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Travel The EVM Ecosystem With LayerZero For A Potential Airdrop

  • Featured Yields: Up to 29% APY on Stablecoins, 28% APY on ETH
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DeFi Alpha is a weekly newsletter published for our premium subscribers every Friday, contributed by Defiant Advisor and DeFi investor at 4RC, DeFi Dad, and our Degen in Chief yyctrader.

It aims to educate traders, investors, and newcomers about investment opportunities in decentralized finance, as well as provide primers and guides about its emerging platforms. It is meant to be highly actionable and shareable.

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Any information covered in DeFi Alpha should not form the basis for making investment decisions nor be construed as a recommendation or advice to engage in investment transactions. Any mention of a token or protocol should not be considered a recommendation or endorsement.

Latest Developments

Before we get started, here are the top headline-grabbing events from this week that every savvy DeFi investor ought to keep on their radar.

Sponsored Post

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Fuse is an enterprise-grade, reliable, and secure decentralized EVM-compatible public blockchain built for business, focusing on payments, established in 2019. Anyone can build on the Fuse blockchain and leverage enterprise-ready, decentralized tech – be it existing crypto projects, start-ups, or blue-chip companies.

Why builders choose Fuse Network:

  • Fuse provides businesses and developers with wallet-as-a-service, powerful tools, and an SDK for integrating Web3 features such as account abstraction, gasless transactions, and payments into real-world applications.

  • Fuse is fully EVM-compatible, meaning other EVM chain smart contracts can be deployed and run on Fuse quickly.

  • Fuse’s payment-focused Infrastructure enables businesses to integrate a wallet and Web3 payments into their products seamlessly.

  • Fast transaction confirmation times and low fees optimize Fuse for payments and quick finality.

  • Integrations with Ramp and Transfi mean users can quickly and globally on and off-ramp fiat to crypto and vice versa.

  • Developers can access integrated development environments (IDEs), debugging tools, analytics platforms, and over 100 more ecosystem partner services.

  • The Fuse mobile stack is designed for SMBs and communities facing a high entry barrier for reaching customers on mobile and creating reward and loyalty programs.

  • A supportive community of developers can provide valuable insights and guidance.

Tell us what you’re building in Web3, check the Wallet SDK, follow @fuse_network on Twitter, and visit the website fuse.io.

Yield Alpha

Each week we will provide options to earn yield on ETH, WBTC, stablecoins, and other major tokens.

  • ETH: 28.3% projected vAPR with msETH/ETH Curve LP staked in Convex
    • This yield is accrued in CRV + CVX + trading fees compounded in the LP.
    • To participate, one must Deposit into the msETH/ETH Curve LP (do not stake).
    • Then, one must stake the Curve LP under the msETH-ETH in Convex here.
    • To learn more about Metronome Synth ETH (msETH), go here.
  • BTC: 3.59% APR with the Curve HBTC+WBTC LP staked in Convex
    • This yield is accrued in CRV, CVX, and trading fees.
    • To participate, one must first deposit into this Curve pool and then stake the LP here in Convex.
  • MATIC: 14.3% net APY with 50/50 MaticX-WMATIC LP on QuickSwap
    • The yield is backed by validator rewards using the MaticX LSD (5.76% APY) + MeshSwap trading fees + MESH/SD rewards.
    • To participate on Polygon, one may use the Stader MaticX dApp to mint MaticX.
    • Then, deposit into the MaticX-WMATIC pool on MeshSwap and stake the LP.
  • ATOM: 23% APR staking ATOM with Keplr Wallet on Cosmos Hub
    • The yield earned is issued in ATOM.
    • To participate, one must set up a Keplr Wallet, go to the Cosmos Hub validators on Keplr Dashboard, rank by APR, choose a validator, and click Delegate.
    • Then, I specify how many ATOMs and follow the prompts to Delegate.
  • BNB: 15% APY with the BNB/BNBx Ellipsis LP
    • This yield is issued in SD, BNB staking yield, EPX, and trading fees.
    • On BSC, one can deposit BNB for BNBx here on Stader.
    • Then, one can deposit BNB and/or BNBx here on Ellipsis and stake the LP.
  • AVAX: 7.24% APY staking AVAX with ankrAVAX by Ankr
    • This yield is issued in AVAX.
    • To participate, one must deposit AVAX for ankrAVAX here on Ankr.
  • SOL: 6.89% APY staking SOL with stSOL by Lido
    • This is backed by SOL staking yield.
    • To participate, one must deposit SOL here or buy it on a Solana DEX.
  • FTM: 4.7% APY staking sFTMx liquid staking derivative by Stader
    • The yield is issued in FTM rewards, as sFTMX is earning FTM via validator rewards to support Fantom’s PoS network.
    • To participate, one must deposit FTM for sFTMX here on Stader.
  • Stablecoins: 28.5% APR with the jEUR/sEUR LP staked in Velodrome on Optimism
    • This yield is accrued in VELO.
    • To participate, one must deposit and stake in this jEUR + sEUR LP.

Please be aware we do not always report the highest yield rates because some high yields may be less sustainable due to high inflation token rewards or fewer LPs participating.

Starter Tutorial

How to Bridge to the First Live zkEVM on Ethereum (zkSync Era)

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The wait is finally over! After four years of building, the first-ever, EVM-compatible zkRollup-based L2 is live on Ethereum.

Yesterday, Matter Labs, the team behind zkSync, a trustless protocol for scalable low-cost payments on Ethereum, powered by zkRollup technology, announced the “zkSync Era Mainnet Alpha is now open to all users.” zkSync has long been considered one of the leading teams in the Ethereum L2 scaling sector. With today’s milestone, it means developers, projects, and users are free to build on and bridge funds to this zkEVM.

Matter Labs reported spending over a year and $3.8M just on completing “robust testing, multiple tier-1 security audits, public contests, and bug bounties” with “added independent monitoring and risk mitigation mechanisms.”

The zkSync team has emphasized the importance of security over the popular strategy in the tech industry known as “move fast and break things.” There is no room for any security incident that would undermine users’ trust according to their published blog post today.

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ecosystem.zksync.io

Having just launched, you can learn about the hundreds of dApps committed to launching on zkSync Era Mainnet Alpha, but as of this writing, only 18 dApps and wallets are live including recognizable DeFi names like Argent and Rhino.fi.

Based on my recent Edge Podcast interview with Head of Business Development at Matter Labs, Marco Cora, major liquidity sources in DeFi like Uniswap, SushiSwap, and Curve should be deploying on zkSync Era in the coming days and weeks.

In the podcast, Marco also discloses, what is known public information in zkSync’s documentation, that zkSync Era will have a token eventually but no specifics are known at this time. Given the past week of excitement surrounding the ARB airdrop, we can assume early users of zkSync Era may earn a future airdrop, but it is not guaranteed.

With that in mind, I’ll show how I can bridge 5 currently supported tokens to zkSync Era Mainnet Alpha using the zkSync bridge (and possibly CBridge by Celer or Orbiter Finance once they go live today or later).

Before we get started, please be aware of these risks.

  • Smart contract risk in zkSync Bridge

  • Systemic risk in DeFi composability

  • Front-end spoof attack on the zkSync Bridge app (check the URL carefully)

  • zkSync Era Mainnet Alpha runs on team servers, so at the moment, this zkSync Era network is centralized. It is expected later this year or early 2024, the team will begin a process of decentralizing ownership of the zkSync Era network.

Step 1: First, I go to the zkSync Bridge here and connect my Ethereum Mainnet wallet.

Step 2: I can choose from one of the 5 tokens supported: ETH, USDC, PERP, COMBO, or MUTE. I’ll simply bridge 0.05 ETH with the idea I can use this in future dApps that deploy on zkSync Era. I double-check that the bridge is showing I’m bridging from Ethereum Mainnet to zkSync Era Mainnet. Lastly, I follow the prompts to specify how much ETH and click Deposit to confirm a single transaction sending ETH to a wallet on zkSync Era that will be controlled by this same wallet.

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Degen Tutorial

Travel The EVM Ecosystem With LayerZero For A Potential Airdrop

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Layer 2 network Arbitrum airdropped its governance token on Mar. 23, and over 600,000 wallets were eligible to claim 1,850 ARB on average, up to a maximum of 10,250 tokens.

With ARB at $1.25, eligible users collected anywhere from $800 to $13,000 in free money, simply for using the network over the last year.

Airdrops are a great way to achieve outsized gains using very little capital, and sometimes none at all in the case of testnets. With that in mind, we’re going to check out LayerZero, a promising candidate for a potential airdrop.

LayerZero is an omnichain interoperability protocol that unites decentralized applications (dapps) across disparate blockchains. It’s been around for a while, and we covered its launch back in December 2021 at the peak of the bull market.

The project has raised over $173M from nearly every major VC in the space, and a16z has been pushing it as a preferred bridging solution for DEX leader Uniswap’s deployments on new chains.

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With the Layer 2 narrative in play and multiple zkEVMs launching soon, LayerZero is likely to gain momentum and potentially drop a token, so we’re going to bridge some assets and use some of the dapps leveraging the technology.

Let’s get started.

Task 1: LayerZero Testnet USDC Bridge

https://usdcdemo.layerzero.network/bridge

LayerZero is working to integrate Circle’s CCTP for native USDC cross-chain support.

Use the faucet links at the bottom of the interface to get testnet USDC, ETH and AVAX. You’ll also need to add the Avalanche Fuji testnet to your wallet.

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Bridge USDC from Goerli to Fuji and back.

Task 2: Bridge Assets With Stargate And Stake STG

https://stargate.finance/transfer

We’re going to send some USDC to Avalanche since we’ll need some funds for another task, and we’ll save on transaction fees compared to swapping/staking on mainnet.

If you need some AVAX for gas fees, click on ‘Gas on destination’ in the drop-down menu.

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Once your funds arrive, head over to Trader Joe and buy some STG, as our goal is to complete the available quests.

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Lock the STG tokens to receive veSTG and participate in governance.

https://stargate.finance/stake/AVAX

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Vote on any new Snapshot proposals here.

Task 3: Buy and Bridge Bitcoin

https://bitcoinbridge.network

Buy some BTC.b on Trader Joe and bridge it to another chain (We’re using Arbitrum since we already have some ETH there for gas fees).

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Bridge the tokens back and forth across a few chains and sell them once you’re done.

Task 4: Bridge To Aptos

Bridging to Aptos is powered by LayerZero and there are multiple active bridges that you can use.

Note that there is a 3-day delay in withdrawing assets from Aptos, and you’ll need a wallet such as Petra along with some APTOS for gas.

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Task 5: Mint and Bridge NFTs on Holograph

https://app.holograph.xyz/

Create a collection and deploy the contract on Avalanche and Polygon to minimize fees.

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After the contracts have been deployed, mint an NFT and bridge it between chains.

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Task 6: Use the CoreDAO Bridge

https://bridge.coredao.org/bridge

Note that you’ll need some CORE tokens for gas fees to bridge back, which you can get from a centralized exchange like Bybit (No KYC needed for small amounts).

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That’s it! As with all airdrops, it’s recommended that you repeat these tasks in case projects look for activity over time, as in the case of Arbitrum and Optimism.

Airdrop Alpha

In each DeFi Alpha guide, we update a list of DeFi protocols that have yet to announce and/or launch a token.

$ARB is Live!

Layer 2 network Arbitrum has launched its ARB token, and the project is currently valued at $12.5B.

Claim your ARB tokens here.

We’ve been tracking Arbitrum ever since last summer’s Odyssey, in addition to tutorials on GMX, Radiant, TreasureDAO and more, so our readers should certainly be eligible!

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Blur Airdrop

$BLUR is Live!

If you followed our step-by-step tutorial, you can claim your tokens here.

  • Arch Finance – a protocol for comprehensive indices that provide access to differentiated sources of market risk.

  • Arbitrum – one of the leading L2s for Ethereum. Claimable now!

  • Arrakis Finance – a trustless algorithmic market-maker, for auto-managing Uniswap V3 LPs on Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum, and Optimism

  • Base – A new Ethereum L2, incubated by Coinbase and built on the open-source OP Stack, that could potentially have a governance token in the future

  • DeFi Saver – a one-stop dashboard for creating, managing and tracking DeFi positions across Aave, Compound, Maker, Liquity, and Reflexer

  • DeFrag – instant loans for Treasure gaming NFTs on Arbitrum

  • Farcaster – a “sufficiently” decentralized social network where users will have the freedom to move their social identity between applications

  • Jupiter – The leading DEX aggregator by trading volume on Solana

  • Lens Protocol – A decentralized composable social graph, underpinning an emerging landscape of Web3 social media dApps including Lenster, Lenstube, and Orb

  • LI.FI – A cross-chain bridge and DEX aggregator protocol

  • Liquality – A cross-chain, non-custodial browser extension wallet, similar to MetaMask but with more integrations for swapping cross-chain.

  • Magic Eden – The leading NFT marketplace by trading volume on Solana

  • Nested – a crypto social trading platform built on Ethereum and other chains

  • Opyn – one of the OG decentralized options protocols on Ethereum, with major investors that signal a token has to be in their future. Buy/sell puts or call options to earn a possible future airdrop.

  • Polymarket – one of the strongest players in the DeFi prediction market vertical, bet on an outcome related to crypto, politics, sports and more or add liquidity

  • Polynomial – A newer DeFi derivatives vault creator, built on Optimism

  • Sense Protocol – A decentralized fixed-income protocol on Ethereum, allowing users to manage risk through fixed rates and future yield trading on existing yield bearing-assets

  • Set Protocol – one of the earliest DeFi protocols yet to launch a token for DeFi asset management, popular for TokenSets and known for powering IndexCoop indexes

  • Socket (formerly Movr) – their bridge aggregator Bungee moves assets between chains, finding the cheapest, fastest route

  • StarkNet mainnet is live! Bridge and swap some tokens for a potential airdrop. Guide here.

  • Volmex – Volmex is a tokenized volatility protocol, similar to the VIX but ETHV

  • Wormhole – a cross-chain messaging protocol known for bridging between Solana, Terra, Polygon, BSC, Avalanche, Fantom, and Oasis

  • Yield Protocol – a newer protocol for fixed-term, fixed-rate lending in DeFi, backed by Paradigm, one might earn a future airdrop by lending DAI or USDC

  • Zapper – participate in Zapper trading, lending, providing liquidity, or yield farming; given the Zapper Quests and NFT Rewards program, it can be surmised that if Zapper ever releases a token, this is one way they might do a retro airdrop

  • Zerion – The same can be said about Zerion; if they ever release a token, they’re likely to reward those who interacted with their smart contracts swapping, lending, providing liquidity, or borrowing.

  • ZigZag – a DEX on zkSync. The airdrop has been distributed. Check your zkSync wallet.

  • zkSync is a Layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum that uses zero-knowledge proofs to enable scalable low-cost payments. Bridge some assets and do some swaps for a potential airdrop. Guide here.

The information contained in this newsletter is not intended as, and shall not be understood or construed as, financial advice. The authors are not financial advisors, and the information contained here is not a substitute for financial advice from a professional who is aware of the facts and circumstances of your individual situation. We have done our best to ensure that the information provided is accurate, but neither The Defiant nor any of its contributors shall be held liable or responsible for any errors or omissions or for any damage readers may suffer as a result of failing to seek financial advice from a professional.