Research Rundown: Unpacking the Sei Ecosystem

In a rush? Here's the skinny:

• Find out the 5 hottest airdrops on EigenLayer.

• State of the market - SEI.

• Stay alert about upcoming token unlocks with Token Unlocks.

1️⃣ Top 5 Degen EigenLayer Airdrop Opportunities

Currently, the hottest narrative in DeFi is EigenLayer’s restaking protocol. More than a billion dollars in staked ETH has been allocated to Eigenlayer's contract, driven by the anticipation of earning points that could result in an airdrop.

Here are some protocols to boost your points with EigenLayer and get multiple airdrops. 👇

Puffer

Puffer Finance is an Ethereum liquid staging protocol, backed by Binance.

Airdrop steps

• Visit Puffer and connect your wallet to the platform.

• Deposit ETH or stETH/wstETH to get pufETH. 

• Restake your pufETH on EigenLayer and begin accumulating EigenLayer points.

Join the Puffer airdrop.

Swell Network

Swell, crafted by Swell Labs, is an innovative liquid staking protocol aimed at broadening DeFi engagement. By staking ETH, users are awarded $swETH, a yield-generating token. 

Airdrop steps

• Head over to Swell and connect your wallet.

• Stake ETH to begin accruing a bonus of 30 Pearls for each $swETH. No minimum staking amount is required. 

• Now, restake your generated $swETH with EigenLayer to obtain an additional bonus of 30 Pearls plus EigenLayer Points. 

• Enhance your rewards by inviting friends to stake with Swell, earning an extra 10 Pearls for every swETH minted by them.

• Pearls are set to be exchangeable for $SWELL tokens at the TGE, which is anticipated in Q1 2024.

Join the Swell airdrop.

Ether.Fi

The collaboration between the Eigenlayer Airdrop and Ether.Fi allows users to earn an extra 3 million points through strategic staking.

Airdrop steps

• Visit Ether.Fi and connect your wallet to the platform.

• Stake your ETH. After staking, you will be credited with eETH, representing your staked Ethereum. You will also earn loyalty points.

• Restake your eETH on EigenLayer and begin accumulating EigenLayer points.

Join the Ether.Fi airdrop.

ClayStack

ClayStack has garnered support from leading venture capital firms, including Coinbase, CoinFund, ParaFi, Hashed, and Animoca. ClayStack places a strong emphasis on security and decentralization, incorporating Dual Voting Technology (DVT), Validated File Proofs (VFP), and other mechanisms to ensure a robust and secure platform. The platform has been thoroughly audited, underscoring its commitment to maintaining high-security standards for its users. Currently, it is one of the most underutilized farms on EigenLayer, offering significant upside opportunities.

5% of ClayStack's total supply is allocated for the Season 1 airdrop.

Airdrop steps

• Head over to ClayStack and connect your wallet.

• Stake your ETH. By staking your ETH you generate csETH and begin earning $CLAY points.

• The $CLAY points are convertible on a 1:1 basis to $CLAY tokens at the TGE. 

• Restake csETH on EigenLayer to earn EigenLayer points.

Join the ClayStack airdrop.

Kelp

Kelp DAO, spearheaded by Amitej G and Dheeraj B from Stader Labs, has garnered considerable traction in the space.

Airdrop steps

• Visit Kelp and connect your wallet to the platform.

• Stake your ETH. After staking, you will be credited with rsETH, representing your staked Ethereum. 

• Restake on EigenLayer and begin accumulating EigenLayer points.

Join the Kelp airdrop.

Liquid staking was a hot narrative in 2023 and will continue to be hot as we move into 2024. The best part about these strategies is that you simply reuse your existing liquidity and maximize your profits. In this case, you use existing liquidity to earn airdrop points for multiple drops simultaneously. 

2️⃣ State of the Market – SEI

Sei went live in mid-August 2023. Backed by Jump Crypto and Multicoin Capital, Sei had a tremendous amount of hype prior to its launch. Since then, the price has shot up from $0.175 to $0.64, reaching an all-time high of $0.8779 on January 3, 2024.

What sets it apart?

The market is already flooded with L1s. Sei Network distinguishes itself in the crowded field by optimizing the trading experience and introducing several innovative features to enhance scalability, speed, and security for crypto traders.

• Sei has a native order matching engine and other innovations like native price oracles, transaction order bundling, and flexible trading fees to further streamline the trading process. 

• It uses a Twin-Turbo consensus mechanism, which combines Intelligent Block Propagation and Optimistic Block Processing to improve block propagation and transaction processing speeds. 

Ecosystem growth

First, let’s look at the number of users.

So far, Sei has had 926,900 total users. This past week, Sei had 171,300 users. Since December 1, 2023, the number of users on Sei has steadily increased. 

Most of these users hold 10-100 SEI. There are 10 addresses that hold more than 50,000 SEI.

Next up, we have the weekly transactions.

As per charts, the total number of transactions on Sei has crossed 1 billion.

Meanwhile, the average transaction fee stands at 0.0022 SEI or ~$0.001.

Finally, let’s look at the TPS.

The average TPS for Sei is around 45. That’s 3X the TPS of Ethereum.

Sei DeFi ecosystem

The current total value locked (TVL) in Sei is around $10.57M. This TVL peaked at $12.93M on January 30, 2024. Since the end of 2023, the TVL in SEI has jumped by over 222%.

Here are the top 5 DeFi protocols on Sei. As you can see, Astroport is by far the most popular app. Kryptonite and SiloStake – both liquid staking protocols – round off the top 3. Incidentally, these are the only apps with more than a million dollars in TVL.

$SEI token distribution

Currently, only 22% of the total tokens have been unlocked.

When it comes to token allocations – 48% is allocated to the Ecosystem Reserve, 20% to the Private Sale investors, 20% to the team, 9% to the Foundation, and 3% to the Binance Launchpad.

Read more about SEI

• @whammerguygaren on Sei ecosystem.

• @namedalamien on sei sustainability

• @JoshOnSei on what makes Sei stand out.

3️⃣ M6 Labs Research: Bitcoin Weekly

The market continues to trade in a range, but selling pressure is decreasing. There are also numerous developments within the Bitcoin ecosystem.

Read more in our weekly report.

4️⃣ Good Tools – Token Unlocks

Token Unocks is one of the best token analytics dashboards, dedicated to tracking vested tokens and alerting users about upcoming unlock events. With its comprehensive repository of tokenomics information, Token Unlocks ensures users have all the necessary insights for informed decision-making, positioning itself as an indispensable tool in the digital asset space.

They have recently launched their annual report for 2023. Check it out here.

The future of crypto and blockchain technology is marked by significant growth. The industry is poised to attract a broader audience with the bull market around the horizon. As such, the best thing you can do is gain as much knowledge as possible about crypto.

Stay tuned for next week's Research Roundup.

Thanks for reading ❤️