Fresh off the Alonzo hard fork, Cardano (ADA) continues to develop and grow in value, with the most recent development coming in the form of ‘Astarter’ being announced by EMURGO. EMURGO acts as Cardano’s commercial arm, and the new joint venture shall bring together both the in-depth knowledge and technical expertise of EMURGO with the experiences of BlockChain4A. The end goal of this collaboration is to further develop decentralized finance technical infrastructure.
BlockChain4A is a technology firm based in China which shall help in facilitating the collaboration between the abovementioned parties in order to improve the DeFi services systems and infrastructure on Cardano.
Astarter
As per the latest information available, Astarter shall reportedly begin developing the IDO launchpad, which is scheduled for release towards the end of 2021. On top of this, a DEX (decentralized exchange) shall also be worked on for Cardano.
Once completed, Astarter shall additionally begin working on the integration of borrowing and lending features for Cardano. With this, more utility shall potentially be brought into the project and for its ADA token users. Furthermore, access to more financial services shall be opened up for those people who reside in underserved areas.
DeFi gaining traction
It is clear to see that the world of decentralized finance is one that is experiencing a rapid increase in popularity, value, attention, and usage. Ken Kodama, the CEO of EMURGO, stated that decentralized finance had been rapidly receiving a lot of traction since last year, and one of the main reasons for that is due to its ability to offer more financial services in an accessible manner to numerous individuals all over the world, particularly those who may be underserved thanks to the pre-existing financial system.
He stated that the main focal areas for DeFi were observed to have been centered around social cohesion and financial inclusion, specifically in areas that may lack access to traditional financial services. He also added that the crypto community is attracted to DeFi primarily because of its ability to offer improved security, transparency, as well as credibility regarding the processing of financial transactions. It should therefore come as no surprise that the value of various cryptocurrency assets that are under management in numerous decentralized finance applications has indeed risen by a significant margin.
In related news, there is an estimated $150 billion TVL (total locked value) in decentralized finance applications. This amount is therefore indicative of the aforementioned traction that the DeFi sector has been gaining as of late.
