Ohh this course was something out of the ordinary and I have learned a lot about how defi is used and now I realize that it will take over the banking business. I have to tell you that before the course I thought defi was a crypto coin, but after Ivan’s explanation in the beginning about the father and son contract I did understand what a smart contract and what defi is. The only thing with defi is that it is too new yet, there are too many risks to go all in. Not so much due to the fraud, but more that the contract may have unforeseen gaps. Thank you so much for now I can keep track of defi and maybe later go all in.
2 Likes
Very interesting concepts and course. Very much enjoyed as I’ve said before.
In Defi and what we’re learning it seems that we are over collatoralizing when lending. However in todays modern world economy it seems like the economy functions on taking risk and providing credit with no collatoral (especially seen with credit cards). As such an analytic scoring model like FICO for Crypto Wallets might be a good abstraction layer to create more liquidity and usuage for crypto in general. Just a though !
1 Like
I tried the conversion on the Kovan test network:
ETH --> DAI --> Compound and Chai --> DAI --> ETH
ETH --> DAI --> Compound and Chai went fine.
I had an issue with TX using the web UIs with Compound and Chai --> DAI. Looked like TX was burning gas but not transferring tokens. Using the Read/Write contracts on etherscan I got all back in DAI tokens in Metamask.
Issue with transferring DAI --> ETH. I kept getting “not enough funds” although I had 72 DAI in Metmask. Trying again next day on another computer, the DAI could be converted back to ETH. I did not find the root cause, looking at transactions, going through options in the web UI. Suspecting either state of Firefox or my user error.
I was using the Kovan test network so the issues became a good learning experience as no real money was at stake or burnt in gas. Looking forward to take the courses of Ethereum programming for learning more to be able to do troubleshooting. Especially to determine if I am trying to resolve a WebUI issue or a contract interaction issue/feature.
1 Like
lost around 150 usd on fees!! And got to a 0% saving rate on my 60 DIA 
please explain what have i done wrong.
1 Like
oww yea 
Market is moving extremely fast.
There is a super high demand … better put your assets in Curve … but that can be hard to understand.
I maybe have to do an other Yield Farming / Hacking course?
Hey Amadeo, yes I totally think so. there where a lot of things that i feel I am still missing to be able to yield and farm efficiently.
I am on my way on the programming learning program (my next course is java!) but for now I still want to be able to yield farming mostly for having the knowledge and the understanding of the process.
p.s
Now to get my locked DIA out of the DSR with the 0% saving rate I still need to pay a big fee, any recommendation?
1 Like
Locking up DAI is similar to Shorts and Longs for the derivatives markets. Im sure more synthetics will become more popular, when more bugs have been sorted out. Considering it took 11 years for a lot of big players like Paul Tudor Jones to trust in putting their portfolio into Bitcoin, I wonder if it will take as long for derivatives.
1 Like
I seriosuly dont understand the usecase of collatral coz in this market , nothing is certain . You not even can hold the most stable coin for too long . Whether it is bitcoin or ethereum , you need to completely keep your eye on the market and react as per the current market move . basically you can sit idle just by collatralling your assests just for 8 % annual interest .
1 Like
HI FAM! I just finish watching the videos! I am still puzzled on this whole borrowing thing, where did the network get the extra 8% to pay lender when the interest rate to obtain dai from makerdao is only 0.5% P.A. Am i correct to say i can lock my eth in Makerdao and obtained Dai and locked Dai in a savings vault and get 8 % p.a?
1 Like
Hey Amadeo,
I ventured out and locked 30 DAI in the Oasis, DSR, but the interest rate remained at 0%. Not sure what I did wrong.
Definitely better rates than what you get at a traditional bank. That much I saw on the demos you showed us in the videos. The 6%-8% interest rates, with a large amount of DAI, would make it worth while. With the gas fees being as high as they are, large amounts of DAI would be better to utilize these projects.
Good course, overall. As early as it is in this ever evolving DeFi concept, I need to keep my fingers on the pulse for changes to come. Grateful to be here. Thank you!
2 Likes
When using the Kovan test network you mint kTokens so when depositing Dai into compound you mint kcDai. You can find the contract address on etherscan and add the address to your metamask to view your tokens.
1 Like
Find it interesting how often synthetic tokens are minted and burned, even ontop of one-another. Dai for example already being a synthetic token can be collateralized in Compound minting a new synthetic token called cDai which can then theoretically be placed in a smart contract like Chai and again you’ve now minted a new synthetic token. No doubt they have similar actions in CeFi helping me to understand why the derivative market value is so huge and making synthetics in Defi immensely thought-provoking.
2 Likes
Yield Farming/Hacking course sounds awesome. Id definitely check it out.
3 Likes
Yes check: https://ethgasstation.info/
And be sure to do it around 2:00 PM CET then fees are lowest and also on sundays
3 Likes
Really enjoying the course and the info but I am not doing anything with Maker or Compound right now. I don’t know enough currently to decide if they are in a position to recover or if they are a scam. With 0% rates and many unresolved governance issues I will stay away for now.
1 Like
I spent quite a few days working on using and getting used to these DeFi products. It’s great but I mostly used Compound and 1inch, since now, months later after the initial video, the fees are huge, like $12-$24 dollars. But I did a similar thing in Compound, instead of Maker Dao, where I deposited Die, then borrowed and Re-invested that. I learned that that is how begin to “mine” the Compound Coin. I tried Aave but the fees were too high to experiment with.I looked into Curve but I will wait until I my next paycheck to try a small amount. The idea of having compounded interest from various coins seems like a very nice idea. I was tempted to try to learn how to setup a flashloan but there is a lot do so I’ll try to do it in parallel as my main focus is this course.
1 Like
I did not use Maker Dao/Oasis, as the APY was no where near what it was on the video but Compound seems to be a better deal today. Especially since once you borrow, you re-invest it and it you start “mining” Compound coins.
1 Like
Hi everyone,
It has been an interesting journey so far on DeFI 101 and putting things to practice couldn’t have been much fun during this early times of DeFi.
Well am a fan of doing things in Real time to feel not just the thrill but to also understand the real market conditions.
What I find out and understand is DeFi will be fun if ETH Gas Fee is rectified.To Mint New Dai at the time of writing is more expensive than the rate of return and therefore it is not currently cost effective.
To transfer DAI from a minted DAI in a borrowed format is not cost effective either which will be eating into our Ether on Gas prices deeply than the rate of return.
The Arbitrage opportunity can be thrilling when found for example. I Borrowed $60 worth of DAI on compound and transfer(cost gas fee) it to chai and to transfer Chai back to Dai(cost gas fee) but
I then transfer CHAI to UNISWAP(GAS FEE)
And swap CHAI back to DAI(COST GAS FEE) BUT I made $5 on the arbitrage and by the time I check out my Gas Fee from Opening up a CDP to making a $5 arbitrage $48 in cost has been expended.
There is nothing wrong in one cost been much than the profit for my test case at least the most important thing is under the hood the operation can be done and because it is in the early stages we need to understand how to circumvent so situations.
Also,cTokens are interesting I realised a sudden doubled price spike comes in at interval and therefore it maybe reasonable to look for the Base Price and buy and take some profit @ the Peak Price.
I realised it goes from $3+ to $7+ and that is an opportunity which means 10ctoken @ $30 can become 10cToken @$70.When it rises you take profit of $40 by converting $40 cToken to maybe $40 DAI if possible and you will be left with less cToken such that when the price goes back to $30 you will be affected.
So an interesting arbitrage to work my head around and if you find a stability solution to take those profit and balance things out then DeFi profit will be captured.
Let us think and if you have anything to add to my findings do not hesitate to do so.
Thanks @amadeobrands for bringing up this topic.
1 Like
I also used the kovan network to test out borrowing Dai from Oasis.
Also came across this platform called POKKET –
https://pokket.com/help#time
It appears to be a CeFi business, with their expertise from traditional finance, extending into crypto space. The ideas of limiting the interest payout period to one week and paying out the principle and interest in a mixture of stablecoins and select tokens seem to be an interesting business model. I have little knowledge in finance, so I do not understand the mechanism underlying this business. However, I was just wondering if this model could be copied to the DeFi space (that is to replace the human finance experts with programming), like a new infrastructure that is similar to Compound but with more capability in performing complex financial trading.
Eric
Hi Amadeo,
I managed to get some kETH with my newly created github account to be used on the kovan testnet.
There I managed to generate 100 DAI using the kETH as collateral.
The I deposited those 100 DAI onto the savings account on Maker Dao, but the interest rate is 0%.
If this was real money I spent a whole lot on confirming (trans)actions, and it says I have borrowed 100 DAI (against my collateral). I dont see how this makes any sense. I borrow DAI (and pay interest on it), then I deposit it again to get ineterst on my DAI.
In this case I get 0% ineterest, and in the best case I guess I would get the same interest rate I have to pay for borrowing to DAI. To me this seems like a zero sum game. Why would I spend gas on these transactions to borrow myself first and then I guess borrow my borrowed DAI to someone else…
Eth miners, soon to be stakes seem to be the ones getting the value here. Where am I missing the point?
Probably need to rewatch a few videos to make more sense out of this.
Many thanks in advance!