Week in DeFi Roundup: Surge in TVL, Airdrop Strategies, New Product Launches, and Hacks

Week in DeFi: Ethena and Wormhole Airdrops, BadgerDAO's eBTC LaunchDeFi protocols continue to unveil new products and campaigns as the overall market recovers slightly. Ethena Labs concludes its Shards campaign, distributing the ENA token and airdropping to participants. Wormhole announces the claim date for its W token airdrop on April 3. BadgerDAO releases eBTC, a decentralized BTC option on Ethereum, allowing users to borrow eBTC at zero fees. Ethereum L2s, including Linea, Base, Blast, and Mode, witness significant TVL increases amid the announcements.

Week in DeFi: A Comprehensive Roundup of Key Developments

Market Overview

The total value locked (TVL) across all blockchains has experienced a modest recovery, coinciding with Bitcoin's reclaiming of key levels and the resumption of positive Bitcoin ETF inflows after a period of net outflows. Notable exceptions to this trend include several Ethereum Layer 2 (L2) solutions, such as Linea, Base, Blast, and Mode, all of which have witnessed TVL increases in the 30% range.

Airdrops: Assessing and Maximizing Returns

In his discussion of the airdrop ecosystem, Alpha Central's Nouveau emphasizes the importance of evaluating and selecting airdrops based on factors such as protocol choice, capital usage, fees, and return on investment. He advises users to focus on high-conviction airdrops while employing a "spray and pray" approach with smaller amounts of capital. Additionally, he advocates for actively using tokenless protocols, exploring on-chain opportunities, and being prepared to exit underperforming farms.

Ethereum

BadgerDAO Releases eBTC

BadgerDAO has launched eBTC, touted as the most decentralized form of Bitcoin (BTC) on Ethereum. This offering allows users to deposit various Ethereum-based assets, including ETH, WETH, stETH, and wstETH, to borrow eBTC without incurring fees and while earning staking yields from Lido Finance.

AltLayer Introduces ALT Staking

AltLayer, a Rollup-as-a-Service protocol, has unveiled staking for its ALT token. Staking marks the inaugural phase in the rollout of MACH Alpha, a fast finality layer leveraging EigenLayer technology. The layer is initially designed to support Optimism and Arbitrum.

Other Product Launches and Updates

• Ondo Finance: Enables 24/7 redemption and subscription to OUSG, its product investing in US Treasuries. Ondo will also transfer $95 million of OUSG's backing to BlackRock's BUIDL fund.
• Pike Finance: Announces tokenomics for its governance token, P. Pike has also conducted a presale, allowing PIU token holders to burn their tokens for a discounted price.
• EtherFi: Launches Points Season 2, distributing 5% of the ETHFI supply to participants until June 30th. Stakers accrue more points the longer they stake ETH.
• Notional Finance: Launches V3 on Ethereum mainnet, opening deposits in USDC, USDT, ETH, and rETH. NOTE incentives are available for users, optimizable through leveraged lending or borrowing strategies.
• Angle Protocol: Introduces USDA, its USD-pegged stablecoin, which operates alongside EURA, its Euro-pegged stablecoin. USDA holders can earn yield derived from real-world assets.

PrismaFi Hack and Subsequent Pause

PrismaFi, an ETH liquid staking token (LST) stablecoin protocol, has been subject to a hack resulting in the loss of $12 million worth of mkUSD and wstETH. The protocol has been paused, and its two stablecoins, mkUSD and ULTRA, are reported to have maintained overcollateralization.

L2s

Linea Voyage: Surge Campaign

ConsenSys-backed L2, Linea, has launched a new campaign called Linea Voyage: Surge. This campaign will run for six months or until Linea reaches 3 billion in TVL, whichever occurs first. It is implied that this will be the final campaign on the chain.

Other Product Launches and Updates

• Hyperliquid: Announces upcoming support for spot trading and an airdrop of the PURR token to Hyperliquid point holders. 50% of the token supply will be distributed proportionally, and the remaining 50% will be allocated to liquidity provision.
• Maverick Protocol: Announces the upcoming Maverick V2 upgrade, which will enhance gas efficiency, provide flexibility over liquidity pools, and introduce directed MAV token incentives controlled through a vote-escrow token model.
• SithSwap: Launches the token sale for its governance token, SITH. STRK token holders can contribute to the sale, with 15% of the total token supply available. The sale concludes on April 5th.
• Munchables: A Blast-based NFT game, has been exploited for $62.5 million by a rogue developer. The funds have been returned to the protocol.

Airdrops

Ethena Shards Campaign Conclusion

Stablecoin protocol Ethena has concluded its Shards campaign, with the token generation event (TGE) and airdrop scheduled for April 2nd. The top 2,000 accounts by Shards will be subject to a linear vesting period for half of their allocated tokens.

Wormhole W Token Airdrop Claim Date

Interoperability layer Wormhole has announced April 3rd as the claim date for the W token airdrop.

Orderly Network Trading Campaign

Omni-chain orderbook DEX Orderly Network has launched its gamified trading campaign, "The Road to Order." Users earn "Merits" for a share of the Orderly Network token at launch. A significant portion of the airdrop will be allocated to campaign participants.

Tweet of the Week

Eugene highlights the emergence of memecoins as the preferred beta for L1 trading, citing the recent surge in WIF and Base memecoins.

Stay informed about your favorite projects and anticipate next week's edition, where we will continue to monitor the evolving DeFi landscape.