DeFi's Centralization Crisis — and How the Rebase Crew is Fixing It

The Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ideal is a truly free and open economic ecosystem. But DeFi’s reliance on censorable, centralized stablecoins (e.g., USDC, USDT) threatens to kill this dream.

Fortunately, crypto innovators are developing rebasing assets, which have the potential to power a new class of censorship resistant tokens.

Eventually, rebase-powered or backed assets could replace centralized stablecoins, making DeFi stronger

A new class of DeFi super heroes is emerging: The Rebase Crew. These pioneers are using strength, brains and grit to build an unstoppable, uncensorable rebase-powered DeFi ecosystem. 

Why is DeFi in Crisis?

Despite its name, decentralized finance (DeFi) is far from decentralized. For example, many major smart contracts have admin keys and can be upgraded by centralized teams. But, this problem is solvable. As smart contracts become more robust and proven, human influence will decline.

But, there is another area of centralization in DeFi that is harder to fix. Many of the assets at the center of the ecosystem are centralized stablecoins such as USDC, USDT, etc.

These assets pose a dire threat to the dream of truly decentralized DeFi. If organizations controlling these stablecoins were forced to censor these assets, DeFi would stop working.  

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Stablecoin Market Cap (As of November 2021, in Billions)
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Decentralized Stablecoin Marketcap (As of November 2021, in Billions)
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Marketcap of 2 Most Popular Rebasing Assets: AMPL and OHM (As of Late November 2021, in Billions)

What is the Rebase?

Originally created by the Ampleforth team, the rebase is a mechanism that allows token supply to increase or decrease across all wallets and smart contracts holding rebasing assets.

Importantly, rebasing tokens are largely controlled by rules written in code, not organizations or individuals. 

Learn More About the Rebase and Elastic Finance

In January 2021, the AmpleSense DAO published a major article about the value of the rebase and the growing Elastic Finance industry. 

DeFi Innovators With Strength, Brains and Grit

The Rebase Crew

View the Infographic: DeFi's Dangerous Stablecoin Problem

Learn more about how centralized stablecoins are putting DeFi in danger — and how rebasing assets, and DeFi’s Rebase Crew, are defending it. 

Dive Deeper into Elastic Finance

The AmpleSense DAO is a global independent, community-powered project focused on improving understanding and adoption of elastic finance. 

Join our community to learn more about the rebase and the Rebase Crew.

You can also get information about the DAO’s first Elastic Vault, which takes advantage of Ampleforth’s rebasing mechanic, and the EEFI yield asset (see image at left). 

The elastic vault (and an airdrop of EEFI tokens) will launch in early January 2022.