Putting the ‘De’ back in DeFi with Dusa

Though it may sound obvious, decentralization should always be at the very core of DeFi. A fully decentralized financial system perfectly aligns with the underlying philosophy of blockchain technology. However, the reality is that many DeFi platforms and protocols are not fully decentralized. One reason for this is the fact that many DeFi protocols are built on top of existing blockchain platforms like Ethereum, which have technical limitations that make it difficult to achieve full decentralization. Another obvious limitation is the high gas fees, which can make it difficult for smaller participants to take part in the consensus process, ultimately leading to centralization. True decentralization can sometimes come at the cost of user experience, as decentralized exchanges (DEXs) can be slower and less intuitive to use than centralized exchanges, making them less appealing to mainstream users. Unfriendly UX is still a significant barrier to the mass adoption of DeFi platforms.

Governance imbalance is yet another issue contributing to DeFi’s centralization trend. Many DeFi protocols have a governance structure that allows token holders to vote on important decisions, such as protocol upgrades and changes to the tokenomics. However, in practice, token holders with larger stakes have more influence over the decision-making process, leading to centralization. Last but certainly not least, many DeFi protocols are created and maintained by a core group of developers who have significant influence over the protocol’s direction and development, despite being open-source and community-driven.

Because of these challenges, many DeFi platforms and protocols are not fully decentralized, even though they still manage to offer significant benefits over traditional finance, including increased transparency, security, and accessibility. Now imagine what a 100% decentralized DeFi platform can offer. You may think you’re a dreamer, but you are not, in fact, the only one. Many DeFi users are increasingly recognizing the benefits of true decentralization, such as security and transparency. In recent years, there has been a growing demand for a higher level of decentralization across the entire DeFi ecosystem. Today, Dusa is here to answer those demands. How? Three words: autonomous smart contracts.

Dusa brings true decentralization to DeFi

Dusa is a fully on-chain decentralized finance protocol that has all its infrastructure entirely on the blockchain. While other existing web-based DEX platforms, such as Uniswap, have their front end hosted on centralized servers, Dusa is fundamentally designed as a 100% on-chain DEX. From the user-facing web application right down to the tiniest liquidity-generating mechanisms in the back end, it’s all blockchain-based. This makes censorship on Dusa impossible. This isn’t quite the case with, for example, Uniswap’s front end, which frustratingly doesn’t display all available tokens.

Dusa uses autonomous smart contracts. They allow traders to access the DEX directly from the blockchain without the need for any intermediaries. This factor alone makes Dusa one of the most decentralized platforms in DeFi land. Dusa users enjoy access to a wide range of advanced on-chain DEX trading functionalities. Advanced features such as setting limit orders, OSO orders and stop losses, performing instant token swaps, and even applying custom DCA strategies to accumulate crypto assets in the long run — everything can be executed intuitively and securely thanks to the autonomous smart contracts on the Massa blockchain.

One of the key benefits of using autonomous smart contracts in DeFi trading is that they allow for truly trustless and transparent transactions. They reduce the risk of counterparty fraud and bring transaction costs to their bare minimum. Autonomous smart contracts can be programmed to automatically execute specific trading strategies based on user-predefined rules. This automation can increase the efficiency of trading high-volatility markets such as crypto. By enabling trustless and transparent transactions, reducing the need for intermediaries and automating trading strategies, smart contracts make DeFi more efficient, accessible and secure for all participants.

How it works

Regular automated market maker (AMM) pools on classic DEX platforms allow liquidity providers (LPs) to contribute assets to the pool in proportion to their value. This means that LPs provide liquidity across the entire price range of the asset, which can result in lower liquidity for specific price ranges. On the other hand, concentrated autonomous liquidity powered by autonomous smart contracts allows LPs to concentrate their liquidity within a specific price range, which can reduce slippage for traders. The crucial benefit of Dusa is that it enables this concentrated liquidity to be managed in a dynamic way completely on-chain.

The result? Traders benefit from the best prices and liquidity providers multiply their yield without spending any more time than what they’d spend on a classic DEX. Plus, they get to use complex trading orders and enjoy autonomous liquidity. This is all made possible through the use of autonomous smart contracts. They are essential in adjusting the liquidity provided by LPs based on the price range of the asset being traded.

Built on Massa

It’s little wonder then that the Dusa team chose to build on the Massa blockchain. Massa’s technical innovations, such as autonomous smart contracts, allow Dusa to offer a fully on-chain DeFi experience. Now Dusa aims to become the DeFi layer of the Massa ecosystem. Dusa’s UI has been designed to be immediately accessible and connectable to future Dapps in the rapidly expanding Massa ecosystem. All ecosystem participants will be able to benefit from a more secure DeFi infrastructure entirely based on blockchain where the assets are non-custodial. Massa is on an unstoppable mission to increase the number of quality projects building on its blockchain because ultimately that’s what keeps attracting decentralization-focused builders and users to any L1 network.

In order to turbocharge innovation, the core Massa team offers grants to projects that bring real value and utility to the Massa chain. All blockchain developers who have a cool idea and just need some help and funding to kickstart their dream project are welcome to apply. Grant applications are open to everyone in (and outside of) the Massa community. After a thorough application review determines that the proposed project will bring benefits to the Massa ecosystem, there is a possibility for its team to receive support in the form of fiat, stablecoins or Massa tokens.

Can I benefit from Massa’s grants program?

Good question. Yes, if you happen to have any one of these:

• An innovative idea that you want to build from scratch.
• An early stage project that still needs a lot of development to reach a proof of concept.
• An existing proof-of-concept project that you want to make even more awesome
• A moon-ready project with a strong enough proof of concept that you’re ready to launch but you need financial help to enhance your marketing, communication and legal strategy.

Recognize your project in any of the above criteria? If so, feel free to go ahead and apply for a Massa grant. The future is decentralized and you can play a part in it!

About Massa:

Massa is a high-performance blockchain designed to be truly decentralized from the start. Massa testnet was released in July 2021, providing an easy way for anyone to test our protocol, and has been constantly improving since then.

• Website: massa.net
• Testnet explorer: test.massa.net
• Documentation: https://docs.massa.net/
• Source code and tutorials: github.com/massalabs/massa
• Telegram: t.me/massanetwork
• Discord: discord.gg/massa
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/MassaLabs
• Reddit: reddit.com/r/massa/
• Youtube: youtube.com/channel/UChVfdvYpn0eFk4B-T7TGmOg