· “Road to a Billion” goal completed
· Restsaking & EigenLayer
Kelp DAO Overview
$KEP Introduction
$KELP (governance token) planning
Kelp DAO Advantages
Exchange expectations
Kelp DAO future plans
Web3 is developing rapidly, and new narratives are emerging one after another. The development of the DeFi track is also diverse, with various forms of innovation emerging, constantly pushing the development of blockchain finance to new heights. With the approval of the Ethereum spot ETF and EigenLayer’s announcement of the upcoming launch of governance tokens, among all these advances, there is a story that opens the door to Ethereum’s next major DeFi sector - Liquid Restaking.
Today we are going to talk about Kelp DAO, a new Restaking platform with a TVL of over 1 billion USD and a token that is about to be launched (as expected by top players).
“Road to a Billion” Goal Completed
Kelp DAO launched the "Road to Billions" campaign in early April to distribute 5 million EigenLayer Points to users. This is not only an event but also a goal. As of press time, Kelp DAO TVL (Total Value Locked) has reached 1.007 billion US dollars, ranking fourth.
The achievement of Kelp DAO's one billion goal not only marks an important milestone in the development of Kelp DAO, but also reflects its strong market appeal and user trust. Justin Sun also participated in Kelp's pledge. In addition to the significant increase in TVL rankings on the track, the number of users has also grown significantly, and it currently supports re-staking activities for more than 40 projects on 9 L2 chains.
These include Arbitrum, Optimism, Blast, Zksync, Scroll, etc.
After a series of achievements, the launch date of Kelp token is approaching, and Kelp DAO has ushered in new development opportunities and challenges. In this article, we will explore in detail the achievements, advantages, market expectations, and future plans of Kelp DAO.
Before talking about Kelp DAO, we need to briefly understand Restsaking & EigenLayer
Restsaking & EigenLayer
What is Restaking?
Re-staking allows Ethereum stakers to provide their already staked ETH as financial collateral to a variety of other service providers and earn returns, which is what we often call killing two birds with one stone.
What is EigenLayer?
EigenLayer is an Ethereum-based protocol that introduces the concept of re-staking, allowing Ethereum nodes to re-stake their staked ETH or LSD tokens into other protocols or services that require security and trust, thereby obtaining double benefits and governance rights.
Kelp DAO Overview
What is Kelp DAO?
Kelp DAO was founded by Amitej G and Dheeraj B, who previously founded Stader Labs.
Kelp DAO is a liquidity staking platform. It focuses on creating a Liquidity Recovery Solution (LRS) for public blockchain networks. rsETH is the Liquidity Recovery Token (LRT) launched by Kelp DAO, which aims to provide liquidity for illiquid assets in platforms such as EigenLayer. The way it works is that it allows users to stake their LST to mint rsETH tokens, which symbolize fractional ownership of the underlying asset. Rewards for various services are accumulated into the rsETH contract, and users can utilize their rsETH tokens in DeFi or exchange them for instant liquidity or redeem the underlying asset. Kelp DAO does not charge fees for LST deposits and allows free deposits of ETHx, sfrxETH, and stETH on its dApp.
What is rsETH?
rsETH is a Liquid Re-Pledge Token (LRT) issued by Kelp DAO, which aims to provide liquidity for illiquid assets deposited in re-pledge platforms such as EigenLayer. It aims to address the risks and challenges brought by current re-pledge products.
Financing
On May 22, 2024, the liquidity re-pledge platform Kelp DAO announced the completion of a $9 million private placement financing, led by Bahamas-based proprietary trading company SCB Limited and Nomura Group's digital asset subsidiary Laser Digital, with a total investment of $3.5 million. Other investors include Bankless Ventures, Hypersphere, Draper Dragon, DACM, Cypher Capital, ArkStream, Cluster Capital, GSR, Longhash, Side Door Ventures, NOIA Capital, HTX Ventures, Avid3, ViaBTC Capital, DWF Ventures, Coinseeker and Web3port.
way of participation
1️⃣ Go to the official website https://kelpdao.xyz/ and link your wallet
2️⃣ Switch network, support 10 blockchain networks including eth mainnet, op, arb, base, etc.
3️⃣ Select the assets to be deposited. Currently, the eth mainnet supports depositing ETHx, ETH, stERTH, and sfrxETH. Depositing these assets can earn you EL Points and Kelp Miles at the same time.
4️⃣ Select the asset to be pledged, click Restake Now, confirm with your wallet, and complete the pledge. 5️⃣ You can see the KELP points you have earned on the dashboard page, which can be exchanged for $KEP tokens in the future.
$KEP Introduction
An important driver of re-staking growth is the EigenLayer points that users earn after re-staking their assets to EigenLayer. However, the challenge with EL points is that they are still illiquid and users cannot use the points they earn anywhere.
To alleviate this situation, Kelp launched $KEP (Kelp Earned Points Token) to bring liquidity to the illiquid EigenLayer points/rewards. Users can now transfer and trade their earned points, and also use $KEP to participate in DeFi. In short, all EigenLayer points earned by the Kelp DAO are distributed proportionally to rsETH holders in the form of $KEP tokens.
$KEP Token
$KEP (Kelp Earned Points) aims to change the re-staking landscape. It is a token representation of EigenLayer points earned by Kelp, where 1 $KEP = 1 EL point. Users can store, share, and use their accumulated EigenLayer points with full autonomy. Tips: $KEP is not a Kelp DAO governance token.
Advantages of $KEP
$KEP is an ERC-20 token. This means it can be freely transferred and traded, making EigenLayer Points and other potential re-staking rewards highly liquid.
Get $KEP
Users who earn EigenLayer points through Kelp are eligible to receive $KEP tokens, including users who hold rsETH or rsETH DeFi positions.
Kelp will charge a 0.5% fee on claimed $KEP tokens to enable DeFi operations. This fee will be used to incentivize re-holders of the Kelp DAO.
Unclaimed $KEP
It is totally fine to not claim $KEP tokens. Unclaimed $KEP tokens will go to reclaimers who did not claim $KEP when EigenLayer or other protocol rewards were distributed.
$KEP Future Rewards
For any rewards issued by EigenLayer or other protocols for EigenLayer Points, $KEP holders will receive rewards in proportion to the EigenLayer Points represented by their $KEP token holdings.
$KELP (governance token) planning
The Kelp DAO governance token will be a very important part of the Kelp roadmap, and it has multiple uses. As we all know, one of the biggest risks in the restaking ecosystem is the potential slashing risk caused by EigenLayer, and we have designed a mechanism so that the Kelp governance token can serve as insurance for any slashing events.
First, any KELP holder can stake KELP, and these staked KELP will serve as insurance for any future slashing events. The benefit of users staking KELP tokens is that part of the Kelp DAO's revenue will be distributed to users as staking rewards, which is the first and largest use of Kelp tokens.
The second major use is governance, any Kelp token holder can participate in proposals such as validator exits, selection criteria, AVS selection criteria, fee changes, and any important protocol decisions will be decided by Kelp governance token holders.
The third important use is that users who provide liquidity to the AMM secondary market will be eligible for additional KELP rewards or incentives. Therefore, Kelp tokens will become an important part of the Kelp ecosystem.
Kelp DAO Advantages
The advantages of Kelp DAO are mainly reflected in the following three aspects:
1. Full set of LRT re-staking platforms: Kelp DAO accepts various LSTs (such as Lido, Stader Labs, Frax, etc.) as well as native ETH. This means that there are about $30 billion to $40 billion of ETH that can participate in Kelp DAO without canceling the pledge. This greatly increases the potential user base of Kelp DAO.
2. Multi-chain support and seamless re-staking: Kelp DAO runs live on 10 L2 chains, including Arbitrum, Optimism, Blast, and Scroll. Users of these L2 chains can re-stake natively on Kelp DAO, not just Ethereum, and will soon be able to re-stake stETH directly from these L2s without any slippage or gas fees.
3. Kelp's liquidity re-staking provides many benefits: including the elimination of the lock-up period for re-staking tokens. Users can seamlessly manage multiple re-staking rewards and benefit from whitelist services and validator networks. With rsETH, users can enjoy a single liquidity token for all accepted Ethereum Liquidity Staking Tokens (LST), designed for optimal liquidity and DeFi composability.
Exchange expectations
Compared to Renzo and Ethfi, which have already been listed on Binance, Kelp DAO is currently considered to be undervalued, and it faces much less competitive pressure than Puffer. Therefore, Kelp DAO's profit potential may be higher. It is expected that Kelp DAO will complete TGE (token listing) in Q3, and plans to reserve a large number of Kelp tokens for the community and airdrops, and it is also possible to be listed on Binance in the future.
Kelp DAO is listed in the list of important TGE projects in the third quarter (expected by Binance) compiled by the Web3 asset data platform RootData.
Kelp DAO Future Plan
In an interview, Amitej Gajjala, founder of Kelp DAO, expressed his views on the future planning and macro trends of the project. He said:
The Impact of Ethereum Spot ETF
Amitej believes that although the currently approved Ethereum spot ETFs do not adopt a staking mechanism, as the spot ETF ecosystem matures, staking will be gradually implemented in the future. This will have a positive impact on the ETH ecosystem.
Strategies for dealing with the regulatory environment
In response to the changing regulatory environment, Kelp DAO has adopted the following strategies:
Legal Consulting: Work with lawyers and consultants in multiple countries to get professional guidance.
Regulatory monitoring: Pay close attention to the development of regulatory policies and adjust strategies and operations in a timely manner to ensure compliance.
Plans for multi-chain re-staking services
Kelp DAO is building a multi-chain re-staking service and is currently undergoing multiple phases of testing and auditing. In the coming weeks, Kelp DAO will share more details and specific timelines. Amitej emphasized that Kelp DAO is not just a single re-staking platform, but hopes to build a complete ecosystem that supports a wide range of applications and collaboration.
Conclusion
Kelp DAO is welcoming new development opportunities after achieving the goal of "Road to Billion". Through its unique full set of LRT re-staking platform, multi-chain support and seamless re-staking services, Kelp DAO has occupied a unique position in the market. In the future, as tokens are launched and more projects are promoted, can Kelp DAO continue to lead the development of the re-staking ecosystem and bring more innovations and opportunities to users and partners? Welcome to discuss in the comment area
Project Information
Official website: https://kelpdao.xyz/
Gitbook：gitbook.io/kelp
X：https://x.com/KelpDAO
