Solv Protocol, Revest Finance | Hidden Gems – DeFi
Review Date: March 29, 2022
We scored over 50 DeFi coins to watch this week, and these are 3 DeFi names we think you should know about. Please keep in mind that some of these projects have not yet been subjected to our code review process, but we want to call them out here for preliminarily catching our eye based on our fundamental analysis process.
Polynomial Protocol (82%)
Polynomial Protocol is a one-stop options protocol coming soon to Optimism, other Layer 2’s, and EVMs. Polynomial has two key features: one is an options vault where you can easily enter into different options strategies, and the other is an options aggregator that both allows users to mint their own options as well as combining liquidity across multiple options markets.
Why we like it
The number of options protocols in the DeFi space continues to grow, which is exciting as it facilitates options to become available on more chains and layers and in new configurations. However, this also creates a potential downside where assets are split too heavily across the options space and transacting on any one platform becomes more difficult as each individual liquidity pool is more shallow. An options aggregator alleviates this concern by pooling options of similar characteristics into one platform, creating a better experience for everyone.
Investors
Polynomial has raised $1.1M in a pre-seed round from Archetype Capital Management, Genblock Capital, Paul Veradittakit (of Pantera Capital), and more.
The Team
All three of the co-founders have a degree from the Indian Institute of Information Technology, with impressive experiences across software engineering. The Director of Product Design also has two years of experience at Instagram.
Token Utility
The project is still early in its development and utility details will follow. At the base level, token holders will be able to participate in governance, with the potential for profit sharing from any of the vault and trading fees.
Where can you buy the token
TBA. Polynomial Earn Vaults are coming soon to their Optimism mainnet with the potential to earn yield on assets there.
Solv Protocol (79%)
Solv Protocol offers a unique product – NFTs geared towards financial uses called vouchers. Vouchers are a product designed to help projects meet fundraising and community-building goals by giving project founders more control over token vesting and liquidity by a new launching mechanism called an Initial Voucher Offering (IVO). Users can buy a voucher (typically at a discount to future price) that vests over time and turns into tradeable tokens on a schedule created by the token founders.
Why we like it
Vouchers are a novel solution for a number of difficulties that token launches and fundraisers often face. Having a clear vesting schedule will help prevent large swings that often happen early on in a launch. Additionally, there is high utility for the user as individuals can sell or transfer their vouchers on an open marketplace if their perspectives or needs change. Additionally, the team is already further innovating by creating new products that projects will be able to utilize, with their newest one being a convertible bond product.
Investors
Solv has raised more than $5M over multiple rounds from notable investors such as Binance Labs, Blockchain Capital, Sfermion, gumi Cryptos, The LAO, The Spartan Group, and more.
Token Utility
The project is still early in its development and utility details will follow. At the base level, token holders will be able to participate in governance with the potential for profit sharing from fees collected when projects mint vouchers.
Where can you buy the token
TBA, the current plan is for the token to launch on DEXs in Q3 2022.
Revest Finance (76%)
Revest is a protocol that allows packaging tokens into NFTs to be transferred on NFT marketplaces without affecting the underlying asset. This creates new vesting structures where the tokens inside the NFT only unlock when certain conditions are met: a predetermined future time, when the value of another asset hits a certain threshold, or if the NFT is held by a specific address/wallet. This opens the protocol up to a plethora of use-cases such as allowing staked tokens that are time-locked to still be transferred, or additional tokens only unlocking when the price of the token appreciates sufficiently.
Why we like it
The tech here gives tools to projects to interact with and incentivize their users in new ways, and it’s exciting to see what developers will continue to come up with. As of 2022, Revest has established roughly two new partnerships a month with projects to use Revest NFTs, signaling clear demand. Additionally, the RVST token has strong utility. You might notice both Solv and Revest are in the “financial NFT” space, but approach the technology differently. Solv is more geared towards helping the launch process – their IVO platform and marketplace allows vouchers to be listed and traded when the underlying token hasn’t launched yet. Revest is angled more toward giving new tools to existing projects to interact with users in new ways.
The Team
The CEO has a Master’s in Mechanical Engineering with a strong programming background. Their Software Engineer has more than two years of experience working in crypto as a Solidity Developer.
Token Utility
When the Revest protocol is used to create NFTs, the client pays a small up-front fee in ETH. 99% of fees are distributed to RVST stakers, and 1% goes into the liquidity pool to support trading of the token. Holding more tokens also gives a discount on fees for repeat users, and finally token holders can also participate in protocol governance.
Where can you buy the token
Uniswap v2 and LBank have the highest trading volume.
Archimedes (76%)
Archimedes aims to create a new vehicle called a meta-vault that will act as a tool to provide leverage on stablecoin staking returns. This acts to solve two problems: one is extracting additional yield from otherwise idle assets, and the second is a large reduction in gas fees for active yield farmers by having the vault rebalance instead of the individual.
Why we like it
Stablecoin innovations are particularly important to DeFi because the usage of stablecoins in the future will only continue to increase. During bear markets, stablecoins act as one of crypto’s “flight to safety”, and general usage will proportionally increase as crypto adoption marches on. Projects that can enhance the yield of a stablecoin without having to take direct market exposure can be very desirable if the protocol is well designed. While it is still early for Archimedes, the team and protocol early design is promising and worth keeping a close eye on.
Investors
Archimedes recently concluded a pre-seed funding round that was led by Shima Capital and joined by Hack.VC, nfr ventures, BitScale, Kesha Ventures, and others.
The Team
There are three co-founders, two of which have an MBA from MIT. Their shared experiences include Consultant at Bain, Director of Strategy at CBRE, Product Manager and Data Scientist at Paypal, and Product Manager at Okta.
Token Utility
TBA.
Where can you buy the token
TBA.
