The DeFi ecosystem continues to grow. After emerging on the Ethereum blockchain (ETH) at the beginning of 2019, this one is now expanding across several other chains, such as the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) or even Solana (SOL).
The gamification of DeFi on Solana
Alongside DeFi, a new phenomenon is becoming more and more talked about across the blockchain ecosystem: play-to-earn. These new kind of video games combine games and DeFi to offer players rewards as they play. This movement is notably embodied by Axie Infinity, a game hosted on Ethereum that gathers more than 10,000 daily players. You can also discover 4 other very promising games working on the same principle.
However, this ecosystem does not stop at the borders of Ethereum. DeFi Land is a play-to-earn game hosted on the Solana blockchain (SOL). A week before the launch of its open beta to investors, the teams behind the game had already raised $4.1 million in a fundraiser.
More than 40 investors participated in the fundraising campaign. Among them were some familiar names, such as Animoca Brands, Alameda Research, Jump Capital, NGC Ventures, Solana Foundation and Gate.io.
In concrete terms, DeFi Land is an agricultural simulation game. Its primary objective is to create an educational solution to familiarize players with the DeFi ecosystem. Interviewed by our colleagues at Coindesk, the project manager, DFL Erwin, explained who represented his target:
“Marketing will be crucial, and we’re trying to bring retail investors into the DeFi ecosystem, a gamble that will require a lot of resources.”
Solana: the rising star of blockchains
For the past several months, Ethereum has been facing significant congestion… so much so that transaction fees have also exploded in concert. As a result, it has become almost impossible for an average user to use the network without breaking the bank.
At the same time, many other blockchains, including Solana, are taking advantage of this phenomenon to develop their ecosystem by offering much lower transaction fees.
In just over a month, the DeFi ecosystem on Solana has seen its TVL – the amount of assets deposited across its various protocols – grow 10-fold, from $1.1 billion on July 24 to over $11 billion at the time of writing.
For its part, Solana’s native token, the SOL, has also seen a meteoric rise. It went from around 30 dollars at the beginning of August to an ATH of 213 dollars on September 9, before returning to around 160 dollars.
If this continues, Solana could well become the new Eldorado for DeFi aficionados and NFT collectors.
In addition to individuals, Solana also seems to attract a whole range of institutional investors. Indeed, the project has seen a very significant flow of institutional money with $13.2 million during the week of August 30, 2021.
