After the assassination of Trump last weekend, Trump's pro-cryptocurrency attitude also led to a rebound in the crypto market. In addition, Trump plans to speak at a cryptocurrency conference at the end of this month, and investors are beginning to have high expectations for the market. In addition, with the expected returns from the listing of the Ethereum spot ETF, ETH ecosystem projects have also received attention from investors. For example, major Layer 2 ecosystem projects will receive attention from traditional OTC funds as Ethereum panics, and DeFi will also usher in important opportunities.
As a derivative product trading platform for Ethereum Layer2 to expand the Starknet ecosystem, ZKX has gained corresponding attention due to its outstanding performance in recent on-chain data. The team project received funding from StarkWare in 2022 and received a total of US$4.5 million in seed round financing. The founder also has work experience at SOSV, a top global venture capital institution, and has rich experience in the trading field.
ZKX has distinct features compared to other DEXs, such as the innovative launch of OG Trade and Pro Trade. OG Trade is mainly suitable for primary users, with a simple interface and provides visual real-time trading data. Pro Trade is built for professional traders, providing complex trading functions and tools such as API to meet the needs of different traders.
ZKX simplifies deposits and withdrawals and private key custody through AA accounts, and realizes fast transactions on the gas-free transaction chain, so users don’t have to worry about on-chain congestion and gas expenses. Although the recent intensification of the crypto market has led to a sharp rise in prices, judging from ZKX’s on-chain transaction data and dynamics, ZKX has withstood the test of the extreme market and has not caused unexpected losses to users, which is still worth noting.
Transaction data budget growth
ZKX on-chain transaction volume is expected to grow. It is expected that by mid-July, ZKX's total transaction volume will reach US$2.4 billion, the total number of users will reach 26,000, and the 24-hour transaction volume will reach US$9.24 million.
In addition, judging from the transaction data, ZKX's transaction volume and asset allocation are currently growing as expected. The cumulative transaction volume in the second quarter doubled, and the BTC transaction volume on ZKX soared to US$680 million. The SOL transaction volume also reached US$664 million. After the protocol was launched, various data have been growing at a rapid pace.
Data source: https://dune.com/zkxprotocol/zkx-protocol-analytics
Receive STRK rewards from trading
ZKX airdropped $STRK tokens to trading users as part of the Starknet DeFi Spring event, which is currently ongoing. Users can receive $STRK token rewards by trading in the market. The rewards are distributed according to the event batches, and are calculated and distributed after each batch ends.
Currently, 209,000 $STRK tokens have been issued, and the trading volume has reached 340 million US dollars. From June 27 to July 10, ZKX only issued 48,000 $STRK tokens as rewards to traders.
Other tokens on ZKX also saw growth in trading volume, with $SOL’s trading volume exceeding $664 million.
ZKX token launch and airdrop
This year, the official $ZKX token was launched and the token distribution model was announced. The total supply of $ZKX is 100 million, and the final circulation is 10.2%. In addition, ZKX also conducted two airdrop activities for community users, including participants of the Galxe Onchain Summer event who received airdrop rewards. $ZKX tokens have also been listed on Bitget, Gateio, Kucoin and other exchanges.
According to the official page, 15% of $ZKX tokens will be used for airdrop activities, which will first appear in some projects in the market. This ratio is very global.
According to the official introduction, ZKX will carry out multiple airdrop activities in the future, such as Airdrop 3.0 and 4.0 stages. The airdrop activities will last for several periods of time. Currently, the Airdrop 2.0 activity is still ongoing and will be carried out on August 18. For investors who have not yet participated, this is good news.
New Products
Due to this round of market correction from mid-June to early July, the cryptocurrency market has seen some declines in the second round of this year, resulting in localized market risks and reduced liquidity. On-chain DEX exchanges have experienced continuous behavior due to lack of liquidity, affecting user experience.
Therefore, for ZKX, there is still a need to continue to optimize prices and transaction depth. ZKX has currently introduced the liquidity of mainstream CEX, including quotations from exchanges such as Coinbase, to ensure smooth market transactions.
In addition to the growth of transaction data and the empowerment of $ZKX tokens, $ZKX has mandatory insurance and liquid protection measures to ensure that user funds are fully protected through insurance funds. At the same time, liquid protection measures can also avoid losses caused by price distortion in extreme market conditions.
ZKX's Kuala Lumpur process is mainly to ensure market stability. Investors can effectively manage risks, and token stakers can also obtain a portion of liquidation income. At the same time, the remaining part will be transferred to the user's liquidation insurance fund, which is beneficial for users' transactions to avoid losses caused by extreme market conditions.
Pledge and pledge to get high returns
For traders, funds have costs, and Stake has attracted attention as a recent focus. Stake and re-staking on the Ethereum chain have almost reached a new high. For ZKX, Stake will be the next focus. Currently, ZKX has launched the staking function of $ZKX tokens, providing users with an annualized return of 12%. At the same time, the official said that more token staking functions will be added in the future to provide users with more benefits.
User staking income is also a reflection of the protocol's revenue distribution function and the empowerment of the $ZKX token. Users will receive $USDC income distribution, and the staking period ranges from 3 months to 60 months, and also corresponds to different multipliers. 20% of the platform's daily income is deposited into the contract and distributed to all pledgers.
When ZKX is not in use, StarkNet ecosystem may leap into the abyss
Whether it is Layer 1 or Layer 2, the development of DApp ecology has become a consensus, and the prospects of DApp ecology are further linked to the corresponding chains, just like Ethereum and Binance Chain in the last bull market and Solana and TON Chain in this bull market. Similarly, the subsequent development of ZKX is also closely related to whether the StarkNet ecology continues to prosper. So, does StarkNet still have prospects?
In fact, from a fundamental point of view, StarkNet's current technological progress is expected, and the DApp ecosystem also has a certain scale. However, due to the exciting "good news realization" after the STRK token airdrop, there will be a certain downturn during this period, and it is expected that the ecosystem will usher in a second period of rapid development. Judging from the performance of other airdrop coins in the past, this downturn is actually a good time for layout.
For example, new public chains such as Aptos, SUI, Arbitrum, and Optimism have all experienced a period of downturn. Judging from the on-chain data, after the airdrop and market correction, the amount of funds on the StarkNet chain TVL did not show a unilateral and long-term sharp decline. Therefore, it can be inferred that funds are still willing to stay in the StarkNet ecosystem. This trend is similar to this year's Solana.
Let's compare Drift Protocol, a derivatives trading platform in the Solana ecosystem. Last year, the market attention was not high, but this did not affect the team's improvement of the project. After Solana regained popularity, Drift also became the forefront of the market.
Today's ZKX is just like yesterday's Drift Protocol. Only by grasping the early stage of the project can we obtain unexpected returns, rather than waiting until the market discovers its value and eats up the remaining profits and growth space. Therefore, from this perspective, ZKX still has great potential and space.
Final Thoughts
After the Cancun upgrade, the Ethereum ecosystem and Layer2 have ushered in important opportunities. After a deep market adjustment, DeFi will also have more development possibilities. Although Layer2 is gradually competing, StarkNet still has obvious technical and market advantages, and centralized derivatives will be the inevitable direction for DeFi to develop. Therefore, for ZKX, the next step is also an important opportunity, which will also promote the further popularization of Starknet and centralized derivatives.
