Bitrue, OKEx to offer both DeFi and CeFi options

Two exchanges will offer both decentralized and centralized financial options.

Both Bitrue and OKEx separately announced plans to provide hybrid services that cater both to the DeFi market and more mainstream centralized finance products.

OKEx CEO Jay Hao tweeted on August 30 that the exchange launched its hybrid lending aggregator. The DeFi and CeFi aggregator integrates Compound (COMP). Hao said OKEx is “here to redefine crypto lending experience.”

The OKEx DeFi Lending Marketplace gathers major DeFi lending products and allows users to check and compare all DeFi and CeFi lending rates. The exchange will also come out with a One-Stop DeFi Trading Shop promising a one-stop DeFi experience and eliminates the need to transfer funds between wallets.

Bitrue, on the other hand, plans to launch its own hybrid service in the first quarter of 2021, the exchange said in a statement.  Its DeFi offering will be backed by a new token called the Bitrue Finance Token or BFT. Bitrue said it will start out by enabling lenders to add coins to the liquidity pool with the lenders receiving interest. BFT will be listed in mid-September.

“By providing both CeFi and DeFi products at the same time, we will be able to satisfy the needs of different types of users. Regardless of your preferred time horizon, the yield you want to receive, how long you're prepared to lock up your coins for, and how much you want to invest, there will be an opportunity for you to invest in a way that you're most comfortable with.”

Bitrue added it would be “implementing upgrades to their existing loan service, starting with a move to make publicly viewable the wallets that contain collateralized funds.”

Interest in DeFi remains high, especially as DeFi reached a milestone recently, hitting $9 billion in locked-in value. OKEx also listed eight new DeFi tokens and said it’s been encouraging to see many excellent DeFi projects coming up.