Review of Star Projects from Previous Solana Hackathons: StepN, Slope, Raydius, etc
On February 8th, Solana launched the third Solana Riptide Hackathon with several leading crypto projects and institutions.Author: x06390
Looking back at 2021, the most striking developments in the blockchain world were the rise of new public chains like Avalanche, Fantom, and BSC, with Solana standing out among them.
The Solana ecosystem and its applications experienced explosive growth in 2021, largely due to Solana's emphasis on global hackathons. On February 8, Solana launched the third Solana Riptide Hackathon in collaboration with several leading crypto projects and capital. Prior to this, Solana had already hosted two hackathons, where many emerging projects began to shine and gain recognition. Below is a review of past star projects:
1. StepN (formerly Find Satoshi)
StepN is the world's first Web3 native game and lifestyle application that integrates GameFi and SocialFi elements, supported by the Solana blockchain. Players earn tokens by walking, jogging, or running outdoors while wearing NFT sneakers. It combines blockchain gaming with real-life mobile activities, aiming to encourage millions to adopt healthier, low-carbon lifestyles and bring them into the Web 3 world while making a positive contribution to carbon neutrality.
StepN was developed by the Find Satoshi Lab team, embedding an on-chain gaming system based on players' movement data, which translates into Token and NFT rewards. Additionally, STEPN achieved fourth place in the GameFi section of the Solana hackathon. StepN is currently available for download on the iOS and Android app stores.
Official website: https://stepn.com/
Participated in hackathon: Solana Ignition Hackathon
Funding: Sequoia India, Folius Ventures, Solana Ventures, Alameda Research, etc.
Related report: 《Understanding Binance Launchpad's Latest Project STEPN》
Slope is a community-driven full-stack platform built on the Solana blockchain. Currently, Slope primarily provides users with a cross-platform digital wallet that can be used for Solana Pay, protocol governance and interaction, NFT management, and more.
Launched in September this year, Slope reported that as of last month, the wallet had been downloaded 1 million times, with 850,000 monthly active users across the Apple App Store, Google Play, and its Chrome extension.
Official website: https://slope.finance/#/
Participated in hackathon: Solana Season Hackathon
Funding: Jump Crypto, Sequoia China, Solana Ventures, Alameda Research, Circle Ventures, CMS Holdings, etc.
Related report: 《Solana Wallet Slope Finance Raises $8M》
3. Raydius
Raydius aims to be a middleware product that supports cross-chain transactions while aggregating liquidity for different applications. With Raydius's technology, developers can easily connect to extended solutions and applications based on their needs.
Raydius plans to better link assets through a bridging aggregator product. Through Raydius's bridging aggregator, users can freely choose different applications and supported assets as well as the best rates. Additionally, Raydius will provide a comprehensive application programming interface (API) to connect top liquidity products across different blockchains.
Official website: http://www.raydius-research.com/#/
Participated in hackathon: Solana Season Hackathon
Funding: Binance Labs, Avator, Waterdrip Capital, YBB, etc.
4. Solend
Solend is a decentralized lending protocol based on Solana, allowing any user to earn interest or obtain loans secured by their assets on Solana, as well as establish long/short leverage and stake LP, launched its mainnet in August 2021.
Currently, Solend has a total locked value of approximately $630 million, ranking fourth among all applications on Solana. Most of the project's TVL is located in a global main pool and a series of small isolated pools to reduce risk.
Official website: https://solend.fi/
Funding: Polychain, Dragonfly, Race, Coinbase Ventures, Solana Ventures, Alameda Research, etc.
5. 1SOL
1Sol is a cross-chain DEX/DeFi aggregator dedicated to becoming an indispensable trading portal in the Solana ecosystem, providing users with a seamless, efficient, and secure trading experience. Users can obtain complete and timely quotes, slippage, various DEX trading fees, and more information on this cross-chain aggregator for the most cost-effective trades.
Official website: https://1sol.io/
Funding: Multicoin Capital, Foundation Capital, SLOW Capital, etc.
Related report: 《1SOL: Solutions for a New World of DeFi》
6. Apricot
Apricot is a decentralized lending protocol built on Solana that maximizes returns through cross-margin leveraged yield farming while covering users' adverse factors with an automatic self-deleveraging mechanism. Leveraging the speed advantage of the Solana public chain, the project can offer lenders the lowest over-collateralization requirements and the lowest liquidation penalties, while using an emergency liquidation mechanism to ensure that platform bad debts can be liquidated within 2 hours.
The project plans to introduce the concept of asset securitization from traditional finance to help Apricot manage the collateral collected through the emergency liquidation mechanism on the platform and provide a sustainable solution for handling bad debts on the platform. In the future, it will also integrate margin trading, flash loans, fixed-rate loans, and low/no-collateral loans to meet various borrowing needs of users.
Official website: https://apricot.one/
Funding: Delphi Ventures, CMS Holdings, NGC Ventures, Solana Capital, etc.
Related report: 《Solana's Apricot Finance Raises $4M in 'Party' Funding Round》
7. Larix
Larix is the lending portal of the Solana public chain, dedicated to serving asset holders across the entire Solana ecosystem, providing efficient and secure crypto asset lending services. In terms of product form, Larix adopts a dynamic interest rate model to create risk management pools with higher capital efficiency, allowing users to choose a wider variety of collateral types.
While providing users with considerable returns and liquidity, Larix will also closely collaborate and interact with platforms within the ecosystem such as SerumDEX and Raydium, becoming an indispensable backbone in the complete DeFi ecosystem of Solana.
Official website: https://projectlarix.com/
Funding: Solana Capital, SolarEcoFund, Huobi Ventures, Fenbushi, LD Capital, etc.
Related report: 《Why Larix is the leading lending platform on Solana?》
Sypool is a comprehensive asset management protocol that invites qualified and experienced fund managers to prioritize managing funds pools, featuring four products: index-tracking SAP (Synthetic Asset Pool), trader-based SAP, structured yield funds, and asset-backed quantitative trading SAP, aiming to help everyone access top financial services.
Official website: https://sypool.io/
Funding: Solar Eco Fund, Evernew Capital, M6, Kronos, NGC Capital, Woo, etc.
9. Tulip (formerly Solfarm)
Tulip Protocol is the first yield aggregation platform built on Solana with automated vault strategies, integrating leveraged yield farming and lending pools into the platform to provide any DeFi user with investments that offer appropriate risk-return profiles.
Official website: https://tulip.garden/
Funding: Jump Capital, Alameda Research, Amber Group, CMS Holdings, etc.
It is reported that Solana will collaborate long-term with DoraHacks, the world's largest developer platform, for hackathons and developer incentive programs. The new Riptide hackathon for the East Asia region has officially launched on DoraHacks, open to all developers. If anyone wants to sign up for the competition or follow good projects in the Solana ecosystem, the hackathon link can be clicked here.
