⍺ DeFi Alpha: 217% APR on ETH-USDC using Integral SIZE + Stablecoins on Stargate
DeFi Alpha is a weekly newsletter published every Friday, contributed by Defiant Advisor and DeFi investor at 4RC, DeFi Dad, and our Degen in Chief yyctrader. It aims to educate traders, investors, and newcomers about investment opportunities in decentralized finance, as well as provide primers and guides about its emerging platforms.
Motivation
Two years ago, DeFi investors could easily name every yield farming opportunity without much effort. It was a simpler time, where only a handful of teams had launched with any liquidity to trade, lend, borrow, provide liquidity, or even demonstrate new primitives such as no-loss savings by PoolTogether.
But times have changed! DeFi liquidity has grown to hundreds of billions of dollars across Ethereum with new burgeoning DeFi economies taking shape on EVM-compatible chains such as Polygon and Avalanche and non-EVM chains such as Terra and Solana. Any given day, a new DeFi or NFT project is launching. So after writing and creating countless DeFi guides and tutorials since 2019, we at The Defiant agreed it’s time we publish a more detailed weekly guide on all you need to know to keep up with new and old yield earning opportunities.
This is DeFi Alpha by The Defiant.
We are sending this issue to all Defiant subscribers. If you want to keep receiving this newsletter going forward please subscribe here:
🙌 Together with:
Sperax USD, the FIRST Auto-yield stablecoin on Layer 2, connects you with modern money. Learn more!
Tracer Perpetual Pools V2 is Coming Soon! The simple way to mint, stake, or trade leveraged tokens for the DeFi economy - With no margin requirements and no liquidations. Learn More!
📈 Yield Alpha
Each week we will provide options to earn yield on ETH, WBTC, stablecoins, and other major tokens.
ETH - New Yearn vault for Curve Rocket Pool netting ~7-8% APY, and likely higher.
This yield is occurring in Curve trading fees + ETH staking rewards to the underlying wstETH + rETH, combined with harvesting and compounding the underlying Curve LP with sold CRV and CVX rewards on Convex.
To participate, go to this Yearn vault and deposit ETH, wstETH, rETH, or one of many other tokens thanks to the convenient zaps provided on the Yearn UI.
BTC - Lend WBTC.e on Beta Finance (on Avalanche) at 5.55% APY
This yield is issued in interest paid by Beta borrowers + BETA tokens.
To participate, go to the Beta dApp on Avalanche and lend WBTC.e here.
Be aware this liquidity mining program ends soon on March 30th.
AVAX - On YieldYak, you can earn compounding lending interest with AVAX on Aave at 7.9% APY
This yield is issued in AVAX and is auto-compounding thanks to YieldYak
To participate, Deposit AVAX into the Yield Yak Aave AVAX single-asset farm.
SOL - Lend stSOL with Francium on Solana to earn 8.75% APY (from Francium) + 6% APR from the underlying SOL staking rewards in stSOL
This yield is backed by borrowing interest paid by leveraged yield farmers on Francium as well as the 6% APR in staking rewards thanks to the liquid staking derivative stSOL by Lido.
LUNA - LP with LUNA-LunaX in TerraSwap to earn a net ~27.3% APY
This yield is backed by auto-compounding LUNA staking rewards thanks to LunaX by Stader earning 7.87% APY, trading fees on TerraSwap, and 23.4% APY in SD token rewards.
To participate on Terra, deposit 50% of LUNA into LunaX and then go here to TerraSwap to pair 50/50 LUNA<>LunaX as an LP and sit back to passively collect rewards trading fees, staking rewards, and claimable SD tokens.
MATIC - stake MATIC with ClayStack at 9.26% APY
The yield is backed by validator rewards using a MATIC liquid staking derivative.
To participate on Polygon, deposit MATIC here ClayStack.
ATOM - mint pATOM and stake the pATOMs on Ethereum to earn more pATOMs on pSTAKE at a rate of 12.02% APR
The yield earned is issued and claimable in pATOM and this yield is expected to hold steady for weeks/months unless pSTAKE changes their liquid staking model.
To participate, one must first mint a 1:1 representation of ATOM as pATOM on Ethereum by using the pSTAKE dApp under Deposit
Then, deposit/stake pATOMs to get stkATOMs and earn 12.02% APR
Stablecoins - earn up to 19% APR on Stargate Finance
This yield is issued in trading fees + SGT tokens.
To participate, one must deposit stablecoins into one of the Stargate pools listed here across Ethereum, BSC, Matic, Avalanche or Arbitrum and then stake the LP.
A step-by-step guide is provided in this week’s Starter Tutorial.
🪂 Airdrop Alpha
In each DeFi Alpha guide, we update a list of the most obvious DeFi protocols that have yet to announce and/or launch a token.
Arch Finance - a protocol for comprehensive indices that provide access to differentiated sources of market risk.
Arbitrum - one of the leading L2 solutions for Ethereum with live dApps such as Uniswap, SushiSwap, Hop, and more, we expect a token to eventually launch so by depositing assets or transacting, one might earn a future airdrop.
Cosmos Ecosystem : Staking $ATOM and $OSMO usually makes one eligible for airdrops from new apps that launch on Cosmos. Staking guide here in a previous edition of DeFi Alpha.
DeFi Saver - a one-stop dashboard for creating, managing and tracking DeFi positions across Aave, Compound, Maker, Liquity, and Reflexer
Element Finance - stake/lend to earn fixed interest with fixed terms on Ethereum
Edge Protocol - the first money market on Terra, looks like Aave or Compound
Euler Finance - a non-custodial protocol on Ethereum that allows users to lend and borrow almost any crypto asset, just launched but has yet to launch a token.
Francium - leveraged yield farming similar to Alpha Homora but on Solana, one can choose to simply lend single assets or hold leveraged LPs to potentially earn an airdrop here
Hop Protocol - become an LP to enable bridging instantly between Ethereum Mainnet, Polygon, Arbitrum, or Optimsm without waiting for long delays in withdrawals; DeFi Dad has a full-blown video tutorial on how to become a Hop LP and potentially earn a future HOP airdrop.
Katana DEX - Farm/stake the AXS/WETH LP or SLP/WETH LP on this forked AMM on Ronin to earn WRON (wrapped RON), so this is a guaranteed reward but for a token not yet trading
Optimism - one of the leading L2 solutions for Ethereum with live dApps such as Uniswap, Hop, Synthetix and more, we expect a token to eventually launch so by depositing assets or transacting, one might earn a future airdrop
Opyn - one of the OG decentralized options protocols on Ethereum, with major investors that signal a token has to be in their future. Buy/sell puts or call options to earn a possible future airdrop.
Polymarket - one of the strongest players in the DeFi prediction market vertical, bet on an outcome related to crypto, politics, sports and more or add liquidity
Set Protocol - one of the earliest DeFi protocols yet to launch a token for DeFi asset management, popular for TokenSets and known for powering IndexCoop indexes
Socket (formerly Movr) - their bridge aggregator Bungee moves assets between chains, finding the cheapest, fastest route
Terraswap - the 2nd largest AMM on Terra
Volmex - Volmex is a tokenized volatility protocol, similar to the VIX but ETHV
Wormhole - a cross-chain messaging protocol known for bridging between Solana, Terra, Polygon, BSC, Avalanche, Fantom, and Oasis
Yield Protocol - a newer protocol for fixed-term, fixed-rate lending in DeFi, backed by Paradigm, one might earn a future airdrop by lending DAI or USDC
Zapper - participate in Zapper trading, lending, providing liquidity, or yield farming; given the Zapper Quests and NFT Rewards program, it can be surmised that if Zapper ever releases a token, this is one way they might do a retro airdrop
Zerion - same can be said speculated about Zerion; if they ever release a token, they’re likely to reward those who interacted with their smart contracts swapping, lending, providing liquidity, or borrowing.
🧑💻 Defiant Starter Tutorial
Up to 19% APR On Stablecoins Using Stargate Finance
Stargate Finance bills itself as a “fully composable liquidity transport protocol that lives at the heart of Omnichain DeFi.”
It allows users to transfer native assets across chains and is currently running a liquidity mining program for its STG token.
Stablecoin farming pools are available on seven chains: Mainnet, Avalanche, Polygon, Binance Chain, Arbitrum, Optimism and Fantom.
To participate, you’ll need to deposit your stablecoins on your chain of choice.
Since USDT on Avalanche has the highest yield at the time of writing, we’re going to cover bridging to Avalanche and staking USDT in this tutorial.
Step 1: Add the Avalanche network to MetaMask using Chainlist.
Step 2: Bridge your USDT. We’re going to use the official Avalanche Bridge since it provides an initial AVAX airdrop for gas fees, but there are many other options - Anyswap, Celer, Synapse etc.
Gas fees on Avalanche are paid in AVAX and you’ll receive 0.1 AVAX when you bridge assets for the first time. I recommend buying some additional AVAX so that you don’t run out of gas at an inopportune moment. You can do so on Trader Joe, which is the major DEX on Avalanche.
Step 3: Head over to the Stargate Pools page and deposit your USDT.
https://stargate.finance/pool/USDT-AVAX/add
You’ll be asked to approve spending your assets. Confirm the transactions to receive your Liquidity Provider (LP) tokens.
Step 4: Stake your LP tokens on the Stargate Farms page.
https://stargate.finance/farm/USDT-AVAX/add
That’s it! You’re now earning STG tokens, which you can claim at your convenience.
You also have the option to lock STG for veSTG, the protocol’s governance token. Doing so yields bonus veSTG depending on your lock duration.
Note that you will not earn any token rewards if you miss this step!
🦍 Defiant Degen Tutorial
217% APR Farming ITGR on Integral SIZE
Integral SIZE is a DEX that is specifically designed for the execution of large orders on the blockchain. According to the docs, it enables traders to execute orders at a time-weighted average price (TWAP), a strategy that is used to minimize a large order's price impact and result in price improvement.
On Mar. 24, the protocol launched a liquidity mining program that pays out ITGR tokens to users who provide USDC-ETH liquidity.
Note that rewards are vested linearly over six months, meaning that you will receive 1/180 of your ITGR tokens each day. However, the current yield of 217% APR makes it appealing.
As always, yields are subject to change based on various factors including the token price and entry of new LPs.
Integral SIZE is currently only available on Ethereum mainnet.
Let’s get started.
Step 1: Navigate to Integral SIZE.
https://size.integral.link/deposit
Step 2: Add liquidity. The pool maintains a standard 50:50 ratio but the app allows deposits ofETH and USDC in any ratio.
If you use the ‘Custom Ratio’ tab, deposited assets are automatically swapped to a 50:50 ratio.
You’ll be asked to approve spending your assets. Confirm the transactions to receive your Liquidity Provider (LP) tokens.
You’re now earning vested ITGR tokens, which can be staked to earn bonus rewards.
📰 Elsewhere on The Defiant
Tuesday Tutorial on The Defiant YouTube: This week, Robin used AutoMinter to generate an NFT collection in 10 minutes. Learn how and subscribe to The Defiant on YouTube!
The information contained in this newsletter is not intended as, and shall not be understood or construed as, financial advice. The authors are not financial advisors and the information contained here is not a substitute for financial advice from a professional who is aware of the facts and circumstances of your individual situation. We have done our best to ensure that the information provided is accurate but neither The Defiant nor any of its contributors shall be held liable or responsible for any errors or omissions or for any damage readers may suffer as a result of failing to seek financial advice from a professional.