Decentralized Finance (DeFi), otherwise known as ‘Open Finance’, is clearly the hottest trend in crypto right now and for good reason.
Many of the leading DeFi protocols are critical for ushering in a decentralized and tokenized world a by bringing liquidity to this space.
This is important because liquidity is one of, if not the number one most important aspect of any market. It's what needed to get serious money on board.
That’s why today projects bringing liquidity to DeFi on Ethereum are absolutely killing it as of late.
There is a trend going on within Defi space itself and it's called liquidity mining. This term specifically describes the process of earning extra rewards atop of regular fees that Liquidity Providers earn across various platforms such as Uniswap or Balancer.
Now, imagine there is one step further to the liquidity mining where aside from fees earned from the pool and aforementioned platform's tokens being distributed, some projects went one step further and created incentivized programs for liquidity providers. With this, liquidity providers can earn extra tokens from the project itself.
Consider these as a marketing campaigns, as these don't last forever.
Currently, the top DeFi projects with incentivized liquidity pools are:
Now, let’s dive into crypto projects that incentivize liquidity providers to choose their token to provide liquidity for.
1. Meta - $MTA
Meta website homepage
Meta, otherwise known as ‘mStable’, is a DeFi protocol that unites stablecoins, lending, and swapping into one standard. It reduces the complexity and fragmentation commonly found with DeFi protocols and presents an easy one-stop solution for stablecoin users.
Meta (MTA) is the mStable protocol’s native token that earns mStable assets for insuring mStable and rewards early users.
List of pools:
1. Balancer - USDC:MUSD, WETH:MUSD
Rewards Guide for Pool #1:
Meta’s MTA liquidity incentive program for the Balancer token pools listed above started in late June 2020 and will end in late July 2020. During this period, a total of 50,000 MTA will be rewarded per week to liquidity providers based on ~weekly random snapshots. The number of MTA rewarded to liquidity providers is proportionate to liquidity contributed.
While the pools above have MTA rewards lasting roughly 1 month, the pools will be renewed as the Meta ecosystem rewards program will last for 5 years with 20,000,000 MTA (20% of MTA’s total supply) being emitted directly to those who provide resources to bootstrap the minting of mStable assets.
All of the rewarded MTA funds come from a Meta token reserve dedicated to ecosystem incentive rewards.
2. Synthetix Network Token $SNX
Synthetix website homepage
Synthetix Network Token is the native token of Synthetix – a derivatives liquidity protocol on Ethereum that enables the issuance and trading of synthetic assets.
SNX is used as collateral for the issuance of synthetic assets such as synthetic fiat currencies, cryptocurrencies (long and short), and commodities. SNX holders are incentivized to stake their tokens as they are paid a pro-rata portion of the fees generated through activity on Synthetix.Exchange.
List of pools:
1. Curve - DAI:USDC:USDT:sUSD
2. Curve - renBTC:WBTC:sBTC
Rewards Guide for Pool #1:
Synthetix’s liquidity incentive program for Curve pool #1 started on April 22, 2020, and lasts for 3-4 weeks before getting upgraded and restarted. In this pool, a total of 32,000 SNX are distributed each week to liquidity providers with their individual reward amount based on a time-weighted calculation.
To claim the SNX liquidity incentive rewards, liquidity providers must deposit their Curve LP Tokens in Synthetix Mintr.
Rewards Guide for Pool #2:
The SNX liquidity incentive program for Curve pool #2 is a multi reward incentivization program that rewards liquidity providers with SNX and REN. Regarding SNX rewards, 10,000 SNX is distributed each week to those who provide the pool with liquidity. The amount of SNX rewards received by liquidity providers is based on a time-weighted calculation.
This SNX and REN liquidity incentive program for Curve Pool#2 went live on June 19 and is scheduled to end in mid-August.
The easiest way to claim SNX rewards from all pool is via zapper.fi
3. Ampleforth - $AMPL
Ampleforth website homepage
Ampleforth is an adaptive money protocol built on sound economics and AMPL is the protocol’s native token. AMPL is a digital currency like Bitcoin, but with an elastic supply that adjusts up or down daily based on market conditions.
AMPL is a very innovative and potentially very lucrative digital currency in the realm of DeFi.
List of pools:
1. Uniswap - WETH:AMPL
Rewards Guide for Pool #1:
Ampleforth’s AMPL liquidity incentive program for the Uniswap token pool listed above started in late June 2020. The program is referred to as the “Ampleforth Geyser” which rewards AMPL tokens to those who provide liquidity in the pool listed above on Uniswap V2.
The awarded amount of AMPL that liquidity providers receive is directly related to how much, and how long they provide liquidity for. The AMPL token rewards come directly from the Geyser’s AMPL token reserve.
The way it works is:
- Deposit ETH and AMPL into Uniswap V2
- Receive UNI-V2 LP Tokens
- Stake those UNI-V2 LP Tokens in the Geyser Program
4. Ren - $REN
Ren website homepage
Ren is an open blockchain protocol that enables the permissionless and private transfer of value between any blockchain. It’s primary product is the RenVM which brings interoperability to the world of decentralized finance (DeFi).
REN is the native token of the Ren DeFi protocol and it is used within Ren’s ecosystem.
List of pools:
1. Curve - renBTC:WBTC:sBTC
Rewards Guide for Pool# 1.
The REN liquidity incentive program for the Curve pool listed above is a multi reward incentivization program that rewards liquidity providers with both REN and SNX.
Regarding REN rewards, 25,000 REN are distributed each week to those who provide the pool with liquidity. The amount of REN rewards received by liquidity providers is based on a time-weighted calculation.
This REN and SNX liquidity incentive program for the renBTC:WBTC:sBTC Curve Pool went live on June 19 and is scheduled to end in mid-August.
5. Aragon - $ANT
Aragon website homepage
Aragon is an Ethereum-based decentralized application (dapp) that empowers anyone and everyone to create and manage Decentralized Autonomous Organisations (DAOs). It enables people to create next-level internet communities with unprecedented power to organize around shared values and resources.
ANT is the native token of Aragon and it’s primarily used for the governance of the Aragon Network, with additional use cases for accessing various Aragon Network services.
List of pools:
1. Uniswap - ANT:WETH
Rewards Guide for Pool#1:
Aragon’s ANT liquidity incentive program for the Uniswap token pool listed above started on June 22, 2020 and is scheduled to run for 30 days. During this period, a total of 50,000 ANT will be rewarded to those who provide liquidity to the ANT:WETH Uniswap pool.
The amount of ANT awarded to each liquidity provider is proportional to the balance of each address and time staked and payouts will be automatic at the end of the 30-day period.
The way it works is:
- You must provide liquidity to the ANT:WETH pool on Uniswap V2. For providing liquidity you will receive UNI-V2 tokens, which represent the tokens you have contributed to the pool.
- The next step is to visit liquidity.aragon.org and take the UNI tokens you’ve earned and enter the amount of UNI tokens you want to stake and earn ANT rewards.
6. Jarvis Network - $JRT
Jarvis website homepage
Jarvis Network is a set of DeFi protocols on Ethereum that allow anyone to become a broker by funding and maintaining liquidity pools. Thus far, Jarvis Network consists of two protocols; a Margin Protocol for trust-minimized off-chain trading and a Synthetic Protocol for on-chain trading.
JRT is the native token of Jarvis Network and it’s a deflationary multi-utility token involved with various aspects of the Jarvis Network including governance, staking, rewards, and token burns.
List of pools:
1.Balancer - JRT:WETH, JRT:USDC, DAI:JRT
2.Uniswap - JRT:WETH, ETH:JRT, JRT:USDC, DAI:JRT
Rewards Guide for Balancer Pools:
Jarvis’ JRT liquidity incentive program for the Balancer token pools listed above started in June 2020 where every week since starting, 70,000 JRT is awarded to liquidity providers based on a token-weighted calculation.
The awarded JRT tokens come directly from Jarvis’s DAO fund containing 100M JRT tokens and are distributed to liquidity providers every Wednesday at 4 pm GMT. Rewards are being distributed directly to wallets of Liquidity Provider .
Rewards Guide for Uniswap Pools:
Jarvis’ JRT liquidity incentive program for the Uniswap token pools listed above started in January 2020 where every day since starting, 10,000 JRT is awarded to liquidity providers based on a token-weighted calculation.
The awarded JRT tokens come directly from Jarvis’s DAO fund containing 100M JRT tokens and are distributed to liquidity providers based on a token-weighted calculation every single day. Rewards are being distributed directly to wallets of Liquidity Provider .
