suite: Smart contract development environment, testing framework, and asset pipeline.
Infura: Instant, scalable API access to the Ethereum and IPFS networks.
MythX: Security API for detecting smart contract vulnerabilities.
Chainlink: Decentralized oracle networks for DeFi price feeds.
0X: Open protocol that enables peer-to-peer exchange of assets.
Uniswap: Protocol for automated liquidity provision on Ethereum.
0xcert: Open source framework for creating, managing, and swapping NFTs and tokens.
OpenZeppelin: Battle-tested libraries of smart contracts for Ethereum.
Exchanges and liquidity
AirSwap: Peer-to-peer trading on Ethereum.
Curve Finance: Exchange liquidity pool designed for efficient stablecoin trading.
Uniswap Exchange: Open source protocol for automated token swaps on Ethereum.
Balancer: N-dimension automated market-maker.
Bancor: A decentralized liquidity network.
Loopring: A protocol for decentralized token exchange.
Kyber: On-chain liquidity protocol for token swaps.
Liquality: Swap cryptocurrencies without intermediaries.
IDEX: A decentralized, real-time, and non-custodial token exchange.
Centrifuge: Open, decentralized platform to connect the global financial supply chain.
ForkDelta: A decentralized Ethereum token exchange.
Ren: Zero-knowledge, trustless swaps between blockchains.
Bamboo relay: Decentralized exchange and lending, an 0x and bZx relayer.
Identity
Codefi Compliance: AML, CFT, and KYT (know-your-transaction) mechanisms for digital assets.
SelfKey: Self-sovereign identity system.
Civic: Secure blockchain identity toolbox and ecosystem.
uPort: The open identity system for the decentralized web.
Bloom: Decentralized credit scoring and identity for blockchain.
Sovrin: Open source, self-sovereign identity network.
Jolocom: Decentralized infrastructure for self-sovereign identity.
Insurance
Etherisc: A decentralized insurance protocol to collectively build risk transfer solutions.
Nexus Mutual: A risk-sharing pool that allows anyone to purchase insurance.
Opyn: Protect your DeFi deposits and hedge ETH risk.
VouchForMe: An online social proof platform for gathering guarantees that cut your insurance premium costs.
Investment
Codefi Assets: An all-in-one platform for creating, issuing, and managing the lifecycle of digital assets.
Allinfra: A platform for the tokenization of large scale unlisted infrastructure
Set: A protocol for creating and managing token baskets for investing and trading
Harbor: An all-in-one platform for digital securities and alternative assets.
Securitize: An SEC-registered transfer agent and end-to-end digital platform for TA services.
Vertalo: An API-based platform for managing digital assets, issuers, and investors.
Betoken: Open and meritocratic crypto hedge fund.
Polymath Network: A platform for the creation of tokenized securities
Mattereum: Asset tokenization and agreements network.
Lending and borrowing
Aave: Open source non-custodial protocol for decentralized lending and borrowing.
Compound Finance: Open source protocol for algorithmic, efficient money markets on Ethereum.
Dharma: A suite of smart contracts and developer tools that make it possible to borrow and lend crypto-assets on blockchains like Ethereum.
MakerDAO Vaults: Vaults can be created from the Oasis App and enable the generation of Dai stablecoins against collateral that is locked until the Dai generated is paid back in full.
ForTube: A money market platform based on the Foce Protocol.
DDEX: A decentralized margin trading and lending platform, powered by the Hydro Protocol.
Fulcrum: Tokenized lending and margin trading.
Oasis Borrow: Utilize your collateral by generating Dai against it.
BlockFi: Offers financial products like crypto-asset loans and interest accounts.
Cred: A decentralized lending and borrowing network.
SALT: A lending and borrowing platform that allows users to leverage their crypto-assets to secure loans.
Linen: Non-custodial digital asset lending platform for secured loans originated, settled, serviced and managed on Ethereum.
Colendi: A protocol for credit scoring and microcredit on Ethereum.
InstaDApp: A platform that provides users and developers a single point of integration to access DeFi protocols.
Marketplaces
Gitcoin: A marketplace for open source development work.
Ethlance: A marketplace for freelance work in the Ethereum space.
OpenSea: A peer-to-peer trading market for crypto collectibles and rare digital items.
Origin: A protocol for creating peer-to-peer marketplaces utilizing Ethereum and IPFS.
District0x: A network of decentralized markets on Ethereum that operate via DAOs by utilizing Aragon.
Payments
Codefi Payments: A single dashboard for sending, receiving, and managing payments transactions in cryptocurrency.
Request Network: Decentralized payments network for apps and individuals that utilizes Ethereum and IPFS.
Groundhog: Toolbox for creating crypto-based subscriptions.
OmiseGO: Interoperability and scaling solutions for payments over Ethereum.
Connext: Peer-to-peer micropayment protocol.
Sablier: Instant access to earnings through a money protocol built on Ethereum.
Raiden: Ethereum off-chain scaling solution for instant and low-fee payments.
Ink Protocol: A decentralized reputation and payment protocol.
Prediction markets
Augur: Prediction market protocol built on Ethereum.
Gnosis: Open platform for creating prediction market applications on the Ethereum protocol.
Guesser: Peer-to-peer trading market on Augur in three easy clicks.
Prediction Global: Shows a list of all the markets on Augur.
Stablecoins
Dai: A USD-pegged stablecoin built on the Ethereum and governed by the MakerDAO system.
USD Coin: A US dollar-backed stablecoin as an ERC20 token, by Circle.
Gemini Dollar: A stable value coin backed 1:1 by U.S. dollars.
Monerium: A digital money provider planning to issue asset-backed, redeemable, and regulated e-money on Ethereum.
Reserve: A protocol with three types of assets: reserve stablecoin, reserve share tokens, and collateral tokens.
StableUnit: Decentralized privacy stablecoin.
Synthetix: Synthetic fiat currencies collateralized by cryptoassets.
Augmint: Stablecoin backed 1:1 by Euros.
Digix: Physical gold with DGX tokens, where 1 DGX represents 1 gram of gold on Ethereum.
Paxos Standard: A stable value coin backed 1:1 by U.S. dollars.
TrueUSD: A stablecoin backed 1:1 by U.S. dollars.
Ampleforth: A digital asset protocol that decreases and increases the Ample stablecoin value to ensure stability.
Wallets
MetaMask: A crypto wallet that allows users to explore dapps and securely buy, store, and send tokens.
Burner Wallet: Burner wallet works in your mobile web browser without app downloads or secret keys.
MyEtherWallet: A free, open-source, client-side interface for generating Ethereum wallets and more.
Zerion: An interface for blockchain-based protocols in decentralized finance applications.
Argent: A wallet for Ethereum-based crypto-assets and apps.
Trust Wallet: Ethereum wallet and multi cryptocurrency wallet to store your favorite ERC721 & ERC20 tokens.
MyCrypto: A free, open-source interface for interacting with the blockchain.