1. Aave
- Aave is a DeFi Money Market Protocol that allows users to easily earn interest by depositing cryptocurrency into the protocol.
- Additionally, it allows users to take out loans from the protocol with a specific rate of interest attached.
- The platform provides interest for deposits in a wide range of cryptocurrency which includes the likes of;
- DAI, KNC, LINK, MKR, USDC, TUSD, USDT, BUSD, ETH.
- Aave is also the pioneer of flash swaps that allow non-collateralized loans to be taken out so long as they are paid back within 1 transaction.
- LEND is the token that governs the entire platform.
2. Akropolis
- Akropolis is a lending platform that allows users to borrow or lend.
- Their mission is to give people to save, grow, and provide for future safety without depending on financial institutions.
- Create and grow informal autonomous financial organizations (AFOs).
- Totally non-custodial.
- The platform has integrations with Compound, Fulcrum, Aave, Maker, Curve, and dydx
3. Atomic Loans
- Provides non-custodial Bitcoin-backed loans.
- Offers a leverage of up to 3x.
- Raised $2.45 million in a seed funding round.
- Withdraw loans in either DAI or USDC.
- Take out loans against BTC without having to sell the underlying asset.
- Totally decentralized and non0custodial - secured by smart contracts.
4. bZx
- A lending protocol for traders to take out loans on margin to trade with.
- Raised over $7.8 million in their ICO for BZRX tokens
- BZRX will be used to pay fees and for governance.
- Their frontend trading platform, Fulcrum, allows users to margin trade or lend crypto assets.
- Uses a three token system to work which include;
- BZRX - pay fees and governance
- iTokens - given to lenders when they deposit funds into the global liquidity pools. Can be redeemed for the cryptocurrency asset at any time and they also earn interest.
- pTokens - given to users that borrow from the protocol.
5. Compound Finance
- Compound Finance is one of the most popular borrowings and lending platforms.
- Allows for the creation of money markets on the Ethereum blockchain.
- Lenders can earn interest in depositing liquidity into the Compound pool for borrowers to lend. Lenders earn interest in every Ethereum block.
- Borrowers take from the liquidity pool and pay interest on their loans and they must deposit collateral in order to take out a loan.
6. DeFiner
- DeFiner is another lending platform similar to others mentioned on this list.
- It allows users to deposit cryptocurrency to earn interest on their assets.
- According to their homepage, you can earn between 4-10% for crypto deposits which is a signficanlty higher rate than its competition.
- Users can lend or borrow on a P2P basis and choose flexible terms that suit their current financial situation.
- Fully non-custodial and powered through smart contracts.
- Totally insured service through Quantstamp and Nexus Mutual.
- Users earn DeFiner’s governance token FIN through a Proof of Interest protocol.
- Backed by NEX, Techstars, and Microsoft.
7. MakerDAO
- A totally decentralized autonomous organization that allows users to take out loans based on collateral.
- MakerDAO is recognized as the original lending platform in the industry.
- Borrowers over-collateralize their positions to ensure that the loans do not default and receive the loan in the form of the DAI stable coin.
- They have to pay DAI back to receive their collateral.
- DAI is kept stable through the MakerDAO mechanism and the DAI Savings Rate.
- MakerDAO has been battle-tested and has already survived a number of huge market crashes which did not cause a cascading loan default scenario.
8. Nitrogen Network
- A lending platform for borrowers to take out decentralized P2P secured loans.
- Lenders earn interest when somebody “rents” their crypto assets on the lender’s term.
- All funds are held safely inside smart contracts.
- The lender is protected due to the collateral that a borrower has to deposit in order to take out a loan.
9. SwapRate
- A tool designed to switch between the best interest rates for lending.
- Users holdings are automatically swapped between different lending platforms whilst it seeks for the best rates.
- Currently has integrations for Aave DAI, Compound DAI, and Compound USDC.
- Rate swaps automatically occur without the need for user input.
10. dYdX
- Along with being a decentralized margin trading platform, dYdX also offers a sophisticated lending service.
- It was founded in late 2017 by Antonio Juliano.
- Raised a total of $12 million in funding.
- Users deposit funds into the dYdX platform which are then lent out to borrowers.
- The lenders earn interest every second which is paid for by the borrowers.
- Zero lock-up periods for lenders so they can withdraw at any time.
- Users can lend the following coins as of August 2020;
- BAT, DAI, ETH, USDC, USDT, TUSD, WBTC, ZRX.