Lending & Borrowing

The dominant decentralized lending protocol with the deepest liquidity, strongest security record, and widest multichain footprint in DeFi.

The OG DeFi lending protocol that pioneered algorithmic money markets, now pivoting to a single-asset model with Compound III.

Creator of DAI stablecoin and DeFi's oldest lending protocol, now navigating a controversial rebrand to Sky that has divided its community.

Instadapp's unified DeFi layer merging lending and DEX — genuinely novel capital efficiency by making debt positions serve as AMM liquidity.

A next-gen modular lending protocol offering permissionless market creation and improved capital efficiency through peer-to-peer matching and Morpho Blue.

MakerDAO's lending frontend handling billions in TVL — strong institutional backing and battle-tested Aave V3 codebase, but governance complexity and Maker dependency.

MakerDAO's lending arm built on an Aave V3 fork, offering subsidized DAI/USDS borrowing rates backed by the Maker ecosystem's deep liquidity.

The most trustless lending protocol in DeFi — no governance, no oracles, no admin keys — elegant design with limited adoption.

Frax's isolated lending pairs with unique interest rate mechanics — tightly integrated with the Frax ecosystem but dependent on its success.

Solana's fastest-growing lending platform, combining automated liquidity vaults with lending — young but rapidly scaling.

Isolated lending markets that prevent risk contagion between assets — excellent risk design, limited adoption.

Avalanche's dominant lending protocol combining a Compound-style money market with liquid staking for AVAX, serving as essential DeFi infrastructure for the AVAX ecosystem.

BNB Chain's dominant lending protocol with a Compound-style money market, recovering from early governance missteps and stablecoin depegging issues.

A permissionless lending protocol reborn after a $200M exploit — V2 is a complete rewrite with modular vaults, but the security scar lingers.

Fixed-rate DeFi lending via fCash tokens — addresses a real gap in DeFi but adoption has been persistently limited.

Multi-chain lending protocol that pivoted successfully to Base, becoming a top lending option on Coinbase's L2. Fork-based but well-executed.

Sui's leading lending protocol with institutional ambitions — strong execution on a young chain with ecosystem dependency risk.

Self-repaying loan pioneer — genuinely innovative DeFi primitive with alETH/alUSD, but adoption has plateaued and ALCX token has weak value accrual.

Tron's largest lending protocol with massive TVL — but the ecosystem's deep centralization undermines DeFi credibility.

Solana lending pioneer scarred by whale liquidation governance crisis — foundational but trust-damaged.

Sui's second-largest lending protocol — growing fast through incentives but organic demand and differentiation remain uncertain.

Interest-bearing collateral lending and MIM stablecoin — innovative concept tarnished by the Wonderland scandal and persistent trust issues.

Multi-chain lending protocol deployed across many L2s — the DeFi equivalent of a fast-food franchise, providing essential lending infrastructure everywhere but lacking depth anywhere.

Lending protocol with novel buyback mechanism to return protocol revenue to users. Interesting tokenomics thesis but limited adoption so far.

Innovative yield-bearing collateral lending with a checkered security history — creative economic model undermined by an exploit and limited adoption.

Pioneer of uncollateralized DeFi lending -- real institutional loans issued but defaults and market downturn exposed credit risk limitations.

Arbitrum's margin trading + lending hybrid — genuinely innovative architecture combining borrowing, lending, and leveraged trading in a unified protocol.

Rebuilt from exploit ashes with innovative fixed-rate FiRM lending and DOLA stablecoin — creative design but small TVL and lingering bad debt.

Mode Network's primary lending market — early-stage Compound fork serving a nascent L2 ecosystem.

NFT-backed lending with AI appraisals — tackles a real illiquidity problem in NFT markets, but thin markets, unreliable pricing, and NFT market downturns make sustainable NFT lending extremely difficult.

Mantle Network lending protocol benefiting from the chain's treasury and mETH ecosystem but with limited track record.

Mantle Network's Aave v3 fork — leading lending protocol on the L2 with proven code but limited to Mantle's still-growing ecosystem.

Auction-based fixed-rate lending modeled after Federal Reserve repo operations — institutional-grade mechanism design that fills DeFi's fixed-rate gap, but market demand is still developing.

Aptos-native lending protocol with margin trading — solid Move-based implementation but constrained by Aptos's still-developing DeFi ecosystem.

Leveraged LP yield farming protocol — clever niche product built for a Uniswap V2 world that has largely moved on.

BNB Chain Aave V3 fork with solid execution — reliable lending protocol but limited differentiation beyond being a competent Aave clone on BNB.

Blast-native lending protocol leveraging L2 native yield. Meaningful TVL but heavily dependent on Blast ecosystem sustainability.

A cross-chain lending protocol with an ambitious omnichain vision, critically compromised by a $50M+ multisig exploit that exposed fundamental security weaknesses.

Compound V2 fork on Ethereum with minimal differentiation — functional but irrelevant in a market dominated by Aave and Compound themselves.

Compound fork dominating Cronos lending with limited competition, but constrained by Cronos ecosystem's small size and Crypto.com dependency.

Fixed-rate lending protocol using tokenized debt instruments — clean design for predictable borrowing costs but near-zero TVL and negligible adoption.

Early-stage lending protocol on Mode Network L2. First-mover advantage on a small chain, but high dependency on Mode ecosystem growth.

Multi-chain lending protocol filling gaps where Aave and Compound haven't deployed — functional Compound fork with modest adoption and limited differentiation.

BSC-based cross-chain lending protocol with credit scoring ambitions -- technically functional but negligible adoption and unclear differentiation.

Composable lending on Mantle with 'liquidity hooks' — innovative architecture that lets developers build custom borrowing strategies, but Mantle ecosystem adoption is early.

Fixed-rate lending on Optimism — genuinely innovative model offering what DeFi lending mostly lacks: predictable interest rates. One of the more interesting lending primitives.

Major Solana lending protocol that rode the points meta to massive TVL — technically solid but marred by founder drama, delayed token launch, and post-hype TVL decline.

Evmos lending protocol on a chain that never gained DeFi traction. Sound design limited by a struggling ecosystem.

Euro-pegged stablecoin lending (PAR) via crypto collateral — fills a real European DeFi gap but Euro stablecoin demand remains tiny compared to USD.

Ambitious omnichain lending with novel tokenomics — but exploited for $4.7M through key compromise shortly after launch, raising major trust concerns.

Aave V3 fork leading the zkSync lending market — benefits from battle-tested code but differentiation beyond chain selection is minimal. First-mover on zkSync counts for something.

Ontology-based lending protocol — cross-chain ambitions undermined by negligible adoption, Ontology ecosystem decline, and minimal competitive differentiation.

NFT lending protocol for blue-chips — survived the NFT winter and actually works. Activity tracks the NFT market, which has been in deep decline since 2022.

The OG peer-to-peer NFT lending protocol — pioneered the space and still operates. P2P model enables flexible terms but matches slowly and scales poorly.

Cross-chain lending protocol for unlocking staked asset liquidity — had early traction but has faded to near-zero TVL.

Optimism's Compound v2 fork — was the chain's top lending protocol until a $20M exploit via a known Compound vulnerability shattered trust.

OlympusDAO's fixed-rate lending facility for gOHM holders — elegant mechanism design that efficiently utilizes the Olympus treasury, but extremely niche and tied entirely to OHM's fate.

Dead Aave fork on Fantom — rose with the chain's hype, died with its decline. Zero differentiation, zero future.

NFT-backed CDP lending — mint a stablecoin against your BAYC. Creative model combining MakerDAO-style CDPs with NFT collateral, but both NFTs and novel stablecoins are struggling.

DeFi leveraged trading protocol offering margin positions on crypto assets — functional concept but overshadowed by dedicated perp DEXs and more established lending platforms.

Blast L2 lending protocol that surfed the points wave for TVL — now facing the reality that most depositors were farming points, not seeking genuine lending services.

Omnichain lending protocol devastated by $50M+ multisig compromise in October 2024 — two major exploits in one year make this one of DeFi's worst security failures.

Multi-chain NFT lending protocol — broader collection support than BendDAO but thinner liquidity and weaker adoption. Another victim of the NFT market downturn.

Blast lending protocol that forced user liquidations by unilaterally changing collateral parameters without warning — a textbook case of governance failure in DeFi.

DeFi's most spectacularly exploited lending protocol — $150M+ lost across multiple attacks due to reckless collateral listing and shared-pool risk.

Compound fork exploited for $7M via a known vulnerability — failed to implement a well-documented security fix, now effectively dead.

Sifu's lending protocol — Aave fork by the QuadrigaCX co-founder, exploited for $23M+ in two attacks within days. A masterclass in why founder reputation matters in DeFi.

Terra's 20% 'savings account' that subsidized unsustainable yields, triggered the UST/LUNA death spiral destroying $40B+, and became DeFi's most catastrophic failure.

Defunct Liquity fork on Arbitrum that minted the VST stablecoin — shut down operations after failing to maintain peg stability and attract sustainable adoption. A cautionary tale for L2 Liquity forks.

Multi-chain Aave fork that got exploited for ~$5M via reentrancy in custom code — a case study in why forking battle-tested code doesn't guarantee safety when you modify it.