In brief
- Blockchain.com has added Polkadot, Aave and YFI to its exchange and wallet.
- It’s a move that capitalizes on the growing decentralized finance (DeFi) sector.
Early crypto company Blockchain.com has added Polkadot (DOT), Aave (AAVE) and Yearn Finance (YFI) to its wallet and exchange, Decrypt has learned.
Blockchain.com enables users to buy, hold, and store cryptocurrencies and has seen over $620 billion in transactions since 2013. With these additions, the company is seeking to build on the growing decentralized finance (DeFi) industry.
Amadeo Pellicce, product manager at Blockchain.com, told Decrypt that DeFi’s momentum is “undeniable.” “Both our customers and we are incredibly excited by it,” he added.
“Why is DeFi exciting? Look at the ownership breakdown, rewarding users and early contributors with tokens and allowing them to have vested interest in new financial systems,” Charles Storry, head of growth at Phuture, told Decrypt, adding, “It’s the same as Uber or Airbnb giving away equity to early users of their systems.”
Polkadot (DOT) is available to trade in both Blockchain.com’s wallet and on its exchange. The company has also added AAVE and YFI—already available on the exchange—to its wallet.
The listings represent a significant increase in accessibility for Polkadot, Aave and YFI. “Just to put this release into perspective, we’re bringing Polkadot, Aave and Yearn Finance to over 70m wallets and 31 million verified accounts,” Pellicce said, adding, “All of these will be available in our onramp infrastructure that’s live in 70+ countries.”
The news follows a busy period of hiring and fundraising for Blockchain.com. Last month, the crypto company hired former Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton staffers, Jim Messina and Lane Kasselman respectively. Also in March, Blockchain.com raised $300 million at a $5.2 billion valuation. One month earlier, the company raised $120 million in a strategic funding round.
What are Polkadot, Aave and YFI?
Polkadot is a multi-chain network designed to connect different specialized blockchains into a single unified network, through the use of “parachains.” Per Kraken, Polkadot has raised approximately $200 million from investors across sales of its DOT cryptocurrency.
Aave is a decentralized protocol where users participate as borrowers and depositors; Blockchain.com will list the AAVE token, which functions as a governance token for the protocol.
YFI is the native token for Yearn Finance, an aggregator of various lending protocols.
Having grown from zero to $51 billion in locked value over the last two years, DeFi is “still at the start of its journey,” Storry said.