ETHDenver DeFi project highlights

Quick Take

  • ETHDenver is one of the largest Ethereum hackathons and conferences in the U.S.
  • The Block takes a look at the DeFi projects teams are currently building at the conference

Thousands of developers flocked to Denver, Colorado this weekend to participate in ETHDenver, one of the largest Ethereum hackathon and conference in the U.S. While there was a wide variety of teams building projects spanning across multiple use cases, decentralized finance (DeFi) still takes the center stage.

Here’s an overview of several DeFi projects The Block was able to meet and learn about.

DeFiat
Instant fiat to ERC-20 exchanges in a single transaction

Built by the Totle team, DeFiat enables users to convert their fiat currencies to any ERC-20 token of their choice. The project leverages Wyre’s widget to buy ETH with a debit card, automatically deposit it into a smart contract, convert the ETH into a token of a user’s choosing via Totle’s exchange aggregator, and then send that token to the user’s Ethereum address, creating one of the first fiat to any ERC-20 on-ramp.

The project is still in development with the team hoping to release it as a web widget so any website can support fiat-to-ERC20 conversions.

1x.ag
Leverage aggregator with automated trading strategies

Built by the 1inch.exchange team, 1x.ag is an aggregation platform that lets traders open leveraged positions on a variety of tokens. With 1x.ag, users select the tokens they want to option leverage positions for, choose a payment method, pick a lending provider, and determine how high they want their leverage position to be (current options include 2x-5x). Users also have the option to use a liquidation bot to select the prices they want to liquidate their positions at to either take profits on their gains or prevent further losses.

1x.ag is on the mainnet with Compound as its current lending provider.

ohmydefi
Decentralized options market

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ohmyDefi is a platform that enables users to write options as well as buy options strategies. The platform offers three products:

  • Options Builder Facility to create and sell either put or call options and set their own maturity date and strike price
  • Writing Facility to write and sell American puts or calls for the ETH:DAI trading pair
  • Hedging Facility to buy a long straddle options strategy for the for the ETH:DAI trading pair to hedge against ETH’s volatility

ohmyDefi is live on the mainnet.

UpSideDai
Speculate on the price of Dai with 20x leverage

UpSideDai is a project that allows users to speculate on the price of DAI with 20x leverage. UpSideDai works as a Contract for Differences (CFD) and leverages the Maker medianizer ETH/USD price and the Uniswap ETH/DAI price to determine the USD price of Dai. With leveraged positions, users can speculate on the price fluctuations of Dai by putting up 100% collateralization to go either long or short. Currently, there is not a lot of ways to speculate on the price of Dai or hedge against it. The team believes that in the long run, UpSideDai will lower the price volatility of Dai as market participants will arbitrage away the difference.

MakerDAO BTC Vault

Built by the Ren Project team, MakerDAO BTC Vault is a project that plans to use renBTC, a bitcoin-backed Ethereum, as collateral for MakerDAO’s Dai stablecoin. The Ren Project team has been working with members of the Maker Foundation to test renBTC on the Kovan testnet.

ShopiFi
DeFi E-commerce plugin

ShopiFi is a plugin that bridges the gap between e-commerce and DeFi protocols such as Compound, PoolTogether, Chai, etc. With ShopiFi, the consumer or merchant can indirectly take part in the benefits that DeFi protocols provide. Consumers can purchase a product and have a portion of their payment sent to interest generating protocols or deposited in a no-loss lottery. Merchants can choose to divert their sales and revenue to interesting bearing protocols like Compound and earn interest on their sales rather than having it sent traditionally to a bank account.


© 2023 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

About Authors

Steven Zheng is a researcher for The Block. He joined The Block in August 2018. Steven graduated from St. John’s University with a degree in economics. Previously, he covered blockchain and crypto at Radicle, a startup analytics firm. He also had brief stints at Cheddar, a media startup, and Bowery Capital, a venture capital firm. He owns bitcoin. Follow Steven on Twitter at: @Dogetoshi
John has been involved in the blockchain/crypto sector since late 2013 and joined The Block Research in early 2019. He has expertise in crypto private markets and M&A activity. He also has a background in finance.