Introduction

Greetings steemit Crypto Academy. It is always delightful to be here; for knowledge is indeed potential power. Straight to my homework task, I answered the questions through lecture and research. Thank you professor @reminiscence01 for this awesome opportunity.

1a) In your own words, explain DeFi products and how it is shaping the present-day finance.

Technology has always been used in financial services, that is to say in banks and other financial institutions ;it is nothing new. However, it’s role has always only been a facilitator to the transactions and nothing more. DeFi therefore came as a revolution to place technology at the forefront of transactions in financial services

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DeFi stands for Decentralized Finance. It is a system wherein financial products are made available on decentralized applications(DApps) built on blockchain. Here, the services are made available for everyone to use rather than going through any intermediaries like banks or brokers thus making it totally decentralized. In more details, it is a system by which buying, selling, lending and borrowing are made possible through software written on blockchain wherein there is no middleman or 3rd party.

The principal aim of DeFi is to redefine the traditional financial services by eliminating a 3rd party or intermediary.

The most popular types of DeFi apps are; -

• Staking platforms
• Liquidity mining platforms
• Decentralized Exchanges (DEX)
• Decentralized Lending Protocols and Apps
• Non-custodial wallets

Decentralized Finance with the use of technology enables the use of financial services and disintermediates these transactions irrespective of location, time, identity and so on.

Just like the traditional financing which requires acceptable money or assets, DeFi requires stable currencies. They take the form of stable coins as well as services like crypto exchanges and lending services.

With all these, it is clear that DeFi products are having a direct influence on our present day finance and shaping it positively. This is so because, they’re somehow direct competitors with similar services as well as customer base. Because of this, our financial sector is trying to reshape its services in respect to liquidity, cost of transactions, authority,speed, security and so on which is all positive.

b) Explain the benefits of DeFi products to crypto users.

DeFi products have a lot of benefits to its users. Some of these benefits are;

1. DeFi gives its users far more control over their money. This is so because the personal wallets are directed and actually cater for individual users rather than a whole institution. All one needs is the private key.

2. There are no limits to who can actually use this service; no restrictions like age, race , religion, ethnicity and what have you. This actually goes a long way to increase the overall participation here as intermediaries are eliminated.

3. With your internet connection and required resources, transactions are carried out in no time. This is actually contrary to our traditional financial services where one needs to go from one step to another which is really time consuming. DeFi is actually very speedy.

4. With DeFi, transactions are public which means total transparency as there is no room or way for alterations. This being said, there is no way for malicious alterations.

5. Since DeFi uses Blockchain technology which means cryptography, there is utmost security here.

6. DeFi application makes room for overall cost effectiveness. With the efficiency of blockchain, the automation of smart contracts, and their immutability, the overall transaction cost is much lower.

7. Unlike in the traditional financial services wherein utmost trust is needed in the institutions so as to be totally sure that the transaction services will be satisfactory, with DeFi this is not the case. Trust here is really not an issue because as long as your private key is with you, you have total and complete control over your assets as well as investments therefore no need to put your trust in any authority or intermediate service.

With all these, it is clear that the overall benefits of DeFi to crypto users can never be overemphasized.

2.Discuss any DEX project built on the following network.
Binance Smart Chain
Tron Blockchain

Decentralized Exchanges have a lot of projects built on the different networks. Answering the question, I will choose PancakeSwap for Binance Smart Chain and JustSwap for Tron Blockchain.

PancakeSwap

PakecakeSwap is a food-themed DeFi protocol designed such that users could easily trade binance coins(BNB) and a variety of BEP-20 tokens without any third party interference since it is completely decentralized. It is part of the DeFi services which lets traders carry out their transactions without any interference of an intermediary taking part of the funds. This platform has been audited by several prominent blockchain security firms including Certik and Slowmist even though the team behind it is anonymous. Note that Binance does not control the pancakeSwap though it operates a centralized service. Notwithstanding, it is known that the team is made up of more than a dozen members who are known as chefs , with two co-leads known as Hops and Thumper, and a whole lot of other engineers.

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PancakeSwap is the most popular DEX on Binance Smart Chain(BSC) because of its massive liquidity, variety of features offered and large user base in recent times.

PancakeSwap native token is Cake which entirely can be seen as a total ecosystem of DeFi tools. Cake is actually used for a variety of purposes with its main functions being yield farming, staking, participating in the PancakeSwap Lottery and voting.

PancakeSwap is a kind of DEX which is known as AMM meaning Automated Market Maker. The meaning of this is that instead of order books, bid/ask system or limit/market orders, the users directly draw liquidity from one or several liquidity pools which rebalances at the end of the trade. Simply, rather than finding someone who wants the token you wish to swap for the one you want, users through smart contracts lock their tokens into a liquidity pool. Liquidity here is contributed by users and they are called Liquidity Providers(LPs). They actually earn rewards all the while. Therefore in summary, one can trade BEP-20 tokens or add liquidity to the pool and earn rewards.

Added to its primary functions, pancakeSwap offers other features most of which provide additional utility to its Cake holders some of which include; Initial Farm Offerings (IFOs), Yield Farms, Syrup Pools, Lottery v2, Prediction Markets and NFT Collectibles.

JustSwap

JustSwap is actually an exchange protocol for Tron wherein exchanges between TRC20 tokens are done. It is fully decentralized and secured. It is decentralized in that there is no need for any third party or intermediary as transactions are done from peer to peer; the security is due to the blockchain technology.

Justswap was launched by JUST which is actually a Tron based DeFi protocol that aims at providing financial solutions to its users. The Just team has equally launched other products like USDJ, a stablecoin as well as JustWrapper.

Inorder to interact with dApps on the Tron network, a Tron wallet is needed. This is so because JustSwap is a Tron based decentralized exchange.

Tronlink is one of the most popular Tron wallets and it is supported by JustSwap. This actually works like a browser extension and is made available on Google Play enabling it to be used on a mobile device.

Conversion between TRC20 tokens is very easy based on the system price. The fees collected here do not go to protocol itself but instead goes to the liquidity providers as their reward.

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Summarily,

• JustSwap is the first decentralized token exchange protocol which allows users to exchange any TRC20 token instantly at the system price on the Tron platform. Here, market makers actually make profits without entry barriers.

• Users earn transaction fees by being liquidity providers. As an added advantage, users of JuatSwap can earn both transaction fees as well as mining rewards

• JustSwap is very convenient as exchanges are done instantly without matching orders

• JustSwap is very transparent as it is made available to everyone. This means an open and fair financial market place

• JustSwap is managed by smart contracts based on x*y=k functionality ensures the legitimacy of transactions. The constant function here determines the price. This however depends on the available liquidity of tokens in the pool.

3 In the DEX projects mentioned in question 2, give a detailed illustration of how to swap cryptocurrencies by swapping any crypto asset of your choice. Show proof of transaction from block explorer. (Screenshots needed)

A token swap is the process by which a crypto currency is exchanged for another at a rate that is already predetermined. It is actually like a replacement of one coin for another without leaving the Blockchain wallet.

For better understanding, a step by step illustration is best. I’ll use JustSwap on the Tronlink wallet. Below are the steps to follow;

Step 1

I login to my Tron wallet. In my Tron wallet, I could either just take swap(the icon on the screen) and follow the directions or go to the browser(at the bottom of the page) . I’ll do the latter

So I’ll click on “Browser” at the bottom of the page.

Step 2

It took me to another page and in the search dialogue box, I type Justswap which took me here. There is swap and pool and under swap, I enter the amount I want to swap

Note that I need to choose which currency I am swapping to; I chose USDT. There’s an instant conversion and I clicked on swap

Step 3

Another dialogue box pops up requesting that I confirm the swap which I did

Step 4
Next is authorization tips and I clicked on continue

Step 5

The next confirmation dialogue box pops up where in I click on confirm.

Step 6
Now my password is required as the final confirmation

Step 7
And it’s done. Swap completed

The swapping is quite user friendly and easy to do indeed.

Conclusion

With all these, I must say I have learnt a whole lot about DeFi, it’s products, benefits and how it is helping to reshape today’s finance. Thank you so much sir for this great knowledge; I am indeed expanded.
Thank you too who read through; I am grateful 🙏🏽.

Best Regards
@nancymboghi