Bridging the Gap: FTM, USDC, wETH, and the Future of DeFi (2024)

FAQs

Is DeFi the future of finance? ›

Industry experts and media outlets have begun to report that DeFi may “kill banks” or at least reshape the financial industry as we know it. Almost $90 billion has already been deposited into Ethereum-based DeFi protocols. Some outlets are also reporting that DeFi's growth on the Ethereum blockchain is up 780% in 2021.

Just select the chain you're currently connected on, pick the asset you want to bridge from, then select the Fantom network and the asset you want to receive. You can either bridge the same tokens (i.e. USDC → axlUSDC) OR do a cross-chain swap (i.e. USDC -> any Fantom native token including EQUAL).

USDC. e on Wormhole is bridged from native USDC, located in a smart contract on Ethereum, and holds the potential to be upgraded to native USDC in the future by Circle. It's the official, endorsed stablecoin of the Fantom ecosystem (and all future network upgrades), referred to as the canonical stablecoin.

Major DeFi Use-cases. Borrowing and Lending: The most extensively practiced use cases of the DeFi ecosystem are peer-to-peer borrowing and lending. DeFi allows users to borrow money without having to fill out an application or having a bank account.

Faulty smart contracts are among the most common risks of DeFi. Malicious actors eager to steal users' funds can exploit smart contracts that have weak coding. Most decentralized exchanges enable trading through the use of liquidity pools. These pools generally lock two cryptocurrencies in a smart contract.

USDC first launched on the Ethereum blockchain as an ERC-20 token, but has since expanded to other blockchains including Solana, Stellar, and Algorand. It can be purchased on both centralized and decentralized exchanges (DEXs).

Can you hold USDC in phantom? ›

Phantom's makes it easy to purchase, sell, and swap USDC directly within the wallet.

fUSD: a Fantom-based stablecoin that's pegged to the U.S. dollar. fSwap: a synthetic asset decentralized trading platform.

Using DeFi allows for: Accessibility: Anyone with an internet connection can access a DeFi platform, and transactions occur without geographic restrictions. Low fees and high interest rates: DeFi enables any two parties to negotiate interest rates directly and lend cryptocurrency or money via DeFi networks.

To withdraw your DeFi tokens from a wallet, you'll need to transfer to either a deposit address provided by a platform or your external wallet address. Just enter the target address into your wallet and confirm the transaction.

The advantages of doing so through DeFi lending platforms is that as a borrower you are not handing over custody of your collateral to an institution where you might face counterparty risk (instead you face a different protocol risk).

Cryptocurrencies and blockchain could well be the future of finance and technology. As they continue to grow, top colleges for bcom like MIT University are incorporating them into their courses, preparing students for this evolving financial landscape.

I cover fintech, crypto and digital assets, and sustainable finance. After almost two years of lull and existential threats due to low demand and rising hacks, DeFi is making a strong comeback. In Q1 this year, DeFi's TVL grew by 70 percent to cross $175 billion.

At the same time, DeFi has opened up multiple job prospects with lucrative rewards. For example, the DeFi developer salary could vary between $120,000 and $250,000. You can also build a career in DeFi and pursue an effective path to solidify your identity as a DeFi expert.

Moreover, we expect DeFi sector revenue to grow from the current revenue of $1 billion per year to more than $5 billion per year by the end of 2025. ❗So we're looking at a sector where revenues are expected to grow more than fivefold and its valuation remains below traditional benchmarks like the Nasdaq.