Deep Dive
1. Vertical Expansion (2 December 2025)
Overview: Caldera announced via Twitter its expansion into AI, DeFi, Privacy, NFTs, GameFi, and DePIN verticals, positioning ERA as the gas token across these ecosystems. This aligns with its modular blockchain infrastructure, which now supports 75+ rollups.
What this means: This broadens ERA’s utility, potentially increasing demand as developers launch specialized chains. However, competition in modular blockchains (e.g., EigenLayer, Celestia) could pressure adoption rates.
2. Strategic Reserve Launch (18 September 2025)
Overview: The Caldera Foundation established a reserve by purchasing 3.9M ERA tokens (~$881K at $0.226) from open markets, locking them to support ecosystem stability (PANews).
What this means: This reduces circulating supply, which could counteract selling pressure from token unlocks. However, with 82% of the 1B total supply still locked, future unlocks (~2026) remain a risk.
3. Mawari Partnership (15 August 2025)
Overview: Caldera partnered with Mawari to integrate its DePIN network for real-time 3D/AR streaming, leveraging Caldera’s rollups to track QoS metrics on-chain (CryptoPotato).
What this means: This use case highlights ERA’s role in non-financial applications, though adoption depends on Mawari’s traction in the XR market (projected 100M devices by 2030).
Conclusion
Caldera is diversifying its ecosystem and tightening tokenomics, but faces challenges from macro bearish trends (ERA is down 70% in 90 days) and upcoming unlocks. Will developer activity outpace sell pressure as more chains go live?