One of the most popular token swap protocols in the DeFi realm, Yearn.Finance made another move into the green. The YFI token price surpassed the Bitcoin price a few weeks ago, and it skyrocketed to over $35,000 after Coinbase Pro announced that the trading platform would now support the DeFi token.
Since its launch in mid-August 2020, YFI climbed up to $39,000 on some exchanges. One of the reasons behind YFI’s massive price jump is the token’s scarcity, as only 30,000 tokens exist.
However, after the initial rush, the token retreated to around $18,000 levels on September 5th, while rumors for Coinbase Pro listing affected the price with a push upwards. In fact, YFI made a 63% price increase on September 9th, when the token spiked from $22,000 to as much as $35,000 on Binance. Currently, the price per YFI is at $32,069 according to data from Uniswap.
Source: Uniswap
The reason behind the bullish sentiment is Coinbase announcing that their Pro platform would begin accepting YFI deposits on September 14, with live trading starting the next day if there is enough liquidity. However, the exchange noted that YFI would not be available to regular Coinbase users, as well as to residents of the New York State.
Coinbase has been trying to keep up with competitors like Huobi Global and Binance, which have started listing DeFi tokens before Coinbase. However, regular Coinbase users will have a new token to buy, sell, convert, send, or receive, called Universal Market Access (UMA), acting as “an open-source protocol that allows developers to design and create their own financial contracts and synthetic assets.” The listing date that Coinbase announced for the asset is today, 11th September 2020.
Coinbase describes UMA as an Ethereum-based token, which emphasizes Coinbase’s goal to create a true universal market access.
Meanwhile, Yearn.Finance is advancing into the stablecoin realm with the launch of a MakerDAO-like stablecoin lending protocol. The new protocol, dubbed StableCredit, however, won’t have a governance token.
StableCredit’s role is to combine lending, tokenized debt stablecoins, and automated market-making (AMM) in a “completely decentralized lending protocol”, which mimics the mechanism of MakerDAO (MKR). Users of StableCredit can stake USDC tokens to mind StableCredit USD with an up-to-75% ratio, which can be later converted into other crypto assets. However, in order to “release” the locked USDC, users have to deposit back the borrowed StableCredit USD.
The team at Yearn.Finance noted that the new protocol would not have a governance token, which is a tactic that many DeFi platforms deploy. The protocol is expected to be launched in the coming weeks, as StableCredit interface was announced on 10th September 2020 to be in its final phase.