Cardano (ADA) smart contracts are finally here and so the project focuses on further growth. EMURGO, a company that builds on Cardano, has therefore set up a new company called Astarter. This company goes ahead with infrastructure Decentralized Finance (DeFi) build applications such as a decentralized exchange.
EMURGO, which developed the Yoroi wallet, among other things, recently announced the news in an announcement. This shows that the DeFi company is a collaboration between EMURGO and the Chinese Blockchain4A. The two want to be the first to build a decentralized launchpad for exchange offerings (IDOs). Next, a decentralized exchange is planned.
EMURGO, the official commercial arm of @Cardano, has teamed up with Shenzhen-based technology firm Blockchain 4A to form Astarter, a joint venture to build #DeFi services infrastructure on CARDANO! https://t.co/Fq5F0UUanS$ADA /1 https://t.co/9e9qwBxH0u
— EMURGO (@emurgo_io) September 16, 2021
In the longer term, the company wants decentralized money market integrate functions to enable, among other things, the borrowing and lending of money on Cardano. Emurgo CEO Ken Kodama says of the news:
“A wider range of services promotes financial inclusion and social cohesion, especially in areas where traditional financial services are lacking. […] Decentralized finance is of interest to the crypto community due to the improved transparency, security and credibility of processing financial transactions. The value of crypto assets under management in DeFi apps has risen sharply.”
A large number of projects are said to be already building on Cardano. At least 200 smart contracts have already been launched on the network, but they have not yet been activated. You can read more about this in this article.
DeFi is the sector of decentralized financial services. Users can borrow, lend and trade money through these applications. However, the sector offers many more opportunities such as liquidity mining and yield farming. Want to read more about DeFi? Find more information here.
The launch of smart contracts after the Alonzo update was a bit of an anticlimax for some when it comes to the ADA price. It was trading close to $3 until recently, but has fallen back below $2.40 following the update.