Key Highlights of 2024: Top Five Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Projects on Base

The recent couple of years have drawn parallels to the explosive growth we saw in the '90s with the internet. The increasing acceptance of decentralized alternatives along with ongoing blockchain innovations has significantly propelled the mainstream acceptance of crypto.

2024 has seen various remarkable DeFi projects making headlines, with several standing out on Base’s Layer 2 chain. Let’s dive into the five hottest projects right now:

Aerodrome Finance (AERO)

AERO, launched in 2023, operates as a decentralized token exchange platform that generates revenue from trading activities while offering incentives to liquidity providers through AERO.

Remarkably, AERO's fee structure is nearly on par with Uniswap, a token that spans sixteen different chains. It brilliantly combines successful aspects of well-established DeFi protocols like Curve to forge a novel trading landscape.

Aerodrome enhances user experience by seamlessly connecting with the broader cryptocurrency landscape, accommodating both ERC-20 and ERC-721 tokens.

What Sets AERO Apart?

The most valuable Base project

As of May 2024, AERO's total value locked has surpassed $600 million, establishing it as the most lucrative DeFi venture on the Base platform.

Token Emissions

AERO rewards liquidity providers with tokens that are issued in accordance to votes garnered by liquidity pools.

Low Fees

The platform is architected to minimize slippage while providing equitable fee structures that enhance the overall trading experience.

Friend.tech (FRIEND)

FRIEND, which debuted around the same timeframe as AERO, has rapidly accrued over 100,000 users and generated around $25 million shortly after launch, establishing itself as a notable entity in the social crypto landscape.

By utilizing social tokens, FRIEND enables users to build virtual communities and monetize them on the blockchain.

The platform's Web3 application has attracted significant interest from influential figures in crypto and even NBA celebrities since its launch in 2023. While it faced challenges towards the close of 2023, it did experience notable improvements in early 2024.

Recently, Friend.tech rolled out Version 2 (V2) and hosted an airdrop event, distributing over 13 million FRIEND tokens to early users. Unfortunately, the new version has encountered considerable issues, leaving many users feeling dissatisfied.

What Sets FRIEND Apart?

The Social Token

Social tokens merge the advantages of traditional cryptocurrencies with patronage models. This allows brands, artists, and content creators to monetize their relationships with fans through exclusive offerings.

X Content Keys

FRIEND allows Twitter accounts to serve as 'keys', granting users access to exclusive group discussions and content not available to the public, thereby boosting user engagement and content availability.

Moonwell (WELL)

Moonwell was created with the aim to simplify the often complex realm of DeFi lending and borrowing. Its intuitive interface and multilingual support make DeFi accessible to a diverse audience.

WELL serves as the protocol's ERC-20 token with multichain functionality, acting both as a governance and staking token, empowering holders to participate in the platform's decision-making while enhancing its security.

Since January, WELL has seen a fourfold increase in its user base, with its total value locked rivalling the combined total of AAVE and Compound on Base. The platform can access USDC on Coinbase along with any other Circle-supported blockchain via the USDC Anywhere feature.

Moonwell’s strong security protocols and transparent on-chain governance ensure safe and straightforward lending and borrowing processes, fostering trust among users.

What Sets WELL Apart?

Streamlined Lending and Borrowing

With its user-friendly design, Moonwell removes many of the typical challenges associated with decentralized financial solutions.

Security and Transparency

To ensure the safety of the platform and its participants, Moonwell has implemented stringent security measures. All of its operations are transparent and entirely auditable on-chain.

Avantis 

Avantis positions itself as a hybrid platform that combines centralized finance (CeFi) features with decentralized finance (DeFi) operations, serving as a leading market maker across a broad spectrum of assets.

Avantis empowers traders to engage with advanced financial derivatives, including perpetual contracts, while offering leverage options as high as 1:100.

An innovative feature called Loss Protection sets Avantis apart, providing a unique security net for users whose trades contradict market trends by guaranteeing a partial refund on losses.

In partnership with Chaos Labs, a premier authority in risk modeling, Alliance aims to safeguard liquidity provisions, maintain market stability, and offer affordable transaction fees.

What Sets Avantis Apart?

High Leverage 

By optimizing capital utility, Avantis enables trading across a diverse range of assets, allowing substantial leverage (up to 100x). The implementation of timing and risk controls allows liquidity providers to fine-tune their risk management strategies, making market-making accessible to a broader audience.

Next-level DeFi Market Maker

Although on-chain perpetual decentralized exchanges (DEXs) have not achieved the same level of success as Uniswap V3, Avantis introduces innovative tools for LPs, including time locks. These tools empower each LP to make personalized risk-reward decisions, thus strengthening the funding ecosystem.

Loss Protection

As long as traders’ activities contribute to the equilibrium of the platform’s open interest, Avantis promises reimbursement for losses. Unlike conventional funding rates—often volatile and favoring basis traders—this is a pioneering approach in the industry.

Seamless (SEAM)

Seamless (SEAM) stands out within Base as a cutting-edge decentralized finance (DeFi) solution.

By utilizing Integrated Liquidity Markets (ILMs), users are offered a variety of borrowing options, including under-collateralized loans, which are quite rare in the DeFi landscape.

SEAM functions as the governance token for the Seamless Protocol, marking the platform as the first truly decentralized, native lending and borrowing mechanism on Base.

The amount of SEAM a user earns is directly correlated with their activity on Seamless, including the frequency and volume of transactions, along with any additional contributions.

What Sets SEAM Apart?

Under-collateralized loans

Offering under-collateralized loans is a unique aspect that can attract more users in the competitive DeFi space.

High-value Base Project

With a total value locked exceeding $500 million, Seamless has established itself as a significant player among the top five DeFi projects operating on Base.

Automated Growth Strategy

In addition to managing liquidity provisions and facilitating under-collateralized lending, ILMs play a crucial role in automating and refining growth strategies.