Milkomeda: A Year-in-Review
Let’s start by saying that 2022 has been a staggeringly HUGE year for Milkomeda! We had groundbreaking developments and deployments, we started building communities, and had developers deploy dozens of DApps to begin building ecosystems on both of Milkomeda’s interoperability solutions. We also completed multiple audits and formal verification on the solidity smart contracts for the Milkomeda bridge.
All of this is helping us move towards realizing the Milkomeda vision of an interoperable blockchain future! We also want to give a special mention and a huge thank you to Cardano’s Project Catalyst voters. Much of this would not be possible without you voting to fund the proposals for the development and growth of Milkomeda C1 for Cardano.
Let’s look at what we’ve achieved in this very busy and highly productive year!
Launch of Milkomeda C1 on Cardano
Milkomeda C1, an EVM-based sidechain (and the first sidechain) for Cardano, was launched way back in March 2022. This simultaneously accomplished two things, it connected Cardano to other major blockchains in a permissionless manner and opened up the Cardano ecosystem and community to Solidity developers — greatly expanding the developer pool for Cardano and bringing more DApps to the Cardano ecosystem.
Here’s a blog post highlighting the many benefits of Milkomeda C1 for the Cardano ecosystem. Below is a quick rundown of what C1 has brought Cardano in its first nine months of existence.
Connecting Cardano: The Milkomeda C1 is home to several bridges, including Celer and Multichain, which allow users to seamlessly connect Cardano to multiple major blockchains and bridge assets and stablecoins to the Cardano sidechain. This provides users with increased flexibility and opportunities for asset management and interoperability within the broader blockchain ecosystem.
Growing the Cardano DApp Scene: Multiple DApps have launched on C1 for the Cardano community, and they probably wouldn’t have been here if it wasn’t for Milkomeda’s EVM capabilities. See Milkomeda‘s DApp Store for what is available to you, where we’ve even broken it down into easy categories like DeFi, Gaming, NFTs, Utilities, Wallets, infrastructure, and more!
Increased Cardano Wallet Compatibility: Three of the most popular Cardano wallets -Flint, Nami, and Eternl- all now offer support for wrapping tokens to Milkomeda C1!
Enhanced Security: We have completed two audits of the components used in the Cardano deployment of Milkomeda. We have had another audit done since and have just finished having the smart contracts on the Milkomeda side of our bridge formally verified! We also released a Docker solution to make it easier for individuals and DApp developers to monitor and interact with Milkomeda.
As said before, much of the work done on Milkomeda C1 would not have been possible at this tremendous pace without the voters of Project Catalyst, so thank you voters!
Growth Hacking: Accelerators, Hackathons, and Grants
We launched several initiatives to grow the Milkomeda C1 ecosystem in 2022. Many of these were funded by Project Catalyst.
Milkomeda Accelerator: We launched the Milkomeda Accelerator alongside Milkomeda C1 back in March and then announced the participating projects in June, and successfully closed the Accelerator out a few months later.
Milkomeda DAO Hackathon: In June, we also launched our DAO Hackathon, which saw some fantastic and creative ideas and solutions in the DAO space. You can check out the hackathon winners here!
Gaming Grant: We released a gaming grant in August to help grow the blockchain gaming world and the Milkomeda ecosystem. The goal of this grant is to shift the focus away from play-to-earn (P2E) games, and instead focus on using blockchain technology to decentralize and improve the gaming industry.
If you have an idea for a project then make sure to stay tuned to our social media channels as the New Year brings both the Milkomeda Incubator -including $10,000USDC for each participant and access to a network of world-class business and tech support from dcSpark and dLab- and a DeFi Hackathon for you to pitch and develop your ideas through.
Launch of Milkomeda A1 for Algorand
In June, we announced testnet integration, in July we launched a public testnet, and mid-October saw us go live with one of the first rollups outside the Ethereum ecosystem! A1, an EVM-based rollup for Algorand, represents Milkomeda’s vision for an interoperable blockchain future. Here are some highlights from the development and growth of A1.
Novel Solution: The A1 Rollup is the result of months of research into how to create a novel rollup that fits within the parameters of the Algorand protocol. Learn more about how it works here in our Security of the Algorand Rollup article.
Increased Algorand TVL: Because it’s a rollup DeFi Llama includes Milkomeda A1’s as a part of the total TVL for Algorand! View A1’s own TVL here.
Connecting Algorand to the Blockchain World: Less than three months into its existence, there are already two bridges, Celer and Multichain (both also connected to C1), connecting Algorand to the rest of the blockchain world — allowing users to port their liquidity to the Algorand ecosystem.
Support for 2 Wallets: The Milkomeda bridge supports both MyAlgo and Pera wallets, allowing users to use their favorite Algorand wallet to access A1.
If you’re wondering, “why Algorand?”, we discussed that in this blog post. And keep your eyes on our Medium and Twitter feeds because there’s more coming!
Japanese Milkomeda Account Launch
In October, we set about with the long-anticipated release of our Japanese language Twitter and Medium accounts, allowing us to better connect with and grow the passionate community we’re building in Japan. We also attended the Blockchain Expo in Japan and were selected to be a part of the Microsoft for Startups program in Japan.
Gnosis Launched on Milkomeda
We brought multisig capabilities to Cardano, and afterward to Algorand, by deploying an instance of Gnosis Safe’s highly trusted and audited smart contract multisig wallet. This makes both of these blockchains more attractive to enterprise users and can increase the adoption of these chains for business purposes. We also produced a step-by-step user guide for creating a Safe!
Launched a DApp Store
One of our most recent additions to the Milkomeda ecosystem was the Milkomeda DApp Store. DApp discovery is essential to the growth of the Milkomeda networks and the protocols building on top of them.
Our simple, organized, and easy-to-browse DApp Store makes it easy for users to find DApps from Milkomeda C1 ecosystem. There is also a simple form developers can use to add their DApp (whether it be launched or upcoming) for users to find. Visit the Milkomeda DApp Store regularly to watch the Milkomeda ecosystems grow!
Milkomeda is Not Slowing Down in 2023!
The pace of research, development, and deployment here at Milkomeda will not slow down as we enter into the new year. Our focuses for the beginning of 2023 include: canonical smart contracts to fix the problems of fractionalized bridged liquidity, liquid staking to enable you to earn Layer 1 rewards on your bridged assets, and wrapped smart contracts to allow you to interact with Layer 2 smart contracts without actually leaving the main-chain!
Furthermore, our design and development teams are striving to enhance the user experience by creating a user-friendly interface for interacting with Milkomeda C1 and A1. This interface will allow users to easily connect wallets from various L1s, move funds to L2 and vice versa (wrapping & unwrapping), view transactions in the Bridge Explorer, access transaction history, and discover recommended DApps, all within the Milkomeda DApp. We are excited to bring this intuitive and streamlined experience to our users and are confident that it will significantly improve their overall experience with Milkomeda ecosystem.
Remember to follow us on your favorite social media channel to be the first to get the news about the exciting releases coming out of Milkomeda in 2023!
Follow Milkomeda:
Website: milkomeda.com
Twitter: @Milkomeda_com
Medium: @milkomedafoundation
DApp Store: /dapp-store
