Which Crypto Projects Are Based on Ethereum?

Which Crypto Projects Are Based on Ethereum?

According to the crypto app tracker, State of the Dapps, there are over 3,000 decentralized apps (also known as “dapps”) currently running on the Ethereum blockchain.

These apps differ from regular mobile and web-based apps because they aim to hand users more control over the data the apps manage. Traditional apps, such as Robinhood or Twitter, are managed by a central authority, which ultimately has the last word on how their customers’ data is secured and used – for better or worse.

Dapps take a decentralized approach to data management, theoretically putting control back in the hands of the user with the help of blockchain technology – the basis of the Ethereum network. Ethereum is the name of both the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization (after bitcoin) and the first platform to facilitate the creation of dapps.

While the promise of Ethereum is tantalizing to proponents of the technology, it’s an open-source platform, meaning the projects built upon it are often experimental and sometimes outright scams. Conducting diligent research before investing is highly recommended.

Top Ethereum projects

Right now, many of the top Ethereum projects are focused on decentralized finance, or DeFi. DeFi aims to expand the utility of cryptocurrencies from day-to-day transactions to more complex financial use cases, such as loans and derivatives.

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The DeFi space gained significant traction in 2020, with the total value of crypto assets locked in its protocols rising over 2,000% from $650 million at the start of the year to $16.05 billion at the close.

Ethereum dapps have become so popular that the increased congestion has pushed transaction fees – the amount of ether required to send payments over the network – higher than ever. This is a direct result of dapp users competing to get their transactions processed faster by miners. The higher the fee attached to a transaction, the more likely an ETH miner will add that to the blockchain sooner.

MakerDao

Stablecoins are an effort to improve upon one of the pain points of cryptocurrencies. Crypto prices fluctuate unpredictably, making them unsuitable as a means of payment and as a reliable store of wealth. While most stablecoins are centralized, MakerDAO is different in that it has put forth a detailed plan for how to eventually decentralize the control of its stablecoin, dai.

Uniswap

Inflatable unicorn representing Uniswap logo. (Andrey Danilovich/Getty Images)

Uniswap is a decentralized exchange, meaning that unlike most exchanges it never takes control of a user’s funds. It’s the most popular decentralized exchange so far. This exchange is a cornerstone of Ethereum’s recent booming DeFi movement, facilitating trades from coin to coin. The project even attracted a “vampire” competitor, SushiSwap, which tried to suck up all its users. Another unique aspect of Uniswap is that it utilizes an automated market maker (AMM) system for facilitating trading, meaning the underlying liquidity pools that manage the actual coin-swapping are run by smart contracts as opposed to a traditional order book system.

When trading on a regular centralized crypto exchange, the market price for an asset is determined by supply and demand. In order to buy and sell, a trader must find someone on the opposite side of the order book to provide liquidity to complete a transaction. With AMM-based exchanges like Uniswap, a pricing algorithm determines the market price of each asset. Investors are incentivized to provide liquidity which is pooled together and used to execute all trades at the set market prices.

Chainlink

Chainlink is an oracle platform, which means it connects smart contracts with real-time data from the outside world such as weather information or stock prices. A smart contract uses that data to execute pre-defined instructions. For example, payout an insurance claim in the event of a hurricane.

While Chainlink has been around since 2017, the project didn’t really come to the forefront of the space until 2019 – after it partnered with Google. Chainlink is fuelled by an ERC-20 crypto token, LINK, and runs on top of the Ethereum network.

Axie Infinity

Axie Infinity is an online role-playing game where users collect and raise digital, fantastical characters called “Axies.” Under the hood, Axies are types of nonfungible tokens (NFT), which means each one is cryptographically unique, gamers have full ownership over them and in some cases have a monetary value due to their scarce, collectible nature.

Aave

Aave is a decentralized lending and borrowing platform that recently raised $25 million from leading venture capital firms Blockchain.com and Blockchain Capital.

According to tracker DeFi Pulse, Aave is currently the fourth-largest DeFi app based on the $1.14 billion locked up in the app. It was briefly the largest earlier this year.

Other Ethereum dapps

Compound : A decentralized lending platform, Compound is credited with inventing liquidity mining, where the company releases a unique coin that only those providing liquidity to the platform can obtain. This DeFi technique has since become foundational, with users tapping the technique to make money and companies copying the idea to attract users.

A decentralized lending platform, Compound is credited with inventing liquidity mining, where the company releases a unique coin that only those providing liquidity to the platform can obtain. This DeFi technique has since become foundational, with users tapping the technique to make money and companies copying the idea to attract users. WBTC : Wrapped bitcoin is a token on Ethereum that is backed 1:1 by bitcoin. The goal is to bring bitcoin’s liquidity to Ethereum. It has grown in popularity partly because investors can earn interest on the bitcoin they lock up on Ethereum.

Wrapped bitcoin is a token on Ethereum that is backed 1:1 by bitcoin. The goal is to bring bitcoin’s liquidity to Ethereum. It has grown in popularity partly because investors can earn interest on the bitcoin they lock up on Ethereum. SushiSwap : This decentralized exchange (DEX) is a fork of the popular decentralized Uniswap exchange that rewards liquidity providers with its own native SUSHI token. To date, it is a top 10 Ethereum DeFi app, according to DeFi Pulse.

This decentralized exchange (DEX) is a fork of the popular decentralized Uniswap exchange that rewards liquidity providers with its own native SUSHI token. To date, it is a top 10 Ethereum DeFi app, according to DeFi Pulse. Status : An ether wallet and private messaging system.

An ether wallet and private messaging system. Unstoppable Domains : One of the oft-touted goals of Ethereum is to decentralize the internet by making apps that are not controlled by tech giants. Unstoppable Domains is playing its part by creating domains that can’t be taken down by a central entity or government.

One of the oft-touted goals of Ethereum is to decentralize the internet by making apps that are not controlled by tech giants. Unstoppable Domains is playing its part by creating domains that can’t be taken down by a central entity or government. Kyber Network : A popular AMM, like Uniswap, created by researcher Loi Luu.

A popular AMM, like Uniswap, created by researcher Loi Luu. Basic attention token : An ERC-20 token on Ethereum exchanged between users, publishers, and advertisers on the browser Brave. When using the browser, users receive BAT from advertisers for their attention. BAT is a project led by the creator of JavaScript and co-founder of Mozilla, Brendan Eich.

An ERC-20 token on Ethereum exchanged between users, publishers, and advertisers on the browser Brave. When using the browser, users receive BAT from advertisers for their attention. BAT is a project led by the creator of JavaScript and co-founder of Mozilla, Brendan Eich. OpenSea : A marketplace for buying and selling NFTs, including Axies (described above), unstoppable domains, digital art, etc.

A marketplace for buying and selling NFTs, including Axies (described above), unstoppable domains, digital art, etc. Livepeer : A network for decentralized live-streaming, providing an alternative to YouTube.

A network for decentralized live-streaming, providing an alternative to YouTube. Decentraland: A decentralized virtual reality game, where users own virtual plots of land and can build structures such as theme parks and casinos that can be monetized.

Additional types of Ethereum blockchain dapps

There are dozens of other crypto dapps with smaller user bases than the above services. Some were more popular prior to the DeFi boom and have historical importance.

Decentralized Exchanges (DEXs)

Lending Platforms

Stablecoins

Tether: This popular stablecoin actually lives on many blockchains simultaneously. It is now dominating Ethereum transactions.

USDC

PAX

Prediction Markets

Storage Apps

Misc. dapps

Ethereum Accounted for 80% of Weekly Crypto Inflows

Ethereum attracted around 80% of the total weekly crypto inflows last week after institutional investors shifted focus towards the world’s second-largest crypto asset. ETH attracted $195 million last week, out of a total of $245 million.

According to the latest report published by CoinShares, Bitcoin saw $42 million in inflows last week, its lowest weekly inflows since 8 January 2021. Despite the lower weekly inflows in BTC, the report saw little evidence of profit-taking.

Institutional demand for Ethereum has been on the rise since the start of 2021. Grayscale, the world’s largest digital assets management firm, reopened its Ethereum Trust in late January, and the company accumulated 108,546 ETH in the last 7 days.

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“Fund flows this week unusually focused on Ethereum with inflows into investment products totaling $245 million. $195 million of these inflows were Ethereum representing 80% of the total. We believe investors are looking to diversify and are growing increasingly comfortable with Ethereum fundamentals,” the official report states.

Ethereum’s Institutional Demand

The price of ETH registered its all-time high of $1,770 today after the launch of CME’s ETH Futures. The cryptocurrency is now up nearly 150% since the start of 2021. Grayscale has 3.04 million ETH with a total value of $5.19 billion. The asset manager purchased 2,954 Ethereum in the last 24 hours. Bitcoin remained the preferred choice of institutional investors in 2021 despite a dip in weekly crypto inflows. Grayscale has around 649,500 BTC under management with a total value of $28.8 billion.

“Bitcoin had its lowest inflows ($42 million) since the all-time highs were achieved in the week ending 8th January 2021. Despite the lower inflows into Bitcoin, we are seeing little evidence of taking profits with investors preferring to buy and hold. Taking stock of the year so far, total inflows into digital asset investment products now total $2.6 billion, compared to $6.7 billion for 2020. The crypto assets under management are now at a record $37.6 billion. Investment product trading volumes remain high,” the report mentioned.

Ethereum gets bulk of crypto flows in latest week: CoinShares

Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) – There is nothing about the finances of Blink Charging Co. that would suggest it’s one of the hottest stocks in America.It’s never posted an annual profit in its 11-year history; it warned last year it could go bankrupt; it’s losing market share, pulls in anemic revenue and has churned through management in recent years.And yet a hot stock it is. Investors have bid Blink’s share price up 3,000% over the past eight months. Only seven stocks – out of about 2,700 that are worth at least $1 billion – have risen more over that time. The reason: Blink is a green-energy company, an owner and operator of charging stations that power up electric vehicles. And if investors are certain of one thing in the mania that is sweeping through financial markets, it is that green companies are can’t-miss, must-own investments of the future.No stock better captures this euphoria than Blink. With a market capitalization of $2.17 billion as of Monday, its enterprise value-to-sales ratio – a common metric to gauge whether a stock is overvalued – has blown out to 481. For some context, at Tesla Inc. – the darling of the EV world and a company with a very rich valuation itself – that number is just 26.“Everything about it is wrong,” said Andrew Left, the founder of Citron Research. “It is just a cute name which caught the eye of retail investors.”Citron was one of a handful of firms that bet against Blink last year, putting on short-sale trades that would pay off if the share price fell. It’s one of several wagers against stocks favored by the retail-investment crowd that have gone against Citron – with GameStop Corp. being the most high-profile – and prompted Left to declare Jan. 29 that the firm was abandoning its research into short-selling targets. Overall short interest on Blink – a gauge of the amount of wagers against the stock – has fallen to under 25% of free-floating shares from more than 40% in late December.For the short-sellers, one of the things that raised alarms is that several figures tied to Blink, including CEO and Chairman Michael Farkas, were linked to companies that ran afoul of securities regulations years ago.Farkas dismisses this and the other criticisms lobbied by the shorts. “There have been and always will be naysayers,” Farkas said in an email. “When I founded the business, the naysayers questioned whether the shift to EV was real. Now, as the value of our business grows, the naysayers tend to be the short sellers.”Also See: Bloomberg Intelligence’s Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance DashboardIn the CrosshairsMaking money on charging is, historically, a losing proposition. In theory, a model like Blink’s that involves both equipment sales and collecting user fees could become consistently profitable as government support accelerates EV adoption. But no one’s done it yet.“This market is still too small and early-stage,” said Pavel Molchanov, an analyst at Raymond James & Associates. “It will take time for economies of scale to materialize.”Even by the industry’s fairly forgiving standards, Blink’s revenue is meager, totaling an estimated $5.5 million in 2020. ChargePoint Inc., which announced plans to go public via a special purpose acquisition company last year, generated $144.5 million in revenue in 2020, according to a January filing. EVgo Services LLC, which is nearing a similar deal to go public through a SPAC, has a smaller charging network than Blink but more than double the sales – an estimated $14 million in 2020. Despite the wildly different revenue figures, all three companies have an enterprise value of between $2.1 billion and $2.4 billion.Blink warned in a May filing that its finances “raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern within a year,” a required disclosure when a company doesn’t have enough cash on hand for 18 months of expenses.“Electric is real. The stock prices of companies in the space are not,” said Erik Gordon, an assistant professor at University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. “The dot-com boom produced some real companies, but most of the overpriced dot-com companies were lousy investments. The electric boom will be the same story. Some great companies will be built, but most of the investors who chase insanely-priced companies will be crying.”Still, the recent market boom has breathed new life into Blink, allowing it to raise $232.1 million though a share offering in January. Roth Capital Partners as recently as Friday recommended buying the stock, giving it a price target of $67, 29% above the current level.Shares fell 2.3% to $52.10 in New York Monday.The company’s prospects rely on exponential EV growth, and Farkas in January discussed plans to deploy roughly 250,000 chargers “over the next several years” and often touts the company’s ability to generate recurring revenue from its network.Currently, the company says it has 6,944 charging stations in its network. An internal map of Blink’s public fleet lists about 3,700 stations available in the U.S. By contrast, ChargePoint boasts a global public and private charging network that’s more than 15 times larger.Unlike some of its competitors, Blink’s revenue model hinges in part on driving up utilization rates, which for now remain in the “low-single-digits,” too scant to generate significant revenue, Farkas said during a November earnings call. He told Bloomberg that use will increase as EVs become more popular.For most chargers in operation now, utilization probably must reach 10%-15% to break even, although profitability depends on many other factors such as a company’s business model, electricity rates and capital costs, according to BloombergNEF Senior Associate Ryan Fisher.Blink was an early market leader among charging companies but has lost its lead and now controls about 4% of the sector in Level 2 public charging, said Nick Nigro, founder of Atlas Public Policy, an electric car consulting and policy firm.Blink has also acknowledged “material weaknesses” over its financial reporting, disclosed in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings dating back to 2011. The company says it has hired an accounting consultant to review its controls and is making necessary changes.Origin StoryBlink’s colorful origin story has been a prime target of short-sellers. It traces back to 2006 when it formed as shell company New Image Concepts Inc. to provide “top-drawer” personal consulting services related to grooming, wardrobe and entertainment, according to an SEC filing.In December 2009, the company entered a share exchange agreement with Car Charging Inc. Farkas joined the company as CEO in 2010, after working as a stockbroker and investing in companies including Skyway Communications Holding Corp., which the SEC deemed a “pump-and-dump scheme” during the years Farkas held shares. (Farkas said he was a passive investor, was unaware of any misdeeds and “had no involvement in any capacity in the activities of Skyway.”)In 2013, Farkas oversaw Car Charging’s $3.3 million purchase of bankrupt Ecotality, which had received more than $100 million in U.S. Department of Energy grants to install chargers nationwide. The company later changed its name to Blink.Since then, Blink has been plagued by executive turnover, with three of five board members departing between November 2018 and November 2019. The company has had two chief financial officers and three chief operating officers since 2017. One former COO, James Christodoulou, was fired in March 2020. He sued the company, accusing it of potential securities violations, and reached a settlement with Blink, which denied any wrongdoing, for $400,000 in October.Financier Justin Keener, a one-time major Blink shareholder whose capital assisted the company’s 2018 Nasdaq listing, and the company he operated were charged last year for failing to register as a securities dealer while allegedly selling billions of penny-stock shares unrelated to Blink. He said he has since divested from Blink and now owns “a relatively small number of common shares” as a result of a settlement of a warrant dispute with the company. Keener denies the SEC allegations.Farkas told Bloomberg he has cut all ties to Keener, was unaware of any investigations going on while they worked together and has no knowledge of any wrongdoing by Keener.The surging stock has brought a windfall to Farkas, Blink’s largest shareholder. On Jan. 12, after shares rallied to records, he sold $22 million of stock, according to Bloomberg data. Farkas’s total compensation, including stock awards, totaled $6.5 million from 2016 to 2019, equivalent to more than half the company’s revenue. Included in his 2018 compensation were $394,466 in commissions to Farkas Group Inc., a third-party entity he controlled that Blink hired to install chargers.Farkas said his compensation is justified given that he had personally invested in the company’s formation and had for many years received shares in lieu of salary.More recently, Blink board member Donald Engel followed the CEO’s lead.He sold more than $18 million of shares during the past two weeks.(Updates share price in 15th paragraph and market value in fourth.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.