With borderless stablecoins, this decentralized financial platform aims to create a user-friendly experience for lenders and borrowers

After facing bankruptcy, recovering from a low credit score, or attempting to start a new business, many have found out just how difficult it can be to take out a loan from the bank. As a result, lending is said to have become increasingly inaccessible. Combatting this concern are decentralized finance (DeFi) loans, which have continued to gain in popularity. A DeFi loan eliminates the need for banks and complex asset valuations. Instead, a decentralized exchange (DEX) may take cryptocurrencies as collateral at their market exchange rate. 

The only thing holding DeFi loans back from more widespread adoption is the extent of diversity in the crypto and financial space. With each network being set up differently, novice users have found the world of DeFi to be daunting. For this reason, a cross-chain solution with an easy-to-use interface is needed.

One DeFi lending and borrowing platform, Annex Finance, strives to bridge the existing gaps in traditional lending using decentralized protocols. The main difference between Annex Finance and traditional finance systems is that it is enabled by an integrated DEX to swap tokens through a community-centric DeFi platform. The team behind Annex has confidence that they understand the inefficiencies and issues that accompany traditional centralized financial systems and are using this knowledge to create what they believe is a better solution for lenders today.

The team shares that their goal is for Annex Finance to become a “one-stop-shop DeFi solution hub for BSC, ETH, and the Poly network” by offering “lending and borrowing of cryptocurrency, an NFT marketplace, an IDO auction and a SwapDEX.”

A one-stop DeFi shop

As you might have guessed, Annex Finance is far from the first platform to attempt to bridge this gap. Looking at previous projects, the Annex Finance team has taken notes of current strengths and weaknesses in the system. The result is that for lending, users of Annex will have the option to supply supported digital currencies to the platform, which can be used for collateral on loans, add to the liquidity supply or be used to capitalize on annual percentage yields (APYs). Borrowers will not have a monthly payment obligation, but they will be required to pay a compound interest rate applied per block. 

Furthermore, the platform has also taken previous lessons to suggest improvements. One of these is the first to provide a DEX swap that allows users to create LP and liquidity to mint high APY returns and increase Annex Finance’s token, ANN,  price or volume and Auction functionality.

Annex defines its auction functionality as “open-source smart contracts” created to ease the process of launching a new project on the AnnexSwap exchange. By positioning AnnexSwap as a location for token creators and communities to launch new project tokens, the auction feature is believed to help drive new capital and traders to the exchange. Although the platform typically recommends the batch auction functionality, users may also select from other types, such as dutch or fixed-swap auctions. That said, the biggest advantage of the batch auction feature is that buyers will not have to wait a certain amount of time to submit orders, making the system much more convenient for users.

For investors, the platform is now offering an automatic holding reward of 0.2% daily for tokens held in their wallets, rewarding those who are taking a so-called “hodl strategy” to crypto trading. The rate will be applied as long as the user doesn’t withdraw any of their ANN tokens in the same wallet. Annex reached 160 million in total value locked (TVL) in under two weeks since it launched, showcasing the interest in its services.

A final feature in the one-stop DeFi shop is the platform’s own nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace to provide users with a location to buy, trade and exchange NFTs. Using the NFT minting tool, users will be able to mint digital creations. 

Working together 

Annex Finance currently relies on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) due to its cheap fees and security. However, the Annex Finance team is also looking into additional networks, including Ethereum (ETH) and Polygon (MATIC). Also on their roadmap are the launch of the Annex AMM & Liquidator bot and the building of the Annex bridge to support ANN tokens in multiple networks. 

With other projects advancing just as quickly, the team shares, “it doesn’t look at other projects as competitors but rather as opportunities to work together and broaden the utility of DeFi.”