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DeFi, or decentralized finance, is the on-chain world of finance that stands to solve most of the issues plaguing traditional financial systems. DeFi protocols include decentralized exchanges, yield-earning protocols that involve lending, borrowing, or the generation of synthetic tokens. Then there are stablecoins, oracles, data protocols, RWAs, and risk management protocols, all of which fall under the purview of DeFi.
New protocols enter the market each day, but this is a tentative list of all those projects that have the promise to deliver in the market.
Note: Crypto investments involve significant risk. Do not take the views mentioned here as financial advice. Please conduct thorough research before making any investment.
DeFi projects to monitor
Jupiter (JUP)
Jupiter uses half of all its earned fees to buy back JUP tokens, which then get stored in a special treasury (called the Litterbox) and locked for three years.
Trending
So far, Jupiter has already bought back 95M JUP (about 1.37% of supply). Instead of quick burns, this approach builds a long-term value pool that steadily supports the token.
In a market where Ethereum DEXs are fighting over shrinking volumes, Jupiter makes sure Solana’s trading growth actually benefits its holders, hence turning activity into lasting yield.
Pump.fun (PUMP)
Right now, Pump.fun earns more daily fees than some of Ethereum’s biggest protocols, and it has pledged to use 100% of that revenue to buy back PUMP tokens.
In just one month (August 2025), Pump.fun bought back over $60M worth of PUMP, shrinking the supply by about 4% in weeks. That’s a huge amount of pressure in such a short time.
Of course, memecoins are volatile and not without risk. But compared to BTC ETFs, where billions of dollars just sit as it is, Pump.fun is turning trading activity into real, fee-backed value for tokenholders. For people who like momentum but also want long-term support under the token, PUMP offers both.
UniSwap
Uniswap remains the flagship decentralized exchange. Its newest version, Uniswap v4, crossed close to $1.03 billion in TVL just months after launch. The protocol continues to handle multi-billion-dollar liquidity and trading volumes.
What sets Uniswap apart is how v4 transforms it from “just a swap machine” into a programmable liquidity layer. The latest version of Uniswap lets each liquidity pool behave differently, rather than all working the same way. The hooks allow developers to add custom rules. So, they can now change the fee charged during high volatility and vice versa. For liquidity providers, that means their capital works harder, and liquidity stays deep.
Frax Finance (FRAX)
Stablecoins are the glue that holds the stability of the crypto economy together. Since cryptos are traditionally volatile, stablecoins are pegged to more stable assets like fiat currencies to maintain stability in the crypto market. They use techniques like overcollateralization and the power of algorithms to achieve this.
Frax is a new-age stablecoin that uses a hybrid model of both collateral and algorithm to maintain stability. Today, it has expanded into an entire ecosystem: lending, automated market makers (AMMs), and chains. Frax represents the next generation of stablecoin, one that can be customized as per needs.
Chainlink (LINK)
Oracles are the link between the external world and that of DeFi. They input information like price movements or identity verification for DeFi. Chainlink is one such Oracle, and today it is the default data layer for most blockchain-based financial transactions. Price feeds, automation, and now cross-chain messaging make it the most critical piece of infrastructure across multiple chains. If DeFi is the engine, Chainlink may be thought of as the data pipeline keeping it running.
Ondo Finance
The RWA protocol onboards institutional-grade assets like U.S. Treasuries (OUSG) and bond-backed tokens.
Ondo bridges TradFi and DeFi with full compliance, making it the most adopted institutional RWA issuer today.
DeFi keeps evolving rapidly, and innovations are happening even faster than before. Be it enhanced models of liquidity, designs that introduce real yield, or the integration of real-world assets, the protocols mentioned here underline where on-chain finance is going. Investors focused on fundamentals, sustainability, and real utility will be better off as the next wave of DeFi growth materializes.
NFTs, gambling predictors, and minting protocols are some of the new and interesting fields that will open up in the world of DeFi.
