 
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) witnessed stellar growth in 2019 and recent activity suggests the trend may continue in 2020.
The total value locked (TVL) in DeFi rose to $1 billion during Friday's Asian trading hours, according to data from DeFi Pulse. The “locked-in” collateral is used on various protocols to make a wide array of bets, from simple loans to complex derivatives.
DeFi refers to applications aimed at transforming old centralized financial products into trustless, decentralized and transparent protocols.
"$1 billion locked up in DeFi is a pretty cool milestone to see," Anthony Pompliano, co-founder & partner at Morgan Creek Digital, tweeted on Friday. A year ago, the total amount locked was $280 million.
The growth is indicative of increased demand for efficient, less-biased money, according to Rune Christensen, the creator of DeFi leader MakerDAO.
Unpacking $1B
The surge in TLV is mostly ethereum's ether (ETH) token, which currently represents 70 percent of the value.
Ether has rallied by more than 70 percent so far this year. The second-largest cryptocurrency by market value is currently trading at $217, having hit six-month highs near $230 over the weekend, according to data site CoinMarketCap.
The $1 billion milestone does not necessarily mean the space has gained more traction or deposits, noted Pascal Jarvis, founder of Jarvis Exchange, which allows users to gain synthetic exposure to financial markets by depositing crypto collateral.
Furthermore, DeFi has a long way to go before it can topple commercial lending in the U.S., currently an $800 billion market, according to data firm IBISWorld. |
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Bulls Take a Breather
BTC: Price: $9,800 | Market cap: $178 billion | 24-Hr Volume: $38 billion
Trend: Correction Bitcoin fell sharply from $10,200 to $9,730 during the Asian trading hours, engulfing Sunday's bullish marubozu candle, which marked the cryptocurrency's first daily close above the $10,000 mark since September.
A failed bullish marubozu at multi-month highs, or after notable price rallies, often precedes a deeper pullback.
So, a slide to the former resistance-turned-support at $9,586 (Nov. 4 high) cannot be ruled out. A violation there would expose the Jan. 19 high of $9,188 and the Feb. 4 low of $9,075.
The case for a deeper pullback to $9,586 would be invalidated if prices rise above $10,010 with strong volumes, invalidating the lower-highs setup on the hourly chart.
The broader trend remains bullish with prices still up more than 35 percent on a year-to-date basis.
Read Analysis |
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As bitcoin inches towards $10,000, @nlw is joined by Kraken’s Dan Held to discuss how the narrative has changed since this price last year. This Bitcoin Bull Run Is Extremely Different To 2017’s Epic Rally (Forbes) The latest rally comes some two years after the bitcoin price soared to almost $20,000 per bitcoin back in December 2017 but data suggests this bitcoin bull run is very different. |
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DeFi is Exploding