Q1 2020 in Review: Price performance and emerging trends in Open Finance

With the first quarter wrapped up, we take a look back on how the Open Finance sector fared in the midst of all the market turmoil as well as identify prominent themes that emerged.

Decentralized Exchanges (DEXs)

Decentralized exchanges had the highest return out of the four sectors despite three out of the five tokens in the negative. This is in large part due to Kyber (KNC) which was by far the best performing DeFi asset up 137% in Q1. Kyber is awaiting a major protocol upgrade that the team recently released further details on. Loopring (LRC) was also up on the quarter after it underwent an upgrade to v3 in Dec. 2019. And while there is no native token, one of the most prominent exchanges in DeFi, Uniswap, also announced details regarding a major upgrade to v2 that is expected later this quarter.

Looking at exchange volume, DEXs had by far their best quarter ever. Even before the heightened volatility in March, they were setting all-time highs. By the time Black Thursday came around, volumes immediately doubled. They have since come down but still remain above historical averages. Volumes started picking up towards the tail end of 2019, driven by the entrance of aggregators which are increasingly playing a larger role in the ecosystem. This trend is expected to continue going forward as these protocols advance and the trader experience more closely mimics that of centralized exchanges.

Lending