Updated August 31, 2020

Decentralized finance

has grown into one of the most active sectors of blockchain, now with over $8 billion total value locked in DeFi smart contracts. From decentralized exchanges to lending and insurance platforms, the DeFi ecosystem is flourishing and unlocking a parallel financial system that is setting new standards for access, resilience, and transparency.
What has emerged is a vast spectrum of activity: on one end, there are open finance platforms that empower individuals around the world in engaging with new and remodeled financial systems. And on the other, decentralized finance solutions are transforming the approach of traditional institutions by bringing decentralized solutions into play. All in all, decentralized finance projects now range in the thousands, and we’re witnessing the emergence of a whole new, global infrastructure for financial activity.
Below, we've put together a wide-reaching list of the projects pioneering decentralized finance, broken down by category. We built on excellent research by

The Block

,

DeFi Prime

, DeFi Pulse

,

Delphi Digital

,

GitHub

, and

State of the Dapps

, in addition to our deep dives into the

State of Stablecoins

and

Decentralized Exchanges vs. Centralized Exchanges.


If you're new to the world of decentralized finance, check out our

Complete Guide to DeFi

.

DAOs

  • Aragon: An open source framework for easily creating and managing decentralized organizations on Ethereum. Aragon (ANT) token.

  • Compound DAO: A decentralized community of COMP token-holders and their delegates, who propose and vote on upgrades to the Compound protocol. Compound (COMP) token.

  • DXdao: Develops, governs, and grows DeFi protocols, such as DXswap, Mesa, Mix, and Omen. DXdao (DXD) token.

  • Maker DAO: MKR holders responsible for governing the Maker protocol, which includes adjusting policy for the Dai stablecoin, choosing new collateral types, and improving governance itself. Maker DAO (MKR) token.

Data and analytics

  • Codefi Data: Data, analytics, compliance, and risk management for digital assets.

  • DeFi Pulse: A decentralized finance live tracker for total value locked across protocols.

  • Etherscan: Ethereum blockchain explorer with searchable addresses, transaction hashes, blocks, and more.

  • Bloxy: Analytical reports based on real-time blockchain data.

  • Curious Giraffe: Ethereum blockchain analytics for decentralized finance platforms

  • MKR Tools: A platform analytics dashboard to track CDPs, overall system statistics, Dai and MKR transactions.

  • MakerScan: A MakerDAO CDP explorer.

  • Maker Governance Dashboard: System statistics around staked MCKR, total votes, voter behavior, and more.

  • 0x Tracker: A 0x trade explorer.

  • LoanScan: Ethereum loan explorer tracking loans on MakerDAO, Compound Finance, and Dharma.

  • Augur Leaderboard: Number of trades and profits on Augur by Ethereum address

  • Stablecoin Index: Tracks and monitors the price, volume, and stability of stablecoins.

  • Uniswap Vision: A community-made trading view for Uniswap markets.

Derivatives

Developer and infrastructure tooling

  • Truffle Suite: Smart contract development environment, testing framework, and asset pipeline.

  • Infura: Instant, scalable API access to the Ethereum and IPFS networks.

  • MythX: Security API for detecting smart contract vulnerabilities.

  • Chainlink: Decentralized oracle networks for DeFi price feeds. Chainlink token (LINK).

  • 0X: Open protocol that enables peer-to-peer exchange of assets. 0X token (ZRX).

  • Uniswap: Protocol for automated liquidity provision on Ethereum. Uniswap (UNI) token.

  • 0xcert: Open source framework for creating, managing, and swapping NFTs and tokens.

  • OpenZeppelin: Battle-tested libraries of smart contracts for Ethereum.

Exchanges and liquidity

Identity

Insurance

  • Etherisc: A decentralized insurance protocol to collectively build risk transfer solutions.

  • Nexus Mutual: A risk-sharing pool that allows anyone to purchase insurance.

  • Opyn: Protect your DeFi deposits and hedge ETH risk.

  • VouchForMe: An online social proof platform for gathering guarantees that cut your insurance premium costs.

Investment

  • Codefi Assets: An all-in-one platform for creating, issuing, and managing the lifecycle of digital assets.

  • Allinfra: A platform for the tokenization of large scale unlisted infrastructure

  • Set: A protocol for creating and managing token baskets for investing and trading

  • Harbor: An all-in-one platform for digital securities and alternative assets.

  • Securitize: An SEC-registered transfer agent and end-to-end digital platform for TA services.

  • Vertalo: An API-based platform for managing digital assets, issuers, and investors.

  • Betoken: Open and meritocratic crypto hedge fund.

  • Polymath Network: A platform for the creation of tokenized securities. Polymath (POLY) token.

  • Mattereum: Asset tokenization and agreements network.

Lending and borrowing

  • Aave: Open source non-custodial protocol for decentralized lending and borrowing. Aave token.

  • Compound Finance: Open source protocol for algorithmic, efficient money markets on Ethereum. Compound (COMP) crypto.

  • Dharma: A suite of smart contracts and developer tools that make it possible to borrow and lend crypto-assets on blockchains like Ethereum.

  • MakerDAO Vaults: Vaults can be created from the Oasis App and enable the generation of Dai stablecoins against collateral that is locked until the Dai generated is paid back in full. Maker DAO (MKR) token.

  • ForTube: A money market platform based on the Foce Protocol.

  • DDEX: A decentralized margin trading and lending platform, powered by the Hydro Protocol.

  • Fulcrum: Tokenized lending and margin trading.

  • Oasis Borrow: Utilize your collateral by generating Dai against it.

  • BlockFi: Offers financial products like crypto-asset loans and interest accounts.

  • Cred: A decentralized lending and borrowing network.

  • SALT: A lending and borrowing platform that allows users to leverage their crypto-assets to secure loans.

  • Linen: Non-custodial digital asset lending platform for secured loans originated, settled, serviced and managed on Ethereum.

  • Colendi: A protocol for credit scoring and microcredit on Ethereum.

  • InstaDApp: A platform that provides users and developers a single point of integration to access DeFi protocols.

Marketplaces

Payments

  • Codefi Payments: A single dashboard for sending, receiving, and managing payments transactions in cryptocurrency.

  • Request Network: Decentralized payments network for apps and individuals that utilizes Ethereum and IPFS. Request Network (REC) coin.

  • Groundhog: Toolbox for creating crypto-based subscriptions.

  • OmiseGO: Interoperability and scaling solutions for payments over Ethereum. OmiseGO (OMG) token.

  • Connext: Peer-to-peer micropayment protocol.

  • Sablier: Instant access to earnings through a money protocol built on Ethereum.

  • Raiden: Ethereum off-chain scaling solution for instant and low-fee payments.

  • Ink Protocol: A decentralized reputation and payment protocol.

Prediction markets

Stablecoins

Wallets

  • MetaMask: A crypto wallet that allows users to explore dapps and securely buy, store, and send tokens.

  • Burner Wallet: Burner wallet works in your mobile web browser without app downloads or secret keys.

  • MyEtherWallet: A free, open-source, client-side interface for generating Ethereum wallets and more.

  • Zerion: An interface for blockchain-based protocols in decentralized finance applications.

  • Argent: A wallet for Ethereum-based crypto-assets and apps.

  • Trust Wallet: Ethereum wallet and multi cryptocurrency wallet to store your favorite ERC721 & ERC20 tokens.

  • MyCrypto: A free, open-source interface for interacting with the blockchain.