In recent times, there has been a push across industries to decentralize anything that can possibly be decentralized. While blockchain technology and its use of a decentralized ledger was originally intended for digital currencies such as Bitcoin, it has since been applied to a broad spectrum of applications. People are even putting their babies on blockchains. But in terms of practical use, decentralized finance may be the most important application of the technology.

Decentralized finance is being applied to various financial sectors. This includes investment, derivatives and remittances. But many believe that the most promising application of blockchain technology in finance will be in lending.

Blockchain technology offers lots of benefits, such as transparency, openness and security, and by applying these benefits to the lending industry more people than ever before will have access to both loans and credits. The technology also holds out the promise of creating new products and services in the industry.

Among these new services is one created by a company named MakerDAO, which has developed a stablecoin called DAI. They are offering loans in this currency to those who make deposits in Ether, which, in effect, becomes collateral for the loan. So far, it has been a big success and is considered the largest decentralized finance platform by a significant margin. It currently has more $500 million worth of Ether deposited.

The second leading decentralized finance platform is called EOS REX, which provides loans in the EOS digital currency. The platform right now has deposits in excess of $400 million.

A number of smaller decentralized finance platforms have been recently launched as well. This includes Compound, which offers a lending platform that allows lenders to earn interest off their cryptocurrency holdings. Other small decentralized finance platforms include:

Dharma Lendoit SALT NUO ETHLend Colendi Bloqboard
Still, decentralized finance is considered in its infancy, and some industry experts have cautioned both lenders and borrowers to be careful when selecting a platform. Other experts have suggested that people wait until the platforms become more mature and better tested.