8 of the Best DeFi Projects To Invest in Right Now, According to Experts
DeFi was one of the biggest trends of 2020, and despite the hype dying down somewhat, the disruptive technology it offers has only grown stronger. Wondering what are the best DeFi projects to invest in? In this article, you’ll discover eight of the top DeFi projects experts say could dominate 2023, why you should invest in them, and which one could be your best investment yet.
1. Metacade (MCADE)
Metacade is part of the growing GameFi sector, a close cousin of the DeFi industry. DeFi concerns traditional finance services, like lending and borrowing, in a decentralized manner. Similarly, GameFi relates to traditional gaming aspects, like in-game asset ownership and monetization, with the same level of decentralization. Put simply, GameFi is gaming combined with finance. Like DeFi, GameFi has the potential to massively disrupt its traditional counterpart.
So what exactly is Metacade? Metacade is a community hub built for the future of GameFi, also known as play-to-earn (P2E) gaming. It helps players collaborate with like-minded peers, find ways to increase their P2E profits, and influence the direction of this bubbling industry. By making the most out of decentralization, Metacade is aiming to set the standard for community spaces in Web3.
Alongside handy features like forums, reviews, leaderboards, and spaces for reading the hottest alpha shared by P2E pros, the platform is launching a host of innovative features that seem destined to attract a sizeable crowd of gamers. For example, the MCADE token is used to incentivize contributions on the platform. Whenever a user shares a review, tips, or interacts with the community in other ways, they’re rewarded with MCADE tokens for their role in growing the platform.
Likewise, there’s a native testing environment where developers can receive feedback on their games while testers earn MCADE for their efforts. Some of these games are expected to be a product of the Metagrant scheme. Metagrants are a community-led funding tool that enables users to vote on and direct funding toward game developers. To win, these developers need to earn the most votes for their idea in one of the Metagrant competitions. If successful, developers can then host their game in the Metacade virtual arcade for anyone to play.
There are also plans for regular community events, like tournaments, competitions, and prize draws, as well as a goal to turn the platform into a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). This move will grant Metacade members voting rights to determine the future of the world’s first player-owned GameFi community.
Clearly, these features have been a hit with investors since the start of the MCADE presale. A total amount of $8m investment has flowed into the presale, proving Metacade’s popularity amongst those looking to get in on the ground floor of the GameFi industry. With the potential to become one of GameFi’s hottest cryptos, Metacade looks to be one of the best DeFi projects to buy right now.
You can participate in the Metacade presale here
2. Maker (MKR)
As one of the oldest DeFi projects on the market and the world’s first DAO, Maker has cemented itself as a leader in the DeFi market since its launch in 2017. Maker allows people to borrow and lend cryptocurrencies using smart contracts without a centralized authority. Instead, it just requires users over-collateralize their positions, with the collateralization rate determined by its native US-dollar-pegged stablecoin, DAI.
While its inner workings can get a little complex, you just need to know that MKR is used to maintain DAI’s peg to the dollar. This unique strategy, alongside community-based governance, has withstood the test of time, saving the platform from collapse during the 2020 market crash. Additionally, DAI, unlike most other stablecoins, is backed by a number of different sources, like USDC, USDP, and US treasuries, leaving it much less prone to failure.
These aspects make it one of the most resilient DeFi protocols, which has been demonstrated throughout many bear markets. For that reason, Maker is one of the best DeFi projects to buy.
3. Aave (AAVE)
Aave is a decentralized platform that allows users to borrow and lend various digital assets, including cryptocurrencies and stablecoins, in a trustless and permissionless environment. Alongside regular DeFi facilities, it uses a system called “flash loans,” which allows users to borrow and repay funds in a single transaction without collateral. Aave has become the DeFi protocol of choice for users looking to profit from arbitrage, thanks to these flash loans.
Like Maker, Aave has been around since 2017, allowing users to lend out their cryptos and receive interest on them in exchange for providing liquidity to the market. Moreover, owners of the AAVE token can also stake their holdings to receive further passive income.
This staked AAVE, in times of emergency, can be used as insurance if the price of the borrower’s collateralized assets falls and creates a deficit between the value they borrowed vs. the value of their assets. Aave has consistently remained one of the top DeFi protocols by total value locked (TVL) and is likely to continue being one of the best DeFi projects out there.
4. Uniswap (UNI)
Uniswap is a decentralized exchange (DEX) built on the Ethereum blockchain that removes the need for a centralized third party to facilitate the buying and selling of crypto. By using an automated market maker (AMM) model, Uniswap eliminates the need for an order book and lets users create trading pairs for whatever assets they like.
Instead of a centralized order book, Uniswap uses liquidity pools. Similar to staking, users lock up their assets in return for interest. The liquidity providers are then rewarded with a share of the transaction fees, making it an excellent option for anyone looking to earn passive income on their long-term crypto holdings.
Uniswap’s popularity soared in 2021 as more investors rushed to pick up tokens unavailable on centralized exchanges. Since there’s no need for an authority to pick and choose which tokens they list, Uniswap allows users to invest in whichever tokens they like. This boosts the number of transactions on the exchange and has the potential to increase the portion of trading fees liquidity providers receive. Uniswap is one of the best DeFi projects to invest in for that reason.
5. Curve Finance (CRV)
Curve Finance is another DEX that focuses on the trading of stablecoins. Like Uniswap, it employs an AMM protocol. Using a unique bonding curve mechanism, Curve allows for low-slippage trades of similarly behaving assets, meaning that the price of the token you buy or sell will be closer to the market prices than on other DEXs. Likewise, users can provide liquidity and earn a share of the trading fees.
Given its prioritization of stablecoins and overall conservatism, Curve is one of the most stable DeFi protocols. It allows investors to earn decent interest rates without exposing themselves to the risk of volatile crypto assets. However, its approach isn’t purely limited to stablecoins; it also allows for the trading of wrapped cryptocurrencies. Overall, Curve stands to benefit in the long run from its better-safe-than-sorry approach, which makes it one of the best DeFi projects to buy in 2023.
6. Chainlink (LINK)
While not a DeFi project itself, Chainlink is a vital component of the DeFi space. Chainlink is a decentralized oracle that enables off-chain data to be used on-chain. In DeFi, Chainlink provides reliable pricing data, which is crucial if DeFi is to see widespread adoption. By reducing arbitrage opportunities, it prevents people from exploiting unnecessary pricing differences caused by inefficient markets.
Furthermore, slight price differences can mean losing thousands when transacting millions or billions of dollars. Over time, Chainlink has demonstrated itself as a price source that DeFi protocols can rely on. A lack of competition in the oracle space has also led Chainlink to dominate, accounting for roughly 50% of all total value secure across oracle-based DeFi projects (DeFiLlama). Moreover, Chainlink is light years ahead in the number of protocols it secures, being used in 237 protocols.
Through guaranteeing peace of mind for DeFi users and solving a critical problem in the DeFi space, LINK is in an excellent position to appreciate further. As such, it’s one of the best DeFi projects on the market.
7. UMA (UMA)
UMA, or Univeral Market Access, is a slightly more advanced DeFi project that allows anyone to create synthetic financial assets and contracts. In traditional finance, synthetic derivatives and financial products are commonplace; futures contracts, contracts for difference (CFDs), and options are all forms of synthetic products. By tokenizing financial assets like gold, stocks, and bonds, UMA lets anyone trade their underlying value with self-executing smart contracts.
Like other DeFi protocols, UMA requires that users over-collateralize their holdings. If someone wanted to create a CFD for gold, for instance, they might put up ETH, create a contract to track gold’s price, set a contract expiry date, then mint synthetic tokens based on the price of gold. If the collateral stays above the liquidation threshold, it will expire at the set date, at which point the token becomes redeemable for the price of gold at which it expired. If gold appreciated in that time, then the buyers make a profit.
While many DeFi projects focus on reducing the need for banks, UMA opens doors for financial institutions to use DeFi. Given that synthetic derivatives are commonly used in the financial services industry, UMA has the potential to see mass adoption by the big players in this industry, making it one of the best DeFi projects to buy right now.
8. Bancor (BNT)
Bancor was the first DEX to hit the market back in 2017. Like other DEXs, it uses an AMM to allow for decentralized trading. Similarly, it enables users to provide liquidity for trading, meaning they can earn interest on their despots. However, Bancor is unique in a few ways. For example, it offers single-sided staking. Whereas many AMM-based exchanges require you to put up equal amounts of two cryptocurrencies, like BTC and USDT, Bancor lets users just put up BTC or USDT and earn interest on it.
Additionally, it compensates users for impermanent loss with the BNT token. Impermanent loss essentially means when the price of the tokens you’ve provided to the liquidity pool changes, meaning you lose money. When liquidity providers go to withdraw their holdings from the pool, Bancor makes up the difference with BNT. While it may not be the most popular DEX, Bancor has a unique offering not found elsewhere, making it one of the best DeFi projects to invest in.
Metacade (MCADE) Could Be One of the Best DeFi Projects of 2023
Like many sectors of the crypto market, DeFi offers an alternative to the cumbersome centralized finance industry. Projects like Maker and Bancor have paved the way for some incredible innovation in this space, while more advanced projects like Curve and UMA demonstrate the wonderful capabilities of DeFi to disrupt traditional finance.
While competition has stepped up in the DeFi sector, GameFi could quickly become the next golden child of the crypto market. Expected to grow 10x faster than regular gaming by 2023 (Crypto.com), GameFi’s value proposition will likely attract millions of players (and investors) to the sector.
That’s why Metacade ranks so highly on this list. Given its potential to become the number one community space for GameFi and the MCADE token still being in presale, the opportunity it presents seems like a once-in-a-lifetime chance to get in early before GameFi hits the mainstream. If you’ve already missed the boat on these incredible DeFi projects, why not check out the Metacade presale before it’s too late?
You can participate in the Metacade presale here
Disclaimer: This is a sponsored article. The views and opinions presented in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of CoinCodex. The content of this article should not be considered as investment advice. Always do your own research before deciding to buy, sell or transfer any crypto assets.
