The way Barrett from Cypher Protocol sees it, Solana’s comeback depends on one thing: tokens. “New tokens from teams on the Solana blockchain that haven’t issued them before” are the key to driving liquidity, trading activity, and new users into a decentralized finance ecosystem, he said. Barrett, the founder of crypto trading platform Cypher, is the emcee and chief organizer of the bi-annual mtnDAO hacker house. He and MarginFi, an on-chain lending platform, are the main sponsors of the event.
Cypher and MarginFi have recently charged up Solana’s growth leaderboard due to loyalty programs that give “points” to crypto traders who participate in their respective markets. These points are not tokens, but many believe they will soon be converted into tokens. Barrett won’t confirm whether Cypher is on the cusp of launching a token or will ever hold an airdrop, but traders are still investing in Cypher’s markets for trading crypto assets like SOL, ETH, and BTC.
Cypher v3, which Barrett describes as a “generalized decentralized exchange,” has crossed $2 million in total deposits for the first time ever. The protocol has grown 1,384% since launching a liquidity incentives program and more than doubled since debuting points. Trading volume is increasing on spot and perps markets.
Barrett calls this new wave of protocols “Solana DeFi 2.0.” These teams are hitting their stride in the super-fast blockchain’s bear market. If they get it right, they could help determine whether Solana DeFi returns to its multi-billion-dollar heights or trudges down the long road to irrelevance.
“They’re creating a lot of excitement that was missing from the Solana narrative for the last 18 months,” Barrett said of the incentive protocols.