aUSD Ecosystem Fund launch, ACA Staking now live, Acala Ecosystem announcements: Talisman and Kujira, and Wormhole integration in March’s update.
It’s been an exciting month for Acala. March began with the encouraging news the Acala community has bridged over 1M DOT following the on-way bridge launch in February. With ‘Phase 3’ of the roadmap in full effect, March has seen a significant expansion of aUSD programs and accessibility to shared liquidity and cross-chain functionality for Acala and Karura ecosystems via the recently announced Wormhole bridge integration.
Following excellent progress this month, here’s a recap of the biggest news!
Polkadot Parachains and Venture Funds Team Up to Launch $250 Million’ aUSD Ecosystem Fund’
Acala, with the support of other Polkadot parachains and venture funds, launched a $250 Million aUSD Ecosystem Fund to grow Polkadot’s native stablecoin, aUSD. The fund aims to support Solidity or Substrate-based applications or parachains that will drive yield and utility for aUSD. Developers with use cases in money markets, DEXs, derivatives, asset management, DAOs, payments, and other practical aUSD applications can apply to receive aUSD Ecosystem funding here.
aUSD provides a safe, reliable currency to power an ecosystem of hundreds of connected Polkadot parachains to facilitate economic activity. Through implementing an over-collateralized, crypto-backed, decentralized mechanism, aUSD’s primary goal is to support every Parachain and DApp in Polkadot and Kusama with a decentralized stable currency and become the default quote and routing asset in the DotSama ecosystem, helping Polkadot unlock its full potential. A healthy economy needs a healthy level of debt to maximize growth potential. aUSD allows users to unlock liquidity from their reserve and staked assets. Locked and staked DOT tokens cannot be utilized further in the DOT economy; as such, aUSD enables liquidity to be drawn from reserve assets to leverage additional Polkadot DeFi activities.
The aUSD Ecosystem Fund promotes the development of blockchain technology and the growth of Polkadot by empowering developers to create solutions across various industries that drive aUSD yield and utility. The fund supports development teams by:
- Raising capital for development from industry-leading funds
- Building support from Acala’s engineering team for Solidity and Substrate-based projects
- Increasing TVL by injecting aUSD liquidity into projects
- Help in the growth and expansion of a project through networking opportunities created by the fund
- Allowing projects to leverage marketing around the fund to grow their brands
More information about the aUSD Ecosystem Fund and its impact on the Polkadot ecosystem can be found in the original announcement.
Acala and Karura to Connect Polkadot and Kusama to the Wormhole Multi-Chain Bridge
As the first EVM+ integration on both Karura and Acala, Wormhole’s cross-chain interoperability will enable Karura and Acala users to leverage cross-chain assets and access to over $200B of liquidity from leading layer-1 networks. Using Wormhole’s cross-platform and shared liquidity, Acala and Karura will enjoy connections to high-value layer-1 networks already supported by Wormhole, including Ethereum, Avalanche, Solana, Fantom, Polygon, Oasis, and Terra. The Wormhole integration will enable the first-ever communication and value exchange between Acala and Karura, and this bridge will enable the aUSD and kUSD stablecoin merge, accelerating aUSD growth, liquidity, and yield opportunities across both Polkadot and Kusama. With accessibility to cross-chain DApps and token transfers, Acala and Karura DApp developers and users will enjoy:
- Additional collaterals for minting aUSD
- Increase in aUSD yield and utility
- Access to a greater number of tokens for DApps
- A stable asset system to enable low-risk trading
Read more on the Wormhole integration here.
Acala Launches Initial ACA Staking Program, Using Protocol-earned Rewards for ACA Buybacks
Acala launched the inaugural ACA staking program, providing a unique opportunity for ACA holders to increase their percentage share of the network. Instead of printing new tokens for rewards, Acala is doing a market buy-back of ACA tokens using network-owned staking reward surplus and distributing them to participants in the staking program. To earn the full staking rewards, users will need to stake their ACA for four months and not claim their ACA rewards until the program ends.
Earn ~11.59% APY staking ACA in the Acala app.
Read more on the ACA staking launch here.
Acala Ecosystem Announcements: Talisman and Kujira
The Acala ecosystem continues to expand, and March saw the addition of Taliman and Kujira into the Acala and Karura ecosystems.
Talisman’s novel solution increases utility for aUSD by creating a user-friendly Web3 wallet that grants users access to crypto solutions such as swapping tokens, minting, or staking coins. Users can mint aUSD from their Talisman wallets, promoting the utilization and adoption of aUSD. To open a Talisman wallet and begin minting aUSD, download the wallet and complete the onboarding process.
Read more about the Talisman integration here.
Kujira joins Karura’s ecosystem to build in the Karura EVM+ environment with the launch of their innovative liquidation solution, ORCA. ORCA enables DeFi users to bid on at-risk collateral, making them available for purchase to anyone and providing an effective liquidation mechanism for Acala and Karura’s stablecoin, aUSD. An effective and reliable liquidation mechanism is critical in the healthy operation of any market involving collateralized lending. Kujira allows liquidation for under-collateralized positions to attract new borrowers to provide a reserve for the currency and maintain the peg. Kujira’s ORCA solution helps create a more stable lending system, reduces the risk of cascading liquidations, and decreases the borrower’s liquidation cost.
Read more about the Kujira launch here.
Acala is planning lots of big news throughout April, so follow our social media channels for updates!
$250M aUSD Ecosystem Fund
If you are a developer interested in building a project that drives yield or utility of the aUSD stablecoin, apply for funding from the $250M aUSD Ecosystem Fund or read more:
Build on Acala
If you’re a team looking to build on Acala or looking for support from Acala Grants, please get in touch with our team to chat about how we can support you.
About Acala
Acala is an Ethereum-compatible smart contract platform optimized for DeFi and scaling DApps to Polkadot. The blockchain has built-in DeFi protocols for application developers to leverage, including a decentralized stablecoin (Acala Dollar — aUSD), a trustless staking derivative (liquid DOT — LDOT), and a decentralized exchange.
Linktree | Discord | Website | Twitter | GitHub | Wiki | Newsletter | YouTube
