Can New Launches from Aave and Sushi Usher in DeFi’s Comeback? Sushi rolls out long-awaited Trident framework on Polygon, while Aave’s V3 brings money markets cross-chain

As DeFi projects have lost their luster and trading volumes have tanked, two new blue-chip protocols are trying to once again catch the eye of big-money investors.

A new product from the DAO team at Sushi has launched its beta on the Polygon proof-of-stake blockchain. A new set of money Legos for the DeFi space, the project, dubbed Trident, is being billed as a “production framework for building and deploying AMMs.”

Aave V3, meanwhile, has launched on six different chains, enabling cross-chain transactions, among a host of new features.

The two protocols, well-regarded DeFi (decentralized finance) projects that originated from 2020’s “DeFi summer,” have a combined total value locked of around $16 billion — even though their DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) governance tokens have tanked.

SUSHI is down around 88% from its March 2021 peak of $23.05, while AAVE has fallen 76% since a May 2021 peak of $631.26, per Coingecko.

As the hype around so-called DeFi 2.0 upstart projects such as OlympusDAO and Wonderland has faded in recent months, the product launches may signal a shift back to industry stalwarts.