DeFi
Understanding Smart Contracts: The Backbone of Secure Transactions in DeFi
Imagine a world where promises are kept and honored, where financial products are transparent and democratized, all without any intermediaries. This transformation is underway and is taking a leading position in the financial landscape with decentralized finance (DeFi). At the heart of this transformation are smart contracts self-executing, tamper-proof agreements that automate complex transactions. These advancements are crucial for the DeFi ecosystem, promising a future where financial transactions are more secure, accessible, and transparent. Smart contracts are based on blockchain Networks, especially public and permissionless networks like Ethereum. Understanding cryptography is essential for the foundational technology that it is. What are smart contracts?
Smart contracts are self-executing contracts coded in software. They automatically apply and execute when predetermined conditions are met, eliminating intermediaries. This reduces costs and minimizes the risk of human error and fraud. Introduced by cryptographer Nick Szabo in the 1990s, smart contracts have become an integral part of blockchain platforms like Ethereum.
These contracts operate on an “if-then” logic. For example, if a buyer sends the required quantity of cryptocurrency To the seller, the smart contract automatically transfers ownership of the digital asset. This process is transparent, immutable, and permissionless, meaning it cannot be changed once deployed. They enable atomic settlements (ensuring that transactions are fully completed or not at all) and composability, allowing different DeFi protocols to seamlessly interact. Imagine this entire process applied to every financial asset class, where it’s not just crypto, but tokenized representations of underlying assets.
Smart contracts can streamline settlements and payments, reducing the time and costs associated with these transactions by eliminating intermediaries. They enable tokenization and the fragmentation of assets, transforming them into digital tokens that can be easily traded and held in smaller units, enabling broader participation and increased liquidity. They can also transform complex financial products such as derivatives and structured products, which currently involve significant counterparty risk and require extensive oversight. By automating these processes, smart contracts improve efficiency, transparency and security, paving the way for a more resilient and accessible financial ecosystem.
Applications in DeFi
DeFi leverages smart contracts to create decentralized financial services that are accessible to anyone with an internet connection. These applications range from payment networks and lending platforms to decentralized exchanges, automated market makers, and structured financial products.
Decentralized Exchanges (DEX)
- Traditional stock exchanges like the NYSE or NSE operate with brokers and clearing houses that connect buyers and sellers. Transactions often take several days to settle and involve multiple intermediaries.
- DeFi platforms like Uniswap use smart contracts to allow users to swap tokens directly from their wallets. These platforms provide liquidity pools where users can contribute assets and earn fees on trades. This further eliminates the middleman, making trades faster and more cost-effective. Atomic settlements ensure that trades are either fully completed or not completed at all, eliminating the risk of partial execution and increasing security.
Regulation of securities
- Settling securities transactions in traditional financial systems (TradFi) involves a complex process involving brokers, clearing houses, and custodians. This process can take several days and has multiple points of failure and risks of error or fraud.
- Smart contracts automate and accelerate the settlement process, ensuring near-instant settlement once conditions are met. This reduces the time and costs involved while increasing transparency and security. Composability allows different DeFi protocols to interact and build on each other, making it possible to efficiently create complex financial structures and products. For example, users can leverage assets from one protocol to obtain liquidity in another, all managed seamlessly via smart contracts.
Digital Asset Structured Products
- TradFi structured products such as hedge funds, algorithmic funds or index ETFs are managed by financial institutions and require significant oversight, management fees and regulatory compliance. These products often lack transparency, leading to inefficiencies and higher costs.
- In DeFi, structured products can be created using smart contracts, allowing users to create and invest in complex financial products without an intermediary. These products are fully transparent, with all transactions and holdings visible on the blockchain. Smart contracts manage the entire lifecycle of these products, from asset creation and management to yield distribution. Most importantly, they are permissionless, meaning users can deposit and trade at will without introducing counterparty risk. This automation reduces costs, improves transparency, and enables the creation of more innovative financial products.
Security and custody
Smart contracts offer significant benefits in terms of security and self-custody of financial transactions. Unlike traditional financial systems that rely on intermediaries, which can be points of failure, smart contracts allow users to maintain control over their assets. Transactions are executed automatically and transparently, reducing the risk of fraud.
Additionally, smart contracts are designed to be tamper-proof. Once deployed, they operate exactly as programmed, with no possibility of third-party interference. This ensures that contractual obligations are met without requiring trust between the parties.
However, despite their potential, smart contracts are not without challenges. One of the major risks is the possibility of bugs or vulnerabilities in the code. These flaws can be exploited by malicious actors, leading to substantial financial losses. For example, in the Poly Network hack in 2021, an attacker exploited a vulnerability in the smart contract code, resulting in the theft of over $600 million. These risks can be mitigated by conducting comprehensive security audits of the smart contract code and implementing several interventions to reduce single points of failure.
Smart Contracts and the Future of Finance
Improving the next generation of DeFi relies on two key areas: interoperability between blockchains and the integration of artificial intelligence (AI). Better interoperability will allow DeFi protocols to interact seamlessly, increasing the scalability and ease of use of DeFi platforms. This will attract more users and capital, facilitating the creation of more complex financial products. As interoperability increases, smart contracts will execute transactions and operations across multiple blockchains, fostering a more connected financial ecosystem.
AI can significantly improve smart contracts by enabling more sophisticated decision-making and predictive analytics. AI could assess borrowers’ creditworthiness in real time, enabling more accurate lending decisions. Additionally, AI can help create tokenized structured products that combine predictive analytics with autonomous smart contract execution, resulting in innovative financial solutions.
Smart contracts are essential to the security and automation of transactions in DeFi. Their ability to enforce agreements in a transparent and immutable manner offers a compelling alternative to traditional financial systems. Despite the challenges, the continued development and integration of smart contracts, coupled with advances in AI and interoperability, will advance the DeFi ecosystem, paving the way for a safer and more inclusive financial future.
(The author Srikumar Misra is the founder of the Aarnâ Protocol. The views expressed are his own)
(Disclaimer:The recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions expressed by the experts are their own. They do not represent the views of the Economic Times)
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(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author. The facts and opinions expressed herein do not reflect the views of www.economictimes.com.)
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DeFi
Is Zypto Wallet a Reliable Choice for DeFi Users?
Zypto wallet is a newcomer in the crypto landscape and has already made waves for its exclusive benefits and security features.
In this article, we will take a look at the Zypto crypto wallet and how it can help users securely manage their digital assets, interact with Web3 applications, and explore the world of Challenge.
What is Zypto Wallet?
Zypto App is a newly launched versatile crypto wallet that supports a wide range of coins and tokens, along with seamless access to Web3 applications, token exchanges, virtual crypto cards, a gift card marketplace, and a payment gateway.
What are the pros and cons of Zypto Wallet?
Benefits
- User-friendly: Zypto’s user interface is very intuitive with a simple setup process.
- Multi-Chain DEX Swaps: Zypto facilitates trading between thousands of cryptocurrencies, thanks to its versatile multi-chain token swap feature.
- Built-in dApp Browser: You can access Web3 applications directly in your wallet using the in-app dApp browser.
- Live Customer Support: The wallet has an in-app live customer support team that responds quickly to all your queries.
- Rewards Program: Zypto has a loyalty program that allows you to earn rewards, improving the overall user experience.
- Virtual crypto cards: The wallet makes it easy and reliable to use digital currencies for everyday transactions through its range of virtual cryptocurrency cards.
The inconvenients
- Limited analysis tools: Zypto offers advanced charting features and limited technical analysis tools that might not appeal to experienced cryptocurrency traders.
What DeFi products and services does Zypto Wallet offer?
Zypto allows you to securely manage a wide range of cryptocurrencies across multiple blockchains, acting as a user-friendly entry point into the Web3 ecosystem.
Multi-Chain Wallet
As a multi-chain wallet, Zypto supports hundreds of thousands of digital assets across different blockchains. Zypto is also committed to adding support for more chains in the coming months, expanding its universe of explorable assets.
Multi-Chain Exchange Functionality
Instead of the tedious process of selling one token on one exchange and buying another of the same type hosted on a different blockchain, Zypto offers a cross-chain swap feature.
DApp Browser
Another easy-to-use feature is the in-app dApp browser. Simply bring up the browser from the small globe icon at the bottom of your screen and it will first take you to the Zypto homepage.
The browser provides all the features under one application so you don’t miss anything that warrants opening a separate browser.
Zypto DeFi Wallet Review
User experience
Zypto’s ease of use is one of its main advantages. Once the app is downloaded, you can view your wallet from the home screen. Other buttons at the bottom of your screen will take you to prepaid virtual cards, an Explore Zypto page, where you can send, receive, exchange, buy and sell tokens, or access the dApp browser and your contact list.
Zypto requires KYC information before processing cards, as it is part of regulatory compliance. Contacts are another benefit: instead of tediously copying and pasting long addresses, simply save them under a contact name.
How to set up your Zypto wallet?
To start using Zypto, simply download the app. Once installed, you’re ready to go.
You can create a new wallet by pressing the Create Wallet button or import an existing wallet by writing (or pasting) your passphrase to verify your identity. You can also import it in read-only mode, in which case you only need the wallet name and address.
Conclusion: The Verdict
Zypto is relatively new in the DeFi space, but it’s already gaining popularity among different types of users. Those who prefer everything neatly organized in one place will find the app appealing, as will those who prefer its rich features and integration with fiat payment methods over on- and off-ramp cryptocurrencies.
DeFi
Switchboard Revolutionizes DeFi with New Oracle Aggregator
Switchboard, a leading oracle network known for its permissionless and fully customizable features, has launched a revolutionary oracle aggregator. This new tool enables seamless integration of data across multiple oracle networks, including household names like Chainlink and Pyth Network. In doing so, it provides users with access to a wide range of data sources, improving the versatility and reliability of decentralized finance (DeFi) applications.
Addressing security and cost challenges in DeFi
The Oracle Aggregator is designed to address significant security and cost challenges in the DeFi sector. In 2023, the Web3 industry saw losses exceeding $500 million due to price manipulation attacks, a notable increase from $403.2 million in 2022. These attacks accounted for 33% of the total value lost due to hacks. By expanding the diversity and volume of data sources, Switchboard aims to strengthen the resilience of data streams against such malicious activities, thereby improving the overall security of DeFi platforms.
Empowering developers with customizable data streams
Switchboard’s new Oracle Aggregator allows developers to design custom data feeds that draw from a wide range of sources, both within and outside of the Switchboard platform. This flexibility allows developers to create tailored feeds that meet their specific needs, moving away from rigid templates. The platform’s permissionless nature and lack of gatekeepers ensure developers have complete control over the data feeds they create.
Switchboard CEO Chris Hermida noted that the company’s philosophy has always been to empower developers rather than constrain them. By launching Oracle Aggregator, Switchboard allows developers to use data from a variety of sources, including Pyth and Chainlink, enabling innovation and customization of their projects. Hermida noted that this new capability allows developers to break away from traditional models and take a more personalized approach to data integration.
Plug-and-Play approach for enhanced security
Switchboard’s Oracle Aggregator offers a plug-and-play approach that allows users to leverage multiple Oracle networks, enhancing data security and reliability. By aggregating data from multiple sources, developers can improve the scalability and redundancy of their data feeds, setting a new industry standard as the first generalized Oracle aggregator. This scalability ensures that projects can mitigate risks associated with data manipulation and other vulnerabilities.
One of the most notable features of Oracle Aggregator is its customizable nature. Developers can selectively choose trusted data sources, eliminating those that do not meet their standards. This level of control is crucial for projects that aim to protect their operations from potential threats.
Innovative use of secure execution environments
Switchboard uses Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) to ensure that data aggregation occurs entirely off-chain. This innovative approach minimizes gas costs associated with on-chain operations while preserving data integrity. Aggregated data is then shared with users in a single on-chain transaction, simplifying the process and reducing operational expenses.
Mitch Gildenberg, Switchboard’s CTO, highlighted the platform’s developer-centric design. He noted that the platform is designed to put developers in control, allowing them to fine-tune each data flow to their specific needs. This approach reflects Switchboard’s commitment to understanding and meeting developer needs.
Expansion and impact on the industry
Since its launch in 2021, Switchboard has seen significant growth, amassing over 180,000 users and achieving a total valuation of $1.6 billion. The company’s commitment to user autonomy and inclusion has been a driving force behind its rapid expansion in the Web3 ecosystem. Earlier this year, Switchboard raised $7.5 million in a Series A funding round co-led by Tribe Capital and RockawayX, with additional support from leading investors including the Solana Foundation, Aptos Labs, Mysten Labs, Subzero Ventures, and Starkware.
Conclusion
As the DeFi industry continues to evolve, tools like Switchboard’s Oracle Aggregator will play a crucial role in building robust and secure decentralized applications. By giving developers the ability to integrate and customize data feeds from multiple sources, Switchboard is setting new industry standards, driving innovation, and improving the overall security of the Web3 ecosystem.
DeFi
Bitcoin is the solution to inevitable hyperfinancialization
Disclosure: The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to the author and do not represent the views and opinions of the crypto.news editorial team.
If there is one thing that is becoming clear, it is that hyperfinancialization is inevitable, and our best chance of achieving it successfully is through Bitcoin (Bitcoin). This decentralized cryptocurrency, known for its fixed supply and robust security, offers a unique solution to the coming problem of wealth inequality and concentrated power. By embracing Bitcoin, we can create a more transparent and resilient financial future, or we risk losing our financial sovereignty to a handful of corporations.
The hyper-financialization of the world has already begun, with the financial sector becoming a relatively larger part of the economy, in terms of size and importance. Financial structures are also expanding rapidly in other sectors.
For example, in 2023, Americans spent more than $100 billion on state-run lotteries, according to According to The Economist, the poorest citizens spent huge amounts on tickets. In addition, the online sports betting market, valued at more than $100 billion, is projected to generate nearly $46 billion in revenue this year, with a user penetration rate of 3.9%.
Moreover, Robin HoodRobinhood, a commission-free investment platform popular with retail investors, saw its funded customers climb to 23.9 million and its assets under custody soar to $129.6 billion, another prime example of the hyper-financialization trend. Robinhood began to gain traction during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and the hyper-financialization trend was exacerbated. For people stuck at home, the online world became their primary means of entertainment and social interaction.
Governments then injected billions of dollars into the market, encouraging people to bet their money on the markets. The subsequent surge in inflation and the weakness of the global economy further intensified this trend, with people having to bear the burden of survival.
This has led to an increased proliferation of financial structures in different spheres of life, meaning that both manufacturers and consumers are taking this route.
As we can see, cryptocurrency has grown from less than $150 billion in March 2020 to $2.7 trillion today. This explosive growth not only accelerates the trend towards the hyperfinancialization of finance with yield farming, resttaking, points, rewards and meme coins, but also that of art via NFTs, social dynamics via social tokens and platforms like Friendtech, game with play-to-win conceptsand physical assets through tokenization.
There are also prediction markets that allow people to bet on all sorts of events. These range from the outcome of the 2024 US presidential election to whether Bitcoin will hit $100,000 by the end of the year, whether Drake’s verse in “Wah Gwan Delilah” is an AI, what the opening weekend box office of “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” will be, or whether the Fed will raise rates this year.
This growing trend towards hyper-financialization is detrimental to society because it widens already large wealth gaps by increasing wealth concentration and contributing to economic inequality. Not to mention that it will lead to even larger asset bubbles, a focus on the short term at the expense of the long term, and an increased interest in speculative investments.
Here, cryptography can help find a better way to address hyperfinancialization. After all, the wealth is in the middlemen, and using blockchain technology removes this third party from the equation, bringing reliability, traceability, and immutability to the market. Blockchain actually allows hyperfinancialization to be fair and transparent.
Before the advent of cryptocurrencies, not everyone was allowed to participate in markets. But through disintermediation and permissionlessness, cryptocurrencies have made markets more efficient and accessible. Not to mention, everyone gains full control over their data, mitigating the risk of data manipulation and privacy violations.
This is where Bitcoin offers the perfect solution. This decentralized peer-to-peer network enables financial inclusion and censorship resistance, which is critically important in today’s world where organizations and governments are encroaching on people’s rights. This network has a decade-and-a-half-old history behind it, providing a robust and secure platform for people to achieve financial sovereignty.
This trillion-dollar asset class also serves as a hedge against inflation, allowing holders to preserve their wealth over time. Unlike fiat currencies, which are devalued by politicians, Bitcoin’s fixed supply and decentralization protect it from such pressures, making it the perfect asset to own in a world where everyone is competing to extract value.
The largest crypto network is now also seeing experimentation, as developers and investors use it as a foundation to build a truly decentralized future of finance and value.
For so long, Bitcoin has been a low-activity blockchain, with its key role being to store value. While Bitcoin has played a passive role in the blockchain world for all these years, it has finally changed with Taproot Upgrade which brought NFTs into the Bitcoin world. Then there was a growing interest in tokenization, also from institutions like Blackrock.
This drive to expand Bitcoin’s utility has sparked a wave of innovation, and the day is not far when BTC could dethrone Ethereum as the go-to blockchain for decentralized finance. Several aspects, including Bitcoin’s robust security framework, widespread acceptance, and institutional interest, position Bitcoin at the forefront of defi innovation.
So, with these developments, Bitcoin is now evolving to begin its new era of utility and innovation after realizing its original vision of being a peer-to-peer electronic currency system.
As everything becomes a financial asset and tradable, attention, which is a scarce resource, will become even more crucial. Bitcoin has already cemented its position in the attention economy, and the newfound interest in regulatory complaints and widespread adoption of BTC to boost productivity will allow it to lead the future of digital economies. This portends a world where crypto leads the charge towards hyperfinancialization, with BTC in the driver’s seat.
So, to conclude, the resilient Bitcoin network that has spectacularly survived the test of time may have started as a means to facilitate the seamless flow of monetary value, but today, it has become a foundation of hope not only to protect against a future that is going to be super fixated on the financial aspect, but also to take advantage of it to create wealth and prosper.
Jeroen Develter
Jeroen Develter is the Chief Operating Officer at Persistence Labs and a seasoned professional in financial and tech startup environments. With a decade of international consulting, management, entrepreneurship and leadership experience, Jeroen excels at analyzing complex business cases, establishing streamlined operations and creating scalable processes. With Persistence, Jeroen oversees all product and engineering efforts and is deeply passionate about improving the adoption of Bitcoin defi, or BTCfi, and using intents to develop scalable, fast, secure and user-friendly solutions. His work at Persistence Labs addresses the significant interoperability challenges between Bitcoin L2s. In addition, Jeroen is also a co-host of the Stacked Podcast, a platform to gain knowledge about Bitcoin and cryptography from prominent Bitcoin creators.
DeFi
Haust Network Partners with Gateway to Connect to AggLayer
Dubai, United Arab Emirates, August 1, 2024, Chainwire
Consumer adoption of cryptocurrencies is a snowball that is accelerating by the day. More and more people around the world are clamoring for access to DeFi. However, the user interface and user experience of cryptocurrencies still lag behind their fundamental utility, and users lack the simple and secure access they need to truly on-chain products.
Haust Network is a network and suite of products focused on changing this paradigm and bringing DeFi to the masses. To achieve this goal, Haust Network has announced its far-reaching partnership with bridgeseasoned veterans in rapidly delivering revolutionary blockchain utilities for projects. The Gateway team empowers blockchain developers to build DAOs, NFT platforms, payment services, and more. They drive adoption of crypto primitives for individuals and institutions around the world by helping everyone build their on-chain presence.
Gateway specializes in connecting sovereign blockchains to the Aggregation Layer (AggLayer). The AggLayer is a single unified contract that powers the Ethereum bridge of many disparate blockchains, allowing them all to connect to a single unified liquidity pool. The AggLayer abstracts away the complexities of cross-chain DeFi, making tedious multi-chain transactions as easy for the end user as a single click. It’s all about creating access to DeFi, and with Polygon’s technology and the help of Gateways, Haust is doing just that.
As part of their partnership, Gateway will build an advanced zkEVM blockchain for Haust Network, leveraging its extensive experience to deploy ultra-fast sovereign applications with unmatched security, and enabling Haust Network to deliver its products to its audience.
The recently announced launch of the Haust Wallet is a Telegram mini-app that provides users with access to DeFi directly through the Telegram interface. Users who deposit funds into the wallet will have access to all standard send/receive services and generate an automatic yield on their funds. The yield is generated by Haust Network’s interconnected network of smart contracts, Haustoria, which provides automated and passive DeFi yielding.
As part of this partnership, the Haust Network development team will work closely with Gateway developers to launch Haust Network. Gateway is an implementation provider for Polygon CDK and zkEVM technology, which the Haust wallet will leverage to deliver advanced DeFi tools directly to the wallet users’ fingertips. Haust’s partnership with Gateway comes shortly after the announcement of a high-profile alliance with the Polygon community. Together, the three will work to build Haust Network and connect its products to the AggLayer.
About Haust Network
Haust Network is an application-based absolute liquidity network and will be built to be compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). Haust aims to provide native yield to all users’ assets. In Telegram’s Haust Wallet, users can spend and collect their cryptocurrencies in one easy place, at the same time. Haust operates its network of self-balancing smart contracts that interact across multiple blockchains and then efficiently funnel what has been generated to Haust users.
About Gateway
bridge is a leading white-label blockchain provider that offers no-code protocol deployment. Users can launch custom blockchains in just ten minutes. They are an implementation provider for Polygon CDK and have already helped projects like Wirex, Gnosis Pay, and PalmNFT bring new utility to the crypto landscape.
About Polygon Labs
Polygon Laboratories Polygon Labs is a software development company building and developing a network of aggregated blockchains via the AggLayer, secured by Ethereum. As a public infrastructure, the AggLayer will aggregate the user bases and liquidity of any connected chain, and leverage Ethereum as the settlement layer. Polygon Labs has also contributed to the core development of several widely adopted scaling protocols and tools for launching blockchains, including Polygon PoS, Polygon zkEVM, and Polygon Miden, which is currently under development, as well as the Polygon CDK.
Contact
Lana Kovalski
haustnetwork@gmail.com
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