Problem:
Solana has lots of high-quality dApps, but insufficient users in Solana for each to have a fair chance at gaining traction. However, other chains have tons of legacy DeFi protocols with tons of TVL, yet users of these platforms are not incentivized to move their funds or try out Solana.
Introducing Vortex, the solution:
Vortex aims to attract new users to the ecosystem and reward them for using various protocols over a 1-month period.
Users can:
- Interact with DeFi protocols on Solana from any EVM chain / Metamask wallet, such as depositing into Solend or trading on Jupiter
- Bridge in funds using Sphere’s integrated Wormhole UI, create a Phantom wallet, and use Solana directly.
These actions will be rewarded with an ecosystem incentives program led by top DeFi protocols and supported by Solana Foundation and Wormhole.
Key Points:
- DeFi protocols build Wormhole’s relayer functionality, allowing users to interact directly with Metamask or Integrate a Wormhole bridge UI, smoothening the migration process as much as possible.
- Incentives are given using governance tokens of the platform they are using, and SOL (from Wormhole or Solana).
- Wormhole incentivizes bridging and provides SOL for new wallets coming into the ecosystem.
The xChain integration reduces friction, while incentives provide the push to migrate liquidity. Additional SOL incentives align users’ wallets with the overall growth of the network.
Incentives Structure
Users bridging in from other chains will enjoy 3 incentives for doing so:
- A flat SOL amount is distributed to each wallet to pay for tx fees + SOL/USDC that scales up according to the amount bridged.
- Governance tokens of various DeFi protocols are used based on their incentives model and target user behavior (TVL or Volume).
- In-the-money SOL call options, provided by Foundation. Each public key gets X amount of SOL options based on on-chain actions (similar to Optimism’s incentives structure).
SOL incentives
Reward SOL in proportion to on-chain activity or user demographics and a bonus on top of governance tokens of various protocols.