From Farms to Hubs: The Expanding DeFi Universe
From Farms to Hubs: The Expanding DeFi Universe! When you first heard of decentralized finance (DeFi), you m ay have imagined yield farmers donning digital overalls, poring over liquidity pools, and harvesting tokens like cryptocurrency corn. But today’s DeFi is no longer just about farming—it’s evolving into a sophisticated network of integrated liquidity hubs, cross-chain ecosystems, and modular finance structures. Let’s roll up our sleeves and dive into this evolution—from the era of yield farming to the rise of high-functioning DeFi hubs. 1. Harvesting the Yield: The Farming Era In the beginning, DeFi’s allure was simple and seductive: supply crypto assets, earn rewards. That’s the essence of yield farming —users provide liquidity or stake tokens in protocols to generate yield. At its core, you deposit tokens into a liquidity pool (e.g., the Uniswap ETH/USDC pool). That pool enables trades, and you earn a share of fees plus any extra incentives. Add the token-reward layer (...