March 28, 2022 — After winning the third parachain auction slot and going live on the Polkadot mainnet on January 17th, 2022, Astar Network is officially making its mark as the leader of the Polkadot parachain pack by hitting $1 billion in Total Value Locked (TVL) on Sunday, March 27, 2022.
TVL is often regarded as the most important KPI for blockchains and dApps. For Astar, TVL represents the total token value that has been staked on Astar’s blockchain, and on the dApps that build on Astar Network. The strength (or weakness) of a blockchain’s TVL speaks to its financial health and is a proxy for general investors’ confidence in the long-term prospects of a project.
For Astar, the whopping $1 billion figure represents 45% of the total share of TVL on Polkadot. Polkadot is currently connected to five parachains. We strive to be the #1 Web Assembly (WASM) and Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) Smart Contract HUB on Polkadot. Since going live on the Polkadot mainnet, we are making that goal more of a reality with each passing day.
To spur blockchain software developer interest, and to cultivate a self-sustaining ecosystem and financial model, we are revolutionizing the way developers can earn money with our dApp staking program. To incentivize developers to build on Astar, we are rolling out a Build2Earn program, where smart contract developers can receive a basic income from Astar tokens that have been staked against the dApps they build. The idea is that the more popularity and support a dApp gets via dApp staking, the more developers can earn and build in a way that is independent fromsingular power sources (i.e. venture capital firms) and is at once financially self-sustainable.
To realize one of the key tenets of the Web3 vision, namely blockchain interoperability and interconnectivity, we are seeking to become one of the unifying layer 1 blockchains by creating bridges with other major layer 1 blockchains. To that end, we are well on our way to achieving our goals. After only three months of being live on the Polkadot mainnet, Astar Network has already bridged over $180M in Ethereum assets.
The success of a blockchain is in large part owed to the quality of the decentralized apps (dApps) that build on top of the blockchain. Astar Network already has 40+ dApps on its network and two notable ones bear mentioning.
The first is ArthSwap, a one-stop DeFi protocol on Astar Network with high APY and a simple UX. Since its release in January, it has been growing rapidly with its TVL exceeding $100M just two months after release. ArthSwap is now the №1 DEX on Polkadot with the highest TVL in the ecosystem.
The second is Starlay Finance, a non-custodial lending protocol on Astar Network. Starlay’s TVL exceeded $80M just one month after its release and has been growing at a tremendous pace. Through Starlay, depositors can provide liquidity in order to earn interest as a stable passive income, while borrowers can leverage their assets without selling them out.
The $1 billion TVL milestone is an impressive feat for the nascent blockchain, but perhaps what is most promising for the long-term success of the network are the key initiatives and strategies that set Astar apart from our competitors. Astar Network is actively building the Web3 future we envision. This vision is one where all blockchains are connected and multiple virtual machines are supported and interconnected. We are pioneering the way in the Polkadot ecosystem, with our financial incentive program via our Build2Earn program designed to compensate developers who successfully build dApps on Astar, and who gain support from the community. We are paving the way for a future where developers, and the ecosystems they build on can be self-sustaining and self-reinforcing while not being beholden to the short-term whims of financial backers.
About Astar Network
Astar Network is the #1 Smart Contract Hub for WASM + EVM on Polkadot. Since winning its Parachain auction in January 2022, Astar Network has become the top Parachain in the Polkadot ecosystem in terms of Total Value Locked ($1B+) and most Ethereum assets transferred over ($180M). Astar Network is the leading smart contract hub that connects the Polkadot ecosystem to Ethereum, Cosmos, and all major layer 1 blockchains. Astar Network supports dApps using multiple virtual machines — namely WASM and EVM — and offers the best technology solutions and financial incentives via its Build2Earn and Astar Incubation Program for Web3 developers to build on top of a secure, scalable and interoperable blockchain.
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Celebrating $1B Astar TVL! was originally published in Astar Network on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
