Decentralized finance continues to grow and develop despite the winterly winds blowing through the crypto space. As more and more users are turning to this sector for their investments, especially after the colossal events surrounding some of the biggest centralized exchanges lately, it is interesting to see what the future holds for DeFi. According to UNO.farm founder Roman Vinogradov, DeFi will only grow and develop. The path for mainstream adoption will be clear as soon as the current crypto winter is over. Check out his thoughts in the interview below. Q: What is still deterring users from switching to DeFi …

According to data provided to Cointelegraph on Dec. 15, network growth still appears to be strong for blockchain indexer The Graph (GRT). Launched two years ago, The Graph Network allows developers to easily search, index, use and publish data from public blockchains. From Nov. 2021 to Nov. 2022, the total number of developers on The Graph (both active and inactive) increased by 145% to 38,000. During the same period, average GRT query fees per month increased by 1,191% to 354,000, while total lifetime GRT queries on the decentralized network increased by 984% to 5.2 billion. Finally, total subgraphs, or proxies …

Mike Belshe, the CEO of digital asset custodian BitGo has confirmed that Alameda Research attempted to redeem 3,000 Wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC) in the days before FTX’s bankruptcy filing on Nov. 11. During a Dec. 14 Twitter Spaces hosted by decentralized finance (DeFi) researcher Chris Blec, Belshe confirmed the firm knocked back the redemption request because the unknown Alameda representative involved didn’t pass Bitgo’s security verification process and seemed unfamiliar with how the wrapped-Bitcoin burning process worked. Full convo here. This part starts at 1:09:30. https://t.co/0KQg6bzd8k — Chris Blec (@ChrisBlec) December 14, 2022 “[The security details] didn't match the process. So …

Maple Finance is a decentralized credit market powered by blockchain technology. Instead of requiring overcollaterlization of loans, it instead allows managers, called “Pool Delegates” to issue loans from its lending pools based on a set of risk-management criteria, according to the protocol’s documents. Introducing Maple 2.0. Maple 2.0 is a fundamental overhaul of the smart contract architecture. The new contracts are modular and robust and will facilitate Maple bringing capital markets on-chain. pic.twitter.com/5GGsMXaXhv — Maple (@maplefinance) December 14, 2022 However, in the wake of FTX's collap, the platform experienced two major defaults from borrowers on the platform. On Dec. 1, …

In May 2022, at the tail of the crypto bull market, economist Eswar Prasad wrote an op-ed for the Financial Times arguing that DeFi’s promise as a means of democratizing finance was a long way from being realized. In his words, “For all its promise in democratizing finance and broadening financial access, the emerging reality suggests a concentration of economic power, while the risks fall largely on those investors least able to handle them.” Prasad is right that early DeFi projects catered almost exclusively to crypto natives, often called “degens” in Twitter parlance. However, he didn’t acknowledge that this is …

The metaverse and digital reality experiences are barreling toward consumers, whether they are ready or not. However, there are certain places in the world that are more ready to embrace a digital future from a technological standpoint. A new study by Uswitch, an internet and telephone service researcher, looked at a combination of fixed broadband speeds, broadband package prices, the number of blockchain financial start-ups and the price of high technology exports to determine which countries have the capacity to embrace the metaverse. At the top of the list is the Netherlands, with the most hospitable conditions to cater to …

In a recent blog post, cryptocurrency legend and former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes mentioned he holds sizable bags of GMX and LOOKS tokens. According to Hayes, his main reasoning for investing in both tokens was their platform revenue and the potential of both assets to outperform standard treasury bills. Let’s take a brief look at on-chain data and compare GMX and LOOKS to competitors to determine whether Arthur’s assumption will work out. GMX usage cooling after a strong November The week prior to Nov. 16 provided decentralized Finance (DeFi) with a significant influx in fees after the centralized exchange (CEX) …

Soulbound tokens (SBTs) are becoming a mainstay in the Web3 space for users and projects to define themselves in digital reality. A Dec. 13 announcement from Cobo, a digital asset custodian and blockchain technology developer, revealed a new SBT project which unites crypto industry giants to cater to users’ developing digital identities. Cobo, MetaMask Institutional and Gnosis DAO teamed up to create “Evolution,” an SBT project, a tool to help users define themselves in digital reality and stay up to date on industry trends. A spokesperson for Cobo told Cointelegraph that since SBTs cannot be sold on the market, it …

According to a new blog post on Dec. 13, Web 3.0 ecosystem developer ConsenSys unveiled its zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM) network for private beta testing. Designed and operated by ConsenSys, developers can deploy and manage decentralized applications using tools such as MetaMask, Truffle, and Infura as if they were using EVM directly. In addition, users can bridge assets between the Goerli testnet and the zkEVM to test their smart contracts and decentralized applications, or dApps. "Testnet participants can also bridge tokens, transfer tokens, and interact with deployed dApps listed on our upcoming ecosystem portal page. We intend to learn …

Users and developers are seeking out ways to stay both safe and informed after a year of volatility and uncertainty. During this shift, the hardware wallet developer Ledger announced a new integration for users to track the value of their assets. Ledger and Merlin, a decentralized finance (DeFi) portfolio tracker, announced their new partnership on Dec. 13 to bring live DeFi performance analytics to Ledger Live users. The app, which connects to Ledger’s cold storage wallets, services over 5 million users. The newly integrated DeFi tracker connects over 1,000 DeFi protocols across ten blockchain networks. Users will have access to …

Continuing his so-called apology tour, Sam Bankman-Fried appeared on a Twitter Spaces chat with Unusual Whales and told nearly 60,000 listeners that he intends to testify at the United States House of Representatives Financial Services Committee remotely on Dec. 13. He was previously confirmed to appear in person. Bankman-Fried, who is allegedly currently located in the Bahamas, missed the deadline to confirm his appearance before the Senate Banking Committee the following day, despite the threat of a subpoena. Despite his frequent public speaking, Bankman-Fried has gone silent on Twitter himself, not posting since Dec. 9, when he indicated his agreement …

According to a new Twitter post by SushiSwap CEO Jared Grey, the decentralized exchange, or DEX, experienced a $30 million loss in the past 12 months on incentives for liquidity providers, or LPs. As explained by Grey, SushiSwap currently employs a token-based emission strategy to incentivize LPs, but the current rate is "unsustainable." "We commissioned Flipside to build dashboards to showcase these results; we'll make them available by EOY." Moving forward, Grey plans to rework SushiSwap's tokenomics so that LPs are no longer subsidized with emissions and redesign the entire model of bootstrapping liquidity on the exchange. " In Q1 …