Decentralized Finance, commonly known as DeFi, is a growing market. As of today, DeFi’s market capitalization has reached $74 billion, an increase of more than 400% since the beginning of the year 2021. Even with its ups and downs in the early summer, investors and companies are keen to keep exploring all that DeFi can offer.
This growth is driven by a list of projects, most of which are focused on specific financial services. Take the Maker lending platform as an example. MakerDAO is a decentralized credit platform on Ethereum that supports Dai, accounting for almost 30% of all total locked value. The same goes for rival lending platforms Compound, Aave, and InstaDApp, not far from them. Derivatives platform Synthetix is also another big player, as is the automated portfolio manager Balancer.
One rising trend we have seen in the market as of late is the creation of ecosystems powered by an internal token / crypto. These ecosystems work as a hub where the project offers a range of different DeFi, both internal and from third parties. The idea is to make it easier for retail investors to seamlessly enter the promising DeFi space.
One such company doing precisely that is LocalTrade. LocalTrade started as a CeFi cryptocurrency exchange, becoming one of the biggest by 24h volume. The company has recently entered the DeFi sphere, with the goal to to build a true financial products ecosystem.
LocalTrade has started with the launch of their DeFi Lab and their LTT token. This will work as the hub from where all DeFi services will be offered. Their goal, as expressed in their whitepaper, is to bridge the gap between traditional finance and the crypto industry “by providing the most profitable, efficient, and safe financial instruments to all crypto market players and retail investors.”
Building an entire DeFi ecosystem
Once users have taken their first steps into a DeFi platform like LocalTrade’s DeFi Lab, they will need services where to invest into, and trust of.
That’s why the DeFi lab is just the beginning for Loя бы calTrade. It is the space where they will launch a series of in-house financial services that will be available according to their ambitious roadmap, including some of the most popular DeFi products in the market:
NeoBroker Smart-fund: This is a low-risk investment solution that provides users with the ability to invest into shares of pre-IPO companies, thus becoming a part-owner of such companies.
This way of tokenized investment is specially interesting for small-scale investors, who were systematically unable to enter the venture capital market due to high investment requirements and professional accreditation.
Tokenized stocks allow users, for as little as $10, to collectively purchase shares in the form of tokenized securities in private equity companies. Some successful stories include Bitpanda, Smartbroker and Trade Republic among others.
LocalTrade plans to launch their NeoBroker Smart-fund by late October. “The feature is enabled through the use of a blockchain-based protocol powered by Ambisafe. This regulatory-aware protocol enables us to create smart contracts that fully automate operational flow, making it more transparent and performative,” the company commented.
Yield Farming Protocol: Arguably the biggest growth driver of the DeFi sector. This means the practice of staking or lending crypto assets in order to generate high returns or rewards in the form of additional cryptocurrency. This innovative solution has skyrocketed in popularity recently thanks to further innovations like liquidity mining, providing liquidity on DEX’s through liquidity pools; staking assets at PoS-based DeFi projects for validator’s rewards; and more recently providing assets as collaterals for lending. All these services have been confirmed to be possible at LocalTrade.
Token Sale/ ICO: this is the issuance of tokens in exchange for another cryptocurrency. Token sales are also referred to as an Initial Coin Offering. Companies normally use token sales to raise funds and as an internal investment solution.
LocalTrade has recently started the first round of their LTT token sale. The token will be used by users to operate within LocalTrade and the company will make use of it to fund other DeFi projects. The sale officially started on September, 20 and will run for one month until October, 20. It can be purchased at as little as 0.10$ in this first Round A.. So far, the token sale has been a success, reaching 60% of the initial sale prospects.
DeFi wallet: DeFi wallets are internal tools that help users store their assets securely, even when they are disconnected from the internet. These wallets help users interact with DeFi services offered on the platform and with protocols easily as well as exchanging crypto-assets flexibly.
“In order to further drive the adoption of decentralized financial services among masses, LocalTrade launched a DeFi Wallet, a smart multi-currency wallet application that provides a slick interface and intuitive gateway to decentralized finance,” the company mentioned.
Launchpad: Launchpads are platforms that allow investors to buy into new cryptocurrency projects before the tokens are publicly released. These products require extensive knowledge and expertise as they are high risk projects. Launchpads are usually operated by a crypto exchange or a different project dedicated to that purpose.
LocalTrade’s own IDO platform -their launchpad- will be created to support innovative teams to get their projects off the ground and gain worldwide exposure and reach. “Our mission is to encourage adoption of blockchain around the world and support and promote cryptocurrency projects via the Launchpad,” the company commented.
Still in its infancy, DeFi is a quite new subsegment of the cryptocurrency market. In short, decentralized finance deals with financial instruments that are effectively done using the emerging blockchain technology. The DeFi ecosystem, like the traditional financial ecosystem, provides similar products and services but in a truly digital, blockchain-based manner.
This article was written in cooperation with Tanvir Zafar