Real-World Assets (RWA): Bridging the Gap Between DeFi and TradFi

Week in DeFi: Tornado Cash Back to Life, ZkEVMs Heat Up and a Polygon Identity

CoinMarketCap News, Nov. 2: MicroStrategy's Buying a Lot Less Bitcoin

MakerDAO Co-Founder's Body Discovered in Puerto Rico

On-Chain Analysis: Is DeFi Benefiting From the Last Rally?

## Що таке Maker (MKR)?

Maker (MKR) є токеном управління MakerDAO і Maker Protocol — відповідно [децентралізованою організацією](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/decentralized-autonomous-organizations-dao) і (MKR) і програмною платформою (MKR). Обидва елементи засновані на блокчейні [Ethereum](https://coinmarketcap.com/uk/currencies/ethereum/) —, що дозволяє користувачам випускати стейблкоїни DAI та керувати ними.

Maker - це проєкт із завданням управління DAI- децентралізованої криптовалюти, керованої спільнотою зі стабільною вартістю, м’яко прив’язаною до долара США. Він задуманий у 2015 році та повністю запущений у грудні 2017 року,

Токени MKR виступають своєрідними акціями для організації, яка керує DAI. Хоча вони не приносять дивіденди своїм власникам, вони надають їм право голосу щодо розробки протоколу Maker Protocol. Очікується, що вони підвищать свою вартість відповідно від успіху самого DAI.

Екосистема Maker є одним із найперших проєктів на сцені децентралізованих фінансів([DeFi](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-is-decentralized-finance)). Ця галузь тримається навколо створення децентралізованих фінансових продуктів на основі блокчейнів із підтримкою смарт-контрактів, таких як Ethereum.

### Хто заснував Maker?

MakerDAO, перша організація у більшій екосистемі Maker, була створена у 2015 році Руном Крістенсеном (Rune Christensen), підприємцем із Сіленда, Данія.

Крістенсен закінчив Копенгагенський університет за спеціальністю біохімія та вивчав міжнародний бізнес у Копенгагенській школі бізнесу. До MakerDAO, він був співзасновником і керував міжнародною рекрутинговою компанією Try China.

#### В чому унікальність Maker?

Станом на жовтень 2020 року, DAI є одним із найпопулярніших стейблкоїнів (криптовалюти, ціни яких прив’язані до долара США або іншої традиційної валюти). Це 25-та за величиною криптовалюта з ринковою капіталізацією у понад 800 мільйонів доларів, і вона має більш активні адреси, ніж USDT — найбільший стейблкоїн на ринку.

Унікальна пропозиція MKR полягає в тому, що вона дозволяє своїм власникам брати безпосередню участь у процесі управління DAI. Кожен власник токенів Maker має право голосувати за низку змін до Протоколу Maker, при цьому, його право голосу залежить від розміру його частки MKR. Деякі з аспектів протоколу, за які власники можуть голосувати:

* Додавання нових типів заставних активів до протоколу, що дозволяє користувачам подавати нові криптовалюти, щоб карбувати більше DAI;
* Змінити параметри ризику існуючих видів заставних активів;
* Зміни ставки заощаджень DAI: власники токенів DAI можуть заробляти на заощадженнях, закріпивши їх у спеціальному контракті, і норма заощаджень впливає на прибутковість цього контракту;
* Вибір оракулів — сутностей, метою яких є надання надійних даних поза блокчейном в екосистему Maker;
* Оновлення платформи.

Здатність брати участь в управлінні одним із найбільших стейблкоїнів на ринку - це те, що стимулює попит на токени MKR і, відповідно, впливає на їх вартість.

#### Пов’язані сторінки:

Дізнайтеся більше про [USDT](https://coinmarketcap.com/uk/currencies/tether/) ще один стейблкоїн, прив’язаний до долара США

Дізнайтеся більше про [стейблкоїни](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-is-a-stablecoin) на нашому освітньому порталі CMC [Alexandria](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/categories/crypto-basics).

#### Скільки монет Maker (MKR) у обігу?

Випуск та видалення MKR із системи регулюється складною системою взаємозалежних механізмів, покликаних забезпечити, щоб DAI завжди був повністю забезпечений іншими криптовалютними активами та підтримувалася його м’яка прив’язка до долара США. Жорстко встановлених обмежень на загальну пропозицію MKR немає.

Вартість DAI забезпечується заставою — іншими криптовалютами, які вносяться користувачами на депозит під час карбування нових токенів DAI і зберігаються в так званих сховищах (vaults) — [смарт-контрактах](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/smart-contract) на блокчейні Ethereum.

Під час зниження цін, вартість криптовалюти на зберіганні у сховищі, може стати недостатньою для повного забезпечення відповідної суми DAI. У цьому випадку протокол Maker автоматично ініціює ліквідацію вмісту сховища, доходи від якого він використовує для покриття зобов’язань цього сховища. Якщо обсягу DAI, згенерованого під час ліквідації, недостатньо, Protocol Maker карбує нові токени MKR для продажу та покриття суми, що залишилася, тим самим збільшуючи загальну пропозицію.

Однак, у деяких випадках сума DAI, отримана на аукціонах, перевищує необхідну межу для забезпечення повної застави. — Тоді протокол Maker використовує її для повернення та спалювання токенів MKR, зменшуючи їх загальну пропозицію.

Таким чином, пропозиція MKR є динамічною величиною, яка змінюється залежно від ринкових умов та загального стану екосистеми DAI. Станом на жовтень 2020 року, кількість токенів Maker в обігу становить близько 1 мільйона на суму понад 500 мільйонів доларів.

### Як захищена мережа Maker?

MKR — це токен стандарту [ERC-20](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/erc-20) що означає, що він працює та захищений [блокчейном](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/blockchain) Ethereum. Ethereum, у свою чергу, захищений функцією під назвою Ethash з алгоритмом підтвердження роботи [proof-of-work](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/proof-of-work-vs-proof-of-stake).

### Де можна купити Maker (MKR)?

Торгівля токенами Maker доступна на таких біржах, як:

* [Binance](https://coinmarketcap.com/uk/exchanges/binance/)
* [OKEx](https://coinmarketcap.com/uk/exchanges/okex/)
* [Uniswap](https://coinmarketcap.com/uk/exchanges/uniswap-v2/)
* [Coinbase Pro](https://coinmarketcap.com/uk/exchanges/coinbase-pro/)

Maker

Ledger

Coinbase

Safepal

Trust Wallet

MetaMask

Binance Chain Wallet

Atomic wallet

Ethereum

Shiba Inu

Chainlink

UNUS SED LEO

Uniswap

SingularityNET

Ethena

Pendle

Immutable

Axie Infinity

Ondo

Aave

Lido DAO

The Graph

Render

Olympus v2

Cosmic Network

Ness LAB

Ten Best Coins

RunesBridge

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

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

Uniswap is a popular decentralized trading protocol, known for its role in facilitating automated trading of decentralized finance (DeFi) tokens.

An example of an automated market maker (AMM), Uniswap launched in November 2018, but has gained considerable popularity this year thanks to the DeFi phenomenon and associated surge in token trading.

Uniswap aims to keep token trading automated and completely open to anyone who holds tokens, while improving the efficiency of trading versus that on traditional exchanges.

Uniswap creates more efficiency by solving liquidity issues with automated solutions, avoiding the problems which plagued the first decentralized exchanges.

In September 2020, Uniswap went a step further by creating and awarding its own governance token, UNI, to past users of the protocol. This added both profitability potential and the ability for users to shape its future — an attractive aspect of decentralized entities.

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

Founded in 2017, Chainlink is a blockchain abstraction layer that enables universally connected smart contracts. Through a decentralized oracle network, Chainlink allows blockchains to securely interact with external data feeds, events and payment methods, providing the critical off-chain information needed by complex smart contracts to become the dominant form of digital agreement.

The Chainlink Network is driven by a large open-source community of data providers, node operators, smart contract developers, researchers, security auditors and more. The company focuses on ensuring that decentralized participation is guaranteed for all node operators and users looking to contribute to the network.

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

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.

Filecoin is a decentralized storage system that aims to “store humanity’s most important information.” The project raised $205 million in an initial coin offering (ICO) in 2017, and initially planned a launch date for mid-2019. However, the launch date for the Filecoin mainnet was pushed back until block 148,888, which is expected in mid-October 2020.

The project was first described back in 2014 as an incentive layer for the Interplanetary File System (IPFS), a peer-to-peer storage network where users pay for data storage and distribution services in $FIL. Filecoin is open protocol and backed by a blockchain that records commitments made by the network’s participants, with transactions made using FIL, the blockchain’s native currency. The blockchain is based on both proof-of-replication and proof-of-spacetime.

Filecoin is open-source and decentralized, which means that all governance is in the hands of the community. On the Filecoin platform, developers have the opportunity to create cloud file storage services like Dropbox or iCloud. Anyone can join Filecoin and start storing their data or earn money by providing space for someone else's funds. The creators of Filecoin opted for their blockchain technology to run the network and their token with their own consensus.

$FIL is the native currency of Filecoin that powers the entire network and all processes. Clients pay for transactions in FIL tokens. Miners place FIL as collateral, guaranteeing their services.

The developers claim that Filecoin solves the problem of inefficient file storage and retrieval. Customers can find the right solution with an efficient set of tools and its core development, IPFS.

Filecoin

Stacks is a Bitcoin Layer for smart contracts; it enables smart contracts and decentralized applications to use Bitcoin as an asset and settle transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain.

Bitcoin is the largest, most valuable, and most durable decentralized asset. The Stacks layer unlocks $500B in BTC capital using the Bitcoin L1 as settlement for decentralized applications.

Stacks has knowledge of the full Bitcoin state, thanks to its Proof of Transfer consensus and Clarity language, enabling it to read from Bitcoin at any time.

All transactions on the Stacks layer are automatically hashed and settled on the Bitcoin L1. Stacks blocks are secured by 100% Bitcoin hashpower. In order to re-order Stacks blocks/transactions, an attacker would have to reorg Bitcoin.

Stacks

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

Tezos is a high-performing blockchain and open-source platform for assets and applications, with a strong focus on code security, on-chain governance, and decentralization. Tezos 2.0, the upcoming step in the evolution of Tezos, aims to improve scalability (via layer 2s), composability, and to implement support to mainstream programming languages (like Javascript, Typescript, Python, and many others).

Initially built with formal verification in mind, the Tezos protocol enables builders to avoid bugs when developing smart contracts, making it particularly suited to applications that require a high degree of security and certainty.

Tezos’ LPoS (Liquid Proof-of-Stake) consensus mechanism enables any stakeholder to take part, directly or by delegation, in the consensus process, and to be rewarded for securing the network. Rather uniquely, Tezos’ on-chain governance system also enables stakeholders to create and vote on protocol upgrade proposals. This pioneering system allows the protocol to self-amend and upgrade itself without leading to a split (or fork) in the blockchain, empowering the community without slowing down innovation.

First proposed in 2014 and launched in 2018, the Tezos Mainnet has a proven track record of running uninterrupted ever since, having earned a strong reputation for technical excellence and a supportive community.

Tezos

The Graph is an indexing protocol for querying data for networks like Ethereum and IPFS, powering many applications in both DeFi and the broader Web3 ecosystem. Anyone can build and publish open APIs, called subgraphs, that applications can query using GraphQL to retrieve blockchain data. There is a hosted service in production that makes it easy for developers to get started building on The Graph and the decentralized network will be launching later this year. The Graph currently supports indexing data from Ethereum, IPFS and POA, with more networks coming soon.

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

To date, over3,000 subgraphs have been deployed by thousands of developers, for DApps like Uniswap, Synthetix, Aragon, AAVE, Gnosis, Balancer, Livepeer, DAOstack, Decentraland and many others. The Graph usage has been growing at over 50% MoM and hit over 7 billion queries during the month of September 2020.

The Graph has a global community, including over 200 Indexer Nodes in the testnet and more than 2,000 Curators in the Curator Program as of October 2020. To fund network development, The Graph raised funds from community members, strategic VCs and influential individuals in the blockchain community including Coinbase Ventures, DCG, Framework, ParaFi Capital, CoinFund, DTC, Multicoin, Reciprocal Ventures, SPC, Tally Capital and others. The Graph Foundation also successfully completed a public GRT Sale with participation from 99 countries (not including the U.S.). To date as of November 2020, The Graph has raised ~$25M.

In a nutshell, Cosmos bills itself as a project that solves some of the “hardest problems” facing the blockchain industry. It aims to offer an antidote to “slow, expensive, unscalable and environmentally harmful” proof-of-work protocols, like those used by Bitcoin, by offering an ecosystem of connected blockchains.

The project’s other goals include making blockchain technology less complex and difficult for developers thanks to a modular framework that demystifies decentralized apps. Last but not least, an Interblockchain Communication protocol makes it easier for blockchain networks to communicate with each other — preventing fragmentation in the industry.

Cosmos’ origins can be dated back to 2014, when Tendermint, a core contributor to the network, was founded. In 2016, a white paper for Cosmos was published — and a token sale was held the following year. ATOM tokens are earned through a hybrid proof-of-stake algorithm, and they help to keep the Cosmos Hub, the project’s flagship blockchain, secure. This cryptocurrency also has a role in the network’s governance.

Cosmos

THORChain is a decentralized liquidity protocol that allows users to easily exchange cryptocurrency assets across a range of networks including Bitcoin and Ethereum without losing full custody of their assets in the process.

With THORChain, users can simply swap one asset for another in a permissionless setting, without needing to rely on order books to source liquidity. Instead, market prices are maintained through the ratio of assets in a pool (see automated market maker.

The native utility token of the THORChain platform is RUNE. This is used as the base currency in the THORChain ecosystem and is also used for platform governance and security as part of THORChain's Sybil resistance mechanisms — since THORChain nodes must commit a minimum of 300k RUNE to participate in its rotating consensus process.

THORChain was funded through an initial DEX offering (IDO) which launched through the Binance DEX in July 2019. Its single-chain chaosnet launched in April 2021, the multi-chain upgrade was launched in April 2021 and Mainnet is now live as of Jun 2022..
Learn more here

THORChain

Avalanche is a layer one blockchain that functions as a platform for decentralized applications and custom blockchain networks. It is one of Ethereum’s rivals, aiming to unseat Ethereum as the most popular blockchain for smart contracts. It aims to do so by having a higher transaction output of up to 6,500 transactions per second while not compromising scalability.

This is made possible by Avalanche’s unique architecture. The Avalanche network consists of three individual blockchains: the X-Chain, C-Chain and P-Chain. Each chain has a distinct purpose, which is radically different from the approach Bitcoin and Ethereum use, namely having all nodes validate all transactions. Avalanche blockchains even use different consensus mechanisms based on their use cases.

After its mainnet launch in 2020, Avalanche has worked on developing its own ecosystem of DApps and DeFi. Different Ethereum-based projects such as SushiSwap and TrueUSD have integrated with Avalanche. Furthermore, the platform is constantly working on improving interoperability between its own ecosystem and Ethereum, like through the development of bridges.

Avalanche

NEAR Protocol is a layer-one blockchain that was designed as a community-run cloud computing platform and that eliminates some of the limitations that have been bogging competing blockchains, such as low transaction speeds, low throughput and poor interoperability. This provides the ideal environment for DApps and creates a developer and user-friendly platform. For instance, NEAR uses human-readable account names, unlike the cryptographic wallet addresses common to Ethereum. NEAR also introduces unique solutions to scaling problems and has its own consensus mechanism called “Doomslug.”

NEAR Protocol is being built by the NEAR Collective, its community that is updating the initial code and releasing updates to the ecosystem. Its declared goal is to build a platform that is “secure enough to manage high value assets like money or identity and performant enough to make them useful for everyday people.”

Flux, a protocol that allows developers to create markets based on assets, commodities, real-world events, and Mintbase, an NFT minting platform are examples of projects being built on NEAR Protocol.

NEAR Protocol

Monero was launched in 2014, and its goal is simple: to allow transactions to take place privately and with anonymity. Even though it’s commonly thought that BTC can conceal a person’s identity, it’s often easy to trace payments back to their original source because blockchains are transparent. On the other hand, XMR is designed to obscure senders and recipients alike through the use of advanced cryptography.

The team behind Monero say privacy and security are their biggest priorities, with ease of use and efficiency coming second. It aims to provide protection to all users — irrespective of how technologically competent they are.

Overall, XMR aims to allow payments to be made quickly and inexpensively without fear of censorship.

Monero

Polygon (previously Matic Network) is the first well-structured, easy-to-use platform for Ethereum scaling and infrastructure development. Its core component is Polygon SDK, a modular, flexible framework that supports building multiple types of applications.

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

Using Polygon, one can create optimistic rollup chains, ZK rollup chains, stand alone chains or any other kind of infra required by the developer.

Polygon effectively transforms Ethereum into a full-fledged multi-chain system (aka Internet of Blockchains). This multi-chain system is akin to other ones such as Polkadot, Cosmos, Avalanche etc. with the advantages of Ethereum’s security, vibrant ecosystem and openness.

The $MATIC token will continue to exist and will play an increasingly important role, securing the system and enabling governance.

Polygon (formerly Matic Network) is a Layer 2 scaling solution backed by Binance and Coinbase. The project seeks to stimulate mass adoption of cryptocurrencies by resolving the problems of scalability on many blockchains.

Polygon combines the Plasma Framework and the proof-of-stake blockchain architecture. The Plasma framework used by Polygon as proposed by the co-founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, allows for the easy execution of scalable and autonomous smart contracts.

Nothing will change for the existing ecosystem built on the Plasma-POS chain. With Polygon, new features are being built around the existing proven technology to expand the ability to cater to diverse needs from the developer ecosystem. Polygon will continue to develop the core technology so that it can scale to a larger ecosystem.

Polygon boasts of up to 65,000 transactions per second on a single side chain, along with a respectable block confirmation time of less than two seconds. The framework also allows for the creation of globally available decentralized financial applications on a single foundational blockchain.

The Plasma framework gives Polygon the potential of housing an unlimited number of decentralized applications on their infrastructure without experiencing the normal drawbacks common on proof-of-work blockchains. So far, Polygon has attracted more than 50 DApps to its PoS-secured Ethereum sidechain.

MATIC, the native tokens of Polygon, is an ERC-20 token running on the Ethereum blockchain. The tokens are used for payment services on Polygon and as a settlement currency between users who operate within the Polygon ecosystem. The transaction fees on Polygon sidechains are also paid in MATIC tokens.

Polygon

Theta Network

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is a peer-to-peer electronic cash system that aims to become sound global money with fast payments, micro fees, privacy and larger block size. As a permissionless, decentralized cryptocurrency, Bitcoin Cash requires no trusted third parties.

Bitcoin Cash was created as an alternative to the first and most valuable cryptocurrency — Bitcoin (BTC). In 2017, BCH developers modified the BTC code, releasing their software version and a full-fledged competitive product, which split Bitcoin into two blockchains: Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash. Bitcoin Cash is a result of a hard fork in the blockchain due to differences in the community over Bitcoin scaling and the SegWit upgrade. Moreover, another hard fork, which divided Bitcoin Cash into two parts, Bitcoin ABC and Bitcoin SV, took place in the fall of 2018.

The scaling debate involved two sides: small block supporters opposed increasing block size as it could lead to blockchain centralization and vulnerability by making it harder to host full nodes. Large block supporters, however, advocated for a faster solution, concerned that rising transaction fees could hinder growth.