🌎 Starknet Foundation Boosts DeFi Spring Program with 50M STRK Allocation

The Starknet Foundation has announced an additional allocation of 50 million STRK to its DeFi Spring program. This initiative aims to enhance the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem within Starknet, an Ethereum Layer-2 rollup ecosystem.

DeFi Spring 2.0 Timeline

The new funds follow a successful initial effort where the Foundation allocated 40 million STRK to support DeFi projects. This brings the total amount earmarked for the program to 90 million STRK. DeFi Spring 2.0 will run from July 1, 2024, to at least December 31, 2024.

The Starknet Foundation is partnering with OpenBlock Labs to ensure equitable distribution of STRK across four categories of protocols: DEXs, borrow & lend, perps & options, and a new “other” category. This new category will feature DeFi protocols that accept user deposits and issue yields or returns to users.

Starknet’s Ecosystem Growth

Launched in February this year, the DeFi Spring program initially distributed 14.4 million STRK over 16 weeks, reaching over 106,000 users. The program aimed to grow the Layer 2 blockchain network’s DeFi ecosystem and attracted 14 protocols.

According to the latest announcement, the initiative that ran over the past four months generated substantial economic activity within the L2 chain’s ecosystem. Despite challenging market conditions and network issues faced after launching its STRK token, Starknet has seen a significant surge in total value locked (TVL).

Currently, the total value of assets held in Starknet smart contracts is $240 million. This is a sharp increase from about $54 million in February when DeFi Spring launched.

Projects participating in DeFi Spring include the DEX protocol Ekubo, borrowing and lending platform Nostra, and Starknet’s first AMM, mySwap.