Celo, Fantom Tokens Jump on Fresh DeFi Incentive Programs

New day, new incentives for layer 1 blockchains looking to compete with Ethereum.

AccessTimeIconAug 30, 2021 at 5:53 p.m. UTC
Updated May 11, 2023 at 3:38 p.m. UTC
10 Years of Decentralizing the Future
May 29-31, 2024 - Austin, TexasThe biggest and most established global hub for everything crypto, blockchain and Web3.Register Now

Upstart base layers seem to have a new (and remunerative) playbook for courting decentralized finance (DeFi) projects.

The prices of CELO and FTM, the tokens of layer 1 blockchain projects Celo and Fantom, surged Monday after both projects announced plans for big-budget incentive programs, becoming the latest tokens benefiting from such news announcements.

The price of CELO was up by more than 75% in the past 24 hours, according to Messari, trading at $7.65 as of press time. Meanwhile, FTM token’s price was up by 72% in the past 24 hours, trading at $0.88.

CoinDesk reported earlier Monday that the phone-focused blockchain Celo is rolling out a $100 million “DeFi for the People” fund, which will allow the layer 1 blockchain to work with several Ethereum-native decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols in an effort to attract more users.

“Shortly after the announcement, CELO daily sentiment spiked more than 20 points in less than two hours, signalling almost instantaneous trader interest in the asset,” Nick Mancini, research analyst at trading sentiment data provider Trade the Chain, said. “Twitter volume has risen more than 650% in that short amount of time, and trading volume is up more than 1,700%.”

CELO's daily sentiment spiked on Trade the Chain's tracker, which calculates a token's sentiment scores by crawling data sources around the internet with the help of machine learning and AI. (Source: Trade the Chain)
CELO's daily sentiment spiked on Trade the Chain's tracker, which calculates a token's sentiment scores by crawling data sources around the internet with the help of machine learning and AI. (Source: Trade the Chain)

Added Mancini:

“As long as sentiment and trading volumes continue to flourish, so will price action.”

Also covered by CoinDesk Monday, Fantom has launched an incentive program that offers 370 million FTM tokens to protocols building on the network.

DeFi land grab

Celo and Fantom become the latest layer 1 blockchain projects to cash in on a growing trend.

Prices of tokens from other blockchains including Solana and Avalanche have also surged recently after the platforms announced incentives to attract both protocols and users.

Datahttps://defillama.com/chain/Celo/all/USD from DeFi Llama shows that the total value locked (TVL) in Celo reached an all-time high of approximately $74 million on Aug. 28. TVL is a measure of how many crypto assets are committed to a given DeFi protocol. The leading DeFi project on Celo is lending protocol Moola Market.

That said, both CELO and FTM are still well off their all-time highs, according to Messari.

After the sugar high

While upstarts surge, the lagging performance of former DeFi darling Binance Smart Chain raises questions about retaining users in the long run after initially coaxing traders to jump to a new network.

According to Simone Pomposi, head of marketing at Fantom, Fantom’s incentive program is different from other similar announcements as it is targeting the builders of protocols on Fantom, not users.

“Other chains or platforms reward users … and users leave when a new or better incentive program appears,” Pomposi said via a representative. “With this incentive program, we unleash the creativity of builders.”

Disclosure

Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information has been updated.

CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. In November 2023, CoinDesk was acquired by the Bullish group, owner of Bullish, a regulated, digital assets exchange. The Bullish group is majority-owned by Block.one; both companies have interests in a variety of blockchain and digital asset businesses and significant holdings of digital assets, including bitcoin. CoinDesk operates as an independent subsidiary with an editorial committee to protect journalistic independence. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive options in the Bullish group as part of their compensation.

Muyao Shen

Muyao was a markets reporter at CoinDesk.


Learn more about Consensus 2024, CoinDesk's longest-running and most influential event that brings together all sides of crypto, blockchain and Web3. Head to consensus.coindesk.com to register and buy your pass now.