The Centrifuge Parachain Crowdloan Opens in Batch 2!

Real World Assets are Coming to Polkadot.

Cassidy
Centrifuge
4 min readNov 11, 2021

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We are excited to (officially) announce that Centrifuge will be joining the auctions for a parachain slot! The protocol bridging Real World Assets to DeFi will be opening a crowdloan to bid for a Polkadot parachain slot in batch 2, connecting a limitless market to the Polkaverse.

We think Parachains are the future for blockchain development, and that obtaining a parachain slot will be pivotal for the growth of both Centrifuge and DeFi in Polkadot! Read on to find out what our strategy will be for the DOT auctions.

Centrifuge + Polkadot = a match made in heaven

Centrifuge’s DApp, Tinlake already taps into the DeFi liquidity on Ethereum. Our partnerships with two of the main projects on the DeFi stage, MakerDAO & Aave, are unlocking millions of capital for Tinlake pools already — providing SMEs with access to financing when traditional finance won’t meet their needs. Centrifuge brings stable credit financing to DeFi and enables more transparency & lower cost of capital to everyone globally.

Connecting to the Polkadot Network will expand Centrifuge’s already limitless potential bringing Real World DeFi to the network, and will grow Polkadot DeFi to a new level.

By financing real world assets on the Polkadot Network, these transactions will be able to happen faster and more cost-effectively than on the Ethereum network. Once more parachains are connected to the network, Centrifuge will have the potential to integrate with other projects easily using Substrate’s cross-chain messaging standards.

Connecting Centrifuge to Polkadot will be a huge win for both networks — creating a new, limitless ecosystem for DeFi in the Polkaverse. Polkadot provides the foundation for projects like Centrifuge, Acala and Moonbeam to scale and integrate with each other — and Centrifuge creates the bridge for real world assets to enter the Polkadot ecosystem and grow DeFi in Polkadot to a new level.

Why Batch 2?

To answer this the most important question is — why does Centrifuge need a parachain slot? Of course we can’t wait to access the speed and efficiency of transactions on Polkadot — but the killer use case we are waiting for is integrations with other parachains! We think that interoperability is key to grow DeFi liquidity — and we can’t wait to start integrating with projects like Acala’s aUSD stablecoin and projects like Sushi and Aave once they have the tools to go live on Moonbeam.

So, why batch 2? We need those projects to go live first so that we can start integrating with them! Centrifuge has had the benefit to be live since May 2020 (1.5 years! Time flies!) so we will wait for batch 2 to allow the ecosystem to get up and running so that we can start taking advantage of that killer use case — interoperability ;)

As well, the Altair Launch is still in progress, and we want to ensure Altair is up and running seamlessly to prepare us for the smoothest launch possible of the Centrifuge parachain on Polkadot.

Key Information

  • Centrifuge Parachain Crowdloan will open for Batch 2
  • Centrifuge crowdloan will have the same great Early Bird and Referral Bonuses (and maybe some other sneaky extra ones)! Make sure to sign up for updates so you don’t miss out ;)
  • Altair will continue to grow — providing the experimental, boundary-pushing testing ground for asset financing on both Altair and Centrifuge!
  • Once connected to Polkadot, the Centrifuge parachain can start to scale Tinlake at breakneck speed — utilizing the efficiency and integrations with other parachains

Altair “The People’s Choice” for Kusama

The candle auctions were put to work during the third batch of the Kusama Parachain Crowdloans, and Altair, Centrifuge’s experimental network for financing assets on Kusama was the winner of auction #9. We are currently in the middle of the launch process, you can see more details on the roadmap for Altair here.

What is Centrifuge?

Centrifuge is the bridge for real-world assets to DeFi — unlocking liquidity without banks or other intermediaries. Businesses are using Centrifuge today to access the liquidity that DeFi offers, while investors finance assets for an attractive, stable yield.

Centrifuge chain mainnet went live in April 2020, and the Tinlake Dapp launched immediately after — now with almost $40M in total value locked (TVL). With these two key layers — Centrifuge creates open access to the world’s financial system by breaking down the barriers of traditional finance.

By becoming a parachain, Centrifuge hopes to strengthen its security, gain access to the Polkadot network, and the greater blockchain ecosystem by bridging to other chains.

And as the bridge between real-world assets and DeFi, Centrifuge connects DeFi to a limitless potential.

Key dates to keep an eye on

  • 15–23 December 2021: Crowdloans for the 2nd auction batch open
  • 23 December 2021: 2nd batch of Polkadot parachain auctions start. 6 auctions, 1 every fortnight.
  • 11 March 2022: Six new parachains go live on Polkadot!

Key info & resources:

Polkadot Network Launches Parachains

Parachain info & live updates

Parachains are the future for blockchain development

Centrifuge’s Tinlake Dapp

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Cassidy
Centrifuge

Economics | Token Design @Centrifuge | @ColumbiaSIPA grad | Yoga teacher (and student)