2020 is set to be an exciting year for DeFi. Lending markets are more competitive than ever. Countless layer 2 solutions are being built with new ZK technology. And to top it off, this year we’re likely to see interoperability make great strides. Let’s dive into a few DApps who have hit the ground running this year.

Maker

Fresh off the successful launch of Multi-Collateral Dai, Maker has been solidifying its #1 position on the DeFi Pulse rankings headed into 2020. As of writing this, there’s over 36M DAI locked in MakerDAO, primarily in the Dai Savings Rate. And now, MakerDAO voted to increase the Dai Savings Rate (DSR) to 6%. It’s no wonder the total DAI locked in DeFi is setting a new all-time high.

To add fuel to the fire, CHAI is a smart contract that wraps DAI in the DSR so DeFi users can have their cake and eat it too. Chai can also be used in smart contracts. For example, Fulcrum’s iDAI now supports CHAI so any idle DAI earns the DSR.

Chainlink

Chainlink‘s following extends beyond the LINK Army you’ve likely come across on social media to partnerships big and small, including Intel and Google Cloud services.

Just take a look at this smorgasbord of Chainlink partnerships and the network effects of the project seem undeniable. Synthetix’s recent integration of Chainlink oracles to its FX/commodities markets is a primary example of a fruitful partnership to keep an eye in 2020. Another example would be Loopring’s work with Chainlink to ensure its economic security. We’ll discuss this more in a bit.

Not to mention, Aave Protocol just launched its lending protocol with all 16 of its supported assets powered by Chainlink oracles.

1/@AaveAave ( $LEND) launched its lending protocol today with a bang!💥 Here's a TLDR: "flash loans enable a .. smart contract to borrow assets from our reserve pools within one transaction on the condition that the liquidity is returned to the pool before the transaction ends" https://t.co/YiVYLnBX3X — DEX.AG Token Wire (@DEXAG_TokenWire) January 8, 2020

Loopring

Following Ethereum’s Istanbul upgrade, Loopring‘s ZK tech has been given a performance boost by EIP-2028. WeDEX launched their beta in December as the first ZK Rollup DEX built with Loopring v3. Test results released this week revealed that the “average settlement cost per trade [on WeDEX was] about 5,000 gas, or 0.0000177 ETH.”

Additionally, Loopring’s recent decision to integrate Chainlink seems like a promising sign for the platform’s future. Long story short, the Loopring Protocol requires users to stake LRC tokens for a number of reasons. Particularly, zkRollup DEX owners stake LRC in order to process layer 2 trades and submit them to Ethereum. Chainlink will help Loopring scale off-chain functions and ensure the protocol’s economic security by providing a reliable decentralized price oracle for LRC/ETH. Read more about Loopring’s Chainlink integration.

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