Now they look more like gravestones.
Rows of tokens that promised forever and lasted barely a season.

The Perp Token Experiments

Here’s an example of one of my “portfolios” that was supposed to generate amazing cashflow: INTX, VRTX, GNS, and AARK.
I thought I was building a smart “cash-flow portfolio” with them.

In reality? Only Gains (GNS) actually survived. The rest either burned through money, pivoted into nonsense, or just faded away.

IntentX — the best tokenomics nobody cared about

IntentX went all-in on splashy trading events with ridiculous prize pools.
I made a good chunk of money there, so I can’t complain.

But under the surface, the product never stuck.
Users didn’t return, momentum disappeared, and the team eventually rebranded into something I don’t even remember.

Still, I’ll say this much: their tokenomics were probably the sharpest I’ve ever seen in DeFi. Shame it didn’t matter.

Vertex: How to Burn Time 101

Vertex had real potential. Then they decided the future was on half-dead L2s.
Spoiler: it wasn’t.

After burning through time and money, they sold themselves to Ink Chain, leaving their token holders with nothing.

New rule for me: ex-Vertex founders? Hard pass.

AARK: Printing ARB Like a Broken ATM

During Arbitrum incentives, Aark DIgital felt like a free money glitch.
The ARB rewards were so insane it was almost rude to not farm them.

Then came the mysterious hack. No answers, no accountability.
Next thing you know, the project turned into a 500x leverage playground for degenerates.

If you ask me, that “hack” smelled like it came from inside the house.

What Those Sheets Really Show

I wanted to believe I was building a long-term cashflow machine.
But in truth, I was just chasing adrenaline wrapped in spreadsheets.

The strange part? I escaped.

Thankfully, some weird gut feeling told me to bail.
So instead of licking wounds, I cashed out with gains.

So what’s the lesson?

It’s easy to get blinded by rewards, airdrops, and slick UIs.
But the projects that really last? They tend to be quieter, steadier, and far less flashy.

The real question is simple:
Are you investing or are you just chasing another slot machine dressed up as a protocol?

Wild concept, right? Yet, somehow, most chains haven’t figured this out.

This isn’t some gimmicky staking reward system or a convoluted emissions model. Sonic is straight-up applying Web2 logic to Web3:

👉 Think YouTube, but for blockchain apps. Instead of ad revenue, devs get a slice of the transaction fees their applications produce.

And here’s the kicker—up to 90% of those fees go directly back to the developer. No unnecessary burning, no arbitrary redistributions, just a direct incentive to build and sustain useful applications.

Compare that to the standard L1 playbook: raise billions, attract devs with temporary grants, then eventually let the ecosystem dry up once incentives run out. Sonic is flipping that script.

This is the kind of model that actually makes developers want to stick around.

Not every app gets to tap into this fee-sharing model by default—you have to apply. If you don’t? Well, your transaction fees are basically getting torched.

Here’s how the breakdown works:

🔹 Non-FeeM Apps:
▸ 50% of fees burned
▸ 45% to validators
▸ 5% to an ecosystem vault

🔹 FeeM Apps:
▸ 90% of fees go to the developer
▸ 10% to validators
▸ 0% burned

That burn mechanism for non-FeeM apps? Sneaky. It forces developers to make a choice: either opt into the revenue-sharing model or watch their potential earnings vanish into thin air. Either way, Sonic wins.

The numbers Sonic is throwing around are, frankly, aggressive:

⚡ 900M+ transactions per day capacity (which, let’s be real, is probably best-case scenario)
⚡ At just 10M transactions per day, the network could rake in $36.5M per year
⚡ Developers would pocket $16.4M of that

Even if these numbers are optimistic, the point stands: this model is significantly more sustainable than L1s that rely on endless token emissions.

Most L1s keep developers on life support by constantly printing new tokens to distribute as rewards. Sonic is trying to make the network itself profitable enough to sustain development without inflating supply to oblivion.

One obvious risk? Devs gaming the system—over-reporting gas usage to milk the rewards. Sonic addresses this by tracking gas consumption at the VM level, ensuring rewards are tied to actual execution costs.

For example:

🔹 A transaction burns 100,000 gas and earns 0.017 S in rewards.
🔹 Inside that, Project A (a DEX aggregator) used 37,000 gas, while Project B (a liquidity pool) used 63,000 gas.
🔹 The reward gets split accordingly—no loopholes, no funny business.

It’s a small but crucial detail that keeps the system from turning into a free-for-all.

Honestly, the fact that this isn’t already standard practice is insane. L1s need developers more than developers need L1s—yet most chains act like builders are just disposable.

Sonic is making a bold bet that paying devs directly is the way to build a sticky, long-term ecosystem. If this works, other chains might have no choice but to follow suit.

Of course, none of this matters if Sonic can’t actually hit the transaction numbers they’re projecting or if FeeM ends up being unsustainable over time. That’s the real test.

But if they do pull it off? This could be the first L1 that devs don’t just build on—but actually want to stick with.

Let’s break down what makes USUAL tick and why it claims to be the smarter choice for yield-hungry DeFi junkies who want more than just another inflated governance token in their wallets.

Most governance tokens give you the illusion of power but zero actual revenue rights. USUAL, on the other hand, says, "Hold me, and you get 100% access to the protocol's cash flows." This means that when the protocol’s treasury grows, your USUAL should theoretically grow in value too. For once, governance token holders aren’t just signing off on proposals; they’re tapping into revenue—almost like dividends in the TradFi world.

You know how some tokens start strong, then quickly become inflation-riddled messes ? USUAL aims to keep inflation on a leash by aligning issuance with Total Value Locked growth. When USD0++ (the protocol’s liquid staking version of USD0) grows, USUAL issuance slows down. The idea is to create natural scarcity, boosting token value over time instead of diluting it with endless emissions.

Only 10% of USUAL’s tokens go to insiders, with the other 90% set for the community. If you’re tired of projects with VC-heavy token allocations, USUAL’s no-VC, community-first model is refreshing. This means that users, liquidity providers, and builders who grow the ecosystem actually get to reap the rewards.

USUAL holders also get to play an active role in protocol direction, particularly in liquidity distribution and treasury management. If you stake USUAL, you get to vote on where the protocol allocates funds and how it deploys its treasury, which adds a new layer of utility beyond simply earning yield.

The emission model for USUAL isn’t exactly intuitive. It’s based on TVL growth, interest rates of collateral assets, and protocol revenue—all factors that could complicate forecasting your future returns. If you’re looking for simplicity, this might not be it. But if you’re okay with a dynamic emission model that adjusts based on the protocol’s growth, it could be worth it.

Starting Q1 2025, if you want to pull out your staked USD0 early, you’ll need to burn some USUAL to unlock those funds. This feature adds a layer of liquidity to the staking system but isn’t without its cost. It’s great if you’re committed long-term, but short-term players may balk at having to burn tokens just to cash out early.

While USUAL’s tokenomics are designed to favor long-term holders, it’s still not immune to market risks. If TVL growth stagnates or interest rates for underlying assets go south, USUAL’s value could take a hit. Plus, community-driven treasury management is only as good as the DAO’s voting decisions. The hope here is that the community knows what it’s doing and doesn’t blow through treasury funds irresponsibly.

If you’re looking for a quick pump and dump, USUAL’s long-term, deflationary model probably isn’t for you. This token is geared towards long-term holders who believe in the protocol’s future. The emission model, capped inflation, and revenue-sharing structure mean USUAL is more about compounding value than hitting a short-term moonshot.

There’s no denying that USUAL is doing some things right. Tying governance token value to actual cash flow ? Smart. Keeping 90% of supply in the community’s hands ? Even better. And with a decreasing issuance model that aligns with TVL growth, USUAL is taking a serious shot at creating sustainable value.

That said, as with any new governance model, execution is everything. If USUAL can actually deliver on its roadmap—disinflationary issuance, direct revenue sharing, and effective governance—it could become a new standard in tokenomics. But as with all things DeFi, only time will tell if $USUAL is built to last or just another experiment in decentralized incentives.

Auto-Compounding

Vertex is finally taking the hassle out of staking. With auto-compounding rewards, you won’t have to reinvest manually to maximize returns. On top of that, a portion of USDC fees is dedicated to buying back VRTX to boost the rewards pool, theoretically upping returns for all stakers. Sounds promising, right? But here’s the catch: Vertex’s platform activity has been dropping ever since they slashed trading rewards. Gains Network, on the other hand, implemented a nearly identical buyback-and-reward model recently and has actually been gaining traction. Meanwhile, Vertex’s average 30-day trading volume is at a yearly low.

Instant Max Yields

In the old system, max yields were reserved for the most loyal, long-term stakers. Now, anyone staking gets immediate access to the full APY, eliminating the waiting period. This move lowers the barrier for new users and evens the playing field—but will long-term investors stick around with this change?

Flexible Unstaking

Staking V2 gives you options: unstake with a 14-day cooldown or withdraw immediately with a 10% penalty. The twist ? That 10% penalty goes back into the pool, rewarding those who stay for the long haul. This adds a layer of stability, but time will tell if users are willing to stay locked in or just cash out when yields elsewhere look better.

Staking V2 introduces a thoughtful approach to rewards, broken down into three streams:

1. Base APY – Traditional VRTX rewards that start at 15% APY and gradually lower over three years. So, while there’s a bit of a countdown, you’re still getting significant returns at the start.

2. Fee APY – Trading fees will fuel VRTX buybacks, with 50% of fees allocated to start and eventually going up to 100%.

3. Loyalty APY – Those who unstake early will pay a 10% fee, which is then distributed to those who stay in the pool, giving committed stakers an extra incentive to stay loyal.

For those staking in V1, Vertex is making the switch to V2 worth their while. Migration bonuses offer existing users a little something extra based on their staking duration and voVRTX multiplier:

• Max Bonus: 7.5% for users with the highest voVRTX boost.

• New Stakers: A 2.5% bonus for those staking during the migration period.

• Longer Commitments: Those staking for three months get a 5% bonus, and six-month stakers can earn the full 7.5%.

Existing users can choose to migrate, cash out, or keep their V1 position (though staying in V1 means no new rewards or bonuses).

Vertex’s new staking model looks slick, but DeFi is a ruthless, yield-chasing game. Users jump to where the returns are highest and most immediate, and any rewards model that can’t compete risks fading fast. Vertex’s success will depend on whether these adjustments are strong enough to retain users and boost activity. Right now, the future for perpetual DEXs like Vertex hinges on who can crack the code on a sustainable incentives structure—and for Vertex, the answer is still up in the air.

A Peek Under the Hood: What the Hub Actually Does

Dolomite has packaged complex DeFi strategies into one-click deployments. Let’s say you want to try something like the 4X Looped GRAI strategy (think stablecoin stacking with leverage). Normally, that means a lot of steps: securing collateral, borrowing, swapping, repeating. With Dolomite’s hub, you click once, and the platform handles the whole dance—flash loans, swaps, and all.

The interface feels smooth. You’ve got these pre-built strategy cards laid out, each showing APRs and other metrics at a glance. Plus, a handy filter system lets you hunt for specific strategies by tag (like "yield max" or "delta-neutral"). On paper, this makes DeFi feel as simple as online shopping, which sounds great—but does it really hold up ?

Digging Deeper: The Good, the Risks, and Why I’m Cautious

Dolomite isn’t pretending these strategies are risk-free, which I appreciate. The "4X Looped GRAI," for instance, sounds rock-solid with its delta-neutral approach (both GRAI and USDC are stablecoins), but even here, you’re facing potential traps.

Here are a few red flags to keep in mind:

• Non-compounding rewards: The GRAI rewards don’t pile up back into your collateral, which means the value of your USDC debt might start creeping up on your GRAI collateral over time. Enough of this, and—boom—liquidation risk.

• Depeg danger: GRAI may be a stablecoin, but a depeg event could still send it spiraling.

• Smart contract risk: You’re trusting Dolomite to handle these flash loans and swaps seamlessly within one block. If anything goes wrong, it’s your capital on the line.

To its credit, Dolomite does try to give users a heads-up on what they’re getting into. The yield history charts are a cool feature, letting you track APR trends to see if the high yields are likely to stick around. But don’t forget: in DeFi, past performance is a shaky crystal ball.

Are We Really Ready for One-Click DeFi?

Here’s my big takeaway: just because DeFi can now be "one-click" doesn’t mean everyone should jump in. It’s easy to get lulled into a sense of safety, thinking the platform will handle it all. But Dolomite’s strategies require you to understand the underlying risks before you dive in.

For example, the 4X loop strategy sounds simple, but there’s a lot that can go sideways. If USDC rates hike up or GRAI doesn’t stay perfectly stable, you’re exposed. That’s why I see this as a tool for the slightly seasoned DeFi user looking for efficiency, not an easy entry point for absolute beginners.

Final Thoughts: Worth the Hype or Too Soon to Tell ?

Dolomite’s Strategies Hub is ambitious. It’s a smart attempt to take the friction out of high-yield DeFi and make advanced strategies accessible. For me, it’s worth exploring—carefully. If you’re already comfortable in the DeFi world and want to streamline your moves, this is definitely worth a look. But if you’re newer to DeFi, my advice? Use this as a learning tool. Click around, test out small amounts, and get a feel for it before committing serious capital.

So what’s really going on with this L3 token? Here’s the rundown on Layer3’s ambitious plan:

1. ETH Buybacks: Fueling L3 Demand with Actual Usage

Layer3’s game plan? All the ETH it pulls in goes straight to L3 buybacks. Every time someone mints a credential or participates in an incentive, that ETH isn’t just sitting around—it’s being funneled back into L3 on the open market. This keeps demand steady and predictable, avoiding the tokenomic circus of pump-and-dumps or whale games. It’s simple, direct, and keeps L3 valuable without inflating supply recklessly.

2. Multichain Flexibility: Spreading Liquidity Everywhere

Layer3 isn’t binding itself to one network, which is smart. Starting with Base, they’re pushing L3 across Layer 2s like Polygon and Arbitrum, which means users get to engage without being forced onto a specific chain. They’re making L3 accessible wherever Web3 users are, which is a sharp contrast to projects that lock themselves to a single ecosystem. It’s all about being where the action is—something too many protocols ignore.

3. L3 as the Platform Currency

The master plan is to make L3 the default currency for Layer3’s in-app transactions, especially when minting CUBEs (their fancy term for credentials or badges). They’re even incentivizing users with bonus rewards if they pick L3 over ETH. For Layer3, it’s about building habits that could anchor their revenue, targeting a projected $12 million for 2024. If enough users embrace L3 as their default, that number could skyrocket, and L3 becomes not just a token, but part of the platform’s backbone.

4. Zero-Fee Trading on L3 Pairs

Want to draw in retail traders? Take away the fees. Layer3’s offering zero fees on L3 trading pairs, lowering the barrier for anyone who’s sick of watching fees eat into their trades. This move could drive trading volume and make L3 pairs an easy go-to for people testing the waters. It’s low friction, user-friendly, and a smart way to keep L3 moving in the market without having to resort to artificial hype.

5. Auto-Converted Rewards: Turning Rewards into L3 Demand

Every time someone claims rewards on Layer3, they’re auto-converted to L3. This isn’t just sitting idle in wallets, it’s a consistent wave of buy pressure that turns user rewards into L3 demand. With over $4 million in incentives in play, this isn’t some gimmick—it’s a constant, low-key way to reinforce demand for the token, keeping the ecosystem fueled without depending on external market forces.

6. Permissionless Incentive Deployment: A Web3 Free-for-All

Layer3’s taking a big step by letting anyone with L3 tokens—yes, even AI agents—jump in and launch incentives on the platform. This opens the door for creators, DAOs, brands, and influencers to run campaigns without begging for special permissions. For those who want to make noise in Web3, L3 is essentially becoming the “pay-to-play” entry ticket, aligning its use with the platform’s growth ambitions and tapping into a wide range of use cases beyond traditional DeFi.

The Big Picture: Can L3 Set a New Standard?

Layer3’s approach is refreshing in a space where too many projects rely on hype-fueled launches and empty promises. They’re focusing on demand over speculation, on steady value instead of wild APYs that implode. If they get it right, they could create a stable, multichain asset that becomes central to Web3 engagement—something akin to a decentralized version of BNB, but with a focus on actual utility rather than centralized exchange dynamics.

• Start Date: November 4

• Duration: 12 weeks

• Total Prize Pool: $640K (in INTX, SYMM, and MNT rewards)

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IntentX structured the event to keep it exciting, with two major competition formats so there’s something new every week.

• Compete for the highest percentage profit and loss (P&L%) each week.

• Weekly Prizes:

  • 25k $MNT

  • 15k $INTX

  • 250k $SYMM

• Split among 50 winners.

• Every two weeks, prizes go to traders with the highest absolute P&L.

• Biweekly Prizes:

  • 100k $MNT

  • 50k $INTX

  • 750k $SYMM

• Divided among 25 winners.

The INTX rewards come as xINTX—the staked version of INTX—so you’ll be stacking up passive income on those tokens long after the Olympics.

IntentX has also thrown in Bonus Medals, extra rewards you can earn regardless of leaderboard rankings. Here’s what’s up for grabs:

• Volume Champion: For the highest cumulative trading volume.

• Medal Champion: Goes to the trader who earns the most medals.

• Liquidation Medal: The (ironically rewarding) prize for the biggest cumulative negative P&L. (Probably this one will be mine)

• P&L Trade Medal: For the single highest P&L trade during the entire event.

• P&L Champion: Highest cumulative P&L across both competitions.

Every trade during the competition earns you INTX tokens and Airdrop Points for the upcoming SYMMIO airdrop. This isn’t just about leaderboard placements; each trade builds up future rewards, so you’re adding to your earnings no matter where you land. Everyone walks away with something. It’s a win-win setup.

Want a little extra ? If you sign up using my referral link, you’ll get bonus xINTX rewards based on your qualified trading volume. This means even more staked INTX tokens piling up in your account, bringing you passive rewards just for trading smart.

1. Weekly and Biweekly Prizes: With $640K at stake, weekly and biweekly sprints mean plenty of chances to win big.

2. Multiple Medal Challenges: The medals offer unique prizes even if you’re not topping the charts. It’s perfect for both high-risk players and steady strategists.

3. Guaranteed Rewards & Referral Bonus: Earn INTX and airdrop points with every trade. And if you join through my referral link, your xINTX rewards get a boost based on your trading volume—extra earnings just for being smart about how you enter.

As someone who’s been watching this space for a while, the upgrade to V2 caught my attention, mainly because it's not just about scaling up—it’s about making lending smarter and more flexible. They’ve built the new version on top of a V1 that’s already been through the wringer: 10 external audits, no bad debt, and it’s managed to stay solid through the ups and downs of the market. So they’re building on a strong foundation, and that’s always a good sign.

The Market Layer is probably the most intriguing update. Kamino Finance is adding modular, permissionless market creation, which basically means anyone can create markets with different asset combinations and risk setups. It’s not a one-size-fits-all approach anymore. From an investor's standpoint, this opens up a ton of new possibilities. You’re not stuck with fixed lending pools; instead, you can choose or create markets that fit specific needs or risk profiles.

Another big update is the Vault Layer. It’s essentially automated yield management, so you don’t have to manually jump from one market to another chasing returns. For people who don’t want to micromanage their positions all day, this is a nice touch. You pick a vault based on your risk and yield expectations, and the system does the heavy lifting.

Plus, it’s clear that Kamino isn’t content with being just another boring lending platform. They’re aiming to become something much bigger—a true DeFi hub. You hear that phrase thrown around a lot, but in Kamino’s case, it feels like they’re actually on track to make it happen. They’re not just focused on improving lending—they’re building an ecosystem that could become the backbone of DeFi on Solana.

One thing Kamino’s always done well is risk management, and they’re taking it up a notch with V2. They’re introducing Isolated and Cross Modes, which let borrowers take on more risk in specific markets without jeopardizing the entire protocol. As someone who’s seen how quickly things can go sideways in DeFi, this more granular approach to managing risk is reassuring.

They’re also upgrading their liquidation engine, adding features like scam wick protection and auction-based liquidations. This means that users won’t get liquidated because of some freak market movement, and if liquidation does happen, it’s more competitive and less painful. As a lender, this makes me more comfortable knowing the system is better at protecting both sides.

Kamino is also rolling out new products with V2, and Spot Leverage is the one that stands out to me. It’s designed for longer-term holders of assets like SOL and BTC who want to boost their exposure without getting into risky perpetual futures. The lower fees and more forgiving liquidation mechanisms make it a safer bet for people who don’t want to play high-risk games but still want to leverage their holdings.

One thing that’s hard to ignore is how KMNO token is shaping up. It’s been growing steadily, without the usual hype, and it feels like most people haven’t yet realized its full potential. From what I’m seeing, KMNO could soon get more utility—especially with the governance features coming. Once that happens, the wider crowd might finally catch on, and the real value of the token will start to shine.

KMNO holders are set to play a big role in the direction Kamino takes, and that’s not just lip service. With V2, token holders will get more direct influence over governance decisions, which should add a lot more weight to the token. If Kamino’s vision of becoming a DeFi hub on Solana plays out, owning KMNO could end up being more valuable than people currently realize.

The thing that really interests me is how Kamino is setting up a revenue flywheel. The more TVL they attract, the more revenue they generate, and they can use that to fuel further growth through incentives. Their recent PYUSD campaign brought in $180M, which shows they know how to drive TVL when they need to. As they scale, this kind of incentive structure could help them keep growing in a sustainable way.

What’s exciting is that Kamino isn’t just planning to build revenue for the short-term; they’re setting up a system where the protocol can continue growing even in less bullish cycles. More revenue means more products, more community initiatives, and more reason for people to get involved in governance. It’s the kind of self-sustaining growth that can push them well beyond $10B TVL.

Kamino’s not just trying to ride the next wave in DeFi—they’re building the tools and infrastructure to stay relevant long-term. From an investor's point of view, what makes Kamino interesting is how they’re balancing innovation with risk management. The new features in V2 aren’t just about adding complexity—they’re about giving users and investors more control and flexibility, while making the whole system safer.

And with KMNO’s potential to become even more valuable as its utility grows, it’s hard to ignore the opportunity here. The token has been quietly gaining traction, but it feels like the main crowd hasn’t realized its true value yet. Once the full scope of Kamino’s plans comes to light, that could change fast.

If they can pull this off, Kamino has a good shot at not just hitting their $10B target, but becoming one of the foundational protocols in the Solana ecosystem. And honestly, that’s something worth paying attention to.

Let’s break down why DCA is your no-stress ticket to making gains in this Wild West.

Dollar Cost Averaging is dead simple: you invest the same amount in a token on a set schedule. The market could be pumping or crashing—you don’t care. This consistency means you accumulate more tokens when prices are low, and fewer when they’re high, smoothing out your average cost over time. It’s a great way to remove emotions from the game, which in crypto is half the battle.

Volatility is the lifeblood of crypto, and DCA thrives on it. High price swings let you stack up on tokens at a discount. When everyone else is panic selling, you’re quietly building your stash. As the market swings back up, those tokens you snagged at lower prices can make a big difference in returns. No fancy footwork, just steady stacking.

Now, not every token deserves the DCA treatment. This strategy works best with yield-generating tokens that hold real-world value. Take DeFi tokens like asdCRV - auto-compound version of CRV from Curve Finance or mooBIFI from Beefy Finance. These aren’t flavor-of-the-month meme coins; they’re designed for steady growth and have strong demand for staking and farming. With these kinds of tokens, DCA does double duty—while you’re adding tokens, they’re also earning yields. Your holdings grow on autopilot, no sleepless nights required.

For a volatile market, DCA really shines. When prices drop, you’re getting tokens at a steep discount. And if you’re working with tokens like asdCRV or mooBIFI, your position compounds through staking rewards. So while DCA does the work of dollar-cost averaging, the tokens add a little bonus by steadily stacking up extra yield. It’s a win-win.

DCA Rules to Live By

1. Stick to Your Schedule, No Matter the Headlines Markets tank. It happens. If you panic every time, you’re missing out on those juicy discount buys. Set your schedule, trust the process, and let DCA do its thing.

2. Quality Over Quantity DCA isn’t an excuse to buy anything and everything. Stick with tokens that have proven staying power and yield potential. Avoid chasing the hottest meme coin, and pick tokens with built-in value and steady demand—think real-yield DeFi plays, not speculative hype.

3. Mind the Fees Frequent transactions can eat into gains, especially if you’re working with high gas fees on networks like Ethereum. If you’re paying out the nose on every buy, the fees might actually cut into your returns. Keep an eye on those charges and adjust your DCA frequency if necessary.

4. Embrace the Volatility In crypto, volatility equals opportunity. Price drops? That’s your time to scoop up extra tokens. When prices rebound, you’re sitting pretty. It’s all part of the DCA game.

   Follow my X

If DCA’s too tame, there are a couple of spicier alternatives:

• Value Averaging: This is like DCA with a twist—you invest more when prices are low and pull back when they’re high. This can lead to higher returns, but it’s active and requires cash reserves. Not for the faint of heart.

• Lump Sum Investing: If you’ve got a fat stack of cash and conviction in a token’s long-term growth, lump sum investing can outdo DCA during bull markets. But beware: if prices tank after you buy, you’re holding the bag.

At its core, DCA is about building wealth over time. In a market as chaotic as crypto, it’s the best strategy for those who want a consistent, low-stress path to gains. Whether you’re eyeing solid tokens like asdCRV or mooBIFI or exploring other DeFi options, DCA helps you stay in the game and build your portfolio without losing sleep over every dip.

SYMMIO is a protocol that takes a unique approach to trading derivatives. In most DeFi platforms, risk is pooled among all participants, which often leads to inefficiency and requires large amounts of capital to be locked up as collateral. SYMMIO changes this by isolating risk between two parties rather than spreading it across the entire platform. This dramatically reduces the need for over-collateralization, allowing traders to use more leverage without parking huge sums of money.

SYMMIO operates on an intent-based execution model. Instead of relying on traditional order books, SYMMIO directly matches buyers and sellers. This method improves trade execution and allows participants to take advantage of better liquidity. The result? More efficient trades with deeper liquidity and less risk for the participants.

IntentX plays a crucial role by acting as the user interface (UI) for the entire system. While SYMMIO handles the smart contract logic and trade matching, IntentX provides the front-end experience for users to interact with the protocol. Think of it as the platform where you place your orders, monitor the markets, and manage your positions. It makes the complexity of SYMMIO and Orbs’ tech accessible to everyday traders through a clean and intuitive UI.

Unlock an exclusive 35% fee rebate—10% more than the standard offer—by using my referral link to trade on IntentX and maximize your rewards.

This is where Orbs comes in. Orbs is not your typical blockchain layer—it’s a Layer-3 solution designed to enhance and optimize existing decentralized services. In the case of perpetual futures trading, Orbs provides the infrastructure needed for intent-based execution, which SYMMIO relies on.

Orbs brings to the table Perpetual Hub, which is essentially the core engine that powers the decentralized services around on-chain perpetual futures. Here’s how it works:

• Hedgers: These are market makers within the SYMMIO-powered platform (like IntentX) who provide liquidity by filling user orders. They act as the counterparty to trades and can access external liquidity sources, such as centralized exchanges, ensuring deeper liquidity than traditional DeFi platforms.

• Liquidators: In leveraged trading, users lock up collateral, and if the value of their position drops too low, Liquidators step in. They close positions that no longer meet margin requirements and earn a liquidation fee in return. This function ensures that traders don’t overextend their leverage and that the platform remains stable.

• Price Oracles: To make this whole system work smoothly, accurate and reliable price data is critical. Oracles feed real-time price data into the system, allowing for proper risk management, marking positions for liquidation, and updating unrealized profits and losses (uPnL). Orbs ensures this data flow remains decentralized, transparent, and tamper-proof.

Together, SYMMIO, IntentX, and Orbs form a decentralized architecture that offers unparalleled capital efficiency and liquidity for on-chain perpetual futures. While SYMMIO runs the contracts, and IntentX delivers the interface, Orbs powers the entire system behind the scenes, using its Layer-3 tech to optimize execution and liquidity.

Orbs isn’t just focused on perpetual futures. Its Layer-3 solutions also power various other services across the decentralized ecosystem. For example, Liquidity Hub helps solve the problem of fragmented liquidity by tapping into external liquidity sources, making swaps more efficient on DEXs.

Additionally, Orbs provides advanced trading orders like decentralized time-weighted average price (dTWAP) and decentralized limit orders (dLIMIT). These features enable traders to execute complex strategies with the reliability and efficiency typically found in centralized exchanges but with the added benefits of decentralization.

With the launch of Perpetual Hub, Orbs is positioning itself as a key player in DeFi, providing the infrastructure that DEXs need to compete in both spot and futures markets. The combination of SYMMIO’s risk isolation, IntentX’s intuitive interface, and Orbs’ Layer-3 tech is paving the way for the future of decentralized trading. As more DEXs integrate these services, we’re likely to see a significant shift in how traders approach on-chain derivatives, with deeper liquidity, better execution, and fewer capital constraints.

Links:

Orbs.com

Symm.io

IntentX

Contango is doubling down on growth. Here’s a comprehensive look at the TANGO token launch, Contango’s fundamentals, and their future roadmap.

Contango is kicking off its public token sale on Fjord Foundry from October 21 to 28, offering $3M worth of TANGO at a $45M valuation—the same valuation from their $4.5M raise in December 2021, backed by heavyweights like Coinbase Ventures, Parafi, and Spartan.

Here are the core details:

• Fixed-Price Sale with Immediate Liquidity: No cliffs, no vesting—participants can trade their tokens immediately after purchase.

• Investor & Team Tokens Locked: No selling pressure post-sale, as team and investor tokens remain locked.

• Airdrop via oTANGO: Early users will receive oTANGO option tokens, redeemable only at a $45M valuation or higher—preventing dumps below market value.

• Liquidity Pool Incentives: An 80/20 TANGO/ETH Balancer pool will be seeded, and stakers providing liquidity will earn protocol fees, Balancer fees, and BAL incentives.

  

TANGO Distribution (TANGOnomics)

With 1 billion total TANGO tokens, more than 60% of the supply is allocated to the community:

• 6.7%: Public sale on Fjord

• 32.7%: Ecosystem development

• 3%: AlphaDAO (early backers)

• 18.2%: oTANGO airdrop

• Team and Investors: Vesting over 2-2.5 years with cliffs of 6 months to 1 year

This distribution model ensures long-term sustainability, focusing on liquidity growth and rewarding both stakers and traders.

Contango taps into the money market and CDP sector, which boasts a $40B TVL. A significant portion of this TVL stems from looping, where funds are borrowed and reinvested multiple times for higher leverage. If just 30% of the TVL involves loops, this already translates into $12B OI (open interest). Given that trading volume tends to be 10x OI, Contango is targeting a $100B+ annual volume opportunity.

Contango’s Key Metrics (2024)

• $3.4B+ in traded volume

• $350M OI (all-time high)

• 17,000 unique users (ATH)

• #2 by OI among derivatives protocols

Unlike traditional perp venues, Contango’s Open Interest is a more reliable metric for performance, avoiding inflated volumes from wash trading. Contango’s strength lies in leveraged trading via looping, with popular pairs like wstETH/ETH and sUSDe/USD driving on-chain price discovery.

A Hybrid Approach: CeFi Meets DeFi

Some whales already use DeFi money markets for cheap funding while executing trades on CeFi spot markets—a trend that highlights Contango’s potential. Contango aims to bridge this gap, offering seamless leverage and price discovery.

What’s Next in 2024?

• Automation Features: New order types and enhanced trade automation.

• Expansion: Deployment on additional chains and new asset integrations, driven by community input.

Contango v3 in 2025:

• Best-in-Class Spot Market: Using Dutch auctions, similar to UniswapX, to guarantee competitive fills while executing atomic leveraged trades.

• Advanced Order Types: Programmatic orders enabling complex smart contract calls both before and after execution.

• Non-Custodial Protocol: In v3, Contango will become fully non-custodial, allowing traders to manage funds without proxies—bringing more transparency and security to the platform.

Contango’s focus on looping leverage, liquidity growth, and automation sets it apart from other derivatives platforms. While protocols like Instadapp or DefiSaver act as front-ends for money markets, Contango is the “ultimate looping layer” in DeFi—giving traders powerful tools to manage leverage seamlessly.

With no cliff or vesting for public sale participants, innovative airdrops via oTANGO, and strong staking incentives, Contango is building a robust ecosystem for both traders and liquidity providers. The protocol’s success in v2 shows that its model resonates with users, and with the upcoming launch of v3, Contango aims to push the boundaries of what’s possible in decentralized finance.

Mozaic Finance

It all started with the hack of Mozaic Finance. I invested in MOZ during the private sale, the position brought massive gains, the project was growing, and my portfolio was expanding. I even became an influencer for Mozaic. But then the project got hacked, and ever since, it has been trying to relaunch. I still haven’t sold my position, and that was the first time my portfolio was indirectly affected by a hack.

FXS
I was a huge fan of the project, and my FXS position was the largest in my portfolio. I bought the tokens at around $5 and held them for over a year. We were all waiting eagerly for FRAX to reach 100% collateral so we could start receiving dividends. For a while, the collateral did reach 100%, dividends of 15% started being paid out, buybacks began, Fraxtal was set to launch, and other services were rolling out. Everything seemed overly positive for the project, but still, nothing could push the token’s value up. In the end, I sold my position at $5 and felt like a complete idiot. I thought this was the bottom, and as soon as I sold, the token would skyrocket without me. But as it turns out, selling FXS was one of my best decisions and lessons. Now, I view projects trying to fit into every DeFi niche with a lot more skepticism.

Algebra
I held a position in ALGB for quite some time, thinking I had found a hidden gem. Imagine creating a service that gets adopted by dozens of DEXs, and they pay you part of the earned commissions for using your software. Revenue is spent on token buybacks, the number of DEXs and TVL grows, revenue increases, and so do buybacks. It seemed like a solid investment. My first warning sign came when the team announced they were completely overhauling the tokenomics. For some reason, in DeFi, such news rarely brings anything good for token holders. So I decided to sell my tokens until things became clearer. Last month, the Algebra team did something terrible, and the token crashed because of their decision. Selling my position beforehand turned out to be another successful exit.

Penpie
Currently, my largest position is in the PNP token, and I got hit by the project's exploit. Again, my tokens are still there, but they’ve sharply devalued, just like with Mozaic. However, in the case of Penpie, my tokens are still backed by PENDLE tokens and generate income through fees and bribes. But it seems like the situation is worse, as the project is now working on compensating for the stolen funds, and there’s even talk of a complete default. I had often heard skepticism from fellow degens about how Magpie was churning out too many subDAOs without paying enough attention to audits. And it seems that the investment in PNP has already become my worst decision. But I still hold out hope that everything will turn out well, and Penpie can become one of those projects that survive tough times and emerge stronger.

Here’s the post that started all the discussions.

Many people don’t fully understand basic terms, which is normal. Fundamental analysis is tricky, especially in DeFi, where few projects publish financial reports. Trying to figure out a token’s value based on financial metrics is often a waste of time since the industry is still so young, and most people see tokens as tools for short-term speculation.

While we won't establish a token's fair value, we can assess if a project is unprofitable or sustainable.

Here are three common mistakes to watch for:

• Confusing revenue with earnings.

• People don’t separate the project’s profits from the profits for token holders.

• Seeing bribes as part of the project's income.

Let's break it down.

Revenue is the share of fees that goes to the protocol. For example, Curve DAO earns revenue from pools and crvUSD minting markets. Each week, this revenue is collected in various tokens, converted into one token (crvUSD), and distributed to veCRV holders.

Revenue comes from admin fees such as:

• Stableswap Fees: 50% of the total fee charged in a Stableswap pool.

• Cryptoswap Fees: 50% of the total fee charged in a Cryptoswap pool.

• crvUSD Minting Market Fees: All interest accrued on debt in crvUSD minting markets is collected as crvUSD.

Earnings typically refer to the portion of revenue remaining after covering all operating expenses. In DeFi, earnings are generally calculated as:

Earnings = revenue - token incentives

Why are token incentives (emissions) considered a loss ?

Distributing tokens through emissions directly reduces the project's capital. However, this can also be viewed as an investment in growth.

Consider how we estimate the value of a project's token at TGE. We usually look at the total number of tokens and assign them a value, often based on the project's funding rounds or by comparing it to a competitor who has already launched their token. This is known as the Fully Diluted Valuation (FDV).

So, the project’s value is often seen as equal to the total number of its tokens (though I believe a project’s value is really in its team and technology).

This means CRV emissions are both a loss for Curve Finance and a gain for veCRV holders.

We're still in the early days of DeFi, and many people aren't accustomed to thinking 3-5 years ahead. However, many have likely wondered:

"What happens when token emissions run out or decrease so significantly that they barely contribute to the project's income for token holders ?"

This would be a great moment for Trader Joe team to jump in and say...

Exactly, just fork your DEX onto another chain, rebrand yourselves, and start the emissions all over again. But I’d like to believe that projects that respect themselves and their investors wouldn't do something like that.

So, examining Curve Finance, we see the ideal scenario. I called token emissions an investment in the project's growth for a reason.

Over several years, these emissions should help the project develop a sustainable revenue stream, eventually replacing the need for token emissions.

Curve Finance recently celebrated its 4th anniversary and is beginning to demonstrate its growth trajectory:

• Initially, the project issued numerous tokens and focused on technology development.

• Over time, token emissions have decreased, and the built service is now generating steady income.

• Increasing administrative fees are starting to balance the reduction in income from token emissions for veCRV holders.

The next step is to enhance sustainability by channeling most profits directly, with CRV emissions serving as an additional bonus.

Now you understand why projects allocate a portion of tokens in their tokenomics for project development, often on a 4-year(or so) vesting schedule, labeling this emission something like "core team", "development" or similar ? This timeframe is roughly how long the project expects it will take to build a product capable of generating steady income.

And that's why a project might launch an unexpected buyback & burn, like Vertex did recently. This could mean that the project is doing better than initially projected. But it's not about sending the token price skyrocketing, it's about reducing token emissions relative to revenue, which in turn increases earnings. Why ? Because investors prefer young businesses that are profitable.

Why aren’t bribes considered part of the project’s revenue ?

Bribes are payments that projects or liquidity pools offer to governance token holders (like veCRV in the case of Curve Finance) to vote for specific pools or decisions. This is a way to attract liquidity or gain support in project governance.

Whose profit is it ?

• Bribes are income for individual governance token holders (veCRV).

• Those who hold these tokens receive bribes in exchange for their votes.

• This is their personal income, usually received in tokens or other assets.

• This income isn’t tied to the protocol’s operations and comes from third-party incentives.

These payments come from external projects or stakeholders and don’t go through the protocol’s financial reports. Since bribes aren’t the project’s income, they don’t show up in its financial statements. The project might mention the existence of bribes in its documentation or governance reports, but from a financial perspective, they don’t impact the protocol’s metrics. So when Token Terminal doesn’t include bribes in revenue or earnings, it’s not a bug, it’s a feature.

Unless...

The only time a project might record bribes as income is if it buys back its own tokens, stakes them as veCRV, and starts earning bribes on them.

In most cases, and according to standard TradFi practices, when a company buys back its own shares, they become treasury stock and don’t earn dividends. These shares stay on the company’s balance sheet but don’t participate in profit distribution, meaning the company doesn’t earn dividends on its own shares.

This is why Curve DAO members were pretty unhappy when they found out that Swiss Stake AG could stake 21M CRV tokens they requested as a grant and earn income from them, including bribes.

Follow my X (Twitter)

💰 Portfolio Update

So, the total portfolio today consists of the following sub-portfolios:

1. Cashflow Conveyor Portfolio - As the name suggests, this is a profit-generating portfolio.

2. PerpDEX Revenue Flywheel Portfolio - A portfolio for earning through funding rate arbitrage. You can read more about how it works here.

3. Stables - A portfolio consisting of stablecoins.

   ---

   Heat Map for July

The return includes income from farming, staking, and bribes.

In July, active income(can’t call it “passive income” anymore) from farming/staking/bribes/rewards accounted for 15% of the total capital, which is approximately equivalent to an annual dividend income of 395%

The overall portfolio return(capital growth + active income) in July was -1.7%.

In July, BTC increased by 3% and ETH also increased by 3%.

Now let's go through the sub-portfolios and positions.

1. Penpie - PNP and PENDLE aren't doing great, and some people are saying that Pendle isn't needed anymore now that the hype around LST/RST tokens has died down. But I think everything is cyclical, and it's obvious that Pendle can't keep growing without a break. The team has already proven they can adapt to changes and follow trends. It looks like there's going to be hype around Elixir soon, which plans to launch deUSD on Pendle. The project is still a versatile way to make good money.

2. Camelot - The project continues to launch on new Arbitrum Orbit chains, which seems to be its main focus. Campie is finally about to launch, which should increase demand for the token. I've decided to withdraw my GRAIL from the dividend plugin, and in six months, I'll decide what to do with the token. By then, I might either invest in Campie or sell and use the money to buy more MGP.

3. Radiant - The project launched on Base, but it seems like no one cares about it anymore. Radiant has lost its market share and isn't able to keep up with technical developments and adaptations fast enough. It takes quite an effort to lose out on hype to the boring Aave, which has been predicted to have a second wind in the past couple of weeks. With just under two months left before my tokens vest, I'll probably sell them and invest in MGP and other tokens.

4. Aerodrome - I added AERO to my portfolio at 0.45, and since then, the token's price has nearly doubled. The project looks very promising, and I want to buy more, but after such a price increase, I'm hesitant to buy at these levels, especially when I also want to add CRV, which is currently very undervalued.

5. Layer3 - I received an airdrop from the project, and the L3 token has already started generating income through quest rewards. I'll be adding them to my portfolio; it will be interesting to see how profitable this turns out to be.

6. Beefy - The project looks great. They're launching dozens of CLM vaults every week, and I think this additional income will soon start impacting BIFI's earnings. For now, I've decided to farm with a BIFI/USDC pair, but once I reach a decent amount of capital, I'll switch fully to mooBIFI to avoid losing tokens to IL.

7. Paraswap - I'm starting to have serious doubts about the project. First, the DEX aggregator sector is highly competitive. Second, Rabby removed the option to swap through Paraswap in its app, which I suspect could negatively impact trading volumes. Third, I've reconsidered my opinion on their tokenomics. The model where the project holds its own tokens in the treasury and constantly sells them to cover expenses seems outdated and unpromising.

8. Mozaic - The project is slowly coming back to life, and the vaults are set to launch soon. Additionally, the project managed to secure funding from an investor, so it seems I'm not the only one who still believes in it.

9. Magpie - I'm gradually building a position in MGP. It makes sense to switch to this token from GRAIL & Radiant since Magpie's treasury already includes them along with other more promising projects. Campie, Listapie, and then Eigenpie, Sympie, and Babypie will be launching soon, which will significantly increase the project's treasury. I need to establish a solid position by then.

• Curve - The CRV token has found a second life after the founder's liquidation. The project has gone through so much turmoil and only gets stronger, which I really appreciate. Right now, the token is very undervalued, which is obvious when looking at CVX. Convex gets 90% of its profit from CRV, and its market cap has almost overtaken CRV's, which is unusual. If we believe in market efficiency, either CVX should drop significantly, or CRV should increase by a few hundred percent. There's also the possibility that Convex has something up its sleeve that justifies its growth, and we just don't know about it yet.

• Azuro - The platform is similar to Polymarket but more undervalued. It looks like an under-the-radar cash generator. I'll keep an eye on it because the project seems too risky to invest in right away.

Aark Digital - I'm continuing to farm AARK, esAARK, and ARB, and it's proving to be very profitable with low competition. The ARB distribution will continue for another month, which creates a good opportunity for earnings.

Vertex - I'm continuing to farm VRTX and build up my position. I have a lot of faith in this project and believe it is undervalued.

HMX - The project continues to make poor decisions that devalue the token.

WOOFi - I’ve added a small position in WOO. While the project isn't perfect and has its flaws, I like how they're evolving, especially with their layered gamification in staking, discounts, etc. It's a full-fledged platform with its own CEX, and the token was recently in the top 100 by market cap on CoinGecko. So, I'll keep an eye on it and gradually accumulate tokens.

Merkle Trade - I received an airdrop and decided to sell. It's a good opportunity to lock in some profits, especially since airdrops in perp DEXs can be quite costly.

Gains Network - The project slightly changed its tokenomics, making the GNS token a bit more attractive.

Synthetix - The project is currently migrating its infrastructure to V3 and recently launched on Base. As a bonus, Kwenta is compensating trading fees with SNX tokens. I've started accumulating SNX through trading and plan to hold onto them. I see potential in the V3 upgrade and think the token should be added to my portfolio.

• WooFi introduced boosters that, as the name suggests, boost staking rewards for 5 days. I managed to get the rarest one, which boosts rewards by 10x. According to the latest transaction on Sudoswap, it's worth 10k WOO ($1730). While I doubt I’ll get that much, I'm hoping to get at least $500 for it. Previously, I managed to grab and sell a mid-tier booster for $125.

• ARB rewards on Aark Digital for the last 6 weeks.

• These are rewards for participating in the Degen Racing Royale on Merkle Trade.

I'd be glad to hear any advice on what to add or change in the comments here or on my X (Twitter).

Recently, Magpie evolved from just a layer on top of Wombat into a Mega DAO. For those not in the loop, Magpie keeps a portion of tokens when launching new sub-DAOs to ensure they have the deciding vote in their sub-DAO decisions. Now, the token represents a basket of various projects, and each project generates income for vlMGP holders, which is the staked version of the token.

I love these kinds of projects—investing in a token that lets you earn income from one or multiple projects. With MGP, you're literally investing in various DeFi sectors.

Determining the exact value of the MGP token is tricky, but let's give it a shot.

Currently, the MGP token offers just 10% APR, which is quite low for a highly volatile token. This return comes from the yields provided by PNP, CKP, and RDP.

Penpie is the biggest income contributor right now, with Cakepie's returns growing significantly, while Radpie adds just a bit.

As a potential investor, I'd want at least 30-40% APR for taking on such risks. So, does this mean the token is overvalued from my point of view right now ?

The image shows that Penpie provides the most income, but Cakepie is currently the most efficient project. In May, Cakepie almost matched Penpie's returns, even though only 16% of CKP tokens are vested. As more tokens vest, the income will increase—assuming Pancake keeps up its performance.

By the way, the image doesn't show Wombat. It's unclear where the returns from this project are. Either they haven't added it to the statistics yet, or there are some complicated relationships between the projects, and we shouldn't count on this income.

Additionally, we see three projects in their very early stages that haven't fully launched yet. While Campie and Eigenpie are built on well-known and serious projects, I have no idea what Listapie is or how it was chosen by the team. As a potential MGP investor, I’d like to understand the criteria for selecting projects under subDAOs, but right now, I don't have that clarity at all.

Will these three projects add enough returns to bring MGP's APR to my desired 30-40% ? I highly doubt it. So, does this mean that the MGP token is overvalued ?

Classic researchers might ask, where are the serious studies on FDV, P/E, market cap, supply, and other boring ratios and figures ? Let me save you some time by mentioning that only 38% of the tokens have been issued so far, of which 40% are staked as vlMGP. Yes, we are in for a long period of MGP token inflation, but this will be offset by the increase in vested tokens from subDAOs, which will start generating income.

I believe we should look in a completely different direction. Maybe it's not that MGP is overvalued, but rather that the tokens of its subDAOs not generating enough income? If so, why is that ?

And here we come to what I believe is the main inefficiency of the Magpie project as a MegaDAO.

If we look at the current valuation of the PNP token, we'll see that the vePENDLE/vlPNP ratio is 3.55. This means that one vlPNP token contains the value of 3.55 vePENDLE tokens, which doesn't impact the PNP token price significantly. This is normal because it’s offset by the higher yields in the bribe market. I held growing PENDLE tokens for a long time but only earned 20% annually. Then, I switched to a dividend income strategy and moved to the more undervalued PNP compared to PENDLE.

As a PNP-maxi, I'm not particularly worried about the PNP token price as long as I'm getting 70-100% APR on the bribe market, and sometimes even more, because I can choose the most profitable bribes.

This is exactly what Magpie can't do.

Or rather, it can but doesn’t, because it needs to vote for its subDAO pools. They can't just allocate all votes for a week to a pool like Renzo ezETH, which offers 100% APY. They have to vote for Penpie mPENDLE, which currently gives 41% and usually not much more than 25%.

I can't definitively say that they only vote with vlPNP tokens for their own pool, as I couldn’t find a way to see the exact distribution. However, based on the rewards they receive in their treasury wallet, most of the rewards come from the Penpie mPENDLE pool. The same applies to Cakepie.

So there's a dilemma: you could potentially earn almost twice as much with your votes, but you can't because a lot is tied to the mPENDLE pool. This includes the mechanism for maintaining the mPENDLE/PENDLE peg and the PNP buyback, which subsequently becomes the bribe rewards from this pool that you earn income from.

I believe that addressing this inefficiency must be the project's main goal to increase its income.

Simply put, the project should vote for the 5-7 most profitable pools each week. Then, they should convert a large portion of the profits from various tokens into PNP, CKP, RDN, and other subDAO tokens to pay rewards to vlMGP holders. The remaining profits should be converted and distributed for various needs like maintaining the peg, and so on. Sounds simple, but technically, my God, I don't envy the developers.

There's another option: paying vlMGP holders in the tokens and chains as they were received from voting rewards, similar to what Radiant does. For example, "We've earned 24 USDC, 13 USDT, 0.01 ETH, 0.007 wstETH for you. Take them as they are, or you can use a one-click compound button to allocate the tokens to the respective pools in the corresponding subDAOs." This is technically easier but might have mixed reactions from users.

Redirecting votes to more profitable pools opens up another strategy: Buybacks!

Imagine Magpie starts using part of its bribe income to buy back subDAO tokens and store them in its treasury, generating even more income for vlMGP stakers. They could create a bribe market where vlMGP holders vote on which tokens to buy back from the market.

Even I would start buying MGP to vote for PNP buybacks. Imagine, Eigenpie is earning profits, and you have the power to vote so that these earnings are used to buy back PNP. Now, imagine if Pancake, for example, decides to buy MGP to vote for CKP buybacks. What would happen then ?

This is what Magpie would look like in the perfect world, or but maybe I'm overthinking it and getting too carried away.

After all, there's a more likely scenario.

There’s also the possibility that Magpie might ignore this optimization and focus solely on launching new subDAOs. In that case, the project would need to offer something else to increase MGP token returns.

After all, why would I buy and lock MGP for a 10% return in PNP, CKP, and RDP tokens when I can manually buy those tokens in the same or different proportions and get 5-7 times more return by voting, just like I do now with PNP ?

Only time will tell which path Magpie MegaDAO will choose. For now, the project has finally broken free from Wombat, which was holding back its growth, and it has an interesting future ahead.

What is Airpuff ?

Airpuff is a platform for farming airdrops that offers various earning methods tailored to your risk profile:

• Buff: In this section, you can farm airdrop points using looping with up to x15 leverage. This method allows you to accumulate a large number of points, but you'll have to pay lenders an annual interest rate of 20-80%.

• Lend: Here, you can provide your assets to be used by leveraged farmers. You'll receive 10% points of what leveraged farmers harvest plus interest on the use of your money.

• Air-con: This is similar to lending but your assets are not used by anyone else, meaning you won't earn significant profits. Here, you can farm project points and Airpuff points without any leverage.

For our strategy, we will focus on the Buff section.

By registering on Airpuff using these invite codes, you will join the mediumrare team and unlock bonus percentage points on your daily earnings and the overall team income will be higher.

V2DKDN Q871PR

QP1TR9 02Z8YP

Q5KWKC IX4QZE

4DME8A VHHLH3

GQAJW5 QKDFB0

1. Opening the Strategy: Look at the interest rates. You need to choose the asset you will borrow for looping. Note the interest rate you'll pay for borrowing.

   

   • Option 1: Create a long position by borrowing a stablecoin. This strategy incurs lower interest rates, but there is a risk of liquidation if the price of ETH falls, although it also offers additional profit potential if the price rises.

   • Option 2: Borrow wstETH or ETH. This option only carries the risk of depegging, but the interest rate is almost twice as high.

   Unfortunately, Airpuff does not support features like stop-loss, so we will skip the leveraged long option for now and use ETH as the borrowing asset.

2. Implementing the Strategy: In this example, you deposit 1 weETH and borrow ETH with x15 leverage. This nets you x12.75 EigenLayer points and x12.75 Etherfi points, but you will have to pay an annual interest of 47% on your position.

3. Finding a perpDEX: You need to find a perpDEX where shorting ETH can fully or partially offset these losses through funding rates. At the time of writing this guide, suitable funding rates are available on exchanges like HMX and Vela.

Therefore, open a short position on ETH equivalent to your position on Airpuff to achieve free leveraged points farming.

• Depegging Risks

• Strong Price Increases: A significant rise in the cost of ETH can lead to the liquidation of your position on perpDEX, so it is crucial to monitor your position and possibly rebalance your strategy occasionally by partially selling ETH from Airpuff and adding collateral on perpDEX.

• Increase in borrow rates on Airpuff - the rates may rise due to a decrease in available assets for lending.

• Decline in funding rates on perp dex - an increase in shorts on ETH on perp dex will result in funding rates no longer compensating for your costs on the borrow position.
  

  Links:

• App https://app.airpuff.io/

• X: https://twitter.com/airpuff_io

• Discord: https://discord.com/invite/d8vXKavHk7

Bybit acted as a makeshift market maker by delaying token deposits, which held back a lot of sales. Now, with most big sellers done, let's see where we stand.

Comparing Market Cap & TVL of Mode Network with competitors:

• $MODE: $65M MC, $460M TVL

• $MANTA: $425M MC, $173M TVL

• $APTOS: $3768M MC, $346M TVL

• $NEAR: $7997M MC, $327M TVL

• $MANTLE: $3393M MC, $277M TVL

• $TON: $21984M MC, $233M TVL

Despite a bad TGE, Mode is undervalued. It's notable that MODE already has utility - using chain projects and staking MODE gives a multiplier for season two drops.

Projects on Mode Network may also give airdrops to MODE stakers. Soon, staking MODE will let you earn a share of blockchain fees.

In conclusion, the poorly executed TGE has led to Mode being significantly undervalued.

https://app.mode.network

Mode App - The Modular DeFi L2 - Airdrop

Sign up to join Mode's Airdrop and Bridge from Ethereum to Mode.

In this episode:

1. Voyager's Vault - Detailed Report on My Investment Moves

2. Alpha/Airdrops - unexplored DeFi territory, proceed at your own risk

My newsletter is completely free, but there are my referral links to the projects I recommend. I would be grateful if you use them as a small token of appreciation for my work.

So, I have two important updates about my portfolio:

1. I completely restructured it, now it's divided into 4 different sub-portfolios. I got rid of small positions, and now each sub-portfolio has its own watch list of potential projects.

2. I sold my main position in PENDLE, which was 35% of my portfolio a month ago, and moved it to PNP. I also sold off a major position in BTRFLY.

So, the total portfolio today consists of the following sub-portfolios:

1. Cashflow Conveyor Portfolio - As the name suggests, this is a profit-generating portfolio.

2. PerpDEX Revenue Flywheel Portfolio - A portfolio for earning through funding rate arbitrage. You can read more about how it works here.

3. Infrastructure Genesis Portfolio - A portfolio of fundamental projects on which the entire crypto industry is built. Here, one shouldn't expect any cash flow or short-term growth; it's a bet on the growth and development of cryptocurrency.

4. Stables - A portfolio consisting of stablecoins.

Now, let's go through each of the portfolios.

1. PNP - I switched from PENDLE to PNP, and you can read about why in my recent post. After switching, the price of PENDLE dropped by 30%, while PNP only fell by 4%.

2. GRAIL - It's undervalued, but I'm looking to see some development soon. The project hasn't been very active with announcements or innovations, and I'm unsure about its direction.

3. FXS - I staked my FXS as cvxFXS on Beefy Finance to benefit from autocompounding and save on fees. However, since Convex introduced a new option to move to Fraxtal, the need for Beefy seems to be diminishing. I'm finally happy about the 30% APR yield, although the buybacks aren't yet noticeable on the chart.

4. Radiant dLP - The project feels like a scam with poor innovations for loyal dLP stakers. I want to exit, but I'm locked in for another six months. I hope the token doesn’t drop to zero during this time, as I'm disappointed with what Radiant is doing.

5. MVD - I've been asking in their Discord for six months to update the documentation to understand what's in the Treasury DAO. It feels like I'm the only one interested in how the treasury contracts look and what's inside. If they don't update by May, I plan to exit the project due to this lack of transparency.

6. Mozaic - Still waiting for the return of stolen funds; there's not much movement on this front.

7. Beefy - The project is pleasing as it has finally overcome a tough transition period and started to generate a solid 25% APR. This is where my main purchases are happening right now.

Watchlist

1. ETHFI - There's now an opportunity to accumulate the token on Layer 2, but there's still no news about utility or staking. I've heard that there are many short sellers in the token, who hedge their positions to earn additional returns from airdrop campaigns. It's quite possible that someone might want to squeeze these short sellers out soon, so the token could experience a significant pump.

2. SILO - The project is performing well financially and promises a V2 soon with the possibility of staking on Layer 2.

3. Algebra - This project is very secretive, and it's unclear what's happening inside it despite their weekly reports. They are promising a new tokenomics in Q2. The ALGB token is like an ETF on the frontier market in traditional finance—its composition is risky but one component might perform exceptionally well and carry the whole token. It's a bet on the global increase in trading volumes across all DEXs.

The portfolio, in addition to earning from funding rate arbitrage, has a strong potential for receiving airdrops. I don't stick to just one pair of perpetual DEXs and sometimes switch to those where interesting paid events are happening. Managing the portfolio is quite complex, as it's necessary to calculate the potential benefit from participating in events or generating volume to receive airdrops, as significant money is spent on fees and they are not always compensated.

For example, look at the Grand Prix event by Vela Exchange, a not very popular DEX but hosting a surprisingly profitable event where you can get a couple hundred PYTH for a very small volume. On the other hand, consider the opBNB event on KiloEx, where I earned about $16 today for $200k in total volume. It became clear on the third day of the event that spending money and time on such an event was pointless.

VRTX - Great news came out yesterday about the start of a buyback & stake of VRTX tokens. The project will use part of the revenue to buy back tokens and stake them, and the rewards from staking will also be used to buy back VRTX tokens. The only issue is the lack of specifics; it's completely unclear what portion of the revenue will be used for the buybacks and how long this will continue.

Hyperliquid - The event with points has ended but there's been no word about TGE yet. The project has been behaving reasonably towards its users, so I hope there isn’t another season waiting for us for several months.

HMX - The project is developing and pleasing with various events and rewards; there's nothing to criticize.

MUX - A confident, stable project that performs well for its LPs, a great place for conservative money storage during turbulent times in the market.

Watchlist

I'm eagerly awaiting TGE for Merkle Trade & KiloEx, having generated large volumes on these platforms. However, I don't believe in the success of platforms like Orderly, LogX, and Satori.

I have big questions about IntentX; they have a very cool tokenomics, but from a technical point of view, it's very difficult to trade on this platform. There are some poor restrictions on withdrawals within 12 hours, and there's often not enough liquidity just to open a position. Bids might take a minute to execute or could be canceled ultimately. I hope someone like Hyperliquid will copy their tokenomics, and then we might get a near-perfect perpetual DEX.

The most challenging sub-portfolio to invest in, aimed at long-term growth. It's very difficult to understand all the technical aspects of each project, so I add projects to the portfolio that I consider fundamentally important for the development of the crypto industry, based exclusively on my subjective observations of the market and research by big-brain influencers.

Yeah, I have GAL token (by Galxe) in this portfolio already(crazy ?), soon there will be a post about it.

Watchlist: TON, DYM

The only thing I can say about this portfolio is that I catastrophically lack stablecoins, and I am finally addressing this by replenishing this sub-portfolio.

It's difficult to judge the exact profitability of the portfolio this month due to significant rearrangements and various buy/sell transactions, but it's clear that the portfolio is approximately down by 10-20%. The passive income this month is around 2% of the capital, or 24% annually. I expect that passive income will now increase significantly as it will mainly come from the Penpie bribe market.

I've decided to stop spreading myself thin across everything because I feel I'm not investing enough in truly worthy projects, trying instead to participate in a bunch of mediocre ones. I must admit that the cool airdrop from Jupiter was a fluke, after which I caught FOMO and decided to invest small amounts of capital in as many projects as possible.

Now, I want to better study the potential of projects and not follow the main crowd, but instead enter less popular projects that look promising but are under the radar of the general public.

My newsletter is completely free, but there are my referral links to the projects I recommend. I would be grateful if you use them as a small token of appreciation for my work.

This is the list of projects that I am primarily betting on.:

• Dolomite - Recently, the project launched the ability to accumulate points (minerals), everything is heading towards an airdrop, and the project is under the radar.

• Cega - The project is developing nicely. I bought their NFT, Super Sanics, for which they should additionally reward me with an airdrop for using the platform.

• IntentX - Making a big bet on this project, I continue to accumulate points.

• CARV Gaming - The project will soon start selling nodes, and I want to try to participate.

• Merkle Trade - I've already accumulated quite a lot of volume, so I'll stop for now, as these seasons seem like they'll never end.

• KiloEx - I've accumulated about 150k points; I don't plan to go any further for now, as their fees are quite high.

• Mode Network - In just a few days, the project apparently promises a TGE. I earned the main amount of points here (30k) for the degenscore. I didn't accumulate enough, although I should have put everything into this instead of into Blast.

• Zk.Link Nova - It looks very high-quality; liquidity might flow here after the launch of other chains.

• Elixir - Now is a great opportunity to earn points while the project is still unnoticed.

• Aperture Finance - The project offers very cool functionality for managing positions on Uniswap, and there isn't strong competition on the leaderboard.

• BinaryX - The project is selling tokenized shares of real estate in Bali and recently launched a point farming system. These points can be used to purchase merchandise and buy shares in real estate. Also there is TGE soon.

• Airpuff - The new project has a pretty cool concept, offering the ability to farm various points with leverage or by providing liquidity. The project farms points from multiple projects all at once for you.

  Invite codes to a team where many people are staking, and we receive bonuses for this: V2DKDN, QP1TR9, Q5KWKC, 4DME8A, GQAJW5, Q871PR

I'd be glad to hear any advice on what to add or change in the comments here or on my X (Twitter).

1. Voyager's Thoughts - personal reflections and insights on DeFi and Beyond

2. Voyager's Portfolio - Detailed Report on My Investment Moves

3. DeFi Survivor's Bookshelf - Handpicked must-read threads and articles

4. DeFi Projects Radar - detailed survey of projects news and developments

5. Alpha/Airdrops Whispers - unexplored DeFi territory, proceed at your own risk

My newsletter is completely free, but there are my referral links to the projects I recommend. I would be grateful if you use them as a small token of appreciation for my work.

🔎 Voyager's Thoughts

Today, I'm dropping the list of letdowns I've stacked up regarding different projects I've been using and investing in.

Tough times for Frax believers.

Frax probably chose the worst possible time to launch Fraxtal, if you can even call it a launch. Fraxtal was launched with one empty project, Ra, from the creators of Ramses Exchange, which isn't really popular on standard L2s either.

The new trends show that it's not enough just to launch your product and tweet about it, expecting billions in cash flow. The audience has been spoiled by gamification in the form of quests and rewards like points and other incentives.

I get the feeling that Frax does well when the rest of the crypto industry is struggling, like during events with FTX or the exploit on Curve, when this pyramid was saved by rich guys buying tokens at a big discount. Back then, everything seemed really bad, but Frax Finance somehow became stronger.

At the same time, Frax-believers continue to sit and watch, waiting for the FRAX collateral to finally reach that magical 100% figure so they can finally start earning by staking FXS. It feels like everyone made money off this bull except for Frax. Maybe just put some free cash into farming on Uniswap ? Seems like that way the collateral would reach 100% much faster.

I continue to hold my tokens, but I'm full of FOMO because these funds could have been utilized much better today, even considering that I bought most of my tokens at $5.

Paraswap

In the latest episodes, I've spoken quite favorably about this DEX aggregator. As soon as the gas price went up, it became clear that 1inch has no competitors in terms of exchange benefits. Exchanging on 1inch is more profitable despite all the incentives and refunds at Paraswap.

By the way, for some reason, the project refuses to provide refunds for swaps on Arbitrum, apparently realizing that it would no longer be profitable for them. Moreover, staking PSP/WETH gives just about 15% APY over the past weeks, even though I have a significant boost in profitability thanks to Paraboost score. In the end, I decided to sell my position in PSP since the risk/reward does not satisfy me, even though I made a good profit on the rise of PSP.

WooFi

I haven't invested in this project yet, but I've seriously considered it as a candidate. The project recently announced that commissions from its perp dex Woofi Pro would start going to WOO token stakers, however, this has not happened. The Perp DEX is setting records in volume & fees, but stakers don't see this and continue to receive 4% APR. By the way, the project was hacked a few days ago, and $8 million was stolen. Is this profit now going to compensate for the losses ?

Izumi Finance

The project is currently ignoring its promise to share airdrops with its users. The project recently received quite a lot of MNT after the Mantle Journey, but there are still no news about these rewards.

The only project that mentioned these awards is Butter, which promised to distribute 100% of the tokens received from this event next week. A couple of other projects promised to use these tokens as rewards for using their project in the future, which raises questions.

Revelo Intel Subscription

I got myself a premium subscription to their analytics. Although the price is pretty high, it's probably worth it because their project breakdowns alone make me feel like an insignificant writer. Their articles are truly demotivating because it's quite hard to write at such an awesome level :). Besides the monster breakdown articles, there's a lot of other cool content for all tastes. In general, I recommend it, but man, the subscription is expensive.

Blast euphoria

The launch of Blast showed that in the crypto industry, everyone really doesn't care about technology; let it exist, but it's probably the last factor attracting money. Launch a site with gamification elements, distribute the attracted investments in the form of grants to projects that want to make their product, and give the other half to users so they use these projects - that's the whole secret.

You can pour millions into solving the problem of liquidity fragmentation or the issues with security in cross-chain transfers, but everyone will ignore your project because all the money will go into projects that reward their users and help small projects.

Wormhole Airdrop

As an active DeFi user, wormhole and particularly their main project portalbridge is probably the most pathetic experience I've had interacting with cross-chain bridges. However, as I've already said, everyone doesn't care about technology; even if it's pathetic but allows you to earn, then welcome. It seems I will receive about 6k tokens from which I will immediately get rid of, as I don't even want to bother exploring the reasons why this token isn't worth holding onto.

💰 Voyager's Portfolio

Once a month at the beginning, I make a snapshot of my portfolio with detailed proportions and P/L.

You can check February Report in DeFi Enclave's Chronicles #15

📚 DeFi Survivor's Bookshelf

• Deep Dive on Sui - In Search of The Right Niche - link

• ETH Dencun: What You Need to Know - link

• Understanding Vaults: Your Key to DeFi - link

• The State of Arbitrum And the Year Ahead - link

• Curvance Explained: A Modular Multi-chain Money Market - link

• Bluefin: What You Need to Know - link

• Points Trading & Pre-Launch markets - A Comprehensive Analysis - link

• The Castle Chronicle: Volume 58 - link

• Avail - Accelerating the Unification for Web3 - link

• An Introduction to RedStone Oracles - link

• Lava Network: What You Need to Know - link

• XCeption Trading Tools: What You Need to Know - link

• How Restaking & Oracles Could Transform DeFi ? Part 1 - link

• The Greatest Hits Vol.2: 30 Best Articles - link

• ERC404, DN404, ERC404m, ERC-X, NAP and Other Similar Standards Explained - link

• Stablecoin & Synthetic Dollar Landscape: What You Need to Know - link

• Injective airdrops: What You Need to Know - link

• Curvance: The Modular Multichain Money Market - link

• Monthly Market Insights - March 2024 - link

• The Castle Chronicle: Volume 59 - link

• Good DeFi UI: More Than Meets the Eye - link
  

https://www.thedefinvestor.com

🔎Your guide to pumpamentals

what to look for in crypto projects

https://www.alphaplease.com

The decentralized cloud platform that wants to disrupt AWS

AI + DePin + Solana

https://www.alphaplease.com

Crypto x AI - Going Down the Rabbit Hole

Making sense of Crypto x AI & 17 projects to watch

https://revelointel.substack.com

f(x) Protocol: What You Need to Know

fxUSD, Future Plans & More

🛰 DeFi Projects Radar

• Algebra - Weekly Digest #117 - link

• Algebra - Algebra Weekly Digest #118 - link

• Arbitrum - Introducing Arbitrum Arcade - link

• Beefy Finance - 2023 Annual Report - link

• CARV - Bi-weekly Newsletter - link

• Frax Finance - This Week in Frax - March 8th, 2024 - link

• Gains Network - gTrade Quarterly Report: Q4 2023 - link

• HMX - Introducing Enhanced $HMX Staking Mechanics & Increased Benefits for Stakers - link

• HMX - HMX on Blast - link

• Injective - CW20-Reflection Standard with DojoSwap - link

• Injective - The February Community Update - link

• LogX - $LOGX Airdrop Update 2: Road to TGE - link

• LI.FI - February 2024 Report - link

• Lyra - Announcing Lyra V2 - link

• Mantle - February Report - link

• Magpie - February Wrap-Up - link

• Metavault - Monthly Digest: February 2024 - link

• Penpie - February Wrap Up - link

• Primex Finance - Introducing Primex V2: A New Era for the Protocol - link

• Radpie - February Wrap-up - link

• Radiant Capital - Radiant’s Journey to v3 and Beyond: Meet The Team - link

• Ra Exchange - Launch on Fraxtal - link

• Redacted - Pirex ETH Multi-Chain Expansion - link

• Router Protocol - Router Tech Fortnightly Update - link

• Silo Finance - 2024 Roadmap - link

• Symbiosis - Unlocking Full $SIS Utility - link

🪂 Alpha/Airdrops Whispers

Mozaic Finance

Mozaic, until recently, was a project whose token grew due to the general hype around AI themes. Now, this project has officially become a value distribution as it has started to share profits with the stakers of its token.

Almost 80% of the tokens are now locked on the platform, indicating investors' confidence in the long-term potential of the project. Meanwhile, the project itself has already increased the cap on its recently launched Theseus vault several times. The project is developing, the vault is showing excellent growth in TVL and profitability, and many interesting events await us in the future.

Velocore

The project launched an event for earning loot boxes.

Every day we can collect 3 free boxes, the rarity of which will depend on your activity from the previous week while using the project. It's all straightforward, you need to swap as much as possible, provide LP, and stake some of their VC token to vote on bribes.

Once a week, loot boxes can be exchanged for rewards. The boxes may contain USDC/ETH/VC/partner tokens and ZkSync airdrop allocation NFT.

So far, I have only received rewards in the form of HOLD tokens, which reimbursed me for the fees spent on swaps, but I had not used the platform before, so it's already not bad.

ZkFair & Lumoz campaign

Projects have launched an event for slaying a dragon. You need to go to Galxe and start completing tasks, which involve interacting with various projects in the ecosystem.

The points earned on Galxe should then be used to inflict damage on the dragon, which we need to take down in this way. The damage you inflict eventually equals your points on the leaderboard, and at the end, you will be rewarded with Lumoz points, for which the project will then distribute an airdrop. I am participating in all this even though it all looks extremely sketchy and one needs to be cautious here.

Orderly Network Airdrop

Orderly Network seems to be on the verge of distributing an airdrop soon. Essentially, Orderly is a backend with all the necessary functionality on which one can launch a perpetual DEX.

Currently, such DEXs as LogX & WooFi Pro, along with a couple of lesser-known ones, are operating on Orderly. So, it's all simple - we trade volumes while simultaneously participating in events from LogX on different chains. WooFi is not known for its generosity, and trading on this DEX can only earn you an OAT on Galxe.

My newsletter is completely free, but there are my referral links to the projects I recommend. I would be grateful if you use them as a small token of appreciation for my work.

I continue to make a significant bet on participating in the following projects:

• Ether.fi - Have Robot NFT(wtf ?) on Ether.fan, some YT-eETH on Pendle for points

• Dolomite - Lend/Borrow/Galxe OATs

• Drift Trade - points/tickets

• Hyperliquid - points

• Nostra - Lend/Borrow

• Gravita - The rewards for the project look promising.

• Cega - Cool project for options traders.

• Velvet Capital - I have been participating in the project for a while now and even successfully managing an investment portfolio there. Feel free to join.

• IntentX - Making a big bet on this project, I continue to accumulate points.

• Swell - I have high hopes for Swell, even though I also passed it by for quite a while, along with EigenLayer.

• Kamino - Lend/Borrow for points. Snapshot March 31.

• CARV Gaming - exp/levels

• GRVT - Boxes

• Ithaca - testnet/points

• Merkle Trade - getting levels

• KiloEx - points + NFTs. Finally got VIP OAT for 100k trading points.

• Paraswap - staking PSP for fee refund + Paraswap revenue share

• HMX - all-in for their token

• Vertex - going to accumulate VRTX, they have crazy roadmap

• LogX - $LOGX tokens airdrop campaign started

• Chromatic Finance - seems very complicated, invested some in it

• INIT Capital - getting points in Blast & Mantle

My Nodes

• Nulink

• Avail

• Lumoz

• Idena

I'd be glad to hear any advice on what to add or change in the comments here or on my X (Twitter).

Previous episode

https://defivoyager.substack.com

DeFi Enclave's Chronicles #15

Starknet Airdrop, Campie, Perpetuals, Portfolio Monthly Report, Merkle Trade and much more.

• Difficulty Level: Easy

• Required Capital: Low

• Potential Income: 15%-50%

• Risks: Low

In this article, I will explain how you can independently create a strategy to earn money by replicating the strategy proposed by the Ethena project.

What we will need.

• Lending platform + ETH

• Perpetual DEX + stables

Since this strategy is quite simple, there won’t be a particular struggle in choosing; we will just select LST with the highest yield, which is mETH from Mantle in our case. Since mETH is a token that accumulates income from staking, there is no need to lend it anywhere; you can simply hold the tokens in your wallet. However, there is also an option to use mETH for farming points and potential airdrops. The INIT project with its recently launched Hooks is currently the best option for farming airdrops using mETH.

But remember, if you have 1 mETH and you perform a loop x5 against ETH, then on the perp DEX you should hedge the same 1 mETH, not 5.

Choosing a Perp DEX.

Here are my suggestions.

HMX - the optimal choice for those planning to use this strategy long-term, as besides the funding fee, you will also receive esHMX (which will subsequently bring you income) just for keeping a position open.

Vertex or Hyperliquid - two additional DEXs with minimal market commissions. On Vertex, you will also receive their tokens as trading rewards, and on Hyperliquid, you will accumulate points for an airdrop, and this DEX arguably has the highest funding fees out of these three (this will change soon).

Building the strategy.

The figures are approximate; the main thing is the proportions.

1. Buy 1 mETH. Yes, mETH is more expensive than ETH due to the continuously accumulating income, but let’s assume that mETH = ETH and it currently costs $3750.

2. Now, we need to deposit approximately $250 into a perp DEX. That is, for every mETH, you should have around $250.

3. Open a short on ETH with 15 leverage, which equals $3750. You can increase the leverage, increasing risks but reducing the necessary amount of stables required on your account.

4. I advise not to be greedy, and perhaps even drop to x10 leverage, then you will need to have $375 for each mETH.

Thus, we have 1 mETH, on which we receive approximately +7%, and against it, a short for the same amount, on which we sometimes even earn triple-digit returns.

What could go wrong ?

There is only one badscenario here, if the price of ETH suddenly rises significantly, causing you to get liquidated and meanwhile you fail to sell your mETH before the price drops below the point where you were liquidated.

There are other scenarios with lower probability such as mETH depegging from ETH, hacking of the projects you are using, but these are the risks you agreed to when entering crypto.

This strategy is quite simple and relatively safe if you follow the strategy discipline and are not greedy with leverage, but the temptation will be great, believe me.

In the following articles, we will look at more complex and profitable strategies with increased risk.