Argentina is the most prominent home to startups that exploit the potential of DeFi. Almost 50% of startups are based in the USA.
A study by Steven Zheng, from The Block, shows that companies from Argentina and Brazil are on the list of 73 new Decentralized Finance (DeFi) startups, most of which (49%) are based in the USA.
Zheng’s research noted that, after the analysis of the legal addresses of these firms, the percentages changed a little for US participants, who went from 50% to 44%. Meanwhile, Singapore, Switzerland, the Cayman Islands, and the British Virgin Islands take a bigger portion of the pie.
In Singapore, home to 10% of the startups tracked for the study, Zheng also found that most of the firms (57%) were founded in 2017. In Latin America, specifically in Brazil and Argentina, there are just 2% of the total DeFi startups considered in the study.
In Argentina, for example, the development of DeFi projects has been giving a lot to talk about in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Even IOV Labs, the company behind the development of RSK, recently announced a DeFi platform on its Bitcoin sidechain. This project will offer its users a stablecoin collateralized with Bitcoin, leveraged tokens, and staking passive income.
The RIF on Chain (ROC) platform will be built and deployed on the RIF development infrastructure. The Money on Chain team will be in charge of doing the work. This project, which also runs on RSK, will extend its technology to RIF to lay the foundation for a decentralized finance ecosystem backed by RIF tokens.
Money on Chain is a platform that was created in 2019 when it launched DOC (Dollar on Chain), a stablecoin collateralized with Bitcoin. Even though the startup has its project on a global scale, it is mostly formed by an Argentine team. For some time now, it has been part of the large group of projects whose initiatives were born in the South American country.
Another decentralized Marketplace is Ripio Credit Network, which allows funders and debtors to close p2p loan agreements. The Argentine initiative offers microloans to the market in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico. Founded in Argentina, it is a benchmark platform in Latin America, where more than 63% of people are unbanked.
DeFi Market Becomes Stronger
By encompassing the peripheries of emerging technology and legacy finance, DeFi has rapidly become one of the most prominent offerings in the blockchain ecosystem. It stands as an open world that anyone can access, from any place worldwide, to use and create new products and services.
The movement, which has the potential to completely transform existing financial products, has caught the attention of major business players seeking to capitalize on operational efficiency, cost savings, and disintermediation.
Before the collapse of the stock markets last February, this ecosystem had a value in reserve that amounted to more than USD 1 billion, reaching a new all-time milestone. However, COVID-19 has harmed the sector.
By Alexander Salazar
