Dharma, a Coinbase backed DeFi startup, is integrating the Uniswap protocol, a move that will expose its app users to over 2000 tokens. This comes as the DeFi market continues to surge by the day with the latest DeFi Pulse valuation metrics showing a total locked value (TVL) of $3.94 billion as of press time. Dharma’s founder, Brendan Foster, has since noted that the milestone will further dictate their ambition to be a DeFi gateway.
“This continues our strategy of building Dharma as the gateway to doing the important things in DeFi.”
Notably, the firm had launched a savings money service from Compound, which enables its users to earn a yield. The latest Uniswap addition will now make it 3 DeFi products according to Brendan,
“Dharma now supports the three core money services … Savings and yield via Compound, investing, and trading via Uniswap and peer-to-peer payments.”
Recent moves by Dharma have clearly backed their interest in the DeFi sector. The firm launched its first Ethereum based product in April 2019 after it had secured a $7 million funding in February the same year. Its view on DeFi as a niche market consequently spurred the development of its ecosystem, as it would later on board stablecoins savings in integration with the Compound protocol.
Dharma has since gone a notch a higher following the integration with Uniswap protocol; the firm is now looking to be the ‘Robinhood’ of DeFi. In the latest Uniswap integration, Dharma will cover gas costs on behalf of its users, which is basically the transaction fees on Ethereum. Going by the rising gas costs, the move is a pretty good gesture which we might say borrows from the ‘Robinhood’ spirit. In addition, Dharma will be running a ‘no-fee, no-gas promotion’ up to the end of August. Dharma CEO, Nadav Hollander noted,
“Our goal in building ‘the Robinhood of crypto’ is to bridge the final gap between these blossoming markets and the millions of individuals who will want to tap into them as they gain popularity and mindshare.”
The new release will allow U.S clients to fund up to $1,000 weekly via their credit cards as they look for exposure in the growing DeFi market. While the initiative sounds promising, Dharma released a disclaimer noting that the underlying fundamental is quite delicate nonetheless. Brendan said,
“We’re trying to walk a delicate balance between permissionlessness on one side and not having users run themselves off a cliff on the other side.”