Lending and margin protocol bZx is back with a splashy re-launch and reportedly better than ever.
??You may now stake your tokens at https://t.co/sWf5MdoE8s.
The official BPT staking pool is located at: 0xe26a220a341eaca116bda64cf9d5638a935ae629.
We will allow a prestaking period of up to 48 hours to accommodate stakers in this high gas price environment.
— bZx – #bZxIsBack (@bZxHQ) September 1, 2020
As a refresher, bZx currently offers two core products:
- Fulcrum – For tokenized lending and margin trading
- Torque – For fixed-rate loan origination
While the core products have remained relatively untouched since their initial launch, bZx 2.0 offers a reworked front-end and new features including flash loans, collateral management, and more.
By combining leveraged trading and lending on one protocol, bZx can offer a much more native experience for DeFi participants.
bZx’s reworked token, BZRX, is a governance and utility token that will enable token holders to capture value through bZx protocol fee sharing, balancer LP rewards, and the right to draw from the bZx Insurance fund.
bZx re-launched yesterday and thus far it seems to be smooth sailing.
?? Attention!
The contracts are currently in the process of being deployed. There are many contracts, the network is congested, and the contracts require testing along the way as we deploy them.
?It is happening. Nothing has come up.
Please bear with us. ??
— bZx – #bZxIsBack (@bZxHQ) August 31, 2020
Rough Start
Despite a rough start earlier in the year, it seems like bZx has really gathered some momentum as of late with an explosive Initial DEX Offering in July and subsequent BINANCE listing on August 28th.
The protocol suffered two hacks back in February with losses totaling around $1.3 million USD. Since then, the bZx team has been busy redesigning its protocol token BZRX, revamping its products, and slowly earning back the trust of the community.
The Upside?
bZx’s history provides us with an interesting scenario. They were a first mover in the space, suffered a significant setback, and have now been come back laser-focused on security and audits.
Presently in DeFi, hundreds of millions have flowed into vegetable and food-themed meme protocols with little regard for proper audits. SushiSwap pictured below was launched less than a week ago and has already locked up over $1 billion in value in it’s Uniswap LP pools.
SUSHI protocol statistics, sourced from https://sushi.zippo.io/
In this current environment, bZx’s focus on top tier security could be a significant differentiator for users when they consider where to chase yield. The team’s focus on sustainable liquidity mining design also cannot be overlooked. Their rebate-like rewards model is starkly different from other protocols that reward liquidity providers exponentially despite the actual value LP contributions bring to the protocol. For more on the BZRX token see here.
Where will bZx end up on the DeFi Pulse leaderboard? Can’t say for sure, but it’s definitely worth keeping an eye on.
To stay up with bZx, follow them on Twitter.
Cooper is the Editor of DeFi Rate and an active contributor to leading DeFi media outlets like The Defiant, DeFi Pulse, and Bankless. He works with early-stage teams through Fire Eyes DAO to incubate governance models and grassroots community development. He is an ambassador to Set Protocol and an author of a weekly publication called Token Tuesdays. To stay up with Cooper, follow him on Twitter.
