Synthetix enables users to create the synthetic assets for any underlying. Anybody can do this. All operations are performed on chain with the use of smart contracts. No slippage for trading on the embedded DEX, and the fixed 0.3% fee for both market makers and takers.
Yearn.finance is a yield maximizer. The bot inside acts to shuffle your investments between different lending platforms, liquidity mining platforms and rewards systems. As a result, you win from the highest possible yields, currently obtainable in DeFi.
Read out a detailed review on Curve.fi with the tutorials into all the major processes here. Curve.fi offers amazing opportunities to trade stablecoins and wrapped-Bitcoin coins. And it needs a lot of liquidity to do that.
Jaxx is cross-platform and free to use the multi-currency wallet with support for more than 90 coins including such major cryptocurrencies as Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum and others. The wallet has made a good name for itself thanks to user-friendliness...
Aave is a DeFi lending platform. Here, users can lend and borrow cryptocurrencies in a completely decentralized and trustless manner. There's no AML/KYC process in place which democratizes lending. The project is 8 months old, but it has already garnered a lot of attention in DeFi.
Uniswap is a decentralized crypto exchange (DEX) and it's probably the most popular one in the world of DeFi. There's no order book here and all swaps are run by the automated matchmaker. Anybody can list any ERC20 tokens on Uniswap which makes it the perfect first exchange for startup projects.
Maker is the foundational element of the DeFi niche. Many people use Maker to convert ETH into DAI and proceed with their DeFi Strategies. MakerDAO is a stablecoin system with two coins - DAI (the stablecoin) and MKR (Maker; the governance token)
Kraken is one of the most reputable and longest-running Bitcoin exchanges. Founded back in 2011, the platform has gained a flawless reputation on the web supporting more than 20 different coins to trade or exchange.