Gitcoin Launches gtcETH Index Token To Bolster Funding

Gitcoin, a funding platform that supports open-source development, has partnered with Index Coop to launch a new Ethereum staking index token named gtcETH.

The purpose of this collaborative effort is to provide users with a place to earn blended yield from various liquid staking services, help decentralize the Ethereum network, and, perhaps most importantly, fund public goods.

gtcETH holders directly help fund public goods, as a portion of the staking yield goes directly to the Gitcoin grants program.

In addition, they are not exposed to a single liquid staking derivative (LSD), and thus, in turn, help promote multiple LSDs, which in turn, helps to further decentralize Ethereum.

gtcETH is virtually identical to dsETH, a token backed by a basket of LSDs, which was launched by Index Coop in January.

The only difference is that gtcETH charges streaming fees of 2%, while dsETH’s streaming fee is set at 0.25%, with the additional 1.75% going to Gitcoin.

gtcETH is currently composed of 44% rETH (Rocket Pool), 30% wstETH (Lido Finance), and 26% sETH2 (StakeWise).

At the time of writing, gtcETH has a TVL of approximately $118,000, and offers a yield of 2.44% after the deduction of streaming fees, according to a Dune Analytics dashboard created by Index Coop

Currently, gtcETH is available on Uniswap V3 and DEX aggregators that support it. Users can also choose to mint gtcETH directly through Index Coop.

Decentralized Grants Platform

In January, Gitcoin announced that it will host a two-week-long alpha test session in partnership with Fantom and United Nations Children’s Fund.

Its goal was to test the features of Gitcoin’s new decentralized grants program, as it plans to soon retire the existing centralized grants platform.

Gitcoin’s GTC governance token is down 15% in the past 30 days but is up 38% year to date, according to The Defiant Terminal.