DeFi
Starknet allocates an additional 50 million STRK to the DeFi program
The Starknet Foundation has announced an additional allocation of 50 million STRK to its DeFi Spring program, according to details published Monday.
DeFi Spring 2.0 is the Starknet Foundation’s new commitment to developing Starknet’s decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem, an Ethereum Layer-2 stacking ecosystem.
DeFi Spring 2.0 Timeline
The new allocation of funds comes after a successful first effort in which the Foundation allocated 40 million STRK to support DeFi projects. This new allocation brings the total amount reserved for the program to 90 million STRK.
DeFi Spring 2.0 will run from July 1, 2024 until at least December 31, 2024.
The Starknet Foundation is collaborating with OpenBlock Labs to ensure that the distribution of STRK is fair and equitable across four protocol categories: DEX, borrowing and lending, perps and options and a new “other” category that will feature “DeFi protocols that accept deposits users “.
Projects in the new category are also those that generate yields or returns to users.
Growth of the Starknet ecosystem
The DeFi Spring program, launched in February this year, saw Starknet distribute 14.4 million STRK over 16 weeks, reaching over 106,000 users. Starknet claims that the program which aimed to grow the Layer 2 blockchain network’s DeFi ecosystem attracted 14 protocols.
According to today’s announcement, the initiative carried out over the past four months has helped generate substantial economic activity within the L2 channel ecosystem.
Despite difficult market conditions and network problems faced by the project after the launch of its STRK token, Starknet witnessed a significant increase in total value locked (TVL).
Currently, the total value of assets held in Starknet smart contracts is $240 million. DeFiLlama data shows that this figure is up sharply from around $54 million in February when DeFi Spring launched.
Projects participating in DeFi Spring include DEX protocol Ekubo, borrowing and lending platform Nostra, and Starknet’s first AMM mySwap.