Glossary
Curve
An AMM specialized for stable-asset swaps (USDC↔USDT, ETH↔stETH) via the StableSwap invariant — extremely low slippage near peg, high capital efficiency.
Curve, launched in 2020, runs a custom AMM curve ("StableSwap") that behaves nearly like a constant-sum formula when the pool is balanced and falls back to a constant-product shape only at the extremes. The result is sub-basis-point slippage for swaps between assets that should trade near parity (stable-to-stable, ETH-to- stETH).
The veCRV vote-escrowed governance model — lock CRV for up to four years, get voting power and a share of trading fees — pioneered the "ve" model that many DeFi protocols later adopted.