5 ms·

> I’ve since learned that the developer(s?) behind this are already the laughing stock of the DeFi community, having wrecked each of their 3 previous projects

> I’ve since learned that the developer(s?) behind this are already the laughing stock of the DeFi community, having wrecked each of their 3 previous projects (now 4) — though this might be their biggest hit yet What's the best DeFi project? One where the value proposition is actually clear, there are actually people using it and it's actually at parity or better than a traditional financial system offering?

neutrinoq 5y ago
The one I actively use and have benefited a lot from is PlanetFinance.io You can easily get 50%+ APY a year on various stablecoins and crypto.
- xtracto 5y ago
  That looks so shady... It has a very 2017 ICO feeling. A lot of buzzwords, a stupid name "AQUA" "BluePlanet" "RedPlanet", a bunch of extraordinary and unfounded claims, etc. Reminds me of a "Amfeix" scam that was all the rage in the crypto circles a couple of years ago. It was even advertised in "reputable" crypto pages.
wallacoloo 5y ago
Uniswap, the decentralized exchange. Is it decentralized finance?… up for debate (but at the very least, it’s a critical component of the DeFi ecosystem). But I can plop $x of Ethereum and $y of tokenized BTC onto it, providing a valuable service to anyone who wants to exchange the two for any reason (e.g. tuning their price exposure to those assets), forget about it for a couple months, and come back to see that it’s earned me a few % in fees. In many cases it’s easier to use than the traditional equivalents because there’s no registration system and it’s instant. It falls short in some comparisons because of Ethereum transaction fees, but there’s a lot of work happening to address that. Runner ups are Compound and Aave — two large overcollateralized lending platforms. And the Maker: the USD-pegged “stablecoin” which gives anyone who doesn’t want ETH price exposure access to these DeFi tools. That’s the area where a lot of people think there’s room for improvement, hence all the experiments like the project this article is about.
- meowface 5y ago
  I think a better question might be: what are some valuable "non-ouroboros" projects? Most of the stuff people use essentially seems to be one form or another of shuffling the unit(s) of account around, like the ones you listed. You have a cryptocurrency. What are the uses for the cryptocurrency? Well, you can swap the cryptocurrency for another cryptocurrency or let someone else borrow the cryptocurrency in exchange for some more of the cryptocurrency or use the cryptocurrency to obtain a cryptocurrency that's a derivative of another cryptocurrency so you can make more of a different cryptocurrency. And what can you do with that cryptocurrency? Well, you can swap that cryptocurrency for another cryptocurrency or... There's a bit of a "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" thing going on (in the initial sense of the term). Despite the cynical question, I'm genuinely fairly optimistic about the future of smart contracts and Ethereum. I think there are some interesting non-ouroboros ideas in the space, like Kleros, but none of the ones I've seen seem too popular, valuable, or useful yet. But I could be missing some, and I know it's still the very early days.
  - yourabstraction 5y ago
    Sure, but shuffling units around is the starting point of a new financial system. I like to say that DeFi is speed running the creation of a financial system from scratch. Storing value, trading currencies, borrowing/lending, derivatives, insurance, etc. are some of the building blocks of a financial system and all are currently live in the Ethereum ecosystem. I think some people got sold on this false premise that cryptocurrency would reinvent the entire world, build a new decentralized internet, etc. etc. And then they miss what's actually happening, because it's just "boring finance stuff". This is actually really important stuff that's being built.
    - meowface 5y ago
      True. Part of it is just a personal problem of mine; I like Ethereum, smart contracts, dapps, DAOs, and decentralization, but I hate finance. (Of any kind.)
      - 5y ago
TimJRobinson 5y ago
Check out defillama.com It has all projects across all chains sorted by total value locked. The ones at the top of TVL are the most solid projects.

neutrinoq 5y ago

The one I actively use and have benefited a lot from is PlanetFinance.io You can easily get 50%+ APY a year on various stablecoins and crypto.

xtracto 5y ago
That looks so shady... It has a very 2017 ICO feeling. A lot of buzzwords, a stupid name "AQUA" "BluePlanet" "RedPlanet", a bunch of extraordinary and unfounded claims, etc. Reminds me of a "Amfeix" scam that was all the rage in the crypto circles a couple of years ago. It was even advertised in "reputable" crypto pages.

wallacoloo 5y ago

Uniswap, the decentralized exchange. Is it decentralized finance?… up for debate (but at the very least, it’s a critical component of the DeFi ecosystem). But I can plop $x of Ethereum and $y of tokenized BTC onto it, providing a valuable service to anyone who wants to exchange the two for any reason (e.g. tuning their price exposure to those assets), forget about it for a couple months, and come back to see that it’s earned me a few % in fees. In many cases it’s easier to use than the traditional equivalents because there’s no registration system and it’s instant. It falls short in some comparisons because of Ethereum transaction fees, but there’s a lot of work happening to address that. Runner ups are Compound and Aave — two large overcollateralized lending platforms. And the Maker: the USD-pegged “stablecoin” which gives anyone who doesn’t want ETH price exposure access to these DeFi tools. That’s the area where a lot of people think there’s room for improvement, hence all the experiments like the project this article is about.

meowface 5y ago
I think a better question might be: what are some valuable "non-ouroboros" projects? Most of the stuff people use essentially seems to be one form or another of shuffling the unit(s) of account around, like the ones you listed. You have a cryptocurrency. What are the uses for the cryptocurrency? Well, you can swap the cryptocurrency for another cryptocurrency or let someone else borrow the cryptocurrency in exchange for some more of the cryptocurrency or use the cryptocurrency to obtain a cryptocurrency that's a derivative of another cryptocurrency so you can make more of a different cryptocurrency. And what can you do with that cryptocurrency? Well, you can swap that cryptocurrency for another cryptocurrency or... There's a bit of a "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" thing going on (in the initial sense of the term). Despite the cynical question, I'm genuinely fairly optimistic about the future of smart contracts and Ethereum. I think there are some interesting non-ouroboros ideas in the space, like Kleros, but none of the ones I've seen seem too popular, valuable, or useful yet. But I could be missing some, and I know it's still the very early days.
- yourabstraction 5y ago
  Sure, but shuffling units around is the starting point of a new financial system. I like to say that DeFi is speed running the creation of a financial system from scratch. Storing value, trading currencies, borrowing/lending, derivatives, insurance, etc. are some of the building blocks of a financial system and all are currently live in the Ethereum ecosystem. I think some people got sold on this false premise that cryptocurrency would reinvent the entire world, build a new decentralized internet, etc. etc. And then they miss what's actually happening, because it's just "boring finance stuff". This is actually really important stuff that's being built.
  - meowface 5y ago
    True. Part of it is just a personal problem of mine; I like Ethereum, smart contracts, dapps, DAOs, and decentralization, but I hate finance. (Of any kind.)
    - 5y ago

TimJRobinson 5y ago

Check out defillama.com It has all projects across all chains sorted by total value locked. The ones at the top of TVL are the most solid projects.