Buy Curve DAO

Curve is a decentralised finance (DeFi) protocol on Ethereum, built mainly for trading stablecoins and other similarly priced assets with low fees and low slippage, and CRV is the token used to help govern it. It is one of the largest and most established decentralised exchanges in DeFi.

It helps to separate two things. Curve is the protocol, sometimes called Curve Finance, while CRV (often listed as Curve DAO) is its governance token. Holding CRV is not the same as trading or providing liquidity on Curve. The CRV token is mainly about taking part in decisions over how the protocol is run.

Curve is part of decentralised finance (DeFi), a category of financial services built on blockchains rather than through traditional banks. Curve is a type of decentralised exchange known as an automated market maker, where trades happen automatically against pools of crypto rather than through a traditional order book. It is especially known for trading stablecoins and assets that are meant to hold similar values, which it aims to do with very low slippage.

What is Curve DAO used for?

Curve is mainly used as a platform for trading stablecoins and similar assets, while the CRV token is used for governance. CRV is the token used to help govern the Curve protocol through the Curve DAO.

CRV is used to:

• vote on proposals about how the Curve protocol is run
• be locked to gain voting power in the Curve DAO
• be held and traded as the protocol's governance token

It is worth being clear about the difference between using Curve and holding CRV. People use the Curve protocol to swap assets or to provide liquidity to its pools. Holding the CRV token, on the other hand, is mainly about governance. CRV holders can lock their tokens to gain greater voting power in the Curve DAO, a system often referred to as vote-escrowed CRV, or veCRV.

CRV is released gradually over time, largely as rewards to people who provide liquidity to the protocol, and it has a maximum supply of around 3 billion tokens. Because new CRV continues to be released, its supply is inflationary. Like other tokens, CRV can be volatile, and its value can be influenced by interest in DeFi, the use of the protocol, and wider market conditions.

The history of Curve DAO

Curve was created in 2020 by Michael Egorov, with a focus on efficient, low-slippage trading of stablecoins and similarly priced assets. It quickly became one of the most important protocols of the DeFi era.

Later in 2020, Curve introduced the CRV governance token and the Curve DAO, handing control of the protocol to its community. Curve has since expanded across multiple blockchains and launched its own stablecoin, crvUSD. You can find out more on the official Curve website.

Today, Curve remains one of the best-known decentralised exchanges, particularly for stablecoin trading. People buy CRV for many reasons, including taking part in governance or gaining exposure to DeFi.