What Is LayerZero? Omnichain Protocol

## What Is Stargate Finance (STG)?

Stargate Finance (STG) is an omnichain-native asset bridge designed to solve the [blockchain trilemma](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/blockchain-trilemma), which says that no blockchain can be decentralized, secure, and fast simultaneously. It does this by simplifying cross-chain DeFi transactions, which lets users transfer and swap their assets between different blockchains, layer-2 networks, and decentralized applications ([dApps](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/decentralized-applications-dapps)) almost instantly. 

Stargate users can also move their assets between different liquidity pools on various decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols and [dApps](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/decentralized-applications-dapps). The protocol supports transfers between eight chains: [Ethereum](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/ethereum/), [Avalanche](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/avalanche/), [Polygon](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/polygon/), [Metis](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/metisdao/), [BNB Chain](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bnb/), [Arbitrum](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/arbitrum/), [Optimism](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/optimism-ethereum/) and [Fantom](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/fantom/).

The platform offers several other, profit-making features: users can supply liquidity pools, stake assets, and farm tokens. When users stake their assets, they can help govern the Stargate Finance Exchange.


## Who Are the Founders of Stargate Finance?

Stargate Finance was built by LayerZero Labs: an omnichain protocol that wants to help the biggest crypto networks interoperate. 

The platform launched in March 2022 as the first cross-chain bridge app. On the same day, renowned crypto developer 0xMaki joined LayerZero’s team.


## What Makes Stargate Finance Unique?

Most pre-existing [cross-chain bridges](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-are-cross-chain-bridges) use what’s called fractured liquidity, which requires separate pools for tokens that will pass over the bridge. Stargate, however, renders this requirement obsolete via a lock+mint and burn+redeem mechanism. The mechanism essentially burns the tokens at source and mints new ones on the destination blockchain, and therefore provides instant guaranteed finality and unified liquidity. 

Stargate also uses an advanced cross-chain bridge mechanism, in addition to a balancing algorithm called the delta algorithm, to solve the bridging trilemma.


### Related Pages:

Read about [Synapse (SYN)](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/synapse-2/) — another interoperability protocol.

Find out more about [Hashflow (HFT)](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/hashflow/) — a decentralized exchange designed for interoperability, zero slippage, and MEV-protected trades.

What are blockchain bridges? Find out with the [CMC glossary](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/bridges).

Learn more about cross-chain bridges on [CMC Alexandria](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-are-cross-chain-bridges).

Take a deep dive into [blockchain bridges](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-are-blockchain-bridges) with our educational portal.


## How Many Stargate Finance (STG) Coins Are in Circulation?

$STG is the native governance and utility token of Stargate Finance. The token can be [staked](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/staking) or used to provide liquidity and participate in protocol governance. By staking $STG, token holders receive $veSTG, Stargate's voting escrow token. The protocol utilizes a time-weighted reward system that increases the amount of $veSTG earned by stakers as they lock it for longer periods.

$STG has a total supply of 1 billion tokens and a current circulating supply of around 168 million tokens as of March 2023.


## Where Can You Buy Stargate Finance (STG)?

Stargate Finance’s STG is available on nearly 50 centralized and decentralized exchanges. This includes [Binance](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/binance/), [Coinbase](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/coinbase-exchange/), [KuCoin](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/kucoin/) and [Kraken](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/kraken/). It is also available on DEX like [Uniswap](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/uniswap-v3/) and [PancakeSwap](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/pancakeswap-v2/).

Stargate Finance

Trust Wallet

MetaMask

Binance Chain Wallet

Welcome to Stargate Finance's Community channel aggregated by CoinMarketCap.

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Ten Best Coins

Houdini Swap

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dogwifhat

GMX is a decentralized exchange (DEX) for trading perpetual cryptocurrency futures with up to 50X leverage on popular cryptocurrencies like BTC, ETH and more. The platform launched in September 2021 as Gambit Exchange. To date, GMX has a total trading volume of over $130B and 283K total users, making it the leading derivatives DEX on Arbitrum and Avalanche.

GMX runs on the Arbitrum and the Avalanche blockchain. These ecosystems are connected to the exchange via Synapse — a cross-chain bridge.

Aptos is a Layer 1 Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchain that employs a novel smart contract programming language called Move, a Rust-based programming language that was independently developed by Meta (formerly Facebook)’s Diem blockchain engineers.

Aptos’s vision is a blockchain that brings mainstream adoption to web3 and empowers an ecosystem of DApps to solve real-world user problems.

The PoS blockchain can achieve a theoretical transaction throughput of over 150,000 transactions per second (tps) through parallel execution.

In March 2022, Aptos raised $200 million in a seed round led by the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). Other crypto heavyweights like Tiger Global and Multicoin Capital took part in the funding round. Fast forward to July, the startup raised another $200 million in a Series A round with participation from Dragonfly, Apollo Global, Franklin Templeton, Animoca, Jump Crypto and others.

Two months later, Binance Labs made a strategic investment of an undisclosed amount in Aptos.

On Oct. 18, 2022, Aptos announced the mainnet launch, while the Aptos genesis occurred on Oct. 12, 2022.

Aptos

Optimism (OP) is a layer-two blockchain on top of Ethereum. Optimism benefits from the security of the Ethereum mainnet and helps scale the Ethereum ecosystem by using optimistic rollups. That means transactions are trustlessly recorded on Optimism but ultimately secured on Ethereum.

Optimism is one of the biggest scaling solutions for Ethereum with over $500 million in TVL. It is home to 97 protocols, the biggest being Synthetix (SNX), a derivatives exchange, Uniswap (UNI), a DEX, and Velodrome (VELO), an AMM. Users can begin their journey on Optimism by adding the chain on their Metamask and bridging tokens like ETH to the L2. On May 31, 2022, Optimism conducted a highly anticipated airdrop of its OP token.

Optimism

Radiant Capital

Hashflow is a DEX Aggregator that offers deep liquidity across the leading blockchains. Hashflow offers traders the best prices, access to $8B in liquidity, and the ability to trade every token both interchain and cross chain. Since launching in April 2021, Hashflow has facilitated over $18B in total trade volume.

Hashflow's team consists of top minds from both web2 and web3 including Airbnb, Amazon, Arbitrum, Citadel, Genesis Trading, and more. Backers include Dragonfly Capital, Electric Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Wintermute Trading, and Balaji Srinivasan.

Hashflow

The Frax Protocol is the first fractional-algorithmic stablecoin system. Frax is open-source, permissionless, and entirely on-chain – currently implemented on Ethereum (with possible cross chain implementations in the future). The end goal of the Frax protocol is to provide a highly scalable, decentralized, algorithmic money in place of fixed-supply digital assets like BTC. The protocol incorporates the following concepts:

Fractional-Algorithmic – Frax is a unique stablecoin with parts of its supply backed by collateral and parts of the supply algorithmic. The ratio of collateralized and algorithmic depends on the market's pricing of the FRAX stablecoin. If FRAX is trading at above $1, the protocol decreases the collateral ratio. If FRAX is trading at under $1, the protocol increases the collateral ratio.

Decentralized & Governance-minimized – Community governed and emphasizing a highly autonomous, algorithmic approach with no active management.

Fully on-chain oracles – Frax v1 uses Uniswap (ETH, USDT, USDC time-weighted average prices) and Chainlink (USD price) oracles.

Two Tokens – FRAX is the stablecoin targeting a tight band around $1/coin. Frax Shares (FXS) is the governance token which accrues fees, seigniorage revenue, and excess collateral value.

Before Frax, stablecoins were divided into three different categories: fiat collateralized, overcollateralized with cryptocurrency, and algorithmic with no collateral. Frax is the first kind of decentralized stablecoin to classify itself as fractional-algorithmic ushering in the 4th and most unique category.

Frax Share

Immutable positions itself as the first layer-two scaling solution for NFTs on Ethereum. According to Immutable, its blockchain does away with Ethereum’s limitations like low scalability, a poor user experience, illiquidity, and a slow developer experience. Instead, users benefit from instant trading and massive scalability while enjoying zero gas fees for minting and trading NFTs without compromising user or asset security.

Thanks to this technology, users will be able to create and distribute assets like ERC-20 and ERC-721 tokens on a massive scale. Chris Clay, the game Director of Gods Unchained, a project already building on Immutable, stated that Immutable allows Gods Unchained to implement a new meta-system that was previously impossible. In this fashion, Immutable aims to create a world-class experience for users and developers alike.

Immutable

MAGIC is the utility token that connects gaming communities in the Treasure Metaverse: a decentralized NFT ecosystem which sits on Arbitrum, one of Ethereum’s Layer 2 scaling solutions.

MAGIC is a cross-game currency that connects games, players, metaverses, and communities, all within Web 3.0. The token was launched in September 2021 so its community could buy and sell in-game NFTs on Treasure. It also acts as a reserve currency for Treasure’s metaverse.

Players can earn MAGIC tokens by gaming, mining, and participating in Bridgeworld, Treasure’s flagship game. Treasure now hosts twelve other games on its platform, some of which allow you to use and generate MAGIC tokens like in Bridgeworld. These include Beacon, a free-to-play fantasy action rogue-lite RPG; and Realm, a world-building and exploration game.

Treasure

Ethereum-based DYDX ($ethDYDX) is a governance token that allows the dYdX community to truly govern the dYdX Layer 2 Protocol built on Ethereum ("dYdX v3"). ethDYDX is currently undergoing a migration from Ethereum to the dYdX Chain. More information is available here. If you want to migrate ethDYDX to dYdX Chain DYDX, to enable staking, security and governance of the dYdX Chain you can follow the how-to-bridge guide here.

If you want to read about the new token utility for dYdX Chain DYDX you can read the blog here

ethDYDX (dYdX) is the governance token for the layer 2 protocol built on Ethereum. By enabling shared control of dYdX v3, ethDYDX allows traders, liquidity providers, and partners of dYdX to work collectively towards an enhanced dYdX v3.

Built on StarkWare’s StarkEx scalability engine, layer 2 is used for trading of cross-margined perpetuals on the platform. The scaling solution allows dYdX to increase transaction speed, eliminate gas costs, reduce trading fees and lower​​ minimum trade sizes on the protocol.

A total of 1,000,000,000 ethDYDX have been minted, and started to become accessible over five (5) years, on August 3rd, 2021, at 15:00:00 UTC.

dYdX (ethDYDX)

Osmosis (OSMO) is a decentralized exchange (DEX) for Cosmos, an ecosystem of sovereign, interoperable blockchains all connected trustlessly over IBC, the Inter-Blockchain Communication Protocol. Osmosis also offers non-IBC assets bridged from the Ethereum and Polkadot ecosystems. Originally based on Balancer-style pools, Osmosis is moving to a more sustainable concentrated liquidity model that provides a superior trading and liquidity provision experience.

As an appchain DEX, Osmosis has greater control over the full blockchain stack than DEXs that must follow the code of a parent chain. This fine-grained control has enabled, for example, the development of Superfluid Staking, an improvement to Proof-of-Stake security. Superfluid staking allows the underlying OSMO in an LP position to add to chain security and earn staking rewards for doing so. The customizability of appchains also allows for the development of a transaction mempool shielded with threshold encryption, which will greatly reduce harmful MEV on Osmosis.

Osmosis's vision is to build a cross-chain native DEX and trading suite that connects all chains over IBC, including Ethereum and Bitcoin. To build out the trading functionalities, Osmosis has invited external developers to create a bespoke DEX ecosystem that includes lending, credit, margin, fiat on-ramps, Defi strategy vaults, NFTs, stablecoins, and more – all the functionalities of a centralized exchange and more, plus the trust-minimization of decentralized finance.

Osmosis

Moonbeam is an Ethereum-compatible smart contract parachain on Polkadot. Moonbeam makes it easy to use popular Ethereum developer tools to build or redeploy Solidity projects in a Substrate-based environment.

Moonbeam is much more than just an EVM implementation: it’s a highly specialized parachain that mirrors Ethereum’s Web3 RPC, accounts, keys, subscriptions, logs, and more. The Moonbeam platform extends the base Ethereum feature set with additional features such as on-chain governance, staking, and cross-chain integrations.

Moonbeam’s Ethereum compatibility is unmatched:

Minimal Changes: developers can use existing Solidity smart contracts right away, with no need to rewrite or reconfigure

Use Existing Developer Tools: connect popular tools like MetaMask, Hardhat, Waffle, Remix, and Truffle via a complete set of Web3 RPC endpoints. Use well-known Javascript libraries such as Web3.Js or Ethers.Js.

Unified Accounts, Addresses, and Signatures: use your existing Ethereum H160 accounts & ECDSA signatures to interact with Moonbeam

Tap into the Most Integrations on Polkadot: use existing oracles, bridges, wallets, and other tools that are already building on Moonbeam

Moonbeam provides integration and connectivity between Polkadot Parachains as well as with other chains such as Ethereum and Bitcoin via bridges. Moonbeam was started in 2019 by Derek Yoo of Pure Stake.

Moonbeam

BLUR is the native governance token of Blur, a unique non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace and aggregator platform that offers advanced features such as real-time price feeds, portfolio management and multi-marketplace NFT comparisons. It claims to have faster NFT sweeps, and a more intuitive interface than other comparable platforms.

As a result, many professional NFT traders increasingly prefer to use Blur for their trading activities — although it may be due to incentives like the recent airdrop of 360 million BLUR tokens — worth around $355M at the time of writing. It is an Ethereum-based platform that has raised over $14m from world class investors and traders including Paradigm, 6529, Cozomo Medici, dhof, Bharat Krymo, Zeneca, OSF, MoonOverlord, icebergy, Deeze, Andy8052, Keyboard Monkey and many more.

BLUR came to prominence after launching in October 2022, when it promised airdrops of BLUR tokens to the top platform users.

Blur

Metis is an Ethereum Layer-2 scaling solution aiming to solve the blockchain trilemma: that blockchains cannot be decentralized, secure, and scalable simultaneously. It also strives to solve Ethereum's biggest challenges: speed, cost and scalability.

Metis wants to help developers create and manage existing decentralized applications (dApps), while also supporting developers and entrepreneurs who want to build and launch new dApps. It also integrates the Decentralized Autonomous Company (DAC) framework into its Layer 2 infrastructure to help developers and businesses move from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0.

Metis

JOE (JOE) is the native token of Trader Joe, a decentralized exchange (DEX) on the Avalanche (AVAX) blockchain that offers DeFi services, including swapping, staking and yield farming. The exchange has been growing rapidly, attracting over $4 billion in total value locked (TVL) since it was launched in June 2021. Trader Joe claims to take a community-first approach, and to prioritize innovation, speed and safety. It aims to provide a one-stop-shop DeFi experience and to integrate new products without compromising on security. To achieve this, Trader Joe has outlined an ambitious roadmap that focuses on token-holder growth. It plans to have improved staking, non-fungible-token (NFT) exchange listings, the collateralization of the JOE token, and leveraged trading –– all during 2021.

Lido DAO is a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) which provides staking infrastructure for multiple blockchain networks.

Most notably, the platform provides a liquid staking solution for Ethereum, allowing users to stake their ETH and receive stETH (Lido staked ETH) tokens in exchange, which represent the user's staked ETH and staking rewards.

Lido DAO is secured by a mix of decentralized governance, audited code and smart contracts. The Lido protocol runs on Ethereum with help from smart contracts that process user deposits and distribute staking rewards, among other functions. Several third-party security firms have audited Lido’s smart contracts in order to identify and address potential vulnerabilities.

The platform’s native token is LDO - which also serves as the governance token for Lido DAO. Holders can participate in governance proposals and vote on key decisions such as board adjustments, new integrations and platform updates. LDO holders have the right to determine the development and operation of the platform.

Lido currently supports staking for Ethereum and Polygon only with the recent sunsetting of Solana.

Lido DAO

Arbitrum is an Ethereum layer-two (L2) scaling solution. It uses optimistic rollups to achieve its goal of improving speed, scalability and cost-efficiency on Ethereum. Arbitrum benefits from the security and compatibility of Ethereum. Another benefit is the higher throughput and lower fees compared to Ethereum. That is made possible thanks to moving most of the computation and storage load off-chain.

Arbitrum’s native token is called ARB and is used for governance. Offchain Labs, the developers behind Arbitrum, announced the shift to a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) structure — the Arbitrum DAO. ARB holders can vote on proposals that affect the features, protocol upgrades, funds allocation and election of a Security Council.

Arbitrum has an ambitious roadmap for 2023, which includes: Launching its own layer-three solution called Orbit; Enabling developers to deploy programs written in popular programming languages like Rust, C++, and more using Stylus; Expanding its validator set to include more independent institutional validators; Moving its protocol to layer two with Arbitrum One.

On March 16, 2023,  Arbitrum announced their highly anticipated airdrop of ARB. The token will be airdropped to early users and DAOs building on Arbitrum, with 12.75% of the total supply to be distributed. Recipients were rewarded on a point-based system depending on their interaction with the Arbitrum network until a cutoff date of March 1, 2023. The token generation event is on March 23, 2023.

Arbitrum

Gains Network

Convex Finance is a DeFi protocol that allows Curve liquidity providersto earn a share of trading fees on Curve without staking liquidity there. Instead, LPs can stake with Convex and receive boosted CRV and liquidity mining rewards. This provides CRV stakers with better capital efficiency and positions Convex Finance as an important player in the Curve wars.

Convex has entered a competitive race to obtain as much control as possible of the Curve Finance stablecoin exchange. The more CRV tokens a protocol has, the more influence it has over interest rates on Curve, which is the largest DEX in the world by TVL. Consequently, the “Curve wars” are an ongoing race for influence over what is probably the most important protocol in DeFi.

Convex Finance

Axelar claims to deliver “secure cross-chain communication for Web3.” The project provides a decentralized network and tools to help builders of decentralized applications (dApps) with seamless cross-chain communication through its protocol suite, tools and APIs.

Axelar features three core components – a decentralized network, a software development kit of protocols and APIs, and a set of gateway smart contracts for cross-chain connectivity.

Powered by a decentralized network of validators, anyone can join the network, build on it, or use it. Apps builders can interact with a simple API atop a permissionless network that routes messages and ensures network security via proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism.

AXL is the native token of the Axelar network. The protocol also supports the cross-chain transfer of several native tokens via their wrapped ERC-20 versions, including AVAX (Avalanche), ETH (Ethereum), FTM (Fantom), GLMR (Moonbeam), and MATIC (Polygon).

Meanwhile, Axelar has raised capital from top-tier investors, including Binance, Coinbase Ventures, Dragonfly Capital, Polychain Capital and others.

Axelar

Galxe is the world's leading Web3 credential data network and was launched on April 28, 2022, on Binance Launchpool.

Galxe is built on open and collaborative infrastructure that allows Web3 developers and projects to profit from credential data by building better products and communities.

Data curators are rewarded when users employ their credentials in Project Galaxy's Application Modules, Credential Oracle Engine and Credential API at the same time.