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Earliest Cryptocurrencies with DeFi-like Characteristics

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Earliest Cryptocurrencies with DeFi-like Characteristics

Decentralized Finance (DeFi) is the center of these crypto transactions. However, DeFi is an innovative niche that many enthusiasts still need to explore fully.

Nevertheless, numerous smaller crypto assets with similar characteristics to DeFi tokens already exist. Binance Chain, PancakeSwap, and Uniswap are examples of DeFi platforms that harbor such investments. However, the others operate on their blockchain networks.

What are Some DeFi Characteristics

DeFi represents an experimental form of finance that does not depend on central intermediaries like banks, exchanges, or brokerages for transactions. Here’s what DeFi has to offer:

  • Non-Custodial – distributed networks enable users to access and control their assets and data without intermediaries such as banks. They don’t hold or “safe-keep” your assets – you do in wallets.
  • Open – Anyone can access these apps, just like the internet.
  • Transparent – The financial apps have open-source codes. Therefore, everyone can see and inspect them.
  • Composable – The open codes aid other developers in building on top of others’ apps.
  • Decentralized – A community of users rather than a central organization manages the apps.

Bitcoin

To talk about the earliest cryptos, we must remember to mention BTC. The creation of Bitcoin by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009 contributed majorly to DeFi. Whether Bitcoin should be part of DeFi or not, its invention was a key enabler for decentralized systems. Instead, the blockchain still records all transactions taking place on it.

Blockchain-enabled Bitcoin operates without a central authority by spreading transactions through a network of computers. Bitcoin also enabled sending of payments around the world in a decentralized manner. Payment is a part of finance; hence this can be likened to DeFi.

However, most importantly, BTC led to the creation of Ethereum. Ethereum is the default blockchain for all major DeFi protocols. Ethereum sought to address the shortcomings of Bitcoin. Moreover, it introduced additional financial services like lending, borrowing, funding, trading, etc.

Namecoin

Namecoin is crypto initially forked from Bitcoin. Designers created it with Bitcoin’s code but with extra functionality. A fork is a fundamental modification to a network’s protocol that may occur for specific reasons. It used the exact PoW mechanism as Bitcoin. Like DeFi, Namecoin is also open-source.

Namecoin came into the scene as the foundation for a decentralized domain system or DNS. DNS translates human-readable domain names such as testca.gosite.ro to readable IP addresses like 000.0.0.00.

The system’s decentralization aimed to end internet censorship and improve internet-related privacy and security. Namecoin designers describe it as “an experimental open-source invention that enhances censorship, decentralization, privacy, and speed of some internet infrastructure such as identities and DNS.”

Dash

Dash is an altcoin that came from a Bitcoin protocol fork. It is also a decentralized autonomous organization that sunset of users running. Its initial names were Darkcoin and Xcoin. However, the developers rebranded it in 2015.

Dash was forked to allow faster transactions and enable swift governance to overcome shortcomings in Bitcoin. However, Dash differs from Bitcoin because it splits its rewards into three sections: 45% goes to masternodes, 45% is for miners, and 10% is for the decentralized governance budget.

A decentralized autonomous organization handles its governance; hence it has some DeFi-like features, such as decentralized ownership. The community makes decisions on the blockchain platform through masternodes. Masternodes are for specific functions such as hosting a copy of the blockchain, validating transactions, relaying messages, and acting as shareholders. For example, anyone who owned 1,000 Dash Coins could be a masternode owner. Besides masternodes, the system also includes miners and standard nodes.

Monero

Monero (XMR) was designed as an open-source in 2013. It used a publicly distributed ledger with privacy-enhancing features that obscure transactions to achieve anonymity. For example, observers cannot decode addresses trading Monero, transaction histories, or address balances.

The protocol is open-source based, like DeFi on CryptoNote, a concept described in a 2013 white paper by Nicolas Van Saberhagen. The author described anonymity and privacy as the most critical aspects of digital cash.

Monero has the third-largest developers’ community after Ethereum and Bitcoin. These developers also implemented a zero-knowledge proof method that guarantees transactions took place without revealing their value.

The DeFi-like characteristic of Monero is that it is non-custodial. For example, users have private keys for their wallets, and only they can access and control their funds. However, in some cases, users can share their keys to allow third parties to audit their wallets or transaction view keys to audit their transactions.

Stellar

Stellar Lumens, or Stellar, is a decentralized open-source protocol for virtual currencies. Jed McCaleb, Ripple co-founder, and Mt.Gox founder invented it in 2014. The Stellar Development Foundation, a non-profit organization, runs and manages it.

The platform has a few characteristics that are similar to today’s DeFi apps, such as:

  1. First, it is an open-source protocol for exchanging tokens and money.
  2. Second, the GitHub platform plays host to the network’s source code.
  3. Third, servers run a software implementation (a process of adopting and implementing software into a business) of the protocol.

Lastly, it utilizes the internet to connect and communicate with other Stellar servers.

Secondly, it is also a decentralized global financial payments network, with its native currency stellar. By January 2015, Stellar had about 3 million registered users who could transact worldwide.

Final Word

Cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology have many applications, but they affect the finance world the most. That is because there are numerous ways new processes and decentralization can uplift the financial markets and take them to the next level.

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Here, we have looked at the cryptos that first portrayed DeFi-like characteristics. It’s not the end of the DeFi and crypto story because there are prospects for future collaborations. There may be a lot of excitement in the crypto space around decentralized finance, but many naysayers too. DeFi critics are concerned with the lack of security in the platforms as the issue preventing mass adoption.

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