Lodge Letter #45

FoxFortyTwo 🦊
Elk Finance
Published in
4 min readMay 31, 2022

It’s been a May to remember, or maybe to forget. Here at Elk, we’re preparing the next releases (Bridging-as-a-Service, Elk SDK, cross-chain swaps). Best to stay busy.

Why HODL Elk?

$ELK is both the cross-chain and governance token for Elk Finance.

There is a maximum of 42,424,242 available. Ever. Across all the chains we support. Not PER chain, in total. They elastically and flexibly move between and betwixt each ecosystem, always worth 1 $ELK wherever they are, and they move fast across the ElkNet.

$ELK will allow participation in the decision-making and direction of the ElkNet, our headline act. Further to this governance lies the possibility of influencing DEX opportunities, new chain additions, fees (when to burn, what to burn), potential protocol-controlled-value mechanisms, reward allocations, and I’m sure you can think of more options for change beyond these scant few.

$ELK is also the fee token for our ElkNet Bridge, and the underlying token for cross-chain swaps.

Wait, this means to use ElkNet, an incredibly fast bridge connected to NINETEEN blockchains, you need to:

  • Trade $ELK?
  • Use the $ElkDEX (independently or through the under-the-hood cross-chain swaps).
  • Pay a small fee in $ELK to bridge value? (ElkNet volume goes up = Platform revenue goes up. Projects that generate revenue = good.)

Seems like there’s some utility there! And don’t forget:

  • Projects that want us to create a bridge for their token on the ElkNet, do they need $ELK?
  • Or even if they want to create their own ElkNet-bridged token using the SDK, what do you think they’ll need? (Hint: It begins with E, is hooved, and has antlers.)

Let’s add the following:

  • Earn $ELK in single staking and LP farming.
  • Cross-chain swaps make bridging with the ElkNet easier (more ElkNet volume = more platform revenue).
  • How about Farming-as-a-Service? Add a token, pair it with $ELK, set your token rewards for your farm, secure liquidity, cross-chain value can come to you from across the whole ElkNET, fast!
  • And you say nodes are coming?
  • And governance?

One word: Utility. Another? $ELK

Tokenomics is a hot topic and current “interesting” market conditions provide a backdrop to projects adjusting tokenomic models to improve token utility. What have you seen in the market that raised your eye-brow, like you’re Dr Spock himself, your interest piqued? We have our ideas, and they’re edging closer to reality, what are yours? Tweet us your tokenomic thoughts, logically speaking.

Radioshack

Following a discussion between our respective business development teams, the opportunity for RadioShack to list their $RADIO token and provide liquidity for it on four chains arose. Avalanche, Polygon, BNB Chain, and Ethereum ElkDEX now have liquidity for $RADIO, opening the doors for RadioShack DeFi to employ easy cross-chain swaps when they roll out on Elk Finance.

Buy a token on one chain and seamlessly move it to another in even fewer clicks than ever before? Sounds good to us!

But why do it? To pursue farming and other fun DeFi opportunities of course!

Cross-chain swap example: Move $RADIO into ELK, across the ElkNet, and back to $RADIO, all under the hood, chain X to chain Y. Coming soon…

Tin.Network

With the RadioShack farms coming online, it’s worth mentioning the speed at which Tin.network updated their portfolio tracker to include our newest farms. They even added a notification service recently and Elk was right there at the start!

Getting close to 100,000 users. Can Elk bring this number up?

How cool is that? We love Tin.Network. It’s perfect for truly cross-chain DeFi power-users. All chains, one tracker. Awesome.

Elk App Improvements

  • ElkNet maximum raised to 20,000 ELK: 10,000 was so ElkNet v1, so we doubled the action per cross-chain transfer.
  • Partners Section on Moose page — The minting of Moose on some chains has occurred, but there are third-party marketplaces where you can buy verified Moose. Find them here.
  • Visual tweaks — Can you spot them? Look at the top right corner for one. Button size problems have been fixed too.
  • Various under-the-sheets improvements have also been implemented to ensure a smooth and easy Elk-perience for all

Cross-chain Swaps, and Bridge-as-a-Service. 🚀

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FoxFortyTwo 🦊
Elk Finance

Cross-chain. DeFi. Web3. (Arthera, Elk, more!) Technology start-up co-founder. Former teacher. Writer. Copyeditor. Marketer. Family first - work up from there.