GIGA Summer - Newsletter Edition 105
In this week’s edition:
Editorial: From Big Beautiful to Giga Summer, things are getting hydrated!
Top Story - Hydrate DOT Ecosystem: A closer look at this week’s giga DeFi push in the Polkadot ecosystem.
Featured Roundup: News from our Finders Program between June 26th and July 2nd, plus a selection of DOT yield listings.
Extras: Credits and anything else.
Editorial
What is up, my friends!
The summer stage is set with a Big Beautiful Bill, with July also being a big month for crypto billing. Momentum is certainly unfolding with TradFi demand for round and centralized coin stonks. Talk of crypto holdings being used to help secure mortgages gets czar nod. Then there are those kraken on, ensuring ye common folk get access to tokenized stocks.
Meanwhile, the start of Giga Summer is upon us, as the Polkadot ecosystem gets hydrated. In this week’s Top Story, we dive into the DeFi push that’s gaining community support and enticing newbies to take a closer look at Polkadot. We’ll also be listing some of these yield opportunities, as well as rounding up the news from this past week in our Featured Roundup.
Keeping with the ecosystem vibe, there’s a new bounty announcement. We’re teaming up with OpenGuild, offering a prize of up to $300 for the best content. The purpose of this bounty is to create awareness about OpenGuild by introducing its products as well as attracting devs and normies to join their initiative.
Dodow, Chief Editor
Top Story of the Week - Hydrate DOT Ecosystem
Hello darkness, my old friend. Just when you thought the “DOT is dead” trope was DED, the same tired narrative resurfaces, and goes viral. Like, putting aside ICOs, bull markets, and speculation, most alts are down, especially against BTC. Or how about a reality check, as some have shut down, changed course, misled, or might need to rethink things.
Do vanity metrics matter? It sure seems like there’s some product-market fit going on in areas like gaming, machines, and AI/knowledge. Where we now see growth in these markets and clear approaches to Web3 adoption. Then there’s the push into new narratives that pitch JAM as a trustless supercomputing protocol, and evolving safety through proof of personhood.
The developer count seems steady, and there's plenty of building. Although, categorization might need some explanation, especially with wallets. Still, one might want to do some research before they fud on them. In DeFi, summer 2024 DOT liquidity incentives gave Hydration and Stellaswap TVLs a boost, but this year’s push may end up even stronger.
As Hydration’s Jakub Gregus points out, the biggest blockchain comebacks have come from doubling down on DeFi. Ethereum did it in 2020, as did Solana in 2023. Deep liquidity and a buzzing user base create a snowball effect that draws builders and investors alike. Now is not the time for half-measures. Catching up means going all in, no holds barred.
In that spirit, the GIGAHydration proposal requested a whopping 5M DOT for 12 months of DeFi incentives on Hydration. The eye-watering figure was a hard-sell for the Polkadot DAO. Not taking any chances, Hydration’s last-minute pledge to return 3M DOT, reduce the campaign to six months, and collaborate on a broader ecosystem incentives program, got it over the line.
Meanwhile, Hydration continued stimulating its lending market by doubling the supply cap for vDOT. As with previous raises, the hunger for vDOT loops resulted in the capfilling within hours. Fortunately, thanks to continued incentivization, GIGADOT provides a viable alternative for those looking to keep on looping.……………
Continue with this week’s top story: Hydrate DOT Ecosystem.
Featured Roundup
Written by Dodow
DOT Yield Listings
Giga Summer is upon us, so it’s time to DeFI those yields!
Since we’re listing yields, remember this is not for financial advice. DYOR, as yields can change quickly and may not reflect current rates. As always, please proceed with caution.
With yields of up to ~69% APR, Hydration’s GIGA campaign makes history as Polkadot’s biggest liquidity push. Such is the demand that some of these opportunities have already seen their percentages drop. At the time of writing, most of the yields can still be considered attractive.
tBTC on Hydration ~25.54%
GETH (GigaETH) on Hydration ~28.53%
2-Pool (USDC & USDT) on Hydration ~15.94%
LINK on Hydration ~23.09%
AAVE on Hydration ~45.87%
SKY on Hydration ~ 69.64%
KSM on Hydration ~50.10%
ASTR on Hydration ~33.83%
PHA on Hydration ~47.19%
GLMR on Hydration ~54.22%
BNC on Hydration ~49.12%
StellaSwap becomes the first ve(3,3) DEX on Polkadot. Meanwhile, experienced farmers may want to check out its yield opportunities.
USDC/USDT on StellaSwap ~15.23%
USDC.axl/USDC on StellaSwap ~13.19%
USDC/GLMR on StellaSwap ~148.25%
USDT/DOT on StellaSwap ~64.58%
ETH/DOT on StellaSwap ~42.36%
DOT/wBTC on StellaSwap ~101.59%
DOT/stDOT on StellaSwap ~16.88%
Bifrost’s vDOT now covers 1% of the DOT supply. Did you know their ultimate goal is to provide liquid staking on any blockchain? Discover vFarming!
MANTA/vMANTA on Bifrost ~34.06%
ASTR/vASTR on Bifrost ~22.07%
BNC/vBNC on Bifrost ~13.25%
GLMR/vGLMR on Bifrost ~12.96%
KSM/vKSM on Bifrost Kusama ~15.2%
While Acala has some solid LSD yield for DOT, one of the newer LSDs is BOOMACA.
LDOT Boosted Liquid Staking on Acala Euphrates ~14.6%
tDOT Boosted Liquid Staking on Acala Euphrates ~14.99%
BOOMACA on Boomerang ~40.5%
From yields for degens to headlines that matter. News found by the community. Curated by the community. Backed by OpenGov.
Continue with this week’s featured roundup of news and events from June 26th to July 2nd.
Extras
Sizzling cover art created by SKULLZ.
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