By Trustless Labs
Bottleneck of crypto market development: How to break through the user threshold?
In the current blockchain and cryptocurrency market, decentralized technology has spawned many powerful new products. However, the user coverage of these products is limited to a small number of people who have a deep understanding and experience in the industry. The main reason for this is that users need to master a lot of new knowledge, such as wallets, cross-chain bridges, and miner fees, which undoubtedly sets a high threshold for ordinary users.
Currently, centralized exchanges serve as a "temporary" solution for users who want to get in on the action but haven't yet learned how to use cryptocurrencies. However, centralized exchanges have a significant drawback: they cannot fully leverage the powerful network effects of decentralized ecosystems and open networks. The products that centralized entities can offer are always only a subset of the products available on-chain. Permissionless protocols can enable new types of memecoins, lending pools, derivatives, etc. to be put into use faster than any centralized server, and this effect continues to grow as the network grows.
Infinex: A DAPP Breakthrough
Currently, poor user experience (UX) is a key obstacle to achieving the vision of large-scale application of blockchain technology. Although the current decentralized products and services are powerful, they have a high barrier to entry, resulting in a huge gap between users and products. Many people are reluctant to cross this gap, and Infinex attempts to help users enter the decentralized world more easily by simplifying the user experience.
Infinex, a comprehensive DeFi platform created by Synthetix founder Kain Warwick, is committed to unifying decentralized ecosystems and applications under a single user experience layer designed for users familiar with Web2.
Infinex's solution is not only to provide a simplified user interface, but also to integrate different decentralized ecosystems and applications through a unified user experience layer. By using Infinex's convenient front end, users will be able to enjoy the advantages of decentralized products without having to deeply understand the complex blockchain technology. Doing so will not only make it easier for users to access various decentralized services, but also make full use of the powerful effect of decentralized networks, continuously attract more developers and users to join the decentralized ecosystem, promote the rapid emergence of more innovative products, further promote the development of the entire industry, and accelerate the mainstream adoption of blockchain technology.
Current data
On May 13, Infinex officially opened account creation and deposit channels, and announced that it would distribute 377 million governance points GP to all deposit users in the next 30 days.
Currently, the total locked value of Infinex in Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, Solana, Optimism, Polygon and other networks has exceeded 110 million US dollars. This milestone marks the initial success of Infinex and lays a solid foundation for its future development.
Main innovations and breakthroughs
Infinex's innovations and breakthroughs are mainly reflected in the following aspects:
Improve user experience
The launch of Infinex aims to improve the user experience by simplifying user operations. Infinex adopts the referral link and transaction fee rebate mechanism commonly used by centralized exchanges, and generates a public-private key pair for each user, which is stored in the browser and automatically signed when trading. These improvements make it more convenient for users to operate without the need for cumbersome on-chain operations, thereby lowering the entry threshold. For example, Infinex generates a unique deposit address for each user, and users can use USDT, USDC or sUSD to make deposits. The funds are transparent and traceable, ensuring security.
Enhance liquidity and market attractiveness
Infinex plans to provide more efficient perpetual contract trading services by integrating with Synthetix Perps V3. Infinex not only supports multiple collaterals, but also improves capital efficiency and reduces the risk of liquidity providers by using stablecoins such as USDC. For example, using USDC as collateral can enable liquidity providers to obtain an annualized return of 13.6% at a collateral ratio of 110%, while SNX can only obtain an annualized return of 3% at a collateral ratio of 500%.
Cross-chain expansion
Infinex supports multi-chain operations, and users can trade on multiple chains such as Ethereum, Optimism, Base, etc. This will expand the user base and bring in more trading volume and revenue.
Enhance market competitiveness
Infinex was launched to compete directly with centralized exchanges. By providing a user experience similar to that of centralized exchanges, Infinex hopes to attract more users to switch from CEX to DEX. In addition, Infinex's seamless experience layer design further bridges the experience gap between CeFi and DeFi and promotes the popularity of DeFi. For example, the highlights of the features included in Infinex include logging in with username and password, multi-factor authentication, and cross-chain deposits, which make users feel like they are using a centralized trading platform, but the backend is supported by decentralized and permissionless liquidity.
Analyzing Infinex’s governance mechanism: What are GP and Patron NFT?
As a typical decentralized application, Infinex has built a community-centric governance framework, in which Governance Points (GP) and Patron NFT play a key role in ensuring the transparency of the protocol, the effectiveness of the incentive mechanism, and the fairness of fund management.
What are GPs (Governance Points)?
GP is a governance point used to reward and incentivize community members in the Infinex ecosystem. Community members can obtain GP through various channels, such as participating in GP Farming, being active on community platforms such as Discord and Twitter, participating in governance conference calls, holding designated NFTs (must register an Infinex account and top up at least 50USDC), and submitting and passing proposals. GP plays the following roles in the Infinex governance framework:
Participation in governance: GP holders have the right to participate in Infinex governance voting, including the approval and execution of various proposals. This mechanism ensures that community members have a say in the future development of the protocol.
Redemption Rewards: GP can be used to redeem Patron NFTs, which not only enhances the holder’s status and influence in the community, but also obtains certain rewards and recognition.
Community Incentives: By allocating GP to reward members who actively participate in community activities, Infinex encourages more users to participate and contribute, promoting the healthy development of the ecosystem.
GP Current Allocation
What are Patron NFTs?
Patron NFT is a non-fungible token that represents the identity of a contributor in Infinex. Each Patron NFT can be obtained by burning 200,000 GP, and the minting fees will be allocated to the Infinex Treasury to pay for operating expenses, growth and market incentives, and contributor alignment. This design is intended to recognize members who have made significant contributions to the Infinex ecosystem. The role of Patron NFT in the Infinex governance framework includes:
Symbolizes Contributor Status: Users holding Patron NFTs are considered sponsors of Infinex, and this recognition helps enhance their reputation and influence in the community.
Participation Incentive Program: Patron NFTs can be used as incentives to reward members who make non-financial contributions to the Infinex protocol, further promoting active community participation.
Participation in governance: Although Patron NFT itself does not confer direct governance rights, its holders have a high reputation in the community, and this influence can indirectly affect community decision-making and governance.
Through GP and Patron NFTs, Infinex has built a decentralized, transparent and effective governance framework that encourages community members to actively participate and contribute to the development of the ecosystem.
New airdrop opportunities? ——Infinex "Speedrun the Waitlist"
Infinex launched the Whitelist Speedrun event (Speedrun the Waitlist) at 00:00 UTC on May 13. Here is a summary of the event:
Create an account and deposit:
Starting at 00:00 UTC on May 13, anyone can create an Infinex account and deposit USDC.
Governance Points (GP):
During the 30-day “Speedrun the Waitlist” event, stakers will receive 377 million GP, a portion of the Patron NFT supply, and priority access to future integrations.
Infinex officially promised that the total supply of GP is limited to 600 million (changed to 630 million in the subsequent XIP-26 proposal) and will not become a "points scam."
GP is mainly used to govern Infinex, and the Infinex Committee has allocated 3,000 Patron NFTs to GP holders, with one NFT redeemable for every 200,000 GP.
Event Details:
The campaign starts at 00:00 UTC on May 14 (24 hours after the account is opened for deposit).
Deposits will be locked during the promotion period.
Early deposits will receive more GP.
377 million GP will be linearly distributed to stakers in proportion to the total TVL (total locked value).
GP: Real economic returns?
So, can GP bring potential benefits to retail investors?
First of all, GP is an important review standard for the "entry ticket" to the official version of Infinex. According to official disclosure, Infinex has received more than 200,000 whitelist applications for access qualifications after its official release, so it is necessary to use the GP points system to screen and decide which users can be the first to obtain experience qualifications when Infinex releases the first integrated function.
Secondly, will Infinex follow the example of various popular Points-Fi projects in the current market and launch GP-related points exchange or airdrop rewards?
It is worth noting that Infinex mentioned in an article published in September 2023 that "Infinex's interests will be aligned with Synthetix, so Infinex will not launch its own tokens", and "a large part of governance rights will be allocated to Synthetix stakers."
However, in Infinex's community governance, the proposal XIP-19 submitted in February 2024 involving the allocation of more GPs to SNX stakers was rejected, which may to some extent reflect the direction adjustment of the Infinex community.
In addition, Infinex's current development and coverage have surpassed its early positioning as "a new front-end application launched by Synthetix to optimize user experience" and is growing stronger in the broader Web3 multi-chain ecosystem beyond Synthetix.
It is worth thinking about that, in Infinex’s governance framework, it can be seen that GP is the core part of its incentives. So if Infinex does not issue coins, how can the points eventually be implemented as real economic returns in the hands of users?
Currently, Infinex is constantly improving and updating the supply and allocation of GP. At the same time, it continues to stimulate users' imagination and expectations about the ever-expanding GP by opening up a wider range of channels and carrying out more abundant point incentive activities. However, after accumulating GP, what next?
Whether it is launching its own governance token or taking on the expectations of GP for users through other economic incentives, Infinex has yet to submit a more complete and reasonable answer to users. Therefore, the actual value and potential of GP need to be further verified.
in conclusion
The launch of Infinex aims to solve the bottlenecks of various decentralized applications in the current crypto market by improving user experience, enhancing liquidity and market appeal, achieving cross-chain expansion, and enhancing market competitiveness. Infinex has demonstrated its innovation and breakthrough by simplifying user operations, introducing multiple collateral and stablecoins, supporting multi-chain operations, and providing a user experience similar to that of centralized exchanges.
However, the success of Infinex also needs to verify the effectiveness of its governance mechanism and incentives, especially the actual economic returns of Governance Points (GP) and Patron NFT. Although the GP points system provides users with the opportunity to participate in governance and obtain rewards, its actual value and potential still need further observation and verification. Whether Infinex can submit a complete and reasonable answer to users will determine its long-term competitiveness and development prospects in the field of decentralized finance.
