Cygnus is the first Web3 Instagram App Layer and modular real yield layer, integrating on-chain and off-chain assets to drive the rapid development of the creator economy. Cygnus aims to connect 2 billion Instagram users to Web3, starting from the rapidly growing Cygnus InstaPlay Hub and expanding into the creator economy, data sovereignty, and AI integration. Currently, the number of users on the Instagram App Layer exceeds 7.3 million, with daily active users surpassing 1 million. Additionally, Cygnus has over 8 million total users, with a TVL exceeding $900M and has generated over $17M in real yield for users. Cygnus is redefining the way social media users interact with Web3 and plans to bring the next billion users into the Web3 ecosystem.

Cygnus Development Path and Strategic Comparison

1. Launch of Modular Real Yield Layer in 2024

In 2024, Cygnus will launch its modular real yield layer for the first time. It aims to combine non-EVM and EVM ecosystems to provide users with sustainable sources of yield, introducing new economic incentives based on staking, liquidity validation, and on-chain real yield. It will significantly lower the entry barriers for incremental users through the Social App SDK.

In exploring the path of real yield, different projects have adopted their own strategies. For example, Ondo Finance is designed specifically for institutional-grade RWA, using a permissioned validation mechanism and securing the network by staking real-world assets (RWA), with its yield highly dependent on the performance of off-chain assets. In contrast, Cygnus's real yield comes from both on-chain asset yields and off-chain high-quality asset yields. Cygnus focuses on obtaining sustainable real yield from various sources, including staking rewards, LVS fees, MEV profits, and off-chain actual assets, providing users with a more stable yield experience while minimizing inflationary impacts.

2. Simultaneously Launching Omnichain LVS

The Cygnus full-chain liquidity validation system (LVS) is a comprehensive full-chain proactive validation network and liquidity proof system designed to meet the validation needs for distributed validation semantics. The network enhances trust and transparency in decentralized systems through seamless integration of validation mechanisms, making it an essential solution for projects requiring secure, scalable, and distributed validation.

Cygnus LVS supports full-chain staking and re-staking, achieving seamless interoperability and improving capital efficiency and utilization. Additionally, Cygnus LVS provides services for any system needing its own distributed validation semantics, such as sidechains, data availability layers, new virtual machines, guardian networks, oracle networks, bridges, threshold encryption schemes, and trusted execution environments.

Currently, various exploratory paths have emerged in the evolution of distributed validation architecture. EigenLayer is a representative solution that builds a shared security market through Ethereum re-staking mechanisms. In comparison to EigenLayer:

• Cygnus LVS adopts a full-chain architecture, offering customized services that support not only the EVM ecosystem but also the non-EVM ecosystem, providing broader cross-chain interoperability. This gives Cygnus LVS a unique advantage in cross-chain liquidity and decentralized validation.
• Cygnus offers a more cost-effective solution, enabling emerging networks to scale at a lower cost through cheaper distributed validation services, thereby lowering the entry barriers for small and medium-sized participants.

3. Opening a New Chapter for Web3 Instagram Layer

In providing customized real yield services for multiple small and medium-sized emerging blockchains, Cygnus realized that these networks generally face a key challenge: sluggish user growth. Meanwhile, the launch of the TON mini-game ecosystem inspired Cygnus significantly. The Cygnus team began to deeply consider whether it could leverage Web2 social platforms to attract new users and serve the entire Web3.

During the exploration, Instagram's immense potential caught Cygnus's attention. As a platform with over 2.5 billion users globally, Instagram's unique social attributes and strong user base made us realize that it could serve as a crucial bridge connecting Web2 users with Web3. Furthermore, the Cygnus team includes former members from Meta (Instagram's parent company) with extensive experience in social interaction algorithms, advertising monetization, and the creator economy. Thus, Cygnus began to expand into Instagram, successfully obtaining Meta-certified Tech Provider status and announcing the launch of the first Web3 Instagram App Layer in February 2025, aimed at attracting the next billion users and merging on-chain and off-chain assets to power the creator economy within Instagram. It offers a modular, real yield solution that enables developers to build engaging, blockchain-driven experiences directly on the platform. By simplifying user onboarding and integrating seamless Web3 functionalities, the Instagram App Layer paves the way for a frictionless crypto experience, accelerating mainstream blockchain adoption and redefining the intersection of social media and cryptocurrency.

To achieve this vision, Cygnus follows a three-phase approach:

• Instagram-driven adoption------Establishing the InstaPlay hub and using AA technology to automatically generate AA wallets, making users' Instagram accounts equivalent to Web3 wallets, truly achieving seamless interaction with Web3 content and lowering the entry barriers for mainstream users.
• Creator economy and revenue sharing------Users can support Instagram creators, while creators can receive blockchain-based rewards, thus achieving a sustainable decentralized monetization model.
• Data sovereignty and AI integration------In the final phase, users will own their social data and monetize it, which can power decentralized AI models, ensuring fair value distribution.

Ambitious Cygnus, Can It Be a Hundredfold Growth Project?

Financing Situation and Team Introduction

In February 2024, Cygnus announced the completion of a $20 million pre-seed financing round, receiving investment support from industry leaders such as OKX Ventures, Mirana Ventures, Manifold Trading, and Optimism Foundation Retro Funding.

Cygnus's success also stems from a top-tier team. The team members are talents graduated from world-class institutions such as UC Berkeley, MIT, NYU, and UIUC, and have previously worked at leading global companies like Google, Goldman Sachs, and TikTok. Notably, core team members have worked at Meta (Instagram's parent company) and possess deep expertise in social algorithms, advertising monetization, and the creator economy.

Cygnus Valuation Analysis: Track and Market Benchmark Assessment

Cygnus is a blockchain project that integrates innovative technology and the potential of social platforms, pioneering two major tracks: the Web3 Instagram Layer and the modular real yield layer. For investors, the following points are worth noting:

Comparison of Cygnus's Competitors:

Modular Real Yield Layer: $ONDO (Ondo Finance)

Shared Security: $EIGEN (EigenLayer)

Instagram Layer: The first Web3 Instagram App Layer, compared to $TON (The Open Network)

Cygnus's pre-seed round raised a total of $20 million, thus the initial valuation of Cygnus is expected to be $200 million, which is relatively conservative in the current market. From the perspectives of the Web3 Instagram App Layer, Real Yield Layer, or Shared Security track, Cygnus demonstrates a relatively favorable cost-performance ratio compared to major competitors.

Toncoin ($TON) has a maximum FDV of $41.88B, Ondo Finance's FDV peak in the Real Yield Layer track is $21.1B, and EigenLayer's FDV peak in the Shared Security track is $9.56B.

Therefore, if the opening FDV is around $200 million, a phased investment approach would be a relatively safe choice and highly attractive, showcasing a very high cost-performance ratio. Cygnus's market potential lies in its innovative social layer combined with Web3, especially in breaking the barriers between traditional Web2 and Web3 through Instagram.

Ecological Progress:

Leveraging Instagram's strong user base (over 250 million users), along with the continuous development of its modular real yield layer, Cygnus is rapidly promoting the seamless integration of the Web3 ecosystem into mainstream social platforms, enabling Web2 users to access Web3 seamlessly through Cygnus's product capabilities. Therefore, user growth across multiple platforms and the performance of the creator economy, data sovereignty, and AI integration on Instagram will be key to Cygnus's success.

Long-term Development:

Cygnus's future value depends on its ability to continuously attract Web2 users into Web3 and dominate the creator economy. Through deep integration with Instagram, Cygnus has the potential to stand out in Web3 and become a key driver of Web3 mainstream adoption.

Cygnus's Market Layout

Cygnus's market path can be seen as an extension and upgrade of the TON model. Both rely on large social platforms as traffic entry points for Web3—TON is backed by Telegram, while Cygnus integrates Instagram, both aiming to naturally guide Web2 users into the on-chain ecosystem. At the same time, both adopt the "social account as wallet" approach to significantly lower user barriers and stimulate user engagement through lightweight interaction mechanisms (TON's Tap-to-Earn and Cygnus Instagram Layer's first-phase product InstaPlay), building a user growth flywheel.

However, there are significant differences between the two in terms of platform attributes, user structure, and commercial potential:

Telegram is a tool-oriented application centered on information transmission, where users mostly have weak connections, and content is primarily text-based, with short dissemination paths and limited lifecycles. In contrast, Instagram is a typical strong-content social platform where users engage in deep interactions around "images/videos," especially in short video scenarios, exhibiting higher immersion and viral dissemination capabilities. The platform's positioning is essentially "recording and sharing a beautiful life," thus possessing higher user stickiness and dissemination efficiency.

More importantly, Instagram's user base has significantly higher commercial value. The platform currently boasts over 2.5 billion monthly active users, with 61% being young users aged 18-34, covering mainstream consumer markets in North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific, with high activity levels and strong conversion rates, achieving an ARPU (average revenue per user) of $29.8. In contrast, while Telegram has 950 million monthly active users, only about 19% are young users, with an ARPU of only $1, showing a more than 30-fold difference in user value and commercial monetization potential.

Huge Potential:

Currently, Instagram has over 2.5 billion monthly active users. If 1% of its user base can be converted into active participants, Cygnus will be able to reach over 25 million users, indicating immense market potential.

Cygnus has significant market potential, with its real yield layer and Instagram App Layer both leading the market, especially in the deep integration of Instagram and Web3, which may become an important milestone in the fusion of the crypto industry and mainstream social media. Cygnus's opening FDV is expected to be $200 million, offering extremely high cost-performance. With the steady growth of the real yield layer, continuous innovation of the Web3 Instagram Layer, and deepening of the creator economy, Cygnus is likely to become a leader in the blue ocean market in the future, with broad development prospects.