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Top DeFi protocols

Decentralized Finance Publication’s protocols hub covers major DeFi apps — lending, DEXs, liquid staking, and yield aggregators — with plain-English mechanics, governance notes, and risk context. Pair these guides with DeFiLlama for live TVL figures. Educational research only; not financial advice.

Showing 1–9 of 211 protocols

211 protocol guidesLast updated July 2026Live data: DeFiLlama
Top DeFi Protocols

Best DEXes 2026: Uniswap, Aerodrome, Jupiter, Curve & More Compared

The decentralised exchange landscape in 2026 spans dozens of protocols across multiple blockchains. This guide ranks the best DEXes by volume, liquidity depth, supported chains, and specific use cases — helping you choose the right platform for every swap.

Kaiser KhanRead
Top DeFi Protocols

Best DeFi Lending Protocols 2026: Aave, Morpho, Spark & Compound Compared

DeFi lending protocols let you earn yield by supplying assets or borrow against crypto collateral. Aave, Morpho, Spark, and Compound are the leaders in 2026 — each with different risk profiles, supported assets, and yield opportunities. This guide helps you choose.

Kaiser KhanRead
Top DeFi Protocols

What is Pendle Finance? PT, YT and When to Skip It

Pendle splits yield-bearing tokens into PT (fixed claim at maturity) and YT (the yield stream). Verdict-first guide on implied APY, early exit, and when Aave is the better tool.

Kaiser KhanRead
Top DeFi Protocols

What is Hyperliquid? Perp DEX and When to Skip It

Hyperliquid is a non-custodial perpetual futures DEX on its own L1 with an on-chain order book. Verdict-first guide on liquidation, why spot Uniswap is the wrong comparison, and who should not trade perps.

Kaiser KhanRead
Top DeFi Protocols

What is Rocket Pool? Decentralised ETH Liquid Staking Explained

Rocket Pool is Ethereum's most decentralised liquid staking protocol, letting anyone run a validator with 8 ETH via minipools while stakers receive rETH — a liquid staking token composable across DeFi.

Decentralized Finance editorial teamRead
Top DeFi Protocols

What is Chainlink? Oracles, CCIP, and DeFi Infrastructure Explained

Chainlink is the dominant decentralised oracle network powering price feeds for Aave, Compound, and most major DeFi protocols — plus CCIP cross-chain messaging and the Data Streams product for low-latency institutional data.

Decentralized Finance editorial teamRead
Top DeFi Protocols

What is Ondo Finance? Tokenised Treasuries and RWA DeFi Explained

Ondo Finance bridges institutional finance and DeFi by tokenising US Treasuries and money market funds — OUSG and USDY are among the most widely integrated RWA products in on-chain lending and yield strategies.

Decentralized Finance editorial teamRead
Top DeFi Protocols

What is GMX? Perpetual DEX on Arbitrum and Avalanche Explained

GMX is a decentralised perpetual futures exchange on Arbitrum and Avalanche using the GLP liquidity pool model — one of the longest-running perp DEXes, predating Hyperliquid's order-book approach.

Kaiser KhanRead
Top DeFi Protocols

What is Polymarket? On-Chain Prediction Markets Explained

Polymarket is the world's largest decentralised prediction market, letting users trade on real-world event outcomes — elections, economic data, sports, and crypto events — using USDC on Polygon.

Decentralized Finance editorial teamRead

See also: DeFi lending hub, Top DeFi protocols by TVL (ranked table with live build-time data) and token reference pages.

FAQ

DeFi protocols — FAQ

What is a DeFi protocol?

A DeFi protocol is a set of smart contracts deployed on a blockchain that provides a specific financial service — such as token swapping, lending, liquid staking, or yield farming — without a central operator. Anyone can interact with a DeFi protocol directly using a crypto wallet.

Which DeFi protocol has the most TVL?

As of July 2026, Lido Finance leads pure DeFi protocols by TVL due to liquid staking dominance on Ethereum, followed by Aave V3, Morpho, and Sky lending. CEX-linked entries on DeFiLlama rank higher but are custodial. See our ranked TVL table for current figures.

What is the difference between a DEX and a lending protocol?

A DEX (decentralised exchange) like Uniswap or Curve allows users to swap tokens using liquidity pools. A lending protocol like Aave, Inverse FiRM or Resupply lets you deposit collateral and borrow, or supply assets to earn interest. Convex sits on top of Curve gauges rather than replacing either.

Are DeFi protocols audited?

Leading DeFi protocols undergo security audits by firms such as Trail of Bits, OpenZeppelin, Certora, and Spearbit before launch. However, audits do not guarantee safety — protocols are still vulnerable to novel exploits, oracle manipulation, and governance attacks.

What is liquid staking in DeFi?

Liquid staking allows users to stake tokens (such as ETH) and receive a liquid receipt token (such as stETH from Lido) in return. The receipt token can be used in other DeFi protocols while the underlying asset continues earning staking rewards.

Where do Curve, Convex, Resupply, Inverse and Frax fit?

Curve is the stableswap DEX and crvUSD/LlamaLend host. Convex boosts Curve gauges and votes veCRV via vlCVX. Resupply is a CDP that mints reUSD against Curve Lend and Fraxlend collateral. Inverse Finance offers fixed-rate DOLA borrowing via FiRM and sDOLA. Frax issues frxUSD/sfrxUSD and Fraxlend markets. They share collateral and votes; they are not one protocol.