Taking zkSync as an example, interpret the three tricks for discovering new public chain opportunities

In this article, a crypto researcher uses zkSync as an example and explains three things he looks for when looking for a new chain.

Written by: 2Lambroz.eth

Compilation: Deep Tide TechFlow

What aspects should we pay attention to when entering a new public chain? In this article, crypto researcher 2Lambroz.eth uses zksync as an example and explains three things he looks for when looking for a new chain.

New chains typically have the following three key opportunities:

• Early liquidity mining;
• Early betting on tokens with good risk and return;
• Eco-incentives.

Early liquidity mining

There are several types of early mining, including issuance rewards and real earnings. Of course, as long as you come early enough, the size of the pool is small.

Issue Rewards

In order to compete for liquidity, Dex increases mining rewards.

Real Earnings

In the early ecosystem, cross-chain bridges are usually limited, and only eth may be used for bridging. Users usually use the exchange function to convert eth to usdc/usdt/dai, so these are real benefits. In addition, you can also get income from those who keep swiping the trading volume for the airdrop.

Real transaction volume

In the case of Mute.io, a transaction volume greater than the Total Value Locked (TVL) is usually a sign of a good mining opportunity. Whether it's due to the above reasons or market volatility, the gains will be great!

Risk vs Good Reward for Early Tokens

Every ecosystem needs infrastructure such as decentralized exchanges, lending platforms, aggregators, and perpetual contracts. You always have the opportunity to bet on the "first", "primary" agreement.

I think these are leveraged games for the ecosystem. If the ecosystem does take off, Dapp tokens may perform better than $OP or $ARB "chain tokens". Of course, you still need to consider its valuation and token economics.

For example, if Syncswap is doing an IDO fundraising at a valuation below 20m-30m fdv, Zksync's "go-to" DEX with the highest TVL is worth considering. (I just made up a random valuation, they haven't announced anything yet)

Ecological Incentives

Currently there are no incentives like Optimism, only potential airdrops. But generally speaking, the best mining opportunities come from good agreements that are incentivized by the chain. They are usually chain audited and the incentives are backed by rich liquidity.

Updates and overview on Zksync:

• TVL is growing;
• Transaction volume is growing, but mainly in eth;
• No innovation, mainly derivatives of other projects;
• Not many spam coins, but less scams now.

Things to do:

• Take advantage of small-scale mining opportunities;
• Find incentive transactions/mining;
• Look for airdrop opportunities.

Mining income

Syncswap:

• eth/usdc 22.6% apy; TVL $48 million;
• BUSD/USDC 6.4% apy; TVL $3.2 million.

Mute.io:

• eth/usdc 22%-53% apy; TVL $13 million;

(their yield boost applies to all trading pairs, it may be more effective if you are mining with multiple trading pairs)

• eth/usdc 17.44% apr;

(steady yield, but current rates are not too high)

• eth/usdc locked for 7 days is 38% apr, of which 26% is in xspace;

(It takes 30 days to unlock xspace, 50% discount for immediate unlock)

• eth/usdc apr 28%.

At present, the income on zksyn mainly comes from usdc/usd+ LP of different exchanges.

Decentralized lending market

EraLend:

3.2 million TVL, the supply and lending rates are not high, you can only borrow eth and usdc.

Perpetual contract

OnchainTrade:

Synthetic Asset Futures + Swaps. I don't fully understand it yet, but it appears to be a mix of different pools sharing perpetual contract and exchange fee benefits. I've asked some questions on their Discord, but I haven't fully understood it yet, so won't comment.

Some items I'm following:

• Derivation;
• eZKalibur;
• MESprotocol;
• Meson;
• Derp DEX.

Derivio, this is a seemingly reliable project, but it is still on the testnet. You should be able to trade perpetual contracts and options. Looks like the perpetual contract part of the gmx model with some functionality on glp locked pledges, they call them bonds, not sure if they can be traded for the "rate" of their glp earnings.

eZKalibur is like Camelot on zksyn. As a fan of Camelot, I will continue to pay attention to it. IDOs are coming.

The MESprotocol project has come a long way since the last time I checked, when they didn't even have a gitbook. But they now have a working order book Dapp + gitbook.

Derp DEX is a v2, v3 decentralized exchange, why should I pay attention to it? I really like their memes:

Meson's cross-chain swap is a very interesting marketing strategy, they use OKX wallet integration and "task" rewards to attract users. But you have to register and provide an LP somehow, and there doesn't seem to be any sign of a token launch anytime soon in the documentation.