Decentralized finance coins or DeFi coins transfer value during financial transactions. In many cases, native blockchain networks are used to power these coins. They differ quite a bit from traditional financial instruments. Token holders and the community hold the power to decide about the future roadmap and critical features implemented on the network.

Token holders and the community can decide what’s on the roadmap for the future and what’s going to be. This guide will help you choose the best DeFi coins to buy in 2022 in South Africa to participate in the decentralized industry while it is still in its infancy.

Best DeFi Coins to Buy in South Africa 2023

Even though the decentralized finance market is now home to hundreds of projects, we found the following 10 best Defi coins:

1. Lucky Block – Best DeFi Coin To Buy In South Africa in 2023
2. Uniswap – Top Decentralized Exchange Using Leading Defi Coin
3. Terra – A Defi Coin That Outperforms The Market
4. Decentraland – Invest in the MetaVerse With The MANA Token
5. Yearn. finance – Decentralized Lending Agreements via Defi
6. The Graph – Blockchain Index Services Using the GRT Token
7. SushiSwap – An Advanced Defi Platform With A Popular token
8. Cosmos – Top-Rated Defi Coin Protocol Integrating Blockchain Technology
9. Kyber Network – Liquidity For Defi Coins Through A Decentralized Protocol
10. AAVE – Defi Open-source Protocol

The Defi crypto-list above represents the best long-term investments in crypto in this space – read on to find out why.

In addition, we’ll show you how to buy cryptocurrency with low fees using the best crypto broker in 2022.

A Closer Look at the Best DeFi Coins to Invest in South Africa

When choosing Defi coins for your investment portfolio – you should consider the following:

• Capitalization of the market at present
• Potential for growth
• Performance in the past
• Road map targets and objectives
• Prices for tokens
• The exchanges that list the token

Consider also the undervalued cryptos, as they often have the potential for the most exponential growth.

Following are our top Defi coins for 2022, which are ranked by taking these core factors into account.

1. Lucky Block – Best DeFi Coin To Buy In South Africa In 2023

Lucky Block emerged as the top Defi coin to buy at the moment. Founded in late 2021, the project is in the process of launching an innovative gaming platform. In short, the Lucky Block lottery ecosystem differs from conventional operators in that all gaming outcomes are decentralized.

As a result, lotteries are not run by state-owned bodies, often closely connected to governments. Instead, lucky Block games are executed by smart contracts as a decentralized lottery platform. Knowing how smart contracts work, you will know that the underlying code is immutable and invulnerable to manipulation.

Thus, Lucky Block players can ensure that all gaming outcomes are legitimate and random. Furthermore, since Lucky Block operates on top of the Binance Smart Chain, players worldwide can participate in its lottery games. A traditional operator limits lottery games to citizens of the country they operate.

For those interested in investing in this top-rated digital asset, the Lucky Block token held its pre-sale launch in January 2022 – where it raised the crypto-equivalent of $5 million. Towards the end of the same month, Lucky Block launched on Pancakeswap, becoming one of the best-performing digital assets of the year.

During its initial pre-sale campaign, Lucky Block was priced at just $0.002722. However, according to CoinMarketCap, the project has reached a high of $0.00961 per token. In other words, this represents gains of over 6,000% in just over a month of trading. Finally, you can still participate in this project early by purchasing Lucky Block today.

Your capital is at risk.

2. Uniswap – Top Decentralized Exchange Using Leading Defi Coin

Uniswap is number two on our list of best Defi coins to watch in 2022. This project represents the true definition of decentralized finance, as it is home to a peer-to-peer marketplace for traders to exchange tokens. In addition, Uniswap does not require a centralized party to buy and sell crypto assets.

Large centralized exchanges such as Binance, FTX, and Coinbase dominate the scene compared to the industry norm. These intermediaries sit between buyers and sellers, making huge commissions. With Uniswap, there are no traditional order books to match market participants.

This platform uses an automated market maker – or AMM – model. Uniswap’s AMM will determine token prices based on market capitalization, volume, and demand in its simplest form. That allows for a smooth and easy way to trade cryptocurrencies decentralized.

The project’s native Defi coin – UNI – is ranked among the top 25 digital assets based on market capitalization. When the token was first listed on public exchanges in 2020, it cost around $7. In 2022, UNI has reached a high of over $17. That represents a 140% increase. Therefore, investors hope UNI can return to the $40+ region it reached in 2021.

67% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. 

3. Terra – A DeFi Coin that Outperforms The Market

Cryptocurrency markets have largely been bearish moving into 2022 – especially in the case of Defi coins. However, Terra’s value appears to be unstoppable – which continues to perform exceptionally well. For those unfamiliar with Terra, it is a decentralized finance project that specializes in algorithmic stablecoins.

Unlike most stablecoins on the market, Terra does not only focus on major fiat currencies like the dollar or euro. Contrary to this, the Terra protocol covers a wide range of national currencies, including but not limited to the South Korean won, Japanese yen, and Chinese yuan.

Terra even offers support for the SDR (Special Drawing Rights) – a currency backed by the International Monetary Fund. Based on CoinMarketCap, Terra’s price upon launch on public exchanges in 2019 was just $1.30 per token. In early 2022, the same Defi coin is valued at over $90.

Terra has increased in value by more than 6,800% with less than three years of trading. A month before writing this guide, Terra was trading at just $44 – meaning that it has more than doubled in value in just one month. As a result, Terra has become one of the top-10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. Currently, Terra has a value of $112.47.

Your capital is at risk. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

4. Decentraland – Invest in the MetaVerse with the MANA Token

Are you looking for the best MetaVerse coin for 2022? MetaVerse is expected to be extremely popular in the coming years, with companies such as Facebook rebranding their NASDAQ-listed company name Meta Platforms. Therefore, if you want to invest in Decentraland early on, you can do so by buying MANA tokens – which are the native digital assets of the platform.

Decentraland is a project built on the Ethereum blockchain, offering a virtual gaming world accessible to all. Decentraland’s most innovative feature is the ability for users to buy virtual land and then build digital real estate on it.

A full range of in-game items, including real estate, can be sold on the open market. Several reasons have led to proof-of-concept being achieved for this business model. Initially, some real estate plots have raised more than a million dollars via the Decentralized platform.

Second, the MANA token, the currency used on the Decentraland platform, is now a multibillion-dollar project. In 2018, MANA was only worth $0.025 in terms of performance. However, by mid-2021, the crypto asset had reached highs of almost $6. That represents a nearly 24,000% increase. Currently, MANA has a value of $2.68.

Your capital is at risk. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

5. Yearn.finance – Decentralized Lending Agreements via Defi

Yearn.finance is the next project on our list of the best Defi coins for 2022. As of writing, the project focuses on peer-to-peer lending, which is a decentralized financial service. In other words, Yearn.finance bridges the gap between borrowers and lenders without requiring an intermediary.

Using Yearn.finance, everyday consumers can borrow capital without paying for a credit check – this is enabled by smart contract technology. Instead, the loans are funded by investors who wish to earn a return on their idle cryptocurrency holdings.

As a result, investors will earn an attractive rate of return. In addition, yearn.finance allows investors to provide liquidity for trading pairs, again providing an APY that exceeds that of traditional banks and financial institutions. By purchasing Yearn.finance’s Defi coin, YFI, you can invest in the project.

At an initial price of $907, YFI was listed on public exchanges for the first time in July 2020. YFI has since reached highs of over $93,000, representing a gain of over 10,000%. Furthermore, the total supply of this digital asset, the Defi coin, is extremely limited, at just over 36,000 tokens. Currently, YFI has a value of $24,241.28.

Your capital is at risk. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

6. The Graph – Blockchain Index Services Using The GRT Token

The Graph is behind a piece of technology that allows blockchain networks to ‘index’ data. The simple explanation is that blockchains can efficiently store and extract data, such as mining logs and transaction histories, without overloading the network. More than 25 blockchains are currently using Graph’s technology as of this writing.

Additionally, these blockchains must use the GRT token to pay for transactions so that they can index their data. The digital asset has hit over $2.20 since launching at $0.21 in late 2021. That represents a 700% increase. There will, however, be a discounted price of less than $0.40 per token in early 2022. Currently, GRT has a value of $0.509.

Your capital is at risk. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

7. SushiSwap – An Advanced Defi Platform With a Popular Token

SushiSwap is a decentralized exchange similar to Uniswap that allows users to buy and sell digital currencies without the involvement of a third party. In addition, SushiSwap offers several other services aligned with the objectives of decentralized finance.

Cryptocurrency holdings can earn a return by investing their tokens in liquidity pools, staking, and even lending agreements. As of this writing, SushiSwap has attracted more than $2 billion in liquidity across $172 billion worth of trading volume. In addition, SushiSwap can be invested in by purchasing its native digital token, SUSHI. Currently, SUSHI has a value of $4.39.

67% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. 

8. Cosmos – Top-Rated Defi Coin Protocol Integrating Blockchain Technology

Cosmos, a top-rated Defi coin, is another coin you might consider adding to your investment portfolio. The project aims to provide an innovative solution to the age-old problem of blockchain interoperability. Essentially, the Cosmos protocol enables competing for blockchains to communicate with one another.

Thus, for example, Bitcoin would be able to extract data from Ethereum’s blockchain – and vice versa. As a result of this promising concept, Cosmos has become one of the most sought-after Defi coins of 2022.

At the time of writing, ATOM – the native digital token of Cosmos – was trading at just over $31.95 per token. As of early 2022, the token trades at over $30, representing a modest gain of over 35%.

67% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. 

9. Kyber Network – Liquidity for Defi Coins Through a Decentralized Protocol

Kyber Network provides much-needed liquidity for Defi coins through a decentralized protocol. However, Defi coin trading is somewhat fragmented in that tokens are spread out across multiple exchanges – including Uniswap, Pancakeswap, SushiSwap, Curve, SpookySwap, and others.

Accordingly, Kyber Network can extract deep liquidity from all platforms mentioned above, ensuring that the Defi coins provide buyers and sellers with enough market conditions. Currently, Kyber Network has a market capitalization of $578 million, so there is plenty of room for growth.

Your capital is at risk. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

10. AAVE – Defi Open-Source Protocol

AAVE is an open-source liquidity protocol that forms a link between peer-to-peer investors and borrowers. Investors can lend their crypto tokens to lending pools through the AAVE platform and receive interest. The APY offered will vary by the token.

Nonetheless, the funds are distributed to borrowers, who must provide a security deposit to access instant funding. As a result, the AAVE token is now the leading Defi coin in market capitalization and value. It cost just $53 when the token launched in 2020. AAVE was trading at over $262 at the turn of 2022 – representing a 400% gain. Currently, AAVE has a value of $243.02.

Your capital is at risk. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

What are DeFi Coins?

Defi coins are digital currencies designed specifically for decentralized financial services projects. Our analysis of the best Defi coins for 2022 noted that Yearn.finance and AAVE are examples of decentralized lending facilities that don’t require a third-party intermediary. MakerDAO is another example.

Transaction fees are paid via the respective Defi coins – YFI and AAVE – for these platforms to operate without a centralized intermediary. In addition, Uniswap and SushiSwap provide decentralized trading services where buyers and sellers can exchange tokens. The respective Defi coins of these projects power the platform.

CoinMarketCap reports that as of early 2022, over 500 Defi coins are active in this marketplace. Due to this, it can be challenging to determine which Defi coin to buy. As a result, if you want to gain exposure to the broader industry of decentralized finance, you should consider diversifying across dozens of different projects.

SafeMoon is another new DeFi coin worth mentioning. CoinMarketCap.com reports that its market cap has already reached $312,507,033.02.

Are Defi Coins a Good Investment?

It might be a good idea to invest in DeFii coins if you’re looking to inject some capital into a rapidly growing niche market.

Despite this, DeFi coins are, like all cryptocurrencies, highly volatile and speculative. Therefore, we recommend researching before investing in the best DeFi projects for your portfolio.

Below are a few key points you may want to consider:

Growth of the Defi Coin Investment Scene

To begin with, we should examine how quickly the broader Defi coin investment scene has grown.

• Defi coins discussed today were launched as recently as 2020 or in late 2021, showing how new this market is.
• At the time of writing, Defi coins have a total value of $137 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.
• That might appear to be a considerable sum of money at first glance.
• Considering that nearly $2 trillion is currently invested in cryptocurrency, Defi coins still represent a relatively small percentage.

Considering this, one can say that the Defi coin market is massively undervalued.

Should you wish to invest in multiple Defi coin projects, you can do so with ease at Binance – not least due to the minimum trade requirement.

Defi Coins are among the best-performing crypto assets

When choosing the best Defi coins in the market to target above-average gains, you will be pleased to know that this niche segment of the cryptocurrency scene has generated some phenomenal returns in recent years.

• Let’s take investing $5,000 in Yearn.finance in July 2020 when the digital asset is first launched.
• By doing so, you would have paid approximately $907 per token.
• You could have cashed out at over $93,000 per token if you had held on to your Yearn.finance investment until mid-2021.
• As a result, your $5,000 investment would have become worth over $500,000.

Another example:

• Assume that you knew about the MetaVerse phenomenon back in 2018 and decided to invest $5,000 in Decentraland.
• By doing so, you would have paid just $0.025 per token.
• When Decentraland reaches almost $6 per token in mid-2021, that’s an increase of almost 24000%.
• Therefore, your $5,000 investment would have been worth $1.2 million.

There have been significant price increases for not all Defi coins. Therefore, you can’t be sure that your chosen Defi coins will perform the same as Yearn.finance or Decentraland.

Therefore, you need to conduct your research before investing and diversifying across several Defi projects.

The Fundamentals of DeFi

After having covered the technical performance of the Defi coin industry, we can now turn our attention to the fundamentals. If you’re interested in investing in the broader Defi market, it’s a good idea to know why this market seems so appealing to early adopters.

So, in a nutshell, Defi’s main idea is to take traditional financial services away from centralized operators, such as banks. Therefore, shortly, we could see consumers obtain loans from Defi platforms – which investors will then fund.

In addition to brokerage transactions, insurance, and more, this peer-to-peer model can be extended to various financial services. In the future, when decentralized finance reaches its full potential, the best Defi coins discussed on this page will only benefit.

Plenty of Low-Cap Entry Points

The other benefit of investing in decentralized finance is that many of the best Defi coins have a low valuation. As a result, the upside potential on offer will be much higher than projects with a large market capitalization.

According to CoinMarketCap, less than 20 of the 500+ Defi coins listed have over $1 billion market capitalization.

67% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

DeFi Crypto Price

Defi crypto coins function like any other digital asset in terms of the market price. Demand and supply determine the market price.

Due to buying pressure outweighing sell orders, Decentraland went from $0.025 to nearly $6 in four years.

If you’re wondering how you can keep track of Defi crypto prices, you might consider using the data aggregation platform CoinMarketCap.

If you choose to buy Defi coins through a user-friendly platform like eToro, you can review your portfolio to see how your investments perform.

Best Platforms to Buy DeFi Coins – Step by Step Guide

The platform you choose to purchase Defi crypto coins from will ultimately depend on the coin you choose.

When investing in upcoming Defi coins with small market capitalizations, you may need to use a decentralized exchange.

Nevertheless, if you’re interested in major Defi coins with large valuations – such as Uniswap, AAVE, or SushiSwap – you should have many options on centralized exchanges – which are better suited to beginners.

According to our market research, OKX and Binance are the best places to buy Defi coins – here’s why:

OKX- The Best Platform For All Traders

OKX is another excellent platform due to the ease of use of both its website and mobile application. The mobile app allows you to be constantly connected to the market and know everything about the prices of DeFi Coins.

OKX is a novel platform that seeks to make it possible for everyone to trade without any problem in a fast and practical way. However, security is important as the platform cold stores 95% of the users’ digital assets.

There are about 20 users on the platform. OKX is available in more than 100 countries. Opening an account here only takes a matter of seconds. Depending on the experience level, the platform provides different tools to trade the best DeFi currencies.

Your money is at risk.

How to Buy DeFi Coins – Lucky Block Tutorial

The specific process for buying Defi coins depends on which exchange the platform is listed on.

We’ll walk you through the steps necessary with two leading platforms – Pancakeswap and Binance – to make sure you’re covered for all 10 top Defi tokens discussed on this page.

How to Buy Lucky Block

Because Lucky Block was launched only in early 2022, most of its trades are conducted on PancakeSwap. With Pancakeswap, tokens are traded on the Binance Smart Chain, making investing more difficult.

However, here’s how to get Lucky Block on Pancakeswap right now:

Step 1: Download Trust Wallet

Buying Lucky Block via the Pancake Swap exchange requires paying with BNB. Furthermore, it would help if you had a wallet that lets you access Pancakeswap and lets you buy and store BNB tokens.

In this respect, Trust Wallet is, without a doubt, the best choice. Binance, the leading exchange, backs it. Go to Google Play or the App Store and download the Trust Wallet app.

Cryptoassets are a highly volatile unregulated investment product.

Step 2: Buy/Transfer BNB

To purchase Lucky Block via Pancakeswap, you need BNB in your Trust Wallet. BNB tokens can be transferred over to Trust Wallet if you already own them.

Alternatively, Trust Wallet has a debit/credit card feature to purchase BNB instantly. However, KYC regulations require you to upload a copy of your government-issued ID for this to work.

Step 3: Connect to Pancakeswap with Trust Wallet

You can now connect to Pancakeswap if you have BNB tokens in your Trust Wallet. Choosing the Pancakeswap logo is as easy as clicking on the ‘DApps’ button.

Then, you will be asked to link your Trust Wallet with Pancakeswap. You can do so by approving access when you receive the notification.

Step 4: Search for Lucky Block

You can search for Lucky Block after connecting your Trust Wallet to Pancakeswap. Pasting the Lucky Block contract address is the only way to do this.

This can be obtained from the Lucky Block website or the Telegram group.

Step 5: Buy Lucky Block

To complete the investment process, you will need to fill out a buy order form.

You must enter the number of BNB tokens you wish to swap for Lucky Block. Then, click the ‘Swap’ button to confirm the purchase.

Cryptoassets are a highly volatile unregulated investment product.

How to Buy DeFi Coins on OKX

If you’re also interested in buying a selection of other popular Defi coins, the broker OKX allows you to complete the process in less than five minutes. Using this broker will need just $20 to invest in the best Defi coins.

Step 1: Open OKX Crypto Account

Visit the OKX website and open an account. Then, please enter some information about yourself, such as:

• Name
• Date of Birth
• Residential Address
• Cell Phone Number
• Email

To instantly verify your OKX account, upload a photo of your passport or driver’s license.

Step 2: Deposit Funds From $20

A deposit of $50 is required to purchase the best Defi coins on OKX.

OKX supports the following methods of payment:

• Debit Cards
• Credit Cards
• Paypal
• Neteller
• ACH
• Domestic Bank Wire
• Trustly

The best part is that OKX does not charge transaction fees for US dollar deposits or withdrawals.

Step 3: Search for Defi Coin

Next, you can use the search box at the top of the page to locate your preferred Defi coin.

We are looking to buy Decentraland in our example above.

 Step 4: Buy Defi Coin

To complete your Defi coin investment, you must enter your total stake in the ‘Amount’ box. That can be any amount up to $20.

OKX will execute your order once you click on the ‘Open Trade’ button.

67% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Best Defi Crypto Wallet

After you finish your investment, you will need a top-rated Defi coin wallet to ensure your tokens’ safety.

However, if you were to purchase Lucky Block and follow our tutorial presented above, you would already have a safe storage facility in a Trust Wallet.

Conclusion

Several Defi coins have done remarkably well – with Decentraland, Yearn. finance, and Terra all posting gains in the thousands of percentage points since launching.

As a result, Lucky Block is our top pick for the best Defi coin to buy in 2022. Despite the project’s launch in early 2022, early investors are already reaping returns of over 6,000%.

The great thing about this lottery-centric project is that it is so young that you can still invest at a very early stage.

Cryptoassets are a highly volatile unregulated investment product.

FAQs

What is DeFi Crypto?

Defi refers to cryptocurrencies involved with decentralized finance. The platform offers traditional financial services - like loans and interest-bearing accounts - without requiring a third-party operator.

Where can I buy DeFi coins?

OKX is a website where you can buy DeFi coins in South Africa.

How do I buy DeFi crypto?

Defi coins are available at OKX for only $20 per trade. In addition, Defi coins that were recently launched can often be found on Pancakeswap.

Can I buy DeFi coins in South Africa?

Sure. South Africa allows cryptocurrency purchases. They can be bought on OKX.

What is the best DeFi coin to invest in?

Consider Uniswap, Yearn. finance, SushiSwap, and Decentraland. Nonetheless, we found Lucky Block to be the best Defi coin overall. The project aims to update the global lottery sector with blockchain technology.