Curve DeFi app leads push on blockchains not called Ethereum
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The Curve Finance app has been way out ahead of most similar DeFi applications in launching on blockchains other than Ethereum.
Why it matters: It is diversifying its bets, figuring that other blockchains will blow up and host a lot of trading. Curve is positioned to take some of that market share.
Details: Curve is, ostensibly, an app for trading tokens that tend to have the same price (think: stablecoins that track the U.S. dollar or bitcoin derivatives). But it can really be seen as a yield machine.
- To make those swaps, it needs users to deposit funds as "liquidity providers." Those deposits earn trading fees, but they also earn the platform's curve dao token (CRV) — basically free money.
- Hunger for that token is the true driver of Curve's market clout.
Context: Money entrusted is known as "total value locked," and in those terms, Curve Finance is the biggest DeFi app of them all.
- It has $21 billion in locked assets, but $18 billion of that is on the second-largest blockchain, Ethereum.
By jumping onto new chains, Curve has been able to find additional liquidity rewards for its users. Curve's liquidity providers quickly found $200 million to deposit after the Fantom blockchain announced extra incentives for the biggest apps on the chain.
The bottom line: Curve's size illustrates that DeFi is still fundamentally a game of seeking yield over utility.
