Week in DeFi: Arbitrum Airdrop, Euler Exploit and DeFiLlama Drama

What Is Canto? Features And Tokenomics

Week in DeFi: SEC Clamps Down on Crypto, Zero-Knowledge Players in Motion and a Revived Umami

Why Does Solana Have So Many Transactions?

Week in DeFi: Zhejiang Testnet, Subnets Galore and an EVM-Driven Cosmos

## **What Is Canto (CANTO)?**

Canto (CANTO) is an [EVM-compatible](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/ethereum-virtual-machine-evm) [layer-1 blockchain](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/layer-1-blockchain) with a core focus on making [Decentralized Finance](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/defi) (DeFi) free to use. It forms part of the [Cosmos (ATOM)](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/cosmos/) ecosystem of [interoperable](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/interoperability) chains and [decentralized applications](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/decentralized-applications-dapps) (Dapps) and has enjoyed a rapid ascent since its launch in August 2022, due to its original vision. 

Canto aims to deliver on the early promise of DeFi by providing the best execution layer and incentivization for original development work and making new systems accessible, transparent and fully [decentralized](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/decentralized). Canto is a grassroots project by a stable of DeFi advocates and didn’t benefit from any [venture capital (VC)](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/venture-capital) or presale raises.


## **Who Are the Founders of CANTO?**

Canto was founded by a team of DeFi advocates and is led by DeFi Pulse co-founder Scott Lewis and the founders of [Slingshot Crypto](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/slingshot-finance/) and [Plex](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/plexcoin/). Lewis serves as leader and contributor, while Plex helps to develop the network’s frontend and free public infrastructure. NeoBase manages the Canto EVM blockchain explorer and also created a useful analytics dashboard to help Canto navigate utility tools such as CLM and the Canto DEX.


## **What Makes Canto (CANTO) Unique?**

Canto has several unique features that set it apart from other blockchains in the DeFi space, with a big part of its success its anti-establishment approach and designs on freeing DeFI tools for mass use. It has no official foundation, token presale, or vested tokens and essentially aims to provide feeless DeFi services to all crypto users. 

It does this by establishing what it calls free public infrastructure for three core DeFi primitives, namely [decentralized exchanges (DEX),](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/decentralized-exchange-dex) [stablecoins](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-is-a-stablecoin) and [lending market protocols](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-is-crypto-lending). To this end it has its own Canto DEX, Canto Lending Market (CLM) and NOTE to connect 3 different parties: liquidity providers, stakers and users.

They fit into the Canto ecosystem as follows: Liquidity providers who deposit tokens into the Canto DEX earn CANTO tokens as reward; Stakers govern and expand the Canto Lending Market while also incentivizing work by developers; Users create network effects and enjoy the benefits of zero fees.

To ensure that these tools remain free to use for everyone, its infrastructure does not allow its main DeFi primitives to issue governance tokens or seek rent from future users in the form of fees. 

Considering liquidity a free public good, Canto strives to remove all centralized elements from its chain and charges zero fees from liquidity providers such as other protocols, traders and investors who offer arbitrage. 

The Canto DEX is not subject to any upgrades, does not have an official interface and will remain free to use through the Slingshot DEX aggregator, whose founders also co-founded Canto. It uses an [automated market maker (AMM) ](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/automated-market-maker-amm)mechanism to source [liquidity](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/liquidity) from [liquidity pool (LP)](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-are-liquidity-pool-lp-tokens) trading pairs and rewards their creators with CANTO tokens which can be used as collateral for loans. 

Canto’s NOTE stablecoin is a dollar-pegged ERC20 token that serves as Canto’s official unit of account, NOTE is over-collateralized by loans to CLM and perpetually repegged through an algorithmic interest rate policy and be borrowed by providing CANTO, [ETH](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/ethereum/), [ATOM](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/cosmos/) or Canto LP tokens as collateral. 


### Related Pages:

Dive deeper into Canto, how it works, features and tokenomics on [CMC Alexandria](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-is-canto-features-and-tokenomics).

Learn more about [Cosmos (ATOM)](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/cosmos/) — a layer 0 blockchain that is building the “internet of blockchain.”

Check out our [deep dive into the Cosmos ecosystem](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/a-deep-dive-into-the-cosmos-network-and-the-cosmos-ecosystem).

Find out more about [Osmosis](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/osmosis/) — the liquidity hub on Cosmos.

Refresh your knowledge on [DeFi](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/defi) with CMC Glossary.


## **How Many Canto (CANTO) Coins Are There in Circulation?**

There are 423,437,418 CANTO tokens reportedly in circulation, out of a total supply of 1B tokens. 

The distribution of CANTO is allocated as follows: 13% to contributors, 2% to settlers of Canto, 5% to future grants, 35% to medium-term liquidity mining, and 45% to long-term liquidity mining. 

**How Is the Canto Network Secured?**

Canto secures its network using the Cosmos network’s Tendermint Core [consensus mechanism](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/consensus-mechanism) and Canto validators. It uses the Ethermint system for EVM compatibility. 


## **Where Can You Buy CANTO?**

Canto can be traded on [BingX](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/bingx/), [BTCEX](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/btcex-exchange/), [Bitget](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/bitget/), [BitMart](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/bitmart/) and [Gate.io](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/gate-io/). You can find others listed on our [crypto exchanges page](https://coinmarketcap.com/rankings/exchanges/). Those who want to keep track of CANTO prices live can download the [CMC mobile app](https://coinmarketcap.com/mobile/).

CANTO

Canto

Note

Wrapped CANTO

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.

Centrifuge is a decentralized asset financing protocol. It connects decentralized finance (DeFi) with real-world assets (RWA) while trying to lower the cost of capital for small and mid-size enterprises (SMEs) and provide investors with a stable source of income. The main goal of the project is to generate profits that are not tied to volatile crypto assets; the developers are pursuing the task of transferring real monetary value from fiat to cryptocurrencies.

Companies are using Centrifuge to access the liquidity that DeFi has to offer. They can tokenize real assets and use these tokens as collateral to access financing through Tinlake, a decentralized application (DApp) lending protocol. The Centrifuge blockchain is built on Polkadot (DOT) for speed and low fees, while its financial DApp Tinlake is built to access Ethereum (ETH) liquidity.

Centrifuge provides liquidity to everyone and investors receive income and rewards in the form of CFG tokens. Centrifuge links assets such as invoices, real estate and royalties with decentralized finance (DeFi). Additionally, borrowers benefit from the fact that they can finance their real assets without banks or other intermediaries.

Centrifuge

Radiant Capital

Gains Network

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

Stargate Finance (STG) is an omnichain-native asset bridge designed to solve the 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) almost instantly.

Stargate users can also move their assets between different liquidity pools on various decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols and dApps. The protocol supports transfers between eight chains: Ethereum, Avalanche, Polygon, Metis, BNB Chain, Arbitrum, Optimism and 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.

Stargate Finance

Maple

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

Liquity

Pendle

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.

Mask Network is a protocol that allows its users to send encrypted messages over Twitter and Facebook. It essentially acts as a bridge between the internet and a decentralized network running on top.

Mask Network was initially launched in July 2019, with its first use case of allowing Facebook and Twitter users to encrypt posts on the social media platforms. It then raised $2 million in a funding round in November 2020, co-led by HashKey and Hash Global, and a further $3 million funding round in February 2021 with participation from Digital Currency Group and Fundamental Labs.

Now, Mask Network offers the ability to fund Gitcoin grant campaigns directly from Twitter, as well as plans to offer peer-to-peer payments and decentralized storage functionality. It is a decentralized portal that also allows users to use DApps like crypto payments, decentralized finance, decentralized storage, e-commerce (digital goods/NFTs) and decentralized organizations (DAO) over the top of existing social networks without migrating, creating what is referred to as a decentralized Applet (DApplet) ecosystem.

Mask Network

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

Bittensor

Ondo

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

Web3's Decentralised Commerce Layer.
Sell physical things as redeemable NFTs, everywhere, online, in-game and in-verse.
We have solved the hard tech problems of tokenizing and twinning physical items, so you can focus on creating innovative Web3 commerce experiences for your customers.
Our no-code, low-cost tools make it easy to tokenize and sell physical products as NFTs everywhere, including your own Web3 store, the Metaverse, or on NFT marketplaces.
Redemption can be integrated into your own website, giving your brand full control of the customer experience.
With Boson, you can create phygital assets and token-gate purchases, allowing you to effortlessly develop engaging and rewarding digi-physical commerce experiences.
Buyers can redeem the NFT for the physical with the assurance that either they will receive the item or their money back- all without the need to trust intermediaries or sellers, just code and independent dispute resolvers.  Alternatively, Buyers can transfer, gift, trade or hold the NFT - just like any other NFT.
Boson is a groundbreaking technology recognized as a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum. As a decentralized protocol, Boson is built for the benefit of and governed by its users. Consequently, Boson only charges a minimal 0.5% per transaction protocol fee.

Boson Protocol

Synapse (SYN) is an interoperability protocol designed for safely and securely sending arbitrary data between blockchains.

Its users can transfer and swap their assets across many different chains, including layer 1, layer 2 and sidechain ecosystems.

The project aims to improve inter-blockchain compatibility by helping its users move their assets between different networks more efficiently. In order to securely transfer its users' assets to and from different ecosystems, while maintaining slippage, liquidity pool balances, and transaction prices, Synapse uses a stableswap algorithm.

The Synapse ecosystem is made up of six parts: the Synapse Bridge technology, the cross-chain AMM, aggregative cross-chain communication, the SYN token, the Synapse Chain, and optimistic security approaches.

With Synapse’s generalized messaging system, any arbitrary data can be sent across chains in a secure and seamless way. Applications no longer have to be separately deployed across multiple blockchains; they can be deployed on a single chain and communicate with other chains to create the exact same user experience from one central application layer. Generic message passing also includes smart contract calls, enabling smart contracts on different chains to easily interoperate with one another.

Synapse Bridge allows users to seamlessly swap on-chain assets across 15+ EVM and non-EVM blockchains in a safe and secure manner. The bridge supports two types of bridging: Canonical Token Bridging — bridging of wrapped assets across chains; Liquidity-based Bridging — bridging of native assets across cross-chain stableswap pools.

Synapse Chain is an Ethereum-based optimistic rollup designed to serve as a sovereign execution environment for cross-chain use cases. Synapse Chain will offer developers a generalized smart contract interface for building natively cross-chain use cases by leveraging Synapse’s cross-chain messaging system. Applications built on Synapse Chain will be able to execute their business logic across any blockchain.

Synapse supports multiple EVM-compatible blockchains and is integrated with nearly 18 layer-1 and layer-2 chains, including Ethereum, Optimism, Arbitrum, Harmony, Avalanche, Polygon, Moonbeam, Fantom and BNB Chain.

Synapse

Kaspa is a proof-of-work (PoW) cryptocurrency which implements the GHOSTDAG protocol. Unlike traditional blockchains, GHOSTDAG does not orphan blocks created in parallel, rather allows them to coexist and orders them in consensus. The Kaspa blockchain is actually a blockDAG. This generalization of Nakamoto consensus allows for secure operation while maintaining very high block rates (currently one block per second, aiming for 10/sec, dreaming of 100/sec) and minuscule confirmation times dominated by internet latency.

The Kaspa implementation includes a lot of cool features such as Reachability to query the DAG's topology, Block data pruning (with near-future plans for block header pruning), SPV proofs, and later subnetwork support which will make future implementation of layer 2 solutions much easier.

Kaspa

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.