An introduction to Pod Finance Testnet
Pod basics.
Pod is a liquidity enhancing protocol built on top of the Base blockchain.
At its core Pod provides customized staking strategies using tokenized vaults (ERC-4626), which allows users to create permissionless vaults (called Pods), that can distribute multi-rewards of any kind.
Every Pod created will generate a receipt token, which will be transferable and tradeable.
Pod interface at a glance.
To access the testnet version of the protocol please use the following link:
Before starting, users are required to get ETH Sepolia tokens on Base.
For this, please use the Base Sepolia Faucet: https://www.alchemy.com/faucets/base-sepolia.
Please note that to receive ETH on Base Sepolia you should have an ETH balance in your Base and Ethereum Mainnet address. 0.001 ETH should be more than enough to start.
Home & Platform Dashboard
As soon as you enter the Pod Finance main page, you will find all the active Pods on the platform listed. Every Pod represents an unique staking vault strategy, with its own underlying asset and associated reward tokens.
For instance, the first strategy we can spot is POD OF ALL (POA), which currently has a 6.4k USD TVL in **utPOD (**testnet POD). It is permissionless and currently pays an estimated APR of 7.6% in one token reward.
After clicking on the POA you can find the following parameters:
TVL: Represents the amount of value locked within the strategy itself (in the underlying token)
Owner: There are 2 types of Pod ownership.
Permissionless, meaning anyone can deposit, withdraw and add reward streams.
The owner could also be a single unique address, meaning the owner will be the only one able to modify the Pod strategy and rewards associated with it.
Underlying: Represents the base token of a particular pod.
Pod Ticker: Represents a receipt token, which will be transferable and tradeable within the platform.
Using Pod - As a Staker.
After connecting your wallet to Base Sepolia Network, you will be able to deposit the underlying token into the selected pod.
For this tutorial, we will mint and deposit mUNDER into the Mintable POD.
First, we need some tokens - so let’s mint!
To mint, simply click the “Mint mUNDER” button and confirm the transaction in your wallet - that’s it!
You now have 100 mUNDER tokens in your wallet.
Now you can deposit any number of mUNDER tokens into the Mintable Pod to earn RTA & RTB rewards.
To deposit, first you need to approve spending of your mUNDER tokens by clicking the “Approve” button and confirming the transaction in your wallet.
Now you’re ready to deposit and earn - enter the number of mUNDER tokens you want to deposit, click “Deposit and Lock” and approve the transaction.
You will immediately receive the receipt token: podUNDER
The podUNDER token represents your particular position in that the Mintable Pod, which will be earning rewards block by block if locked.
Locking Receipt Tokens.
You are able to lock using the ‘Also Lock Amount’ option directly upon deposit which is activated by default, or only deposit first and lock later.
Once the receipt token is locked, it can’t be transferred or traded until it is unlocked again.
The Lock/Unlock options are really straightforward: users can lock or unlock their receipt tokens positions as they wish.
The **shares locked **balance will always show your locked podUNDER balance.
To unlock, simply click the “Unlock” tab, select the amount and confirm.
Rewards
The rewards associated with every pod are displayed on the bottom part of every particular pod.
As stated, pods can have single or multiple rewards - the Mintable Pod will issue multiple rewards - namely RTA (Reward Token A) and RTB (Reward Token B).
Claiming your accrued rewards is simple - just click the “Harvest All” button at the bottom of the page of your selected pod.
Have you spotted the RTA and RTB pod yet? - You can deposit your rewards from the Mintable Pod in those to earn even more rewards - the modular and chainable reward structures are an especially exciting features of Pod!
Using Pod - As a Creator.
On the homepage of the protocol you will see the Create Pod option on top of the Pod listing table.
By clicking on it you should be able to see the following pop-up:
The Create Pod option allows any user to set their own strategy using any underlying asset, which could be an ERC-20, an ERC-20i, an LP Token, or even a liquid-restaking token. The possibilities are endless.
By entering the underlying contract address you should be able to see the following steps.
We will use mUNDER for this tutorial - copy & paste the mUNDER contract address:
0xD183458830Bd75fF60E10336D5efb98E1906814e
The Enter Contract Address option will show us the details of the underlying contract as shown above.
In the next step, you will find all the configuration settings for creating your own strategy, where you can set the pod name, the ticker of the receipt token and the description which will be shown in the pod list:
Following this, you should be able to set a Pod Owner either as permissionless (meaning anyone can add rewards) or designate a unique owner wallet which will be the only one able to make changes to this pod such as adding reward streams.
Finally, you can review and submit your entire strategy and deploy your pod by signing the transaction. After a few minutes, you will be able to see your pod on the homepage of the protocol.
Pods can be created for almost any token available on EVM blockchains - the possibilities are endless!
The Pod team hopes you find the testnet version of the protocol exciting and fun to interact with and is looking forward to your feedback - join our telegram and share your impressions/feedback/bug reports!