CURL's Mainnet to Offer Double CURL Premiums
CURL, the synthetics protocol aiming to address liquidity fragmentation across L2 networks, has recently announced the launch of its incentivized testnet in Milkomeda, the primary sidechain of Cardano. This testnet period allows users to familiarize themselves with the platform and also presents an opportunity to qualify for a substantial CURL boost.
Once the testnet phase concludes, the mainnet release will follow in a few weeks. During the mainnet phase, users who provided liquidity to the pools will receive double the CURL premiums they would normally receive. During the first 12 months of protocol deployment, users who have participated in the testnet will be whitelisted to enjoy a 2x boost on the CURL premiums they receive. A step-by-step guide on how to take part in the testnet can be found in this Medium article.
CURL aims to solve the problem of liquidity fragmentation by aggregating synthetics with the same underlying assets. For example, different synthetic versions of USDT, such as madUSDT, celUSDT, and sUSDT, can be aggregated into curlUSDT, which can be exchanged one-for-one with any of its components.
CURL is a dual token DAO, with the $CURL governance token, and $hX universal synthetic token taking center stage. The governance token of the CURL ecosystem is $CURL, which plays a crucial role in the protocol. Holders of $CURL have the opportunity to participate in DAO votes that determine critical aspects of the protocol, including the relative weights of underlying base assets in any given pool.
$hX is a unique synthetic asset specific to each pool. It is issued at a 1:1 ratio when users provide liquidity in base assets. The $hX synthetic represents a weighted exposure to the underlying base assets in the chosen pool.
A notable advantage of CURL's innovative structure is the ability for users to provide liquidity to "Sigma pools". These pools consist of a basket of base assets, and in return, liquidity providers receive both the $hX universal synthetic token at a 1:1 ratio and earn $CURL as LP (liquidity provider) rewards. This dual reward mechanism provides users with additional incentives for participating in the liquidity provision process.
While the release of CURL in the testnet and subsequent mainnet are on the horizon, the team is actively working on Liquid Staked Derivatives, a significant feature of CURL v2. This update will enable liquidity aggregation for yield-bearing assets, allowing users to benefit from various yield accumulation mechanisms. CURL will integrate different oracles to automate the deposit and redemption of yield-bearing assets in the basket. The resulting basket can be transported to Layer 2 solutions like Arbitrum, Optimism, and zkSync, partially addressing the liquidity fragmentation issue observed across these chains.
