While Bitcoin has retraced since its highs, Ethereum’s decentralized finance ecosystem is still in a clear phase of growth.
Case in point: a DeFi protocol launched yesterday has already garnered hundreds of millions of dollars worth of value. This comes in spite of the fact that the protocol’s code is unaudited by professional auditors.
This, to many, shows how much interest there is in DeFi and Ethereum-based assets. This should act as a boon for the cryptocurrency and its respective blockchain in the long run.
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Ethereum’s Yam Protocol Secures $400M Less Than 24 Hours Off Launch
Yesterday, a number of developers launched what is known as “Yam,” a DeFi protocol whose native governance token is YAM.
The protocol is an experimental one that is attempting to mesh the DeFi concepts of “yield farming,” governance, and price elasticity. The following is an excerpt from the blog post announcing the project:
“Yam is an experimental protocol mashing up some of the most exciting innovations in programmable money and governance. Built by a team of DeFi natives, it features: an elastic supply to seek eventual price stability, a governable treasury to further support stability, fully on-chain governance to enable decentralized control and evolution from Day 1, and a fair distribution mechanism that incentivizes key community members to actively take the reins of governance.”
While the team describes the Ethereum-based platform as “experimental” and “unaudited,” it has garnered much interest in the DeFi community.
According to DeFi analyst Camila Russo, there is now $400 million worth of cryptocurrency locked in the protocol. This is more assets locked than “Balancer, Curve, and Yearn,” as Russo explained.
She added that this large migration of funds is being triggered by users seeking to maximize their profits: “TVL in these platforms is sliding as farmers are apparently cycling their crypto into the highest-yielding crops.”
🤯 There's now +$400M in https://t.co/D9BseHlOYI, a DeFi protocol that didn't exist before yesterday.
That's more than assets in Balancer, Curve, and Yearn – TVL in these platforms is sliding as farmers are apparently cycling their crypto into the highest-yielding crops.
— Camila Russo (@CamiRusso) August 12, 2020
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Effect on the Prices of Crypto Assets Involved
What has been especially notable about the launch of Yam is that it has had a tangible effect on the price of cryptocurrencies involved. To generate YAM, users can stake one of eight Ethereum-based assets: Wrapped Ethereum, YFI, Chainlink, Maker, LEND, Synthetix Network Token, Compound, and the ETH-AMPL Uniswap Pool Token.
As can be seen in the chart below, the launch of Yam has boosted Compound by around 45%.
Chart of COMP's price action since the launch of Yam from TradingView.com
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Featured Image from Shutterstock Price tags: ethusd, ethbtc Charts from TradingView.com Ethereum's Latest DeFi Craze Is Storing $400m In Crypto 1 Day After Launch