Curve Finance is a decentralised exchange (DEX) specialising in stablecoin and pegged-asset trading, using a custom AMM formula (StableSwap) that minimises slippage and impermanent loss for assets that should trade near parity. Founded by Michael Egorov and launched in January 2020, Curve became essential DeFi infrastructure handling the majority of stablecoin-to-stablecoin volume (USDC/USDT/DAI) and pegged asset swaps (stETH/ETH, wBTC/renBTC). The StableSwap invariant combines the constant product (Uniswap) and constant sum curves, providing near-zero slippage within a tight price range – far better than standard AMMs for stable assets. Curve governance is managed by the veCRV system (vote-escrowed CRV), creating the Curve Wars where protocols compete to acquire veCRV to direct CRV emissions to their pools. The CRV token is earned by liquidity providers and can be locked up to 4 years to receive veCRV. Curve manages over $2B in TVL and connects to Convex Finance (the largest veCRV holder) in a symbiotic ecosystem. Curve also launched crvUSD (its native overcollateralised stablecoin) in 2023, further cementing its role as stablecoin DeFi infrastructure.
Example: Example: A DeFi protocol needs to swap $50M of USDC for USDT (stablecoins both worth $1.00). On Uniswap v3, this causes ~0.15% slippage ($75,000 loss). On Curve 3pool, the same swap causes only 0.02% slippage ($10,000 loss) due to StableSwap optimisation. For large stable swaps, Curve is dramatically superior – saving $65,000 on a single trade.
Learn more: Curve Finance
