How To Invest In Curve (CRV)

Scores come from the Cult of Money Exchange Score. We don't measure CRV buying costs yet, but every exchange's advanced trading screen charges less than its one-tap "Buy" button. For the live CRV price and supply, see our Curve DAO price page.

What Is Curve Finance?

Curve is a decentralized exchange built for swapping coins that should trade at nearly the same price, such as one dollar stablecoin for another, or ETH for staked ETH. Michael Egorov launched it on Ethereum in January 2020, and it now runs on several other networks.

Curve's pools are designed for low slippage between similar assets, so a large stablecoin swap loses less to price impact than it would in a general-purpose pool. Traders pay a small fee on each swap, and that fee goes to the people who supply the coins, called liquidity providers. Our page on DeFi explains how these pools work.

Curve also issues its own dollar stablecoin, crvUSD, launched in 2023, which users mint by borrowing against crypto collateral.

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What The CRV Token Does

CRV is Curve's governance and reward token, launched in August 2020. Its main use is locking:

Source: Curve documentation.

The longer you lock, the more veCRV you get. Four years gives the most voting power, and the amount shrinks as the unlock date gets closer. See what is impermanent loss before providing liquidity.

How To Buy CRV Step By Step

On an exchange:

1. Choose an exchange from the table that serves your country.
2. Verify your identity under KYC rules.
3. Fund the account by bank transfer.
4. Search for CRV or "Curve DAO" and use the advanced trading screen.
5. Buy and confirm.

On a decentralized exchange, connect a wallet such as MetaMask to curve.finance or another DEX, swap ETH or a stablecoin for CRV and pay the network fee. Type Curve's address yourself, since fake Curve sites have drained wallets.

How To Lock CRV

To lock CRV, send it to your own Ethereum wallet, open the veCRV or "Lock" page on curve.finance, choose how much CRV to lock and for how long, and approve the transactions. You can add more CRV or extend the lock later, but you can't shorten it. Locked CRV comes back to you only after the unlock date.

Curve's savings vault, scrvUSD, is a separate product. You deposit crvUSD and earn a share of the interest that crvUSD borrowers pay. How much of that interest goes to the vault depends on how much crvUSD is deposited, within limits the Curve DAO sets, so the rate changes and isn't insured. Compare it with other options on our best crypto savings accounts ranking.

Where To Store CRV

CRV is an ERC-20 token, so any Ethereum wallet holds it, including MetaMask, Trust Wallet and Ledger or Trezor hardware wallets. See our best crypto wallets ranking.

What To Watch Out For

• Hacks: on July 30, 2023, attackers took about $61.7 million from several Curve pools through a bug in the Vyper compiler, and only part was returned. It's listed on our crypto hacks tracker.
• Large holders: if a big holder's loans backed by CRV are liquidated, the forced selling can push CRV's price down quickly.
• Price swings: CRV trades far below its 2021 high. See our Curve DAO price page.
• Lockups: veCRV can't be unlocked early, even if CRV's price falls.
• Depegs: a stablecoin pool loses value if one of its coins breaks from $1. Our USDC vs. USDT page covers stablecoin risk.
• Taxes: swaps, rewards and liquidity deposits can each be taxable. See crypto tax rates.

FAQ

Where Can I Buy CRV In The US?

Coinbase, Kraken (not in New York), Crypto.com, Gemini and Binance.US list CRV for US customers. You can also swap for it on Curve or another DEX with your own wallet.

What Is veCRV?

veCRV is CRV that you've locked for between one week and four years. It gives you votes on Curve's rules and reward pools and a share of trading fees, but you can't sell it until the lock ends.

Can I Unlock veCRV Early?

No. Locked CRV stays locked until the end date you chose. You can extend a lock or add CRV to it, but you can't withdraw before it ends.

Is Curve Safe?

Curve has run since 2020 and is one of the largest DeFi exchanges, but it was exploited for about $61.7 million in July 2023. Any DeFi app can lose funds to bugs, so start small and only deposit what you can afford to lose.

What Is crvUSD?

crvUSD is Curve's own dollar stablecoin. Users mint it by borrowing against crypto collateral, and depositing crvUSD in the scrvUSD vault earns part of the interest borrowers pay.