Autor Cointelegraph By Jordan Finneseth

May was an incredibly challenging month for the cryptocurrency market as a majority of tokens booked heavy losses as a bear market was confirmed, but not every project dropped back to pre-bull market lows.Chain (XCN), a protocol designed to help organizations launch their own blockchain network or connect with other more established networks, managed to rally more than 120% since May 19. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that since hitting a low of $0.0712 on May 11, XCN reversed course to hit a record-high at at $0.176 on May 31. XCN/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingViewThree reasons for the strong showing from XCN include multiple exchange listings, launching on BNB Smart Chain (BSC) and several notable partnerships, including a long-standing collaboration with the Stellar Foundation. Exchange listings pump up the volumeIn March 2022, Chain deployed a new smart contract for its token and rebranded from CHN to XCN. Following the rebrand, XCN listed at KuCoin and subsequent listings on Huobi, Gate, Bitrue and Hotbit were accompanied by sharp upticks in trading volume. Several of the supporting exchanges have also launched perpetual contracts for the XCN token including Gate, Huobi, ByBit and Poloniex, which has helped generate an increased awareness for the project and initially led to a spike in trading volume. XCN is also part of a cross-chain integration with BNB Smart Chain and this allows for inexpensive token transfers and trading on PancakeSwap where holders can earn yield for providing liquidity to the exchange. Following the integration with the BSC, the price of XCN rallied from $0.0712 on May 11 to $0.14 over the next week. Related: BNB Chain releases year-long technical roadmap to develop ecosystemNotable partnershipsSince 2014, Chain has had several notable partnerships and funding rounds, including an initial fundraise of over $40 million from Khosla Ventures, Pantera Capital, Capital One, Citigroup, Fiserv, Nasdaq, Orange and Visa.In 2018, the project was acquired and became part of the commercial arm of the Stellar Foundation known as Interstellar. Chain was reacquired in 2020 as part of a ledger-as-a-service platform called Sequence.It’s possible the recent developments with the Stellar protocol, including its partnership with MoneyGram to create a stablecoin-based platform for money transfers, could have positive effects on the price of XCN due to their close ties. In April 2022, Chain also announced a strategic partnership with Alameda Research which established the private equity and quantitative cryptocurrency trading firm as Chain’s primary market maker. While none of these partnerships appear significant enough to explain XCN’s current gains, it is notable that the altcoin’s price action has diverged from the wider crypto market for nearly an entire month.The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

The persistent challenges decentralized finance face have been well documented by a handful of analysts and the recent collapse of the Terra ecosystem re-enforced the fact that something is critically wrong with DeFi.I think DeFi today is completely broken for 99% of the population.The promise of a more transparent financial system has been overtaken by greed.UST/LUNA is just the latest in a string of bad developments:— Peter Yang (@petergyang) May 11, 2022Let’s take a look at what experts say DeFi needs to do in order to have another revival. Improved usabilityTo date, the promise of open and uncensored access to a global decentralized financial system has been largely hampered by the complicated interface, confusing multi-step staking processes and lack of clarity surrounding the yields on various tokens.What do you think DeFi needs to reach mass adoption?a) Better ease of useb) Greater education about DeFic) Less exploits and rugpullsd) Greater liquidity and on-rampse) Clear government regulation pic.twitter.com/dX4Qpd2Dsh— Rugdoc.io (@RugDocIO) January 9, 2022

The user experience for most platforms is sub-par to what would be expected when dealing with multi-million dollar platforms and the layouts can be complicated, along with poor documentation that leaves users frustrated.Adding to the confusion, an ever-growing list of blockchain networks with their own DeFi ecosystems can seem daunting to newcomers who may have never used a software wallet before. Ultimately, a better system of educating the public about DeFi in a trusted setting is something that is needed to help the mass adoption process, otherwise you face the same problem of the current financial system where only a small portion of the population reaps the benefits. Security needs to become priority #1 The DeFi sector is often referred to as the wild west due to the ability for anyone to launch a project with flashy promises only to pull the string on naive investors and leave them with a worthless token. Well-meaning projects also fall victim to smart contract vulnerabilities that see their liquidity drained. A recent example of this was the February, 2022 hack of the Wormhole token bridge which resulted in the loss of 120,000 wrapped Ether (wETH) tokens.In order for more people to feel safe exploring the expanding DeFi ecosystem and to keep governments off the back of the industry, a greater level of security and protection from malicious actors and protocol exploits will be required. Related: Buterin: How to create algo stablecoins that don’t turn into Ponzis or collapseSelf-regulate, or be regulatedA third factor that is at the top of the list for many DeFi analysts is the need for greater regulatory clarity. While the mere mention of such a thing generates a slew of objections from many crypto investors who value its unregulated nature, the majority of the general public who are not yet involved with cryptocurrencies and DeFi are likely to remain wary until the government gives the asset class a stamp of approval.Thanks to the recent Terra ecosystem collapse, regulation could be one of the first challenges that DeFi has to resolve. What those regulations eventually look like is unknown, but they will help to establish a starting point which could help the DeFi sector evolve and mature. The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.