March Community Updates and Q1 DeFi Highlights
As March comes to a close, so does the first quarter of 2021. We continue on our rollercoaster of highs, dips and turns, so let’s take a look at some of the key headlines that marked the industry during the last three months.
Polkadot Updates
The team has had their eye on Polkadot for quite some time now, and changes in the market demonstrate how we’re not alone! The Polkadot team has been constantly making the headlines the last quarter. Even from the very beginning of the year, Polkadot officially overtook XRP and took the fourth spot for market cap in the cryptocurrency market.
The ambitions of Polkadot are clear within the market, but as we all know, such complex issues often means difficulties in execution. While Polkadot has updated their roadmap for their parachains, specific rollout timing and when changes will be implemented on the Polkadot network remains to be seen. While we eagerly await news of more progress, new highs for the DOT token show that we’re not alone, and we’re excited to see what it means for the network once we get to DOT auctions launch.
Parity Technologies, the company that is behind Polkadot also reported on updates themselves, introducing the idea of a “common-good parachain” for the network. This parachain would operate differently from the existing framework, and rather than being auction based, it would be granted slots via governance.
By providing a lower-barrier point of entry for future users, the company says that the common-good parachain would bring diversity of individuals or entities looking to deploy assets on the Polkadot network.
Paying Attention to Security:
Many conversations continued to revolve around security during this time, as evident perhaps by our reminders to the community over the last few months to be safe with their tokens by using different wallets and ensuring to take precautions against phishing scams.
Within the span of one month, DeFi platforms took a major hit from various security issues. From Meerkat Finance being hacked on its first day, to popular DeXes Dodo then PancakeSwap being targeted through exploitation of smart contract bugs and DNS attacks, the headlines are a sober reminder of the risks that still lie within the space despite its immense potential.
Increasing Volumes, Institutional Investment and Index Funds:
But if you thought that targeting DeFi platforms would scare people off, you couldn’t be farther from the truth! We like to remind everyone to approach this space with caution and thorough research but who can deny the prospects of this space? In January, DeX aggregator 1Inch announced its milestone of nearly $6B in monthly Dex volume, only later to be trumped with even more impressive news from market leader Uniswap who reached $100B in cumulative value by mid-February. Meanwhile the top three DeFi lending protocols are expected to also hit new milestone highs with collateral lockups expected to exceed $20B in deposits.
Despite the decentralized nature and general caution that has often been demonstrated by institutional investors, the DeFi buzz has definitely caught on if the first quarter of 2021 is to be any indication. There was news about Thailand’s century old Siam Commercial Bank announcing that they have set up a $50M fund to invest in DeFi and the blockchain, while Bitwise launched a DeFi Crypto Index Fund and CoinShares likewise introduces a DeFi Index Token for Institutional Investors.
Binance Smart Chain and OAX:
In the face of all these developments, and in line with many of the considerations and posts we’ve shared with the community over the last few months, we’ve been getting information and insights as to what additional platforms might be beneficial additions to OAX. Thanks to the many comments and ideas shared by our community, we’ve been studying this area seriously and indeed we’re making progress!
With gas fees hitting new highs, opportunities for new exchanges have been popping up, particularly on Binance Smart Chain. In fact, just last week, PancakeSwap announced that it managed to surpass Uniswap daily volume for a 24 hour period. While the two are vying for the number one and two spots, the argument of lower gas fees has created a compelling argument for the BSC space.
Which is why we’re so pleased to announce that as of today, the OAX token will also be available as a wrapped BEP-20 token, allowing users to take advantage of exchanges that operate on Binance Smart Chain! We’re in the process of making arrangements for various trading pairs, something we’re sure you’re looking forward to. We’ll be providing more updates soon, and in our next post we’ll go into a bit more detail about Binance Smart Chain, what BEP-20 means and the possibilities it opens up for our OAX token holders.
What a momentous start for the DeFi Community Q1 has been, and we can’t wait to see what is in store for the coming months, both abroad and here with us. Let’s hear your predictions on what other milestones we might be seeing in the industry in the next quarter!
