Etherlink Ecosystem Expands to integrate with KuCoin and record over 60M TVL
The Etherlink ecosystem has grown even more with the introduction of XTZ deposits and withdrawals on the network by KuCoin. This integration is strategic and contributes to pushing efforts like Apple Farm Season 2 that have enabled it to push total value locked (TVL) to an all-time high.
KuCoin supports the Etherlink-native XTZ transfer, which provides the user with direct access to the ecosystem. By selecting Etherlink network under Assets > Funding Account > Deposit, users have simple access to the sub 500ms confirmations and near-zero transaction fee of Etherlink and platform operations are executed much quicker, at a lower cost.
The Force of Incentives and Protocol Development
The KuCoin listing is based on the continued momentum of Etherlink, the success of Apple Farm Season 2 and several integration events within DeFi, gaming, and tokenized assets. The incentive program of Apple Farm has received a new set of protocols in Season 2 which has propelled the record TVL of $60M as of September 5.
Apple Farm rewards are to be maximized by the participants until mid-November when the season comes to an end. Recent launches are stXTZ liquid staking by Stacy.fi, which offers users access to a that can be used in DeFi both on L1 and L2 and yet still earn staking yield.
DeFi Growth With Professional Protocols
Gearbox Protocol, a USDC vault launched by Re7 Labs and with Midas RWA assets in the background to drive institutional-scale yield strategies with over $400M of DeFi activity, have also been welcomed to the ecosystem. Simultaneously Curve added Etherlink, to facilitate stablecoin, pegged asset and cross-currency trading pairs.
These new DeFi ecosystem of Etherlink, featuring services like OKU, Uranium.io, Superlend, Hanji, and Jumper platform, which make the network a dynamic liquidity, lending and trading strategy hub.
Infrastructure and Developer Tools
Etherlink keeps on improving its infrastructure. Temple Wallet 2.0 has gone live with complete EVM support and users can now manage assets on all Etherlink, ETH, Polygon, BSC, and Tezos .
New toolkits such as Thirdweb (smart contract templates), Sequence (wallet onboarding), RedStone (custom data feeds), Goldsky (blockchain indexing) and Ankr (distributed RPC services) are also useful to developers. These resources combined provide the builders with an infrastructure that is ready to production to launch projects quick.
Increase Ecosystem activity
In addition to DeFi, Etherlink is experiencing development at a tremendous rate in gaming, tokenization, and community projects. New games are the Pikes Arena, a battle royale of PvP, and a Cricket Champions, a card battle game themed on cricket. Support of tokenized uranium custody through xU3O8 has been implemented by Hex Trust and the Summer of Code hackathon ended with approximately 100 development submissions.
Additional visibility is being provided by GeckoTerminal which has integrated Oku Trade to provide better DeFi tracking but Etherlink has also been engaging their community on both Bluesky and Farcaster.
