A New DeFi Hub for the Cosmos.
So here we go again, more free money for the Cosmos eco-system. This one is actually one of the more significant ones of late. This drop represents the rebirth of the Gravity Dex, as a new chain spun off from the Cosmos Hub chain (ATOM). The rebranded and separated version of Gravity Dex will be called Crescent Network, and Gravity Dex will be migrated on to this new chain.
Gravity Dex History
The initial plan for Gravity Dex, was that it and Gravity Bridge would both live on the Cosmos Hub chain (ATOM). However, Osmosis got the jump on it, in a big way. When it was launched, it had no front end for a while. Eventually, Emeris was released to act as that front end. However, it still had no incentive structure, and the only benefit for providing liquidity was a miniscule amount of swap fees. The Gravity Dex floundered, and Osmosis prospered. Now, there are other options, like JUNOSWAP, SIFCHAIN and soon a number of DEX's on EVMOS.
Gravity quickly become the forgotten Dex, unloved by all except maybe the people and entities behind it. However, that may all be about to change.
Welcome Crescent Network.
It seems that the logical decision has finally been made, that Gravity in its present form is untenable. It simply won't work without rewards. A new chain will emerge, and a new token will be used to incentivize the Dex. Yes, that means another airdrop. This one is just for ATOM stakers, with the snapshot having been taken on January 1. You can see the full details in this blog post and check how many tokens you qualify for here. It is split into two amounts, and will have a number of steps to claim portions of the drop.
So there is the airdrop I am qualified for. As luck would have it, I did make a small LP position for a little while on Gravity Dex, and I did use it for an occasional swap in the early day. This was kind of an expected drop, and it was commonly anticipated that doing these actions might have some benefits. Turns out it has boosted my airdrop qualification quite a bit, and that makes me happy. The full details of the token distribution model can be seen in this post, but the short version is that 100 million tokens go to the airdrop, which is 50% of initial supply. Total max supply over 10 years will be 1 billion CRE.
Points of difference.
So the Dex market in the IBC eco-system is becoming increasingly crowded. Of course Osmosis is the dominant player, and has the lions share of liquidity currently. Junoswap is progressing, and its token airdrop of RAW must be getting closer. Once RAW incentives, plus some JUNO from the community pool kick in, Junoswap will become a force in the battle to entice liquidity. Then there is Sifchain, which has promised much over time, but consistently failed to live up to expectations. With EVMOS working through its issues before it relaunches, there will soon be new options on it from several different players. Where Crescent fits in will remain to be seen.
A few things from their first blog posts that jump out at me:
- Liquid staking: Part of the airdrop process includes requiring some liquid staking. It will be interesting to see how this plays out, and how it compares to Osmosis's Superfluid Staking model.
- Boostdrop: The second half of the airdrop goes to this mysterious Boostdrop. Not sure what this will entail, but the following graphic from this post. Lending, Leveraging, Hedging - interesting.
It will be fun to watch the rebirth of Gravity, on its own chain.
I'm looking forward to another airdrop, and will likely participate in this, alongside my core Osmosis positions, and Junoswap and Evmos positions in time. The Cosmos is ever expanding.
Important to note that no timeline is indicated either in the initial blog posts, or in the Signal Proposal post. This still could be a while before it all comes to life.
I wonder how much airdrop the JUNO whale qualifies for?
Thanks for reading,
JK.
If you liked this post, check out some other recent posts of mine: