As the year draws to a close, various year-end summaries begin to dominate people's attention. The year 2024 is destined to be an extraordinary one for cryptocurrency, with Bitcoin ETFs passing, a halving event, and the crazy combination of Trump and Musk emerging at the end of the year, interspersed with various events, including Ethereum ETFs approved and Solana reaching new highs, while VC coins decline, and meme coins take the stage. Each of these events reminds us that in 2024, the blockchain industry has undergone dual transformations in technology and the market.
In 2024, the crypto industry finally began to face the significance of cash flow; real earnings are more important than flashy numbers on PPT. PMF has become the new first principle. Bitcoin, stablecoins, DeFi, and meme coins are being regarded as the four most PMF-rich tracks in the crypto circle. Bitcoin goes without saying, the stablecoin track still has new and old players in fierce confrontation, meme coins and Solana are mutually beneficial, while in the DeFi track, different ecosystems display different development momentum, each with its own strengths.
The DeFi ecosystem has welcomed a second spring since Trump's election victory, from the launch of the DEX Thena on Binance to the investment in multi-asset liquidity center Astherus. The BNB Chain ecosystem has continuously birthed blue-chip DeFi projects in staking, liquidity, and asset management, making the overall liquidity of the ecosystem appear poised for growth. This article aims to leverage the project development of the DeFi rising star Lista DAO to clarify its focus and innovation in staking and liquidity management, exploring why Lista DAO can establish a foothold in the BNB Chain ecosystem and create a unique position.
Lista DAO's 2024
2024 will be a year of transformation and breakthroughs for Lista DAO, from brand upgrades to ecological expansion and product innovation. Every important milestone has witnessed Lista DAO's deepening and evolution in the DeFi field. As the center for staking and liquidity in the BNB Chain ecosystem, Lista DAO effectively enhances users' capital efficiency and return potential through innovative products, technological upgrades, and governance optimization. At the same time, Lista DAO actively integrates into the explosive wave of the BNB Chain ecosystem, becoming a model of the combination of CeFi and DeFi, seizing industry trends, and providing core support for ecological development. The recent TVL nearing $1 billion and reaching new highs is the best proof.
The following is a simple review of the key events that occurred in Lista DAO over the past year, presented in chronological order.
On February 5, Helio Protocol officially changed its name to Lista DAO, with the former HAY and SnBNB renamed to lisUSD and slisBNB, respectively. It also launched an airdrop points system—the Cosmic Adventure Challenge (CAC).
In March, Lista DAO adjusted its strategy, gradually suspending its native staking service and focusing on the development of its liquid staking product (BNB/slisBNB), further deepening its layout in the LSDfi field.
In May, Lista DAO completed several product updates. First, the multi-node delegation upgrade for slisBNB distributed all deposited BNB across multiple validator nodes, converting existing BNBx, AnkrBNB, and stkBNB into slisBNB, enhancing the security, yield, and withdrawal efficiency of slisBNB, while simplifying the liquid staking process.
In order to better meet users' demands for liquidity and new assets, Lista DAO launched the Innovation Zone this month, introducing weETH, ezETH, and STONE as collateral assets for lisUSD. At the same time, partnerships were established with various DeFi projects across different ecosystems, including the launch of Listpie, and collaborations with Ether.fi, Renzo Protocol, Lynx Finance, Stakestone, and others to introduce a variety of collateral assets, providing users with more choices.
In June, users participating in the Lista DAO ecosystem welcomed the moment of harvest, as Lista DAO announced TGE and launched an airdrop, with Binance listing Lista and opening trading on the 20th.
In July, Lista DAO utilized LayerZero's bridging technology to bring slisBNB to Ethereum and launched the veLISTA and veToken governance models, further promoting DAO governance upgrades.
In August, it was another important milestone for Lista DAO and its users, initially launching the AMO module to optimize the supply-demand balance of lisUSD, significantly enhancing its price stability and market efficiency. Subsequently, it was announced that slisBNB could be used to participate in Binance Launchpool, allowing users to increase their return potential while maintaining liquidity, becoming a model for the CeFi+DeFi combination.
In September, Lista DAO successfully lowered the borrowing interest rate of lisUSD through the LIP-002 proposal.
In October, Lista DAO launched a new product, clisBNB, providing more flexibility and functionality for deposited BNB collateral assets.
In November, Lista DAO released multiple major updates, successively launching the lisUSD pegged stability module (PSM), the minting conversion from slisBNB to clisBNB, and lisUSD meme fundraising features, maximizing the liquidity and returns of users' assets.
In December, Lista DAO launched a bribery market, which not only provides additional income and higher voting participation for veLISTA voters but also drives traffic and empowers governance for project parties, thereby strengthening community governance, transparency, and liquidity of Lista DAO as a whole.
From the initial stablecoin lending business to the current BNBFi ecosystem centered around slisBNB and clisBNB, Lista DAO's development path can be divided into three stages: phase 1.0 focuses on stablecoin business, phase 2.0 expands into liquid staking services, and now in phase 3.0, Lista DAO is committed to integrating the two core businesses, driven by slisBNB and clisBNB, to build the BNBFi ecosystem.
Lista DAO 1.0: Steadily advancing CDP business, becoming a blue-chip in the BNB ecosystem
Since the start of the election cycle, a number of blue-chip decentralized DeFi projects, led by AAVE and UNI, have initiated an upward trend, with the market generally expecting that Trump's upcoming administration will catalyze DeFi into the next golden age. Against this backdrop, the importance of the three core components of DeFi—stablecoins, AMMs, and lending protocols—has become increasingly prominent.
Being able to borrow against specific tokens is one of the most sought-after features in the crypto industry and is often a critical criterion for judging whether a project is a 'blue-chip' asset. This model is known as a Collateral Debt Position (CDP), allowing users to access leverage at low costs while enabling teams with abundant assets but insufficient liquidity to gain liquidity by using their treasury and held assets as collateral, thus supporting operational funds and earning interest on the collateral in the process.
In the BNB Chain ecosystem, ListaDAO utilizes the CDP system to create the stablecoin lisUSD, allowing users to obtain lisUSD using classic collateral such as BNB, ETH, slisBNB, wBETH, and BTCB.
On May 17, Lista DAO launched the Innovation Zone for collateral innovation, incorporating qualified LST and LRT into the collateral range for the first time, introducing new collateral assets such as weETH, ezETH, and STONE, unlocking more possibilities for user liquidity and capital efficiency. This not only meets users' demands for diversified asset management but also further enhances the platform's competitiveness in the lending market.
Currently, Lista DAO supports over ten types of collateral, with the total collateral value in the CDP system exceeding $550 million, covering mainstream and innovative assets. The total amount of lisUSD borrowed has reached $57 million, with a staking rate of 1046.11%.
On August 9, Lista DAO launched the AMO module (dynamic lending rate system), utilizing advanced algorithms to respond to market fluctuations by automatically adjusting interest rates, managing market supply and demand in a dynamic manner, enhancing platform liquidity and trading efficiency while maintaining the price stability of lisUSD.
Lista DAO 2.0: Anchoring with liquid staking to create a new business model of De-CeFi
From liquid staking to re-staking, maximizing capital efficiency has always been a persistent pursuit in the crypto field. In the new market cycle, the development path of DeFi is experiencing a transformation from the traditional core philosophy of decentralization to a new model combining decentralization and centralization, with a series of innovative applications emerging in the market, including institutional custody, treasury yields, and CeFi equity.
Backed by the Binance platform, Lista DAO is a native DeFi protocol in the BNB Chain ecosystem. After building the CDP system, it has created a core liquid staking business, allowing users to stake BNB in Lista DAO to obtain slisBNB, with the value of slisBNB dynamically increasing as the staking time extends and rewards accumulate. Currently, 1 slisBNB is approximately exchangeable for 1.0234 BNB.
As a native staking product of the BNB ecosystem, slisBNB also has multiple practical values. Within the Lista DAO ecosystem, users can use slisBNB as collateral to borrow lisUSD; additionally, slisBNB supports cross-platform circulation and has been launched on BNB China and the Ethereum mainnet, with plans to expand to more public chains in the future.
slisBNB has integrated with multiple DeFi protocols, allowing users not only to continue earning staking rewards but also to gain additional returns through DeFi protocols such as PancakeSwap and Thena Finance. For example, users can use slisBNB to participate in lending, liquidity provision, and mining activities on other DeFi platforms. Through integration with the staking layer Karak, slisBNB also supports re-staking, maximizing users' staking returns.
In July this year, Binance announced that DeFi BNB assets in the Binance Web3 wallet could be included in Launchpool reward calculations, with the first officially announced asset being slisBNB launched by Lista DAO. This way, the multiple returns of slisBNB will help attract more capital into the DeFi market.
As of now, the total value of BNB staked in Lista DAO has exceeded $389 million. Combined with Launchpool, liquid staking, and DeFi activities, the comprehensive annualized rate of return for BNB staking exceeds 32.83%, and users can also earn Lista DAO points, making it the liquid staking protocol with the largest amount of staked BNB in the BNB ecosystem.
Lista DAO 3.0: From slisBNB to clisBNB, a unique BNBFi ecosystem
Through the core products of stablecoin lisUSD and liquid staking token slisBNB, Lista DAO has undoubtedly become the liquidity center of the BNB Chain ecosystem. However, to further unlock the earning potential of BNB, Lista DAO has launched clisBNB, allowing users to enjoy lending returns while participating in on-chain new asset offerings.
clisBNB (Collateralized Lista BNB) is a token directly associated with collateral assets. When users deposit BNB into the CDP system of Lista DAO, they can receive clisBNB at a 1:1 ratio. clisBNB is non-transferable, and when users redeem the collateral assets, clisBNB will be automatically destroyed.
One major function of clisBNB is participation in Binance Launchpool activities. Suppose a user currently holds BNB; previously, if they wanted to obtain both on-chain and new asset returns, they could only do so by staking BNB to get slisBNB and then participate in Launchpool. However, now users can also choose to collateralize BNB while earning lisUSD returns and use clisBNB to participate in Launchpool.
Lista DAO also launched the minting feature from slisBNB to clisBNB, supporting the conversion of slisBNB to clisBNB at a ratio of 1:0.9709. This allows users to participate in Binance Launchpool while staking BNB. This innovation not only diversifies the earnings dimension of users' assets but also further unleashes the vitality of the BNB ecosystem.
clisBNB is a product of Lista DAO's robust layout in the stablecoin field during phase 1.0 and breakthroughs in liquid staking and capital efficiency during phase 2.0. In phase 3.0, Lista DAO further expands user participation dimensions, allowing users to choose based on their actual situation and return size, thereby releasing the liquidity of collateral assets in lending and providing more practicality and flexibility for on-chain BNB holders, maximizing the asset efficiency of BNB, an ecological construction never attempted by other public chain native tokens.
Conclusion
In the current popularity of DeFi projects like Pendle, Ethena, and Usual, DeFi is gradually evolving from its initial decentralized philosophy to a hybrid model combining decentralization and centralization, with DeCeFi becoming a new direction for innovative development. In this process, ListaDAO leverages its ecological position on the BNB Chain, starting with stablecoin business, and by introducing slisBNB and clisBNB, it successfully maximizes the efficiency of BNB assets through Binance Launchpool while enhancing the platform's security and liquidity.
Since the fourth quarter, Lista DAO has released product upgrades and updates across these three major areas to further improve the construction of the BNBFi ecosystem.
On November 21, Lista DAO adjusted the AMO module used to maintain the stability of lisUSD from fixed parameters (R0) to dynamic mode, enhancing the platform's adaptability to market changes. Meanwhile, the borrowing limit of lisUSD against collateralized BNB was raised to $50 million, and the total minting cap was increased to $60 million, further meeting users' liquidity needs.
In the past year, competition in the stablecoin market has intensified. How to enhance user stickiness while maintaining price stability has become a core issue every project faces. Lista has addressed this challenge through the introduction of the pegged stability module (PSM) and the lending savings rate (LSR), providing a solution that is closer to user needs. The launch of PSM allows seamless conversion between USDT and lisUSD, providing strong support for the price stability of lisUSD. Meanwhile, the LSR attracts more long-term participants by offering stable returns on user deposits, further enhancing the capital accumulation of the ecosystem.
Lista DAO has also adjusted the platform's minimum collateral ratio (MCR) and loan-to-value ratio (LTV) in its mechanism design. By lowering the MCR, users can participate in lending with a lower asset threshold; meanwhile, the increase in LTV allows users to borrow more funds against the same collateral assets. This series of adjustments significantly enhances users' capital utilization efficiency and attracts more users to join the platform's lending ecosystem, expanding market size.
The profit from this set of strategies implemented by ListaDAO is significant. By the end of December, its TVL reached a historic high of $983,813,645, with projects approaching the $1 billion TVL mark being rare in the BNB Chain ecosystem.
In addition to yield aspects, Lista DAO continues to explore governance. The automatic compounding feature launched in October provides users with a more convenient staking management method. Users' rewards can be automatically locked to veLISTA without manual operation, achieving automated accumulation of earnings. The bribery market launched in December not only brings additional earnings and higher voting participation for veLISTA voters but also drives traffic and empowers governance for project parties, overall strengthening community governance, transparency, and liquidity of Lista DAO.
Behind the technological innovations, Lista DAO has not overlooked the importance of community. While introducing new features, Lista has also engaged with users through fundraising via meme modes and a newly designed user interface, making complex financial tools easier to understand and use, in line with its mission of 'Making DeFi Easier'.
In 2025, Lista DAO's goals are clearer. On the one hand, it aims to consolidate its core position in the BNB Chain ecosystem, while also exploring more possibilities for combining RWA assets with CeFi+DeFi. From stablecoins to cross-platform liquidity, from yield innovation to user experience upgrades, Lista DAO is redefining the boundaries of DeFi in its unique way. Lista 3.0 is not just a new starting point but also the core driving force for future growth.
