What is Curve Finance?

Summary: Curve Finance is a leading decentralized exchange in the DeFi space, renowned for its focus on stablecoin trading and liquidity provision. It utilizes the innovative StableSwap mechanism to offer reduced slippage and fees, and Curve V2 further broadens its scope to include various asset classes. 

The platform is underpinned by robust tokenomics with the CRV token, enhancing governance and liquidity incentives. Curve also ensures security through rigorous audits, and its compatibility with multiple EVM-compatible blockchains enhances its accessibility.

What is Curve?

Curve Finance is a decentralized exchange, distinguished in the DeFi space for its focus on stablecoin trading. By leveraging liquidity pools rather than traditional order books, it offers users reduced fees and slippage, alongside maintaining control over their assets. This platform sets itself apart with a unique algorithm that efficiently handles a mix of stable and non-stable assets, making it a key player in the DeFi ecosystem.

In addition to efficient trading, Curve provides attractive opportunities for liquidity providers (LPs) to earn yields from trading fees and interests from lending protocols. The platform's security is reinforced by audits from reputable firms, positioning it as a secure and reliable choice in the DeFi market, particularly for those interested in stablecoin trading and liquidity provision.

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How Does Curve Finance Work?

Curve Finance operates through its innovative StableSwap exchange mechanism, which is specifically optimized for stablecoin trades. At its core is the StableSwap invariant, a formula that effectively reduces slippage, particularly in exchanges involving stable tokens such as USD-pegged stablecoins or variants of wrapped BTC. This makes Curve highly efficient for trades between tokens that have a stable relationship.

The platform's functionality is encapsulated in Curve pools, which are essentially smart contracts that implement the StableSwap invariant. These pools vary in complexity, ranging from plain pools containing two or more tokens, to lending pools with integrated lending features, and metapools facilitating exchanges with tokens from other base pools.

This flexibility allows Curve to cater to a wide array of trading needs within the decentralized finance sector, making it a go-to platform for stablecoin exchange and liquidity provision.

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What is Curve V2?

Curve Finance V2 introduces a versatile approach to liquidity provision for assets with varying volatility levels. Unlike its predecessor, Curve V1, which was primarily focused on stablecoins, Curve V2 expands its scope to include a broader range of assets. This is achieved through its innovative use of adjustable parameters, allowing for optimization according to the specific characteristics of different asset pairs.

At the core of Curve V2 are three types of parameters:

1. Bonding Curve Parameters: These include the 'A' parameter, which controls liquidity concentration at the curve's center, and 'Gamma', which adjusts the overall breadth of the curve. Essentially, 'A' fine-tunes liquidity near the expected exchange rate, while 'Gamma' influences the curve’s shape, especially in the case of pool imbalances.
2. Price Scaling Parameters: These involve the 'MA half time', which dictates the duration of the pool's internal Exponential Moving Average (EMA) price oracle. Additionally, 'Allowed extra profit' and 'Adjustment step' parameters govern the conditions under which the bonding curve's re-pegging to the EMA occurs. This dynamic re-pegging ensures liquidity is concentrated where it's most effective according to current market prices.
3. Fee Parameters: Curve V2 implements dynamic fees based on the pool's balance or imbalance. The 'Fee mid' is the minimum fee in a balanced pool state, 'Fee out' is the maximum in an imbalanced state, and 'Fee Gamma' controls how quickly fees escalate as the pool moves from balanced to imbalanced.

The integration of these parameters in Curve V2 pools facilitates a more nuanced liquidity management, adapting to different market conditions and asset volatilities. This flexibility positions Curve V2 as a potent tool for liquidity providers, offering optimized profit potential while managing risks associated with diverse asset types.

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Curve Finance Tokenomics

Curve Finance's CRV token, launched on August 13, 2020, plays a pivotal role in incentivizing liquidity providers and facilitating protocol governance. The total supply of CRV tokens is 3.03 billion, distributed as follows:

• 62% to community liquidity providers.
• 30% to shareholders (team and investors) with a vesting period of 2-4 years.
• 5% reserved for community development.
• 3% allocated to employees with a 2-year vesting period.

Initially, approximately 1.3 billion CRV tokens (~43% of total supply) were allocated across shareholders, employees, and the community reserve, with pre-CRV liquidity providers receiving a 5% share under a 1-year vesting term.

The introduction of CRV tokens to liquidity providers commenced at a rate of about 2 million CRV per day, a strategy aimed at progressively increasing the circulating supply from zero at launch. This structured approach underscores Curve's commitment to sustainable growth and active community participation in governance.

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Providing Liquidity on Curve

When providing liquidity on Curve, a liquidity provider (LP) earns yield through trading fees paid by swap users. LPs receive 50% of all trading fees, causing the base vAPY to increase with pool volume. Swap fees typically range from 0.04% to 0.4% in V2 pools when the price deviates significantly from the internal oracle (EMA) price. Note that LPs have exposure to every asset in the pool they provide liquidity for.

In addition to trading fees, some pools earn interest from lending protocols, generating higher yield for LPs but introducing additional risk layers. Some pools also include incentives, such as a protocol's native token, to deepen liquidity. CRV tokens may be emitted to pools based on gauge weights, controlled by the Curve DAO (veCRV holders). Lastly, veCRV holders can boost their LP rewards up to 2.5x, adding extra incentive.

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What is veCRV?

eCRV, short for vote-escrowed CRV, is a representation of CRV tokens locked in a voting escrow contract for a set duration. These tokens, which are not transferable, are earned by locking CRV tokens and grant users various benefits. Holders of veCRV have voting power in Curve's governance, influencing decisions on on-chain proposals and the allocation of CRV token emissions to liquidity pools.

Additionally, as of September 19, 2020, veCRV holders receive 50% of all trading fees generated on the platform, with the rest going to liquidity providers. These fees are paid out in 3CRV tokens. Furthermore, veCRV enhances liquidity providers' CRV rewards through a boost mechanism.

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Is Curve Safe?

Curve's core smart contracts have undergone audits by Trail of Bits, while the Curve DAO contracts have been audited by Trail of Bits, Quantstamp, and mixBytes. However, audits don't guarantee complete safety. Curve smart contracts, like all contracts, carry inherent risks, and joining a pool as an LP exposes users to the systematic risk of all tokens in the pool.

Using lending protocols to increase yield adds further risk. Nonetheless, Curve has been operating securely for over two years, managing billions in pools, and has established itself as a trusted and security-conscious DeFi protocol.

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Curve Finance Supported Chains

Curve is accessible on various EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine)-compatible blockchain networks. These networks include:

• Ethereum
• Arbitrum
• Avalanche
• Celo
• Fantom
• Polygon
• Optimism
• Kava
• Gnosis
• Moonbeam

Each of these networks supports Curve's functionalities, expanding its reach and usability across the broader cryptocurrency ecosystem.

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Final Thoughts

In conclusion, Curve Finance stands as a notable entity in the decentralized finance landscape, offering an advanced and secure platform for stablecoin trading and liquidity provision. Its innovative StableSwap mechanism, expansion into varied asset classes through Curve V2, and a well-structured tokenomics system exemplify Curve's commitment to enhancing trading efficiency and incentivizing community involvement. The platform's versatility across multiple EVM-compatible chains further cements its position as a pivotal and accessible player in the DeFi sector.