Avalanche Watch: March 2024

What’s New on Avalanche

Memecoin Rush Begins on Avalanche - The Avalanche Foundation launched the first phase of Memecoin Rush, a $1M liquidity mining incentive program targeting the community coin ecosystem on Avalanche. This initiative seeks to expand liquidity and drive community engagement within the memecoin sector through protocols like Trader Joe, Steakhut Finance, Balancer, and Yield Yak. Learn more here. 

Credit Vaults Create Undercollateralized Borrowing for Institutions - Clearpool, a leader in on-chain credit marketplaces, is launching Credit Vaults on Avalanche to facilitate uncollateralized borrowing for institutions that leverage real-world assets like private credit. This initiative, starting with a vault from Banxa, aims to bolster lending efficiency and integrate tokenized assets into the Avalanche ecosystem. Learn more here. 

Codebase First Cohort Announced - Codebase, an accelerator for early-stage Web3 startups, selected its first cohort from nearly 250 applications across over 30 countries. Colony Lab is enhancing the funding to $500k-$1M for each of the 15 projects, in addition to a $400k investment prize pool. Codebase aims to nurture the next wave of Web3 innovations, offering intensive mentorship and culminating in a pitch day at Consensus, where participants will present to leading Web3 investors. Learn more here. 

The Diamond Standard Fund Making Tokenized Diamonds an Investable Asset - The Diamond Standard Fund, a collaborative effort by Diamond Standard, Horizon Kinetics, and Oasis Pro, has been tokenized and listed on the SEC-registered ATS of Oasis Pro Market. The Diamond Standard Fund leverages the Avalanche C-Chain to provide sophisticated investors access to the diamond market, which is traditionally inaccessible due to valuation complexities. Not only does the fund standardize diamond investment through blockchain technology, but it also enhances market accessibility, liquidity, and transparency. Learn more here. 

Gitcoin Community Grants Program Comes to Avalanche - The Avalanche Foundation is launching the Avalanche Community Grants Program in collaboration with Gitcoin, aiming to encourage development within the Avalanche ecosystem by matching community donations to fund projects. Gitcoin allows the Avalanche community to have a say in funding decisions, with eligibility for grants extending to those who have contributed or plan to contribute to the ecosystem, covering a broad range of areas from public goods and education to gaming and NFTs. Learn more here. 

‍

The Past Month in Decentralized Finance (DeFi)

GoGoPool Reaches $50m TVL - GoGoPool is one of the fastest-growing protocols on Avalanche (+170% m/m) after a considerable injection of total value locked (TVL) in mid-March. 

GoGoPool is the second largest liquid staking protocol on Avalanche by TVL and introduced three innovations:

- Cut the cost of validating in half by pairing node operator funds with funds from the liquid staking deposit pool

- Increased validator rewards (via maximal extractable value revenue share)

- No-code validator deployment

Trader Joe Leads Avalanche DEX Volumes in March - In March Avalanche’s total DEX trading volume soared by 249.5% MoM, reaching $9.66B - marking the highest volume since February 2022. Trader Joe led the charge, commanding over 81% market share of Avalanche's DEX activity.  

Steady Growth in Total Value Locked - With the exception of the relatively flat GMX protocol, all other major protocols saw a rise in total value locked in March. The considerable jump by Trader Joe is partially attributable to the aforementioned memecoin rush. The total value locked on Avalanche increased 14.6% in March. 

Stablecoin Market Cap Surpasses $1.5B - Stablecoins are the backbone of DeFi, providing a way for DeFi users to “exit the market” to fiat-like tokens. Stablecoins also give DeFi users a way to provide liquidity and earn yield in DeFi without being directly exposed to volatile assets. Stablecoin market cap increased 22.8% in March. 

‍

The Past Month in Gaming (GameFi) 

Avalanche Games Raise Millions in Funding - Gunzilla, the gaming studio behind Off the Grid, raised $30m. Off the Grid is the first AAA crypto game to reach the Xbox store. See announcement here. Additionally, BloopLoop, an MMO-NFT game, raised $4m in funding. See announcement here. 

‍

“Web3 Gaming Sucks” at GDC - Avalanche made a significant impact at the 2024 Game Developers Conference, with the tongue-in-cheek slogan “Web3 Gaming Sucks”. Avalanche presented one of the largest exhibits showcasing a wide array of games within its Web3 ecosystem, including notable titles like Shrapnel and Off the Grid. 

‍

Shrapnel Subnet STX2 Active Sender Count Peaks at over 60k - Shrapnel is hosting early access events called Shrapnel Training Exercises. The second of such events was held in the middle of March, and active sender count reached over 60k wallet addresses, showcasing both demand from players and the ability to scale. 

‍

The Past Month in Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)

NFT Volume Slowdown - Total March NFT volumes equal 331,291 AVAX. This comes after a relatively strong February month at 716,478 AVAX. The top performers are as follows: 

1. Dokyo (264,190 AVAX) - Dokyo has remained the most traded profile picture NFT collection on Avalanche. Dokyo was the genesis collection for Avalanche’s most popular NFT platform Hyperspace. 

2. Ferdy Frens (7,372 AVAX) - Ferdy Frens is a collection for those who don’t take themselves too seriously. Folks who understand, but want you to explain what you meant just in case. Folks who may or may not have missed the CAUTION: WET FLOOR sign once or twice and taken a spill. Folks who want to own something that other people think might be hideous even though those people are wrong because shut up I like it. I’m not crying, you’re crying.

3. Steady (6344 AVAX) - Steady is a 2,500 piece PFP collection that prioritizes instilling a strong, fun, and original human element into digital identities. Steady launched in January.

4. Long Long Legacy (5,317 AVAX) - Based on mythical folk lore of the Chinese Culture, The Jade Emperor organized The Heavenly Gate Race where the first 12 animals that passes the gate will earn a spot as the Jade Emperor's guard. On top of that each year will be named after the winners in sequence. Of all creatures, the Dragon was expected to win the race due to its ability to fly. During the race however, the Dragon stopped multiple times to help villagers who were in need of help causing the Dragon to place 5th in The Heavenly Gate Race ranking. The collection is still unrevealed. 

5. Dokkaebi  (4195 AVAX) - [From the Dokkaebi website] Dokkaebi is a community of enthusiasts of Korean culture, gaming, and more! We're here to foster a welcoming and supportive space for people of all backgrounds to come together and celebrate their shared love of these things. We believe that everyone has something to contribute to our community, and we encourage you to get involved and share your own experiences, perspectives, and creativity!

‍

Project Spotlight - The Arena

The Arena Surpassed 26k New Users - The Arena is a Social Finance application on Avalanche that is hosting a new ticketing campaign called March Madness. March Madness has significantly boosted creator monetization within The Arena, setting a record for total value locked and now ranks second among SocialFi apps by TVL. Concurrently, the event has attracted over 26,000 new users and averaged over 20,000 unique posts daily. Learn more here. 

‍

‍