## What Is Convex Finance (CVX)?

[Convex Finance](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/convex-finance/) is a [DeFi](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/defi) protocol that allows [Curve](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/curve-dao-token/) [liquidity providers ](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/liquidity-provider-tokens-lp-tokens)to earn a share of trading fees on Curve without [staking](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/staking) liquidity there. Instead, LPs can stake with Convex and receive boosted CRV and liquidity mining rewards. This provides CRV stakers with better capital efficiency and positions Convex Finance as an important player in the [Curve wars](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/curve-wars-and-the-emergency-dao). 

Convex has entered a competitive race to obtain as much control as possible of the Curve Finance [stablecoin](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/stablecoin) exchange. The more CRV tokens a protocol has, the more influence it has over interest rates on [Curve](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/get-ready-for-a-curveball-a-deep-dive-into-curve-by-flipside-crypto), which is the largest [DEX](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/decentralized-exchange-dex) in the world by [TVL](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/total-value-locked-tvl). Consequently, the “Curve wars” are an ongoing race for influence over what is probably the most important protocol in [DeFi](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/defi).


## Who Are the Founders of Convex Finance?

Convex Finance was developed by a team of anonymous developers. However, unlike many [shitcoins](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/shitcoin), Convex Finance is considered one of the most important and influential protocols in decentralized finance and thus a fairly low-risk investment.


## What Makes Convex Finance Unique?

Convex Finance plays a key role in the Curve wars thanks to its unique incentive structure. Its sole use case is to accumulate as much TVL as possible to achieve the protocol’s goal of controlling as big a stake of Curve Finance as it can. In other words, Convex Finance targets only CRV holders and Curve liquidity providers and does so in two ways:



1. CRV holders receive [cvxCRV](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/convex-crv/) for staking the CRV.
2. Curve LPs receive boosted rewards for staking their LP tokens with Convex.

Curve Finance issues veCRV (vote-escrowed CRV) for staked CRV that liquidity providers receive as a reward. In short, veCRV are time-locked CRV tokens with boosted voting power and rewards, which are both a function of the lock-up period of the underlying CRV. You can read more about veCRV [here](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-is-solidly-exchange-features-tokenomics-and-price-prediction). CRV rewards can go as high as 2.5X of the initial rewards, but the higher the liquidity deposited, the more difficult it is to attain the maximum rewards.

Put differently, it is nearly impossible for any one party to stake enough liquidity to attain the maximum boost, which is where Convex Finance comes in. Convex acts as a cartel that pools the assets of individual stakers and benefits from their aggregated liquidity. Even low-level investors can stake their Curve Finance LPs with Convex and receive boosted rewards that would otherwise not be attainable. They receive:



* The interest rate on their provided liquidity.
* A share of the Curve trading fees.
* The boosted rewards from Convex.
* CVX tokens

Furthermore, you can stake your CRV tokens and receive cvxCRV to receive:



* veCRV rewards
* Convex trading fees
* CVX tokens
* Airdrops going to veCRV token holders


## Related Pages:

Check out [Solidly Exchange (SOLID)](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/solidly/) — a B2B stablecoin exchange.

Check out [Redacted Cartel (BTRFLY)](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/butterflydao/) — a DAO offering rewards for CRV LP tokens.

Read our [Guide to Crypto Donations](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/crypto-donation-vs-fiat-currency-donation-which-one-is-better).

Get the latest crypto news and latest trading insights with the [CoinMarketCap blog](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/categories/blog).


## How Many Convex Finance (CVX) Coins Are There in Circulation?

CVX has a [total supply](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/total-supply) of 100 million CVX according to the following distribution:



* 50% Curve LP rewards _Rewarded pro-rata for CRV received on Convex_
* 25% Liquidity mining _Distributed over four years. (Incentive programs, currently CVX/ETH and cvxCRV/CRV)_
* 9.7% Treasury _Vested over one year. Used for future incentives or other community driven activities_
* 1% veCRV holders _Instantly claimable airdrop_
* 1% veCRV holders who vote to whitelist Convex _Instantly claimable airdrop_
* 3.3% Investors _Vested over one year. 100% of investment funds used to pre-seed boost and locked forever(no cvxCRV minted)._
* 10% Convex Team_ Vested over one year_

cvxCRV are minted at a 1:1 ratio for every CRV staked. CVX tokens can be used to participate in proposals in the Convex Finance protocol.


## How Is the Convex Finance Network Secured?

Convex was audited by MixBytes, and the results can be found [here](https://docs.convexfinance.com/convexfinance/faq/audits). Its treasury is secured by a 3 of 5 multisig consisting of the following parties:



* C2tP - Convex Finance
* Winthorpe - Convex Finance
* Charlie - Curve Finance
* Tommy - Votium
* Sam - Frax Finance

However, a [bug](https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2022/03/04/convex-finance-bug-causes-cvx-token-to-sink-on-forced-token-unlock/) in one of the [smart contracts](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/smart-contract) at the beginning of March 2022 forced the team to re-deploy the vote-locking contract and caused a price drop in CVX.


## Where Can You Buy Convex Finance (CVX)?

CVX is available on [Binance](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/binance/), [OKX](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/okx/), [Bitget](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/bitget/), [Mandala Exchange](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/mandala/), and [Hotcoin Global](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/hotcoin-global/). 


Convex Finance

Trust Wallet

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Welcome to Convex Finance's Community channel aggregated by CoinMarketCap.

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Smart Reward Token

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Curve is a decentralized exchange for stablecoins that uses an automated market maker (AMM) to manage liquidity.

Launched in January 2020, Curve is now synonymous with the decentralized finance (DeFi) phenomenon, and has seen significant growth in the second half of 2020.

In August, Curve launched a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), with CRV as its in-house token. The DAO uses Ethereum-based creation tool Aragon to connect multiple smart contracts used for users’ deposited liquidity. Issues such as governance, however, differ from Aragon in their weighting and other respects.

Curve DAO Token

The Frax Protocol is the first fractional-algorithmic stablecoin system. Frax is open-source, permissionless, and entirely on-chain – currently implemented on Ethereum (with possible cross chain implementations in the future). The end goal of the Frax protocol is to provide a highly scalable, decentralized, algorithmic money in place of fixed-supply digital assets like BTC. The protocol incorporates the following concepts:

Fractional-Algorithmic – Frax is a unique stablecoin with parts of its supply backed by collateral and parts of the supply algorithmic. The ratio of collateralized and algorithmic depends on the market's pricing of the FRAX stablecoin. If FRAX is trading at above $1, the protocol decreases the collateral ratio. If FRAX is trading at under $1, the protocol increases the collateral ratio.

Decentralized & Governance-minimized – Community governed and emphasizing a highly autonomous, algorithmic approach with no active management.

Fully on-chain oracles – Frax v1 uses Uniswap (ETH, USDT, USDC time-weighted average prices) and Chainlink (USD price) oracles.

Two Tokens – FRAX is the stablecoin targeting a tight band around $1/coin. Frax Shares (FXS) is the governance token which accrues fees, seigniorage revenue, and excess collateral value.

Before Frax, stablecoins were divided into three different categories: fiat collateralized, overcollateralized with cryptocurrency, and algorithmic with no collateral. Frax is the first kind of decentralized stablecoin to classify itself as fractional-algorithmic ushering in the 4th and most unique category.

Frax Share

Balancer is an automated market maker (AMM) that was developed on the Ethereum blockchain and launched in March 2020. It was able to raise a $3M seed round by Placeholder and Accomplice. Balancer protocol functions as a self-balancing weighted portfolio, price sensor and liquidity provider. It allows users to earn profits through its recently introduced token ($BAL) by contributing to customizable liquidity pools.

To learn more about this project, check out our deep dive of Balancer(https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-is-balancer.

The protocol operates a few types of pools:

Private pools give the owner governance over the pool, and make the person the sole contributor of liquidity to the pool. Also, all the parameters are mutable by the owner.

Shared pools are for those who want to become liquidity providers (LPs). The LPs are rewarded with the Balancer Pool Tokens (BPTs).

Smart pools are similar to private pools but are controlled by a smart contract. They also reward using BPTs and allow anyone to contribute liquidity to the pool.

Balancer

Gnosis (GNO) builds decentralized infrastructure on Ethereum. Its mission has always been centered on experimentation and building decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem. When Gnosis was founded in 2015, it focused on building prediction markets to enable worldwide access to accurate information. While creating the prediction market platform, it became clear that Gnosis needed to build the infrastructure required to support it. Gnosis Safe, for example, was born of necessity.

Gnosis operates as a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) which provides infrastructure for various types of decentralized applications (dApps), and builds products to transparently guide decisions on the development, support and governance of its ecosystem.

In November 2021, both the xDAI and GnosisDAO community voted to combine their vibrant ecosystems to create the Gnosis Chain: An Ethereum forerunner-companion that addresses scaling issues through solid engineering.

Gnosis

Yearn.finance is an aggregator service for decentralized finance (DeFi) investors, using automation to allow them to maximize profits from yield farming.

Its goal is to simplify the ever-expanding DeFi space for investors who are not technically minded or who wish to interact in a less committal manner than serious traders.

Launched in February 2020, the service, formerly known as iEarn, has seen huge growth in recent months as new products debuted and developers released in-house token YFI.

yearn.finance

Compound is a DeFi lending protocol that allows users to earn interest on their cryptocurrencies by depositing them into one of several pools supported by the platform.

To learn more about this project, check out our deep dive of Compound.

When a user deposits tokens to a Compound pool, they receive cTokens in return. These cTokens represent the individual’s stake in the pool and can be used to redeem the underlying cryptocurrency initially deposited into the pool at any time. For example, by depositing ETH into a pool, you will receive cETH in return. Over time, the exchange rate of these cTokens to the underlying asset increases, which means you can redeem them for more of the underlying asset than you initially put in — this is how the interest is distributed.

On the flip side, borrowers can take a secured loan from any Compound pool by depositing collateral. The maximum loan-to-value (LTV) ratio varies based on the collateral asset, but currently ranges from 50 to 75%. The interest rate paid varies by borrowed asset and borrowers can face automatic liquidation if their collateral falls below a specific maintenance threshold.

Since the launch of the Compound mainnet in September 2018, the platform has skyrocketed in popularity, and recently passed more than $800 million in total locked value.

Compound

Rocket Pool is a decentralized Ethereum staking pool offering up to 4.33% APR for ETH2 staking. Users can join the Rocket Pool with its decentralized node operator network or run their own nodes with only 16 ETH. In the latter case, they can earn a commission from staking ETH and earn additional RPL rewards from providing RPL collateral, amounting to up to 6.36% APR for ETH and the additional RPL rewards.

Rocket Pool provides liquid staking, meaning users benefit from an increasing exchange rate instead of adding on to their initial staked collateral, which would be a taxable event. Furthermore, Rocket Pool offers smart nodes: a custom node software allowing anyone to run a node on its network. With losses from bad nodes distributed across the network, individual users minimize their risk of facing penalties. This is supported by the pool’s open-source and audited smart contracts, which guarantee fully non-custodial staking and a maximum degree of decentralization.

Rocket Pool

Synthetix is building a decentralized liquidity provisioning protocol that any protocol can tap into for various purposes. Its deep liquidity and low fees serve as a backend for many exciting protocols on both Optimism and Ethereum. Many user-facing protocols in the Synthetix ecosystem, such as Kwenta (Spot and Futures), Lyra (Options), Polynomial (Automated Options), and 1inch & Curve (Atomic Swaps), tap into Synthetix liquidity to power their protocols. Synthetix is built on Optimism and Ethereum mainnet. The Synthetix Network is collateralized by SNX, ETH, and LUSD, enabling the issuance of synthetic assets (Synths). Synths track and provide returns on the underlying asset without requiring one to directly hold the asset. This pooled collateral enables an array of on-chain, composable financial instruments backed by liquidity from Synthetix. Some of the most exciting upcoming releases from SNX are Perps V2, which hopes to enable low-fee on-chain futures trading through the usage of off-chain oracles, and Synthetix V3, which aims to rebuild the protocol to achieve its earliest goal, being a fully permissionless derivatives protocol. Learn more about Synthetix on their blog or by joining the SNX Discord.

The platform aims to broaden the cryptocurrency space by introducing non-blockchain assets, providing access to a more robust financial market.

Synthetix

Kyber Network is a multi-chain hub of liquidity protocols that aggregates liquidity from various sources to provide secure and instant transactions on any decentralized application (DApp). The main goal of Kyber Network is to enable DeFi DApps, decentralized exchanges (DEXs) and other users easy access to deep liquidity pools that provide the best rates.

KyberSwap.com, its main DEX aggregator and liquidity platform, provides the best swap rates for traders in DeFi compared to individual exchanges. It also enables liquidity providers to maximize earnings via high capital efficiency. KyberSwap sources liquidity from multiple DEXes such as Uniswap, Sushi, Curve, QuickSwap, Pancakeswap, Traderjoe, Pangolin, SpookySwap, SpiritSwap, VVS Finance, Velodrome, GMX, and many others to achieve the best rates for traders on different chains. KyberSwap supports over 13 chains including Ethereum, BNB Chain, Polygon, Avalanche, Fantom, Cronos, Arbitrum, Optimism, Velas, Aurora, Oasis, BitTorrent, Ethereum PoW, and soon Solana.

KyberSwap is decentralized and permissionless, not requiring account sign-up or personal information. All transactions on KyberSwap are on-chain, which means transactions do not need a centralized third-party, like a centralized exchange, and they can be easily verified using the Ethereum or other chains’ block explorer.

Projects can build with KyberSwap to access its different features, such as the instant settlement of token swaps, liquidity aggregation for the best rates, liquidity pools, and a customizable business model. Kyber looks to solve the liquidity issue in the decentralized finance (DeFi) industry by allowing developers to build products and services without having to worry about liquidity for different needs.

The Kyber Network Crystal (KNC) token is a utility and governance token that is the "glue that connects different stakeholders in Kyber's ecosystem." KNC holders can stake their tokens in the KyberDAO to help govern the platform and vote on important proposals - and earn staking rewards in KNC that come from trading fees. Investors in KNC include #Hashed, Signum Capital, ParaFi Capital, HyperChain Capital.

Kyber Network Crystal v2

Decred is Money Evolved.

By combining battle tested Proof-of-Work with an innovative take on Proof-of-Stake that places coin holders in charge of shaping the future, Decred is able to adapt to challenges and innovate at a rapid pace. You acquire influence in Decred by putting “skin in the game”.

Decred’s security, privacy, scalability, and decentralized treasury empower stakeholders and provides them with the tools needed to enhance their financial sovereignty.

Decred

Launched in 2017, Livepeer is the first live video streaming network protocol that is fully decentralized. The platform aims to become a viable blockchain-based, economically efficient alternative to centralized broadcasting solutions for all new and existing broadcaster companies.

To learn more about this project, check out our deep dive of Livepeer.

As stated in the official Livepeer whitepaper, the live video streaming and broadcasting industry is growing at a rapid pace, and the company is looking to ride this wave and introduce decentralization to the environment. Livepeer aims to streamline the broadcasting process by allowing producers to submit their work on the platform, taking care of reformatting and distributing the content to users and streaming platforms.

Livepeer

LRC is the Ethereum-based cryptocurrency token of Loopring, an open protocol designed for the building of decentralized crypto exchanges.

In 2020, the average daily trading volume of the entire cryptocurrency market fluctuated in the approximate range of $50-$200 million. Most of that trading is conducted on centralized cryptocurrency exchanges — online platforms operated by private companies that store users’ funds and facilitate the matching of buy and sell orders.

Such platforms have a number of downsides common to all of them, so a new type of exchange — decentralized— has emerged to try to alleviate these disadvantages. However, fully decentralized exchanges are not without their own flaws.

Loopring’s purported goal is to combine centralized order matching with decentralized on-blockchain order settlement into a hybridized product that will take the best aspects of both centralized and decentralized exchanges.

LRC tokens became available to the public during an initial coin offering (ICO) in August 2017, while the Loopring protocol was first deployed on Ethereum mainnet in December 2019.

Loopring

Kava is a Layer-1 blockchain that combines the speed and interoperability of Cosmos with the developer power of Ethereum.

Kava was built from the ground up to optimize its resources for protocol growth, strengthened by its Cosmos EVM technology that enables maximum scalability, speed, security, and developer support.

Builders on Kava earn a share of Kava Rise's $750M developer incentive fund via the program's blockchain-based distribution method, designed to reward the top protocols every month based on usage.

Kava

Flow

Lido DAO is a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) which provides staking infrastructure for multiple blockchain networks.

Most notably, the platform provides a liquid staking solution for Ethereum, allowing users to stake their ETH and receive stETH (Lido staked ETH) tokens in exchange, which represent the user's staked ETH and staking rewards.

Lido DAO is secured by a mix of decentralized governance, audited code and smart contracts. The Lido protocol runs on Ethereum with help from smart contracts that process user deposits and distribute staking rewards, among other functions. Several third-party security firms have audited Lido’s smart contracts in order to identify and address potential vulnerabilities.

The platform’s native token is LDO - which also serves as the governance token for Lido DAO. Holders can participate in governance proposals and vote on key decisions such as board adjustments, new integrations and platform updates. LDO holders have the right to determine the development and operation of the platform.

Lido currently supports staking for Ethereum and Polygon only with the recent sunsetting of Solana.

Lido DAO

0x is an infrastructure protocol that allows users to easily trade ERC20 tokens and other assets on the many different blockchains (including Ethereum) without relying on centralized intermediaries. It is a protocol for decentralized exchange.

0x achieves this decentralized exchange functionality using a collection of open-source, publicly auditable smart contracts that work together to produce a flexible, low-friction trading protocol that developers can easily weave into their products.

The protocol is used by companies building web3 apps such as wallets, DEXes, portfolio trackes, and others. It is a used by hundreds of developers for their projects. The protocol has facilitates over $200B in trading volume since its inception. One can track its usage in its dedicated https://explorer.0x.org/.

The protocol is powered by an ERC20 governance token known as ZRX. ZRX holders can participate in protocol governance, having direct power over protocol changes and its community treasury.

0x Protocol

Ethereum Name Service (ENS) is a distributed, open, and extensible naming system based on the Ethereum blockchain. ENS converts human-readable Ethereum addresses like john.eth into the machine-readable alphanumeric codes you know from wallets like Metamask. The reverse conversion -- associating metadata and machine-readable addresses with human-readable Ethereum addresses -- is also possible.

The goal of Ethereum Name Service is to make the Ethereum-based web easier to access and comprehend for humans - similar to how the Internet’s Domain Name Service makes the internet more accessible. Like DNS, ENS also uses a system of dot-separated hierarchical names called domains with domain owners fully controlling their subdomains.

ENS launched with a highly successful retroactive airdrop in November 2021 that rewarded users who had registered addresses before the project launched its token. However, in February 2022, it faced criticism over apparently homophobic tweets by its director of operations.

Ethereum Name Service

Mask Network is a protocol that allows its users to send encrypted messages over Twitter and Facebook. It essentially acts as a bridge between the internet and a decentralized network running on top.

Mask Network was initially launched in July 2019, with its first use case of allowing Facebook and Twitter users to encrypt posts on the social media platforms. It then raised $2 million in a funding round in November 2020, co-led by HashKey and Hash Global, and a further $3 million funding round in February 2021 with participation from Digital Currency Group and Fundamental Labs.

Now, Mask Network offers the ability to fund Gitcoin grant campaigns directly from Twitter, as well as plans to offer peer-to-peer payments and decentralized storage functionality. It is a decentralized portal that also allows users to use DApps like crypto payments, decentralized finance, decentralized storage, e-commerce (digital goods/NFTs) and decentralized organizations (DAO) over the top of existing social networks without migrating, creating what is referred to as a decentralized Applet (DApplet) ecosystem.

Mask Network

UMA was founded in 2018 by Allison Lu and Hart Lambur, two ex Goldman Sachs traders, with the goal of making global markets universally fair, accessible, secure and decentralized.

The team drew inspiration from traditional finance derivatives to define an open-source protocol to allow anyone, anywhere, to design and build trustless financial contracts.