- Lido DAO provides liquid staking for ETH, allowing staked ETH to earn rewards while remaining tradable through stETH, enhancing DeFi flexibility.
- Injective offers MEV-resistant order books for transparent DeFi trading, with cross-chain support to broaden ecosystem interoperability.
- NEAR Protocol simplifies blockchain interactions with human-readable accounts and fast transaction speeds via its Doomslug consensus.
The decentralized finance (DeFi) sector has evolved through Lido DAO, Injective, NEAR Protocol, Aave, and Cronos. These projects make meaningful contributions to the DeFi space in diverse ways, such as liquid staking providers, financial services, lending, governance, and security.
Lido DAO(LDO): The Leading Liquid Staking Solution for Ethereum and Polygon
Current price:$1.35
Market cap:$1.21B
Lido DAO offers liquid staking, an important function for the Ethereum chain. ETH holders can lock their Ethereum and, in return, get a representation in the form of stETH, which also contains the rewards. This liquid staking solution enables holders to earn staking rewards, and at the same time, they can trade or use their stETH, which increases versatility in the DeFi space. Lido DAO has a decentralized form of governance whereby decisions such as updates, new additions and integrations, and general strategies are all voted on by the holders of LDO. While initially supporting multiple networks, Lido has now concentrated its staking solutions on Ethereum and Polygon, recently sunsetting support for Solana.
Injective(INJ) Brings Speed, Transparency, and Cross-Chain Support
Current price:$20.84
Market cap:$2.06B
Injective focuses on creating a robust financial infrastructure layer on the blockchain, supporting various DeFi applications like spot and derivatives trading, lending protocols, and prediction markets. Injective features a unique on-chain, MEV-resistant order book, which brings transparency to trades while addressing risks like front-running. Built on the Cosmos SDK and with CosmWasm support, Injective is highly interoperable and capable of handling 25,000+ transactions per second (TPS). Its cross-chain bridging enables compatibility with Ethereum, IBC-enabled blockchains, and non-EVM networks, including Solana, broadening the ecosystem’s reach. Injective’s extensive community and backing from investors like Binance and Pantera Capital underline its growing presence in DeFi.
NEAR Protocol(NEAR) Efficient Blockchain Powers a Decentralized Future
Current price:$4.15
Market cap:$5.05B
NEAR Protocol is a layer-one blockchain with unique features to address challenges like transaction speed, throughput, and interoperability. NEAR’s design includes human-readable account names, simplifying user interactions. It employs the “Doomslug” consensus mechanism, which ensures fast, efficient transactions. NEAR’s ecosystem supports projects such as Flux, a protocol for creating prediction markets, and Mintbase, an NFT minting platform. The NEAR Collective community continuously enhances the platform, aiming to create a secure practical blockchain for everyday applications.
Aave(AAVE) Lending and Flash Loans Create DeFi Opportunities
Current price:$184.70
Market cap:$2.77B
Aave is a decentralized finance application that permits its clients to provide cryptocurrencies as security to access loans without third parties. These lenders contribute their coins to a pool of funds that earn interest for lenders, while borrowers deposit their coins to act as collateral when they are seeking loans. Aave also brought about new products such as flash loans, which enable borrowing without putting down collateral within an individual block of transactions but must be paid back within the same. The AAVE token offers its holders governance privileges, from which they can decide crucial upgrades to the protocol. Moreover, there are privileges for AAVE token holders, which include the freedom of lower fees on the platform.
Cronos Coins(CRO) Unlock the Future of Crypto Payments
Current price:$0.08568
Market cap:$2.28B
Cronos Coin (CRO) is an ERC-20 token for the Crypto.com chain or Cronos chain. it provides tools that will enable individuals to take charge of their money and personal information and minimize risks. CRO is integral to Crypto.com’s ecosystem, used for the Crypto.com Pay mobile payments application, and other financial services. In the future, Crypto.com may increase the use of CRO in other services it offers or bring other services into the CRO ecosystem.