DeFi on NEAR 2023

In 2023, the NEAR ecosystem developed a set of mature platforms for the Decentralized Finances (DeFi) ecosystem. It has a wide range of decentralized apps (dApps) focused on the management of finances. NEAR is a showcase of a scalable, low fees, layer 1 blockchain. This advantage makes it easy for anyone interested to start their road on the DeFi’s.

DeFi allows users to have the management over their digital tokens. Some key features of this technology include:

1. Non-custodial; meaning that users maintain control of their assets throughout the trading process.
2. Transparent: All transactions are recorded on the blockchain and can be viewed by anyone.
3. Secure: Using advanced cryptography and other security measures to ensure that trades are safe and secure.
4. Accessible: to anyone with an internet connection and a compatible digital wallet.
5. No central authority: in a decentralized manner, meaning that there is no central authority controlling the exchange.

Proximity Labs, a research and development firm, including a venture capital fund, looks for the next generation of DeFi platforms that wants to develop on NEAR Protocol. If you are a developer and looking for support to enhance your DeFi dApp developed on NEAR look for them.

Lastly, we need to add context. The events occurred during 2022 (as Terra-Luna, FTX-Alameda, and others), and the crypto ecosystem made radical changes to the DeFi future, requiring more dynamic and innovative platforms that can support both: Bear and bull markets. Considering all the technological advantages, this writer believes that the DeFi future should be builded on NEAR.

Decentralized exchanges (DEX)

Ref Finance

Ref Finance, the pioneer of decentralized finance on NEAR Protocol, offers a comprehensive swap service for tokens with liquidity pools and farms. The platform has evolved over time to include an Automatic Market Maker (AMM) for seamless trading experiences.

Ref Finance is governed by a DAO that maintains a whitelist of tokens for trading on the platform, ensuring the security and stability of assets. As of 2023, Ref Finance remains the top DEX on NEAR with a promising roadmap to expand its features.

In Q1-2023, Ref Finance plans to launch Ref V2 Farms, core metrics on Ref Analytics, and Orderly’s liquidity integration for a pure Central Limit Order Book (CLOB) experience. In Q2-2023, the platform aims to introduce embedded lending and borrowing primitives, an enhanced swap proposal, Ref widgets, and Zap Swap.

In the second half of 2023, Ref Finance plans to roll out recurring swaps, Sentinel on pools and farms, liquidity as collateral, and innovative solutions for better security and user protection. With its ambitious roadmap, Ref Finance is poised to cement its position as a leading DEX in the NEAR ecosystem.

Spin Finance

Spin Finance is a decentralized trading platform that offers advanced trading tools to NEAR users, including perpetual futures on NEAR, ETH, and BTC. In addition to traditional spot trading, Spin provides DOVs and vaults for yield farming. By utilizing these vaults, traders can easily and safely participate in yield farming without having to trade individually.

Moreover, Spin Finance’s roadmap includes the introduction of new features such as options trading, AIPs, and a decentralized Market Maker. These advanced tools can be useful for both traders and degens, making any token on the NEAR Ecosystem worth considering for utilization.

Spin Finance’s unique hybrid model combines the advantages of centralized and put those on a decentralized exchanges, making it stand out among its peers. Since its launch in 2021 as an order book for NEAR, Spin has continued to grow, with an expanding team that promises a brilliant future ahead. If you’re looking for an advanced trading platform that combines the best of both worlds, Spin Finance may be the perfect choice for you.

Jump DeFi

Jump DeFi is an all-encompassing dapp that provides a range of solutions for launching, raising capital, and swapping NEP-141 tokens. It is regarded as an ecosystem that empowers individuals and organizations to take their first steps into the world of DeFi.

One of the most noteworthy tools provided by Jump Defi is the NFT staking service, which allows NFT communities to support their holders by providing them with tokens. This service is designed to incentivize the holding of NFTs and create a more engaged community.

Jump Token Laboratory is another innovative tool provided by Jump DeFi, which enables users to create tokens and subsequently move them to the Jump Pad, a launchpad that facilitates fundraising on the NEAR Ecosystem.

Jump DeFi has also played host to a boosted yield farming campaign for NEKO, a meme coin living on NEAR Protocol. The platform has also launched crowdfunding campaigns on other launchpads, including Meta Yield, where it raised a total of $68,416 USD in stNEAR tokens that will provide all the staking rewards.

Is an amazing and comprehensive platform that offers a diverse range of DeFi services on NEAR Protocol, including staking, fundraising, and token creation. It is a platform that has the potential to open up new opportunities and possibilities for anyone looking to participate in the decentralized finance ecosystem.

Liquid Staking

Meta Pool

Liquid staking has become a popular solution for those who want to stake their tokens and earn rewards, but also want to retain the ability to use those tokens in other ways. Meta Pool is the first and biggest liquid staking solution on NEAR Protocol, providing a way for users to earn staking rewards while still being able to use their staked tokens in the DeFi ecosystem.

Meta Pool launched with their digital staking token, $stNEAR, which allows users to keep staking while also using the $stNEAR derivative on the DeFi ecosystem. The protocol is managed by a DAO that rewards users with $META, a governance token that can be used to participate in the community driving Meta Pool’s DAO.

One of the unique features of Meta Pool is the implementation of the Meta Staking Vote, which allows $META holders to select which validators are the best to be supported. These validators receive 15% of the Meta Pool’s Total Value Locked (TVL) distributed based on their voting. This approach ensures that the Meta Pool community has a say in which validators are supported, promoting decentralization and community involvement in the network.

Today, the family of products launched by Meta Pool has enhanced and is compounded by:

• $stNEAR, Liquid Staking on NEAR.
• Liquidity pool for liquid unstake on NEAR Protocol.
• $stAUR token, liquid staking on Aurora
• Meta Yield, the first lossless crowdfunding platform on NEAR.
• Meta Bond, sell your locked positions on Meta Yield.
• Meta Vote, get voting power for the Meta Pool’s governance.

Meta Pool is a permissionless protocol that provides a way for users to stake their tokens and earn rewards, while also retaining the ability to use those tokens in other ways. With the implementation of the Meta Staking Vote and the distribution of $META governance tokens, Meta Pool promotes community involvement and participation in the governance of its network.

LiNEAR Protocol

$LiNEAR is a liquid staking solution provided by Linear Protocol, one of the leading projects in the NEAR ecosystem. It is part of Cornerstone, a meta-governance protocol built to support the growing NEAR ecosystem, offering $CORN tokens to users of their platforms.

With a relatively high APY of around 9%, LiNEAR has gained popularity among users looking for a lucrative liquid staking option on NEAR. The protocol has also recently supported Stake Wars III, a competition on NEAR that enables more validators to participate in the network as a block producer, further strengthening the ecosystem.

Linear Protocol has also announced its latest product, Phoenix Bonds, a yield generator farm available on Ref Finance for NEAR<>pNEAR liquidity providers. This will provide another opportunity for users to earn rewards while supporting the liquidity of NEAR and pNEAR. With its focus on building innovative and useful DeFi products, Linear Protocol is a project to watch in the NEAR ecosystem.

Stader Labs on NEAR

Stader Labs has brought its innovative liquid staking solution to NEAR Protocol, allowing users to earn staking rewards while also having access to their staked tokens through its token $NearX.

The platform has integrated with multiple wallets to make it easy for users to participate in liquid staking. Additionally, Stader Labs has taken security seriously and has undergone rigorous security audits from Halborn, BlockSec, and OSec, all of which have given the platform their stamp of approval.

Beyond NEAR Protocol, Stader Labs has a presence on several other chains, including Polying, Fantom, BNB Chain, and Hedera, providing liquid staking solutions to users across multiple ecosystems.

In the NEAR ecosystem specifically, the liquid staking token $NearX is available on both: NEAR protocol and Aurora Network, an EVM running over NEAR, giving users even more flexibility and options when it comes to staking their tokens.

Lending platforms

Burrow Cash

Decentralized finance has opened up a world of possibilities when it comes to lending and borrowing. Burrow Cash is a lending platform running on the NEAR Protocol that offers a decentralized way to lend and borrow tokens without the need for a centralized intermediary.

With Burrow Cash, users can lock their tokens and use them as collateral to request another token, allowing them to get access to new tokens without having to sell their existing positions. This is particularly useful for users who don’t want to sell their tokens but still want to access other tokens or need liquidity.

Burrow Cash uses oracles to monitor token prices, ensuring that the user’s collateral remains stable and that they receive a fair amount of tokens in exchange for their collateral. However, it’s important to remember that if the value of the collateral drops, it could be at risk of being liquidated to pay back the debt.

In addition to lending and borrowing, Burrow Cash also offers liquidity pools, where users can supply their tokens for burrowing and earn rewards in exchange. These liquidity pools provide another way for users to earn a return on their tokens, and also provide liquidity to the platform, which helps ensure that there is always enough liquidity available for those who want to borrow or lend.

Overall, Burrow Cash is a decentralized lending platform that offers a simple, secure, and efficient way to lend and borrow tokens on the NEAR Protocol. By using oracles to monitor token prices and providing liquidity pools, Burrow Cash offers a reliable and convenient way for users to access new tokens, while also earning rewards on their existing tokens.

Launchpads

Meta Yield

Meta Yield is a crowdfunding platform that leverages liquid staking to provide financial support and exposure to web 3.0 projects built on the NEAR protocol. Backers commit and lock stNEAR to support projects and earn tokens from new projects launching on NEAR or receive an NFT drop. Projects only earn staking rewards of what backers commit, not their underlying crypto assets. Backers can recover 100% of their NEAR tokens at the end of the locking period, making Meta Yield a lossless staking rewards-based crowdfunding platform.

As a backer on the Meta Yield Launchpad, you get early access to the project you backed, project tokens valued higher than the market price, and the ability to recover your initial investment of NEAR tokens. To claim your project tokens and recover your tokens, the process is straightforward and involves a few simple steps.

Overall, Meta Yield offers a unique fundraising mechanism for web 3.0 projects on NEAR. It allows backers to support projects without losing their staked tokens and earn rewards from new projects launching on NEAR. If you become a backer, you can enjoy several benefits, such as early access to projects, higher valued project tokens, and the ability to recover your initial investment of NEAR tokens.

Meta Bonds, a secondary market for Meta Yield locked positions

Meta Bonds is a secondary market that allows backers of crowdfunding campaigns on Meta Yield to trade their locked positions in the form of bonds.

Meta Yield is a crowdfunding protocol that uses stNEAR, a staked token that generates yield by providing liquidity to the Meta Yield protocol. When backers support a project on Meta Yield, they receive two IOUs in the form of bonds: one for their original investment and the other for the project tokens they will receive in exchange for their rewards.

The first bond becomes available when the locking period ends, and the second bond can be claimed after the gradual release period. During this time, backers can invest their tokens by putting them into the market, which can be accessed by visiting the Meta Bonds website at metabondsmarket.app.

Meta Bonds enables backers to monetize their investments before the gradual release period ends. This creates an opportunity for backers to trade their bonds for other assets, such as other tokens or cryptocurrencies, while also providing liquidity to the market.

By creating a secondary market for locked positions, Meta Bonds provides liquidity and trading opportunities, while also creating a new avenue for monetization of investments.

NEAR Starter

NEAR Starter is a game-changing initiative that is empowering new projects to build and launch on NEAR Protocol. Conceived as a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), NEAR Starter provides a comprehensive ecosystem of support for early-stage projects. The NEAR Starter Launchpad is an integral part of this ecosystem, allowing projects to make an Initial Decentralized Offering (IDO) and raise funds from the community.

In addition to its Launchpad, NEAR Starter has also made a name for itself by providing NFT collections that allow users to farm $NEARIA, the index token that is being used to exchange for projects. This innovative approach has helped to create a vibrant and engaged community around NEAR Starter, with users eagerly participating in the farming process.

The NEAR Starter site is built over the Aurora Network, which allows for low fees and seamless connectivity through Meta Mask. This ensures that users can easily and securely participate in the Launchpad and farming processes, without having to worry about excessive fees or complex technical requirements.

To showcase the power of its Launchpad, NEAR Starter recently launched the $NEARIA token through an IDO, with a target of 24 ETH to be collected. This successful launch is just the beginning for NEAR Starter, as it continues to support and incubate new projects on NEAR Protocol.

Yield aggregators

Pembrock Finance

​​

With NEAR Protocol providing a robust platform for DeFi applications, Pembrock stands out as a leveraged yield farming protocol that utilizes multiple strategies to farm tokens from NEAR Protocol.

What makes Pembrock unique is that it caters to two types of users: Lenders and Leveraged Yield farmers. Lenders can earn passive income by depositing their crypto into vaults, which fund liquidity pools. On the other hand, Leveraged Yield farmers can maximize their profits by opening a leveraged position. This means users can borrow additional funds from the platform, paying a small amount of interest on their profits.

Pembrock has a diverse range of pools available, including wNEAR, ETH, PEM, SWEAT, USDC.e, and more coins available on the NEAR ecosystem. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced investor, starting a position with Pembrock is simple. All you need to do is visit their site and look for farming or lending in their pools. With Pembrock’s user-friendly interface, you can easily navigate through the pools and choose the one that best suits your investment strategy.

Overall, Pembrock is an excellent example of how DeFi is revolutionizing the traditional financial sector. By utilizing decentralized protocols, Pembrock provides users with an opportunity to earn passive income and maximize their profits through leveraged yield farming.

The end, for now…

DeFi on NEAR Protocol is a rapidly evolving ecosystem that offers various innovative solutions for users. With a strong focus on scalability, interoperability, and user experience, NEAR Protocol is attracting many developers and investors to build and invest in DeFi projects on the platform. As the ecosystem continues to grow and mature, it is expected to become a significant player in the broader DeFi landscape, offering unique features and advantages to its users.

This post presented several DeFi projects on the NEAR Protocol. Each of these projects has unique features and contributes to the growing DeFi ecosystem on NEAR. We know that sooner or later this article will have to be rewritten to include the new and amazing apps that will come.

See you soon!