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Decentralized Lending

5 peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms for borrowers and lenders

Discover five platforms — Aave, Compound, MakerDAO, dYdX and Fulcrum — that are transforming lending and borrowing through decentralization.

Peer-to-peer (P2P) lending, which links borrowers and investors directly, has become a well-liked substitute for traditional banking. P2P lending networks enable decentralized lending, in which people can borrow money from other people or institutions directly without the use of intermediaries, such as banks.

Both borrowers, who can receive loans with flexible terms, and investors, who can earn competitive returns on their investments, can profit from this lending arrangement. This article will look at five decentralized P2P lending services that let lenders and borrowers become involved in this expanding market.

Aave

Aave is a decentralized lending platform built on the Ethereum blockchain. By using digital assets like cryptocurrencies as collateral in smart contracts, it enables borrowers to receive loans. On the other hand, investors can lend borrowers their assets while still earning interest on their deposits.

Flash loans, which allow borrowers to obtain loans without providing collateral as long as the loan is repaid in the same transaction, are Aave’s distinguishing feature. This creates new opportunities for immediate liquidity and cutting-edge financial applications.

Compound

Compound is another decentralized lending platform operating on the Ethereum blockchain. It enables borrowers to place security and borrow items backed by the platform. Depending on the demand for particular assets, investors might lend their assets to borrowers and earn interest.

To ensure efficient capital allocation, Compound uses an algorithm that dynamically modifies interest rates based on the availability and demand of assets. By giving users the option to vote on suggestions for platform updates and parameter changes, the platform also lets users take part in governance.

MakerDAO

The Ethereum blockchain-based decentralized lending platform MakerDAO is well-known for its Dai (DAIstablecoin. By using their digital assets as collateral, borrowers can create DAI stablecoins, which are tied to the value of the United States dollar. Lending money to borrowers allows investors to receive interest in the form of stability fees.

Tokenholders who engage in voting on important choices, such as collateral kinds, stability fees and system upgrades, are a part of MakerDAO’s decentralized governance architecture.

Related: DAO governance models: A beginner’s guide

dYdX

The decentralized derivatives trading platform dYdX also provides borrowing and lending features. Borrowers can trade on the site and borrow additional assets using their digital assets as collateral. Investors can lend borrowers their assets while earning interest on their deposits.

Users have freedom and leverage when trading thanks to dYdX’s lending and borrowing options. The platform, which supports various assets and marketplaces, runs on the Ethereum blockchain.

Fulcrum

On the Ethereum blockchain, Fulcrum is a decentralized lending and margin trading platform powered by bZx. Investors can lend their assets and receive interest on their deposits, while borrowers can pledge their assets as security and obtain extra credit.

Related: Margin trading vs. futures: What are the differences?

Users can effectively manage their holdings thanks to the seamless integration of Fulcrum’s lending and trading services. Through the use of its native token, which enables users to vote on protocol updates and parameters, the platform also uses decentralized governance.

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Reputation DAO: Would you give up privacy for unsecured loans in DeFi?

The platform intends on leveraging users’ personal financial information such as credit score and AML/KYC to help reduce the collateral needed to take out a DeFi loan.

An ambitious new decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) has built a data service for lending platforms that records a user’s financial reputation to reduce the amount of collateral needed for a loan.

It has partnered with Chainlink and that protocol’s founder Sergey Nazarov is an early backer.

Users of Reputation DAO will have traditional financial data such as anti-money laundering and know-your-customer (AML/KYC), credit scores and banking data tied to their account. The data is designed to help ease friction in obtaining a loan from a decentralized platform, but raises questions about security and the principles of zero-knowledge lending.

The Reputation DAO team told Cointelegraph its connection with those traditional financial authorities is “critically important to remove some of the trust barriers related to under-collateralized lending.”

Decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols such as AAVE (AAVE) and Maker (MKR) require users to put down at least 150% the value of the loan they wish to take out. This overcollateralization protects the protocols from insolvency in the case of liquidations due to volatility since the loans are made through zero knowledge smart contracts.

While the Reputation DAO team said “retail consumers are getting more comfortable with algorithmic loans,” it also pointed out that “institutional interest is growing at a rapid rate.”

That institutional interest is clearly demonstrated by the $222 million of seed and strategic funds invested in DeFi protocols since March 15 according to crypto fundraising tracker Airtable. Reputation DAO is one of those protocols and closed a $4.7 million seed round on April 13 led by Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov and AirTree Ventures.

But for many DeFi users, tying sensitive financial data to a blockchain based lending platform raises security and privacy concerns. Some users may be more comfortable putting down higher collateral on a DeFi loan if the protocols do not have access to their information, thereby keeping their identity confidential.

Reputation DAO assured Cointelegraph that its partnership with the industry leading information oracle Chainlink, which uses the privacy-preserving protocol DECO, helps keep its users’ data secure.

Cointelegraph reached out to an active and successful DeFi investor who asked to go by the name “Unseo” for his thoughts. He said that he would be wary of using Reputation DAO to help get a loan. He argued that such a service “would make the DeFi system more fragile," and that  “I'd be trusting the judges of other participants’ creditworthiness instead of going off math.”

“Even though I have good credit, I'd rather not use a more fragile system for the convenience of having a better utilization allowance.”

Related: First steps: Basic tips for getting started investing in DeFi

Time will tell how DeFi users will react to Reputation DAO’s value proposal.

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