Overview
Solving the cold start problem for emerging blockchains.
Problem: Cold starts are expensive and often fail
The blockchain space is ever evolving and becoming increasingly competitive as a growing number of new L1, L2 and L3 chains seek to attract users with the promise of a superior technology and experience. Ultimately, the economic success of a chain is determined by its fee generation, dependent on establishing a flywheel of:
Users;
Capital on chain (or TVL - total value locked);
and Dapps.
In the current cycle, blockchain foundations have chosen to attract users and capital with increasing aggressive token-based incentives to kick-start the ecosystem flywheel. On our analysis of recent high-profile blockchain campaigns during 2023-2024 highlight the cost is as high as c.$700 per $ETH bridged to a chain - an astronomically high CAC for a B2C model.
Moreover, retaining capital and users has proven difficult when economic incentives end. Many ecosystems have seen a dramatic fall of activity in the wake of the governance token airdrop. TVL and unique wallet counts fall as users rotate to the next opportunity.
The solution: Demether
Demether is a DeFi protocol which blockchain foundations can deploy to attract and retain capital at zero cost.
Demether offers a suite of yield bearing tokens that users can bridge over to partner blockchains to supplement TVL and receive an enhanced yield in return for their loyalty to the ecosystem.
How Demether works
Align: Demether partners with a blockchain foundation to run an initial bridging campaign co-marketed by both parties to attract capital into the ecosystem.
Attract: Users are incentivised to participate through a suite of products offering a high passive yield, the first of which is our liquid restaking token, $demETH. The user's assets are bridged over to the partner (destination) chain in order to mint Demether's yield product tokens.
Retain: Users that have bridged funds to the partner blockchain will be eligible to receive a weekly loyalty bonus from Demether to enhance their yield.
The model is unique in aligning the blockchain foundation with the users as the foundation decides the level of recurring loyalty bonus that users receive. Over time, the partner blockchain's community is incentivised to take over control of the loyalty mechanism and play a part in helping to retain capital on chain.
Demether security & audit
Demether's code has been audited by reputable smart contract security firms. Please find links to our reports below.
Resonance - August 2024: LINK
Resonance - January 2025: LINK
Oracles
Demether has arranged the following feeds so far:
demETH/ETH - API3
demSOL/SOL - Switchboard
Team
Rolling Thunder Labs Limited (RT Labs) is the core contributor to the Demether protocol. The RT Labs leadership team is comprised of individuals with 70 years of combined experience in management & leadership roles across Web3, blue chip technology and finance companies, adept in both launching and scaling organizations.
Kartik Swaminathan, CEO: 20 years' experience in investment banking (Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Bank of America - Merrill Lynch, BNP Paribas), and buyside investment and corporate strategy at Animoca Brands as Portfolio Director and Head of Blockchain.
Juan Dorado, CPO: Juan was previously Head of Technology at Claystack, an early entrant into the liquid staking space and a seasoned Web3 professional. Previously he had a career spanning technology giants such as Google as well as Wall Street at HSBC.
Learn more
We provide further details on Demether's model, product suite and its architecture in the sections below.
Built with Love by a global team from Rolling Thunder Labs, a core contributor to the Demether protocol
(c) Demether International Foundation
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