DeFi, the short form of decentralized finance generally refers to the digital assets and financial smart contracts, protocols, and decentralized applications (DApps) built on blockchain systems. The decentralized Finance (DeFi) sector has seen tremendous growth in the year as seen in DeFi and yield-related tokens like Yearn.finance (YFI), Aave (LEND), and others rallying to their all-time highs in 2020. Yearn.finance (YFI) continues to catch traders’ attention as its price surged in the last few days after Coinbase Pro announced on September 10 that it will list the token shortly.
YFI/USD Daily Chart
YFI is presently trading at $34,148 up 0.26% after setting an intraday high of $34,909.
The Loop Between Bitcoin, XRP, XLM, BTC Forks and DeFi
Most top DeFi-related tokens have outperformed Bitcoin (BTC) and other Altcoins. The strong performance from DeFi tokens has far outweighed that of Altcoins within the top-10 category. Even Chainlink (LINK) or UMA’s massive surge couldn’t outpace the DeFi move.
However, the loop between DeFi and other cryptocurrencies like XRP and Stellar (XLM) appears to be an inverse one. The DeFi rave has quieted discussions bothering cross-border payments. Privacy coins like Monero (XMR) seem to be affected by the DeFi rave in this manner.
Jason Choi of Spartan Group stated earlier that Bitcoin forks which include Litecoin (LTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and BSV, stand a chance of losing their market share to Bitcoin and Ethereum accruing from DeFi, this he stated:
“I can’t find a defensible thesis for most $BTC forks (LTC, BCH, BSV) over the long term. With the emergence of fee-accruing tokens in DeFi, seems natural that capital parked in these glorified digital pet rocks either flow to BTC or DeFi.”
Recent data from DeFi Pulse indicated that more than 20,000 BTC was poured into DeFi protocols the previous week. This action came following the bearish move temporarily seen across the entire crypto market over the weekend and at the week’s start.
Total USD Locked On to DeFi Protocols. Courtesy: DeFi Pulse
It was reported that more than 50% (51,295 BTC) of the locked BTC sitting on Ethereum in wBTC accounted for 63% of BTC growth in the prior week, locking an additional 13,000 wBTC on the network.
This isn’t far fetched as analysts anticipate the billions locked in “ghost” blockchains to flood towards DeFi and consequently towards Ethereum which remains the blockchain of choice.
Eric Conner of Gnosis re-echoed this by saying:
“The ghost chain reckoning is coming. There is well over $50bn in market cap value for chains no one uses. They will all be usurped by DeFi apps with actual use by the end of this market cycle.”
This statement above will most likely be the scenario until the DeFi bubble bursts with the Sushiswap ‘acquisition’ drama, the Yam token imbroglio quite an item to brood upon. In the future, a part of DeFi profits will likely trickle back into Bitcoin and Altcoins as investors look for ‘safer’ assets to earn interest in.
Image Credit: DeFi Pulse, Shutterstock
Bitcoin 
Ethereum 
Tether 
Bitcoin Cash 
Binance Coin