Various DeFi protocols experienced volatility of around 1 billion in 2020, briefly turning some of them into unicorns in crypto space. Although the 2020 figures are comparable to the number of projects that emerged as unicorns during the 2017 initial coin offering boom, the Gemini co-founder, Cameron Winklevosssaid in September that DeFi protocols have more staying power:
“Back then, money was being raised on shitcoin whitepapers written in coffee shops. DeFi is already alive and well. Billions of dollars are being worked towards positive returns. This is not hypothetical vaporware, this is real.”
Aave
This platform pays users interest on blocked funds in exchange for loans. Aave was a DeFi project that reached $ 1 billion in market capitalization in 2020, but its value has been reduced to crypto unicorn status multiple times following news of a $ 6 million flash loan exploit. The protocol’s own LEND token, which has migrated to a new AAVE token, increased after Aave received an Electronic Money Institution license from the UK Financial Conduct Authority in August.
The DeFi protocol unveiled its second version earlier this month, which supposedly make improvements to flash loans and use collateral to reconcile loans.
Yearn.finance
YFI’s market capitalization hit 1 billion in August before hitting an all-time high on September 12.. Although YFI is considered by many to be one of the top tokens in DeFi, has not regained its crypto unicorn status since September. At press time, the token’s market capitalization was approximately $ 750 million.
Interest in DeFi’s Yearn.finance platform has increased since it launched its native token, YFI, in July. The performance aggregation platform provides liquidity through smart contracts and offers interest to liquidity providers.
Synthetix
Synthetix is a decentralized exchange built on the Ethereum blockchain network through a series of smart contracts. However, Synthetix does not offer trading between crypto assets such as tokens and stablecoins, but rather between “synthesizers” created by using another asset as collateral.
This DeFi platform surpassed 1 billion in total locked value in August. Its Synthetix Network Token (SNX) made substantial gains this year, having reached its all-time high of $ 7.74 on September 11, rising more than 400% of its price in early 2020.
Harvest Finance
Harvest Finance may have had one of the shortest spells as a crypto unicorn this year. The DeFi protocol raised up to $ 1 billion in total locked value before a hacker could launch an attack on Harvest’s liquidity pools, stealing $ 24 million. News of the exploit caused the total locked value of the protocol to drop by nearly $ 500 million in 24 hours.
Operating similarly to Yearn, Harvest Finance is an automated performance management system that allows users to earn interest after supplying certain crypto assets for loans.
Chainalysis
Outside of DeFi projects, blockchain analytics company Chainalysis, has expanded rapidly in 2020, raising its total valuation to more than a billion after a $ 100 million financing round last month. The firm develops investigative tools that allow companies, governments and law enforcement agencies monitor blockchain transactions and track suspicious illicit activities.
Special mentions
There were other crypto unicorns that appeared in 2020 as well. With Bitcoin (BTC) rising to over $ 23,000 for the first time in history and Ether (ETH) surpassing $ 600 for the first time in two years, This year has been quite bullish for major digital assets and new DeFi projects.
Filecoin was one of the fastest blockchain networks to gain and lose crypto unicorn status this year. After the network launched its mainnet on October 15, Filecoin’s FIL token surged 118% to reach a market capitalization of just over 1 billion before the price fell nearly 80%. FIL’s market capitalization did not return to the same level until a month later and is currently at $ 1.3 billion.
Polkadot followed the same pattern as Filecoin, with its DOT token growing rapidly to a market capitalization of more than $ 5 billion USD.. The blockchain network has been active since May as an authoritative “proof of authority” network, but launched its mainnet in late July. Polkadot does not compete directly against the Ethereum network and allows multiple blockchain networks to exist in its protocols.
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