Lodge Letter #41: Ethereum with a sprinkling of Arbitrum
Ethereum. Done. Arbitrum. Done. What’s next? Cross-chain swaps, that’s what. Elk’s Avalanche Rush continues, with AMAs aplenty, new Polygon Farms, and TikToks. It has to be Lodge Letter #41.
Ethereum Launch
As widely discussed and promised, Ethereum has now been added to the raft of blockchains connected to our cross-chain bridge, the ElkNet. While it is widely known that transfers in and out of the Ethereum network are accompanied by high fees, they are also plagued by slow transfer times as well! It is certainly not the cheapest DeFi arena in which to play.
However, the breadth and popularity of Ethereum projects are unparalleled in DeFi. Since the ElkNet is able to function more efficiently in V2, there was little holding us back from introducing these integrations.
Critically, the ElkNet bridge has so far proved incredibly fast in bridging $ELK between Ethereum and its EVM progeny. So whilst the fees are high for these transfers, they are similar or lower than the currently available asset bridges spanning the same route. Not only that, the opportunities for significant $ELK rewards are available for those choosing to provide liquidity. With approximately $250,000 USD of liquidity arriving only days after launch, the interest rate for LP farming for $ETH/$ELK is, at the time of writing, over 140% APR. A healthy return on Ethereum!
Arbitrum Launch
We weren’t satisfied with simply adding the leading DeFi smart contract chain to the ElkNet bridge over the weekend. We felt it needed some Layer-2, roll-up company. So Arbitrum One was also integrated into the ElkNet at the same time. As a faster and more cost-effective alternative to Ethereum, which maintains the security functionalities of its parent, Arbitrum has proved a fertile DeFi breeding ground.
Faster, cheaper and more accessible to both crypto-natives and fledgling users alike, Arbitrum is poised to release their Nitro upgrade. This is promising, as the name suggests (particularly to car enthusiasts), faster and more efficient on-chain performance. It is expected that Nitro will re-shape beliefs about Layer-2 optimistic roll-up blockchain solutions.
On the subject of speed, Arbitrum already has bridges in and out of the ecosystem, but initial testing and reports have shown the ElkNet bridge to be incredibly quick. ElkNet can certainly speed up value transfer out of Arbitrum. It can take seven days for some existing bridges, and we can reduce it to a matter of mere seconds! As an invaluable tool, ElkNet in V2 is already performing just as we hoped, if not better!
PolyDoge farm, farm, farm: 3x the fun
Another addition to our offerings, not content with adding two chains, are the three boosted farms for Polydoge over on our Polygon ElkDEX. PolyDoge ($POLYDOGE), PolyDoge Dollar ($PDD) AND PolyDoge Share ($PDS) all now paired with ELK and live for receiving deposits now. Jump on in, the Doges are waiting! Read on to find out what they are all about.
PolyDogeDAO has introduced three key components to their ecosystem: PDD, PDS, and PDB (PolyDogeBond). The PolyDogeDollar price is pegged to 1 MATIC, and will expand or contract the supply of $PDD to keep it at this pegged price. PolyDogeShare is distributed to those staking their $PDD in the PolyDogeDAO. An interesting ecosystem to explore.
Elk Avalanche Rush: It’s not slowing down!
Rushing onwards, with no sign of abating, the Elk Avalanche Rush campaign has showered Elk with AMAs, Elk use-cases and a plethora of interesting projects for us to peruse. Last week saw some informative chats with:
- Islander, Monday @ 15:00 UTC, Islander Discord
- Husky, Monday @ 16:30 UTC, Husky Twitter
- Elk Rush Avax Group 2 AMA, Friday @ 18:00 UTC, Elk Telegram
Coming Features Spotlight: Cross-chain Swaps
To those of you who have used the ElkNet Bridge, the methodology is now ingrained:
- Decide to move value to another chain
- Swap your assets into $ELK on the host chain
- Bridge the $ELK, 1:1 with a small fee, to the destination chain using ElkNet
- Swap $ELK as required on the destination chain
But what if you could swap your $AVAX on Avalanche to $FTM on Fantom? Or $ELK on $BSC to $ETH on Arbitrum? IN ONE STEP!
That is the essence of the cross-chain swap. No swippy-swapping of ELK yourself, like a buffoon or muggle, but a slick and seamless process of significantly fewer steps, using a rather attractive magical interface (immodest, sure. But look below, it’s lovely) Accio $ELK!
Expect to see more farms appearing in Avalanche ElkDex, more tokens, and more capacity to earn. Elk will see other places for staking, spending, usage. Just last week, www.Ela.city on Elastos Smart Chain added Elk as a payment option for their NFT marketplace. The Elk Moose NFT was added to www.TofuNFT.com, giving Fantom and Avalanche users a chance to grab one of these mystical creatures, ready for Bridging as a Service (BaaS) in the coming months.
BaaS will be turning heads in due course — an off-the-shelf bridge for any token to any chain supported by the ElkNet. BaaS? No bespoke coding needed? Imagine the possibilities. And if you can’t, speak to your favorite single-chain protocol about the difficulties, security concerns, and expense of purchasing bridging services from the current purveyors. All for the sake of some $ELK and a Moose…
As a utility token, inexorably tied to the functioning of the ElkNet, the $ELK token is firmly entrenched as a necessary and irreplaceable part of the Elk Finance ecosystem. Without $ELK there will be no ElkNet transfers for you, no nodes, even the Elk $CHFT stable coin is tied to the venerable and mighty $ELK. It is a must-own part of Elk Finance. They are not just pretty antlers, they are pretty powerful antlers.
Got $ELK?
