Aave taps Pocket Network to beef up decentralized app development

July 19, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Aave

Aave will leverage Pocket's distributed network of 44,000 nodes to access on-chain data from various blockchains.

Aave (AAVE), an open source decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol, is teaming up with decentralized Web3 infrastructure provider Pocket Network to offer developers increased scalability and ease of use when building decentralized applications (DApps) on the Aave Protocol.

According to the statement on Tuesday, Aave will use Pocket's distributed network of more than 44,000 nodes to access on-chain data from various blockchains to power decentralized applications. Developers building Aave-powered DApps may now access blockchain data from Pocket Network on demand following the new integration. Michael O’Rourke, CEO of Pocket Network, remarked that:

“The goal is to power the next wave of decentralized applications that combine Aave’s best-in-class liquidity market with Pocket’s unrivaled RPC coverage, which now supports 50 blockchains and is well on its way to achieving its goal of 100 blockchains in 2022.”

Aave Grants DAO made this agreement possible by providing a Grant for the purchase of the required Pocket Network's native token POKT for Aave's frontend traffic. To meet its demands, Aave currently utilizes several Remote Procedure Calls (RPC) from various infrastructure providers. Because these solutions have varying degrees of reliability, they can occasionally become unruly and cause user experience to deteriorate.

The new connection with Pocket Network is intended to alleviate these problems by offering Aave a more stable and durable infrastructure solution for its decentralized apps.

According to Defi Llama's analytical data, Aave is the third most valuable protocol in terms of total value locked (TVL) ranking, having a current price of $95.91 and a total value locked (TVL) worth of $6.1 billion as of writing. Aave's liquidity is derived primarily from Ethereum (ETH) and Polygon (MATIC), as the majority of its operations span multiple blockchains. Pocket Network also offers dedicated RPCs for these networks, lowering latency, improving uptime, and providing optimized multi-chain data services.

Cred Protocol unveils its first decentralized credit scores

July 15, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Aave

Releasing the results of its first credit score on the Aave Protocol, a decentralized credit scoring mechanism called Cred Protocol is set to expand to Compound and MakerDAO.

Cred Protocol, a decentralized credit scoring startup has unveiled the results of its first automated credit scoring system for users of decentralized finance (DeFi).

Cred Protocol CEO Julian Gay outlined the results in a Twitter thread, which showed how Cred successfully utilized past transaction behavior on the Aave protocol to assess the creditworthiness of future borrowers based on on-chain behavior in the DeFi space.

1/ Over the last few months, we've been working to build one of the first credit scores for DeFi.

Today, we're excited to share the results of our first credit score with the world!

Read more below
— Julian Gay (@juliangay) July 14, 2022

By using machine learning to assess time-based account attributes and analyze the user’s past transaction behavior, Cred Protocol generates a health factor score that predicts the likelihood of future liquidation for a single address, which, according to Gay, was one of the strongest baseline creditworthiness predictors.

Cred Protocol claims to make decentralized finance more accessible to the world by implementing trustworthy credit scores that would see “anyone with an internet connection” and “a good financial reputation” gain access to loans.

Where borrowers and lenders have their loan worthiness assessed by a central authority such as a credit bureau, DeFi makes it possible to run financial services with a peer-to-peer (P2P) system, eliminating the idea of an intermediary or central authority.

Prominent DeFi researcher Chris Blec raised concerns that a borrower could use multiple Ethereum addresses to skirt credit scoring — to which Gay responded that a potential solution was in Beta.

So it's just a credit score for that 1 Ethereum address? What if someone uses 10 different addresses?
— Chris Blec (@ChrisBlec) July 15, 2022

Cred Protocol is a small nine-person team based out of San Francisco with additional “hubs” in New York and London. However, Gay says that he aims to bring DeFi technology to more than one billion people.

In a Medium post, Cred outlined its plans to grow from the Aave protocol and expand its data analysis to other lending protocols like Compound and MakerDAO.

Two years ago, blockchain lending protocol Teller raised $1 million in a seed funding round to incorporate traditional credit scores into DeFi.

In November 2021, Credit DeFi Alliance (CreDA) officially launched a credit rating service that would ascertain a user’s creditworthiness with data from multiple blockchains. CreDA was developed to work using the CreDA Oracle by evaluating records of past transactions carried out by the user across several blockchains with the help of artificial intelligence (AI).

Recently, P2P lending protocol RociFi labs concluded a seed funding of $2.7 million in partnership with asset management firm GoldenTree, which is aimed toward expanding on-chain credit ratings for decentralized finance.

UNI, MATIC and AAVE surge after Bitcoin price bounces back above $20K

July 14, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Aave

Bitcoin, Uniswap, Polygon and Aave turned green just a day after the highest CPI print in over 40 years.

Crypto investors found cause for celebration on July 14 as the market experienced a positive trading session just one day after the Consumer Price Index (CPI) posted a June print of 9.1%, its highest level since 1981.

*Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source:* *Coin360*

The move higher in the market wasn’t entirely unexpected for seasoned traders who have become familiar with a one to two-day bounce in asset prices following the most recent CPI prints. These traders also know there’s nothing to get too excited about as the bounces have typically been followed by more downside once people realize that the high inflation print is a negative development.

Nevertheless, the green in the market is a welcome sight after the rough start to 2022.

*Top 5 coins with the highest 24-hour price change. Source: CoinMarketCap*

According to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView, the biggest gainers over the past 24-hours were Uniswap (UNI), Polygon (MATIC) and Aave (AAVE).

Robinhood lists UNI

Uniswap, the top decentralized exchange by volume, saw its token price head higher on July 13 after hitting a low of $5.23. The token has since climbed 36% to hit a daily high of $7.11 on July 14 amid a 104% spike in its 24-hour trading volume to $449 million.

*UNI/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView*

The sharp turnaround in UNI price and trading volume comes as the popular brokerage firm Robinhood announced that the UNI token is now available to trade on the platform, exposing the asset to a large cohort of new buyers who don’t have accounts on other cryptocurrency exchanges.

Disney news provides a boost for MATIC

Polygon is one of the top layer-two scaling solutions for the Ethereum network that offers a faster, lower-fee transaction experience for users and protocols.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that after briefly dipping to a low of $0.52 on July 13, the price of MATIC spiked 36% to hit a daily high at $0.707 on July 14 on the back of a 120% spike in its 24-hour trading volume.

*MATIC/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView*

MATIC’s price increase follows an announcement that the protocol was the only blockchain selected by Disney to be part of its 2022 Accelerator Program.

Interrupting the #GreenBlockchainSummit for some breaking news!

We're excited to be the only blockchain chosen to be a part of the Disney Accelerator program. https://t.co/LaGU4bhidi
— Polygon - MATIC (@0xPolygon) July 13, 2022

Aave rallies on stablecoin developments

Aave, a populardecentralized finance platform, is a lending and borrowing protocol that currently holds $5.63 billion in total value locked (TVL), making it the second-ranked DeFi platform by TVL behind MakerDAO.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that over the past 24-hours, the price of AAVE has rallied 38.5% from a low of $67.10 to hit a daily high of $93 in the afternoon hours on July 14.

*AAVE/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView*

Aave sparked excitement within its community on July 7 when it revealed plans to release its own GHO stablecoin, which will be a collateral-backed stablecoin that is native to the AAVE ecosystem.

1/ Calling all GHOsts

We have created an ARC for a new decentralized, collateral-backed stablecoin, native to the Aave ecosystem, known as GHO.

Read more below and discuss your thoughts for the snapshot (coming soon)!https://t.co/P7tHl9LbBe
— Aave (@AaveAave) July 7, 2022

The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $927 billion and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 42.6%.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Here are 3 ways hodlers can profit during bull and bear markets

April 29, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Aave

The bull market may be over, but that doesn’t mean traders have to stop investing. Here are a few ways to invest in crypto even during a bear market.

For years, cryptocurrency advocates have touted the world-changing capability of digital currency and blockchain technology. Yet with the passing of each market cycle, new projects come and go, and the promised utility of these “real-world use case” projects fails to satisfy.

While a majority of tokens promise to solve real-world problems, only a few achieve this, and the others are mere speculative investments.

Here’s a look at the three things cryptocurrency investors can actually “do” with their coins.

Lending

Perhaps the simplest use case offered to cryptocurrency holders is also one of the oldest monetary applications in finance: lending.

Ever since the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector took off in 2020, the opportunities available for crypto holders to lend out their tokens in exchange for rewards have multiplied.

Blue-chip DeFi protocols like Aave, Maker and Compound offer reasonable yield on stablecoins, and lesser-known protocols often offer higher rewards in an effort to attract liquidity.

Recently, the crypto lending field has expanded into realms that are typically dominated by traditional finance. This is especially true for real estate, where a number of experimental cryptocurrency-based mortgage and listing platforms are making headway.

Platforms like Vesta Equity and the newly launched USDC.homes offer crypto holders the opportunity to collateralize their assets to obtain a mortgage or lend them out to aspiring home buyers in exchange for long-term yield.

Stablecoin farming

Another way to put the hodl bag to use is by farming stablecoins . The cryptocurrency market is well known for its high volatility and high-risk trades, but earning a yield on stablecoins is a safer way to grow a portfolio without the downside risk of investing in Bitcoin (BTC) and altcoins.

In bull and bear markets, liquidity is required for DeFi protocols to function properly, and the integration of stablecoins on centralized and decentralized exchanges has helped the market mature and stay sufficiently liquid.

Platforms like Curve Finance, Beefy Finance and Trader Joe offer yield on stablecoin liquidity pools, and rates can reach as high as 20% APY.

No-loss token offerings

Another way to “use” cryptocurrency is by participating in the no-loss token offerings launching across the ecosystem.

An example of a no-loss token offering is the parachain auctions that occur on the Polkadot and Kusama networks. In this type of protocol launch, investors interested in supporting a project can lock up DOT or KSM for a specified period of time as a form of collateral backing for the project.

Contributors receive the native token of the newly launched protocol In exchange for locking their investment in the project’s smart contract. After the designated lock-up period is complete, the total balance of tokens is returned to the contributor, meaning they retain their original holdings while also adding new assets to their portfolio.

Lockdrops are another example of this type of no-loss token offering. One was recently employed during the launches of Astroport and Mars Protocol.

Lockdrops have also been referred to as airdrops because they technically don’t help projects raise funds, rather they require some level of commitment for future use from token recipients. While airdrops just distribute tokens to users who opt-in, lockdrops require interested parties to commit to locking up some liquidity that can be utilized by the project during its initial launch.

The Astroport launch involved a novel liquidity bootstrapping phase where contributors could provide liquidity pool pairs in exchange for a higher reward level. Upon lockup, a one-time lockdrop reward is distributed to participants to hold, trade or use to provide liquidity.

Liquidity providers also receive trading fees and other incentives depending on the liquidity pool they are in as a way to improve the opportunity cost of providing that liquidity.

Once the agreed-upon lockup period is complete, users are free to remove the liquidity.

No loss token offerings give long-term crypto holders a chance to earn tokens for newly launched protocols in exchange for yield and a choice of what token they would like to accumulate as a reward.

Want more information about trading and investing in crypto markets?

Vesta Equity and Algorand breathe new life into real estate tokenization
Looking to take out a crypto loan? Here’s what you need to know
Web3 solutions aim to make America’s real estate market more accessible
Decentralized finance: The best ways to participate and operate
Decentralization ‘absolutely essential’ in building crypto capital markets

Aave v3 launch triggers 50% rally from long-term descending channel pattern

March 30, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Aave

AAVE price broke from its long-term downtrend after the launch of Aave v3 added support for six different blockchain networks in the DeFi space.

The decentralized finance (DeFi) market has been undergoing a period of maturation over the past year and many of last year's fast risers have faded into obscurity but this does not mean the formerly "famous" protocols have not continued to build.

One blue-chip project that is regaining momentum is Aave (AAVE), a non-custodial liquidity protocol that allows users to lend, borrow or stake their assets to earn yield from their holdings.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that the price of AAVE has rallied 110% from a low of $114 on March 15 to a daily high at $242 on March 29 as its 24-hour trading volume spiked 442% to $1.26 billion.

Three reasons for the price resurgence in AAVE have been the release of AAVE v3, the expansion of the protocol's ecosystem and steadily improving fundamentals.

AAVE v3

Traders have long anticipated the release of Aave v3 which was announced on March 16.

1/ Aave V3 is here!
The most powerful version of the Aave Protocol to date, V3 brings groundbreaking new features than span from increased capital efficiency to enhanced decentralization. Read what's new in V3 in the thread belowor visit https://t.co/H3jTyKRqNs to dive in! pic.twitter.com/LXzn7660nA
— Aave (@AaveAave) March 16, 2022

According to Aave, the new features will help provide greater capital efficiency, increased security and cross-chain functionality, while also helping to promote decentralization across the DeFi ecosystem.

Some of the new features include portals, which offer only “permit listed” bridge protocols that have been approved by Aave governance to facilitate cross-chain transactions, a high-efficiency mode (E-Mode) that allows users to extract the most out of their collateral by providing a higher borrowing power within the same asset category and an isolation mode which limits the available collateral for newly listed assets as a way to help limit exposure and risks to the protocol.

Aave v3 is currently deployed on Polygon, Fantom, Avalanche, Arbitrum, Optimism and Harmony, with more integrations planned in the future.

Ecosystem expansion

A second factor bringing fresh momentum to AAVE has been the expansion of the Aave ecosystem, which includes launching on new networks and forming partnerships and integrations with other DeFi protocols.

On top of now being available on seven different networks, Aave continues to explore new networks to launch on, including Metis.

Aave has also seen an uptick in support from wallet providers and Web3 aggregators, including Instadapp, Debank, 1inch, Paraswap, Zapper, DeFisaver and Zerion.

Aave V3 has landed at Zapper⚡️

Track your @aaveaave V3 portfolio across six networks including @0xPolygon, @avalancheavax, @arbitrum, @FantomFDN, @harmonyprotocol, and @optimismPBC!

Visit https://t.co/UvfknT87el to get started. pic.twitter.com/ASFFGNsTu4
— Zapper ⚡️ (@zapper_fi) March 21, 2022

TVL is on the rise

A third sign of the building strength for Aave can be found by looking at the community behind the protocol, which has continued to see new users onboard into the ecosystem despite the wider struggles of the DeFi sector.

*Total Aave users over time. Source: Dune Analytics*

According to data from Dune Analytics, there are now more than 92,000 unique wallet addresses that have engaged with the AAVE protocol. With the number of chains supported by Aave continuing to increase, there is a strong possibility that this number will rise further in the future.

As a result of new users and the addition of support for new chains, the total value locked (TVL) on the protocol is once again on the rise and currently sits at $13.99 billion according to data from DeFi Llama.

*Total value locked on Aave. Source: Defi Llama.*

The recent addition of support for liquid staking assets such as stETH from Lido Finance has also helped boost the TVL on AAVE, possibly because ETH stakers are looking to maximize their return.

VORTECS™ data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro began to detect a bullish outlook for AAVE on March 24, prior to the recent price rise.

The VORTECS™ Score, exclusive to Cointelegraph, is an algorithmic comparison of historical and current market conditions derived from a combination of data points including market sentiment, trading volume, recent price movements and Twitter activity.

*VORTECS™ Score (grey) vs. AAVE price. Source:* *Cointelegraph Markets Pro*

As seen in the chart above, the VORTECS™ Score for AAVE climbed to a high of 73 on March 24, around one hour before the price began to increase 45.8% over the next five days.

5 cryptocurrency projects that made waves in 2021

December 25, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Aave

UNI, AAVE, CRV, AXS and DOGE are a few of the top cryptocurrency projects in 2021 that helped transform the face of the cryptocurrency ecosystem and paved the way to mass adoption.

2021 was a breakout year for the cryptocurrency market in many respects and most investors are absolutely thrilled that Bitcoin (BTC) price established a new all-time high of $68,789. In the same timeframe, Ether (ETH) went on a parabolic rally which saw its price gain 565% from Jan. 1 to hit a record high at $4,859 on Nov. 10.

While it was a banner year for large cap cryptocurrencies, some of the biggest gains and most impactful developments came from the altcoin market where decentralized finance (DeFi) and nonfungible tokens (NFTs) rallied by thousands of percent and helped to usher in a new level of awareness and adoption for blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies.

Here’s a look at five altcoin projects that made significant contributions to the cryptocurrency ecosystem in 2021.

Uniswap

The decentralized exchange Uniswap (UNI) has arguably had the greatest impact on the crypto ecosystem as a whole since launching in the summer of 2020, with the DEX seeing significant growth throughout 2021 as it helped facilitate the launch of thousands of new crypto projects by removing the barriers to launch that existed on centralized exchanges.

Data provided by Dune Analytics shows that Uniswap has been the dominant DEX throughout the year and it has consistently seen more trading volume than all other DEXs combined.

*Monthly DEX volume by project. Source: Dune Analytics*

As seen on the chart above, the volume traded on decentralized exchanges really started to ramp up in the second half of 2021 led in large part by activity on Uniswap.

Throughout 2021 Uniswap led the field in development as well, with the developers behind the protocol announcing the release of Uniswap v3 in March. The v3 upgrade included multiple protocol upgrades and it built the foundation to integrate layer-two scaling solutions like Optimism and Arbitrum with Uniswap as a way to help reduce the transaction costs and processing times for users.

Aave

Aave (AAVE) is a DeFi lending protocol that allows users to deposit their tokens and lend them out as a way to earn a yield or pledge them as collateral in order to borrow another asset.

As the DeFi sector started to gain traction in early 2021, AAVE emerged as a community favorite thanks to the wide swath of crypto assets supported and the backing from some well-funded players.

Over the course of the year, AAVE expanded its capabilities and reach with the release of AAVE v2 which added support for Polygon, a layer-two scaling solution, and Avalanche, which is a popular cross-chain blockchain network.

*Total liquidity on the AAVE protocol. Source: Aave*

As a result of these added capabilities, the total liquidity available on the AAVE protocol has surpassed $25.7 billion, making AAVE the top-ranked DeFi protocol by total value locked (TVL).

Curve

Curve Finance is a stablecoin-focused protocol that utilizes an automated market maker to manage liquidity on the platform and across the DeFi ecosystem.

Stablecoins have emerged as a foundational piece for the cryptocurrency community as a whole in 2021 because they provide sufficient liquidity for the market and a safe haven for traders seeking shelter during periods of high volatility.

The growing importance that stablecoins have benefited Curve protocol and its native CRV by accelerating its integration of stablecoins into many of the top DeFi protocols, including the Yearn.Finance ecosystem and Convex Finance.

Despite the fact that a significant portion of the assets locked on the Curve protocol are stablecoins, the platform now ranks as the second leading protocol in terms of TVL behind AAVE, with data from Defi Llama showing that $21.77 billion in value is now locked in Curve vaults.

*Total value locked on Curve. Source: Defi Llama*

Curve has also integrated with many of the most active blockchain networks, including Ethereum, Avalanche, Harmony, xDAI, Polygon, Arbitrum and Fantom, which is further evidence of the protocol's quest to be the stablecoin liquidity provider for the entire crypto market.

Axie Infinity

Axie Infinity is a play-to-earn (p2e) trading and battling game that allows participants to collect, breed, raise, battle and trade NFT-based creatures called Axies.

The p2e model emerged as a new fan favorite over the course of 2021 because it provides users with the ability to earn a daily income alongside their gameplay, which offers a few unique advantages when compared to the traditional pay-to-play model.

Alongside the rise in popularity of Axie Infinity came a new all-time high for the platform's native AXS token. As the token stormed to new highs, the platform generated a daily revenue of $17.55 million at its height on August 6.

*Axie Infinity price vs. total revenue. Source: Token Terminal*

Axie Infinity was also one of the earliest projects to establish the trend of migrating away from the Ethereum network because of high fees and slow transactions. Earlier in the year the project migrated to the Ronin sidechain and in November the project launched its own DEX called Katana.

Dogecoin

Dogecoin is an open-source proof of work cryptocurrency that leads the field of “meme” coins that made headlines all throughout 2021.

While the project has few contributions on the technological or development front, frequent shilling from the likes of Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Shark Tank star Mark Cuban helped to push Doge into a 23,746% rally that saw the price rise fr from $0.0031 on Jan. 1 to an all-time high of $0.74 on May 8.

*DOGE/USDT 1-day chart. Source: TradingView*

On top of the gains seen in DOGE price, the token received increased attention after it was announced that it would be used to help fund the launch of a lunar satellite by SpaceX and the Dogecoin movement also kicked off a meme-coin rally and spawned a bevy of copy-dog projects li Shiba Inu (SHIB) and Dogelon Mars (ELON).

DeFi TVL hits new highs while Metaverse tokens show signs of exhaustion

November 29, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Metaverse tokens are starting to cool off while DeFi platforms register steady inflows that pushed the sector’s TVL to a new all-time high.

Sentiment in the cryptocurrency market is back on the rise on Nov. 29 as the recent dip down into the “extreme fear” zone on the Crypto Fear and Greed Index improved slightly after Bitcoin (BTC) recovered above the $57,000 support, lifting the index higher into the “fear" zone.

*Fear & Greed Index. Source: Alternative.me*

Despite the overall “fear” and “extreme fear” sentiments that have been dominating the market since the index began to decrease on Nov. 16, several sub-sectors of the cryptocurrency market, including metaverse-related projects and gaming protocols, have seen breakouts to new all-time highs.

The rapid gains seen in these projects has led to some concern that the metaverse and gaming sectors could see a significant pullback in the short term if traders take profits and await more sustainable price levels, leading many to speculate as to which sector of the market will be the next to see bullish momentum and price gains.

A deeper dive into the available data shows that the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector of the market has been steadily gaining momentum over the past several months as the total value locked in DeFi climbed to a new all-time high of $276.92 billion on Nov. 9 and currently sits at $265.74 billion.

*Total value locked in DeFi. Source: Defi Llama*

The surge in TVL comes as new protocols continue to launch on Ethereum (ETH) compatible networks such as Fantom and layer-two solutions like Arbitrum that offer users the ability to conduct transactions in a lower fee environment.

DEX activity picks up

Another sign that activity in DeFi is on the rise has been the uptick in the trading volume on decentralized exchanges (DEXs) such as Uniswap and SushiSwap, which have been seeing a slow increase in activity since the market bottomed in mid-July.

*Total volume traded on decentralized exchanges. Source: Token Terminal*

As seen in the chart above, the volume traded on the top DEXs is now consistently back at levels similar to what was seen during the bull market in the first half of 2021.

One of the most notable changes has been the addition of activity from dYdX, a decentralized layer-two perpetuals and futures exchange that surprised early adopters back in September when it airdropped its new governance token to users who had previously engaged with the protocol.

Since its launch, dYdX has become the go-to option for decentralized options trading in the crypto market and at one time saw its trading activity surpass the spot trading activity on the top U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase.

One final piece of evidence showing that activity in DeFi is on the rise along with the underlying sentiment in where the market is headed is found in the borrowed volume on the top lending platforms, which is now near an all-time high of $35 billion.

*Borrowed volume on lending platforms. Source: Token Terminal*

This indicates that crypto hodlers are locking up their tokens as collateral to receive loans that can be put to further use in crypto and DeFi related activity, and suggests that many are expecting a continuation of the bull market as the ecosystem prepares to close out 2021 and get 2022 off to a hot start.

The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $2.63 trillion and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 42.1%.

Aave price hits two-month high on Wall Street’s DeFi adoption hopes

August 5, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Aave

Bids for the lending platform token surged dramatically after Bitwise Investments announced an Aave-focused fund for institutional investors.

Demand for Aave has boomed dramatically in the previous 24 hours as traders assessed its involvement in Bitwise Investment’s upcoming institutionally focused investment vehicle.

The San Francisco-based asset management firm announced Wednesday that it would invest directly in Aave to back its “Bitwise Aave Fund,” a fund created to build a bridge between accredited investors and the emerging decentralized finance (DeFi) sector.

“There is growing demand from financial advisors, hedge funds, institutions, and other professional investors for exposure to the fast-growing DeFi markets,” Matt Hougan, chief information officer of Bitwise, said in a press release, adding that the investment products would simplify access to DeFi markets for professional investors.

The announcement helped to send the bids for Aave higher across spot exchanges. As a result, the DeFi protocol token surged 9.90% to $333.84 and continued its upside momentum heading into the current session.

*Aave eyes a clear bullish breakout above the triangle range. Source: TradingView*

It established an intraday high of $372.71 on Thursday, a level it last approached on June 9.

Behind the demand

The latest bout of uptrend pushed Aave’s year-to-date gains a little over 320%, asserting its growth in the emerging DeFi sector. In detail, Aave enables users to earn interest rates on deposits and borrow assets with a stable or variable interest rate option.

The protocol also enables “flash loans,” wherein users can borrow funds for ultra-short durations without needing to provide collateral.

Meanwhile, the token Aave (formerly known as LEND) allows the community to govern the protocol’s ecosystem. In doing so, Aave holders can propose, vote and decide on new additions, features and assets to the protocol.

Additionally, a pre-programmed algorithm burns Aave based on the fees earned by the protocol, thereby ensuring that the token remains scarce in the long run.

As a result, the total value locked (TVL) inside the Aave reserve pools has climbed from $519.9 million to $11.2 billion year-over-year, per data provided by DappRadar. The total outstanding loans issued via Aave also have grown 70 times in the previous 12 months.

*Aave TVL in the past 12 months. Source: DappRadar*

Ty Young, a researcher at crypto data aggregator Messari, noted that investing in DeFi projects makes more sense for institutional investors than putting capital in Bitcoin (BTC), explaining that protocols like Aave “generate cash flow and have intrinsic value.”

“DeFi tokens’ cash-generating properties allow us to frame discussions about these assets’ worth using traditional valuation methods,” he added.

“As familiar frameworks gain traction and valuation standards coalesce, DeFi assets will gain greater appeal from financial institutions and investors.”

Part of the reason is the dismissive returns on savings offered by the traditional sector.

According to Bankrate.com, the average interest rate on saving accounts in the United States is just 0.06%. Conversely, DeFi projects offer depositors annualized returns anywhere between 1% and 10% — and sometimes even higher — on U.S. dollar-backed stablecoins, such as Tether (USDT), Dai, USD Coin (USDC), etc.

What’s next for Aave?

A strong fundamental backdrop has pushed Aave to new highs, but its ability to continue its uptrend relies on a technical structure.

As spotted by PostXBT, a pseudonymous market analyst, AAVE/USD wants to break above a stern technical resistance level that constitutes an ascending triangle pattern. As long as the pair trades under the said price ceiling, it could face possibilities of a pullback.

Eyes on $AAVE for the daily close...

Close above and we look for the retest to jump in

Close below and we ignore this fake out and remain patient https://t.co/ooAlbIlnli pic.twitter.com/ttX2jkaIfZ
— Posty (@PostyXBT) August 5, 2021

Cointelegraph’s VORTECS™ Score also suggested a bullish outlook as price bounced off the $300 mark. The VORTECS™ Score is an algorithmic comparison of historical and current market conditions derived from a combination of data points, including market sentiment, trading volume, recent price movements and Twitter activity.

*Aave price (white) vs VORTECS™ Score (green) chart. Source: Cointelegraph Markets Pro*

As seen in the chart above, the VORTECS™ Score for Aave rebounded from 64 (orange) toward 80 (green) on Wednesday, suggesting that more upside is likely.

Aave’s price is currently around $350 at time of publishing.

DeFi resurgence lifts Maker, Aave and Compound price to new highs

May 3, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Aave

As Ethereum rallied to new highs, the total value locked in multiple DeFi platforms surged above $10 billion, lifting MKR, AAVE and COMP toward new all-time highs.

Analyzing the activity on lending platforms can sometimes be used as a barometer for measuring the sentiment of the cryptocurrency market as a higher number of collateral-backed loans may signal that traders are eager to trade a rising market.

The month of April saw the total value locked on Maker (MKR), Aave (AAVE) and Compound (COMP) climb to new highs alongside rising token values and trading volumes.

All three of the projects are based on the Ethereum (ETH) network and have benefited from the rising price of ETH as well as a recent decline in the average gas fee that has led to an uptick in user engagement with decentralized finance (DeFi).

MKR/USDT

Maker has seen the largest price appreciation in the month of April thanks to multiple factors including an upgrade to its liquidation engine and the possible expansion of its approved collateral list.

The Maker protocol is responsible for the creation of the DAI stablecoin, which has seen its circulating supply reach a new high of $3.569 billion tokens.

Data from DappRadar shows that the total value locked (TVL) on the Maker platform has climbed higher throughout the month of April and now stands at $11.09 billion, making it the number one ranked Ethereum-based DeFi platform in terms of TVL.

*Total value locked on Maker. Source:* DappRadar

With institutions now getting involved in the cryptocurrency sector and showing great interest in the growing Ethereum network, the MakerDAO ecosystem and its DAI stablecoin could see further gains in users and TVL as one of the more established and long lasting DeFi protocols in the space.

AAVE/USDT

Growth in the AAVE ecosystem really began to take off in the middle of April after the project launched on the Polygon network in an effort to help scale the protocol while remaining on the Ethereum network.

The launch was well received as evidenced by the Polygon-based AAVE protocol surpassing $1 billion in liquidity within 10 days of launching.

A rally in the price of Polygon and the rapid growth of its QuickSwap DEX coincided with a sharp increase in the TVL of the AAVE protocol, which now stands at $10.56 billion according to data from DappRadar.

*Total value locked on Aave. Source:* DappRadar

The rapid increase in TVL that began on April 25 coincided with a 55% increase in the price of AAVE from a low of $315 to a high of $534 on May 3. AAVE's migration to the Polygon network and the increased scalability it offers is continuing to attracting new users and pushing the token price to new highs.

COMP/USDT

Compound price whipsawed in both directions in April but that didn't prevent the protocol from reaching a new all-time high.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets and TradingView shows that after bouncing off a low near $430 in April, the price of COMP rallied 104% to set a new record high at $879 on May 2.

The main driving force behind excitement in the community has been a series of governance votes as well as the approval for the second batch of development grant recipients.

According to data from DappRadar, the TVL on the Compound protocol actually surpassed the $11 billion level in mid-April before a downturn in the overall market caused a drop off in prices resulting in a rapid decline in the value of assets locked on the platform.

*Total value locked on Compound. Source:* *Defi Llama*

Now that the markets appear to be waking up with Ethereum fresh of a new all-time high and Bitcoin (BTC) looking to attempt a breakout above the $58,000 level, the TVL and price for COMP could again trend upward.

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