The current LST restaking deposit window has drawn to a close. If you missed EigenLayer’s restaking window, you can still farm Restaked Points, primeETH XP, and LST yield by swapping for primeETH on Uniswap.
What a week! PrimeStaked reached $25M in TVL just days after launch, helping make Origin Ether the largest ETH yield aggregator on mainnet. Last week, OETH TVL increased by over $20 million, breaking past $100M for the first time. Let’s delve into what’s driven this growth and take a look at what’s coming next.
We’d like to extend our gratitude to all users who’ve adopted primeETH over the last week, with more than 10,000 ETH assets restaked since Monday. Users who harnessed the opportunity are currently accruing 4.25% APYs on their holdings, in addition to EigenLayer Restaked Points and primeETH XP.
Impressively, primeETH holders have earned a total of 1.42 million EigenLayer Restaked Points and 51.8b of primeETH XP over the course of the last week.
OETH accounts for more than 90% of PrimeStaked’s restaked assets, thanks to Origin Ether earning double XP during the campaign’s duration. Excitingly, PrimeStaked’s incentives on OETH deposits have driven Origin Ether to new heights. On Wednesday, Origin Ether’s TVL broke through $100 million before continuing its climb above $115M.
This is the very beginning of a new, community-centric ecosystem for liquid restaking. We have several features in the works as we grow primeETH into one of the space’s premier liquid restaking tokens (LRTs).
Soon, we plan to enable new ways for users to deposit to primeETH. Additionally, holders can look forward to further campaigns as we ramp up our presence in Ethereum’s restaking ecosystem.
Join the Origin Discord and follow us on X to be first in line for the next wave of PrimeStaked rewards!
Shape the future of yield with OGV: Governance portal
It’s been a bumper week for PrimeStaked, with more than $21M in TVL captured since deposits opened on Monday.
As we enter the final stretch of the current deposit window, we’re looking to reward users that have furthered the protocol’s growth. To this end, we’re adding extra EigenLayer Restaked Points to the rewards pool for reaching TVL targets up to $50M.
The current restaking deposit window may be drawing to a close, but there’s still time to seize the juicy, triple-stacked yields on offer.
For each $10M in TVL added, we’ll be distributing extra EigenLayer Points to all depositors after LST deposits close.
By restaking supported LSTs over the next day, users can secure a boost to their EigenLayer rankings. Bonus Restaked Points will be awarded to primeETH holders proportionally based on the amount of primeETH held. As a reminder, deposits close on Feb 9 at 8pm UTC (12pm PST).
Only 24 hours remain before the current restaking window draws to a close. You can help unlock bonus EigenLayer Points by referring friends using your unique referral code. In doing so, you’ll earn 10% of XP accrued by your referrals!
As we move forward, new benefits will be unlocked for primeETH XP earners. If you’re not already filled in, we’ve dropped some hints on how to maximize your XP earnings below.
Pioneered by EigenLayer, restaking has rapidly become one of DeFi’s most popular mechanics. In fact, EigenLayer has captured close to $4B in TVL since January alone.
Depositing OETH earns you double primeETH XP. Additionally, our time-weighted multiplier offers all depositors a further 2x boost for the final 24 hours of EigenLayer deposits.
Disclaimer: Program subject to change based on feasibility of downstream processes on EigenLayer, other LSTs, and staking protocols.
Liquid restaking has captured the spotlight as billions of dollars in new capital pour into EigenLayer. With over $4 billion of ETH and LSTs now restaked, EigenLayer is one of the largest protocols in DeFi by TVL.
Restakers are currently competing to earn EigenLayer’s Restaked Points, as many expect a future airdrop from the EigenLayer team. By holding primeETH, the liquid restaking token (LRT) from PrimeStaked, users can earn EigenLayer Points, primeETH XP, and LST yield. Excitingly, ETHx depositors now have an extra incentive to join in on Ethereum restaking.
Just getting into restaking now? You can get a head start on your EigenLayer Points with Stader Labs’ ETHx! Let’s dive into Eigen Turbocharge, and how you can earn bonus EigenLayer points for participating.
To further reward restakers, ETHx issuer Stader Labs is offering users an extra 1 million EigenLayer points for restaking ETHx via leading protocols, including PrimeStaked. For each ETHx minted and restaked, users are eligible to receive 50 EigenLayer Restaked Points for a limited time.
On top of bonus Restaked Points, primeETH holders earn primeETH XP and LST yield while retaining their liquidity. To get started with PrimeStaked, visit the dapp at https://www.primestaked.com/app/restake.
primeETH offers ETH stakers a lucrative platform to compound their liquid staking returns through restaking exposure. As a novel primitive, liquid restaking is rapidly becoming one of DeFi’s most vital mechanics, allowing builders to share in Ethereum’s uniquely robust security base.
The platform currently supports the space’s leading LSTs, with even more integrations on the horizon.
Restake LSTs on PrimeStaked: primestaked.com/app/restake
We’re excited to announce that the pre-deposit window is now open on PrimeStaked! As a brand new liquid restaking ecosystem, PrimeStaked allows EigenLayer restakers to retain liquidity on their restaked assets and earn extra rewards.
primeETH holders will begin earning Restaked Points when EigenLayer deposits open at 12 pm PST on February 5th. By holding primeETH, users not only earn EigenLayer points, but also primeETH XP and LST yield.
Pre-depositors will be positioned to earn maximum rewards. Let’s delve into how to prepare for primeETH, and how you can take advantage of being an early adopter.
At launch, PrimeStaked supports OETH, stETH, sfrxETH, rETH, mETH, ETHx, and swETH. Origin Ether (OETH) deposits receive a 2x bonus on their primeETH XP, all while earning 2% higher yield than leading LSTs.
Joining EigenLayer’s restaking ecosystem has never been easier. Follow the steps below to start earning Restaked Points and primeETH XP on your LSTs as soon as EigenLayer deposits open.
If you don’t already own a supported liquid staking token (LST), this is your first step. Swap ETH for any supported LSTs on Uniswap or your preferred DEX to get started. If you want to maximize your XP, Origin Ether has deep liquidity on Curve and supports direct mints on oeth.com.
Next, you can swap any supported LST for primeETH on PrimeStaked.com. Prime Staked ETH will begin accruing LST yield from its underlying assets, and XP and Restaked Points will begin to accrue once EigenLayer’s deposits open on February 5th at 12 pm PST.
Sit back, relax, and watch that prime XP start rolling in. You can view your current holdings, as well as your EigenLayer Restaked Points and XP, on PrimeStaked.com.
Next, let’s dive into why primeETH XP matters, and how you can maximize your XP earnings.
PrimeStaked will begin to issue primeETH Experience Points at 12 pm PST on February 5th. Why should you care? PrimeETH XP measures your contribution to the PrimeStaked ecosystem. Accumulating XP positions you well for future token rewards.
As such, you’ll want to maximize your primeETH XP earnings. There’s a few things you can do to achieve this, but the three most important factors are being early, going big, and depositing OETH. OETH deposits receive a 2x bonus on XP through the lifetime of the campaign, while being early gives big short-term incentives.
During the 4-day EigenLayer deposit window, primeETH holders will be granted an early deposit multiplier. For the first 24 hours after EigenLayer opens deposits, primeETH holders will earn a 5x multiplier. In the following 24 hours, primeETH holders will earn a 4x multiplier. Each day LST restaking is enabled on EigenLayer, the early deposit multiplier decreases by 1x until the multiplier stops on February 9th.
primeETH XP will accrue based on the amount of LSTs you hold per hour. The exact calculation is as follows:
Whale bonuses are applied to primeETH holders that hold above a certain threshold of tokens. You can see the how to qualify for a whale bonus below:
Importantly, if a user qualifies for several multipliers, these bonuses are added together, not multiplied. For example, an OETH depositor that deposits 1 OETH on day 1 would earn a 7x bonus on XP for the first 24 hours. When the early deposit multiplier decreases to 4x on day two, then the depositor will earn a 6x bonus on XP.
As EigenLayer deposits near, the excitement within our community is palpable. Liquid restaking is undergoing a pivotal moment that offers unprecedented opportunities to participants. Be the first to know about PrimeStaked updates by following us on X. If you have further questions or want to see what the team is up to in real time, we invite you to join our Discord.
Over $2 billion in ETH and Ethereum LSTs have been deposited on EigenLayer, yet most of these funds are illiquid.
PrimeStaked addresses this liquidity problem with its liquid restaking token, primeETH. primeETH provides unique benefits over direct restaking, such as maintaining liquidity and earning extra incentives on top of restaking points and LST yield.
PrimeStaked launches alongside EigenLayer’s deposit window on February 5th at 12 pm PST. As the premiere asset on PrimeStaked, OETH deposits will earn a 2x multiplier on their primeETH XP.
Aside from bonus XP, Origin Ether provides a unique advantage over traditional LSTs. OETH currently yields 2% higher than leading liquid staking tokens, as it deploys DeFi strategies to stack LST yield and DeFi yield.
All OETH yield strategies undergo a rigorous audit process, with over a dozen tier-one audits made on its codebase. OpenZeppelin is the primary auditor for Origin Ether, while TrailofBits and Narya have also provided security reviews.
Note: For users preferring to use one of the other supported collateral assets, please skip to Step 2.
Origin Ether (OETH) is liquid on Curve and Uniswap, with the most liquidity currently offered on Curve.
For users seeking zero slippage, OETH can be minted directly on app.oeth.com. The OETH dapp also supports direct redemptions, allowing users to redeem their Origin Ether for its underlying collateral.
Once you’ve acquired OETH, you’re ready to begin your restaking journey. To start earning EigenLayer points, 2x your XP, and Origin Ether’s boosted yield, you can mint Prime Staked ETH on PrimeStaked.com with the OETH in your wallet.
While direct redemptions for primeETH aren’t supported at launch, holders will be able to swap their primeETH for ETH on Uniswap V3.
That’s it – simply hold primeETH and watch your XP grow at twice the rate of other LST deposits. You can view your current holdings on PrimeStaked.com, as well as your accrued EigenLayer Points and XP.
There are three factors that can increase your primeETH XP earnings: your deposit amount, the time you deposit, and the type of asset you use to mint Prime Staked ETH. We’ve given some examples of how points are earned below, highlighting how these factors impact your primeETH XP.
First and foremost, what is primeETH XP? PrimeETH Experience Points measure your contribution to the PrimeStaked ecosystem. Accumulating XP positions you well for future token rewards.
That being said, you’ll want to maximize your primeETH XP earnings. There’s a few things you can do to achieve this, but the three most important factors are being early, going big, and depositing OETH. OETH deposits receive a 2x bonus on XP through the lifetime of the campaign, while being early gives big short-term incentives.
During the 4-day EigenLayer deposit window, users will be granted an early deposit multiplier. For the first 24 hours after EigenLayer opens deposits, primeETH holders will earn a 5x multiplier. In the following 24 hours, primeETH holders will earn a 4x multiplier. Each day LST restaking is enabled on EigenLayer, the early deposit multiplier decreases by 1x until the multiplier stops on February 9th.
primeETH XP will be accrue based on the amount of LSTs you hold per hour. The exact calculation is as follows:
Whale bonuses are applied to primeETH holders that hold above a certain threshold of tokens. You can see the how to qualify for a whale bonus below:
Importantly, multipliers are added to each other. Depositing 1 OETH at launch earns 7x points (5x early deposit multiplier plus 2x OETH multiplier). Some different scenarios are shown below, highlighting each users’ point multiplier based on their actions.
Bob deposits 3,000 OETH at launch. He receives a 5x early deposit multiplier, a 1.2x whale multiplier, and and 2x OETH multiplier.
Bob's bonus for that day would be 400% + 20% + 100% = 520% (6.2x).
Ashley deposits 50 stETH on day two. She receives a 4x early deposit multiplier, a 1.05x whale multiplier, and no OETH multiplier.
Ashley's bonus for that day would be 300% + 5% (4.05x).
Jake deposits 50 OETH and 50 stETH right before EigenLayer deposits close. After deposits close, Jake earns a 1.1x whale multiplier and a 2x OETH multiplier on half his holdings.
Jake’s bonus following EigenLayer deposits closing would be 200%(*0.5) + 10% (2.1x).
If Jake were to instead deposit 100 OETH, he would receive a 3.1x multiplier through the lifetime of the campaign.
We hope this helps you in your restaking journey. For any further questions, feel free to reach out to us via Discord. To stay up to date with primeETH announcements, follow PrimeStaked on X.
Ethereum restaking has rapidly become one of 2024’s most disruptive narratives. The thriving sector is teeming with innovation, offering new opportunities for builders and users alike.
Have you heard the rumor? Something new is coming this Monday.
Origin Ether’s debut as one of the first LSTs on EigenLayer marked our entrance into restaking. In just seven months, EigenLayer has captured more than $2B in TVL – highlighting the Ethereum community’s massive enthusiasm around restaking.
Now, we're excited to usher in a new era for restaking liquidity with the launch of Prime Staked ETH (primeETH). As an innovative liquid restaking token (LRT), primeETH is here to make capital work smarter and liquidity flow faster, all while further promoting OETH.
Any supported LSTs can be bought and deposited until deposits close next Friday at 12 pm PT. Should you wish to take advantage of primeETH’s unique benefits with already restaked assets, please make sure to unstake your EigenLayer assets as soon as possible. Given that this process takes 7 days, it’s vital to unstake soon in order to transition to primeETH. Users who delay the transition may miss the next restaking window, and lose the chance to be an early primeETH adopter.
Excitingly, primeETH holders will stack ETH staking yield, primeETH XP, and EigenLayer points while maintaining liquidity. Let’s dive into the benefits of primeETH, how it works, and how you can get involved when EigenLayer reopens its deposits on February 5th, 2024 at 12 pm PT.
With the introduction of primeETH, we will be debuting a new incentive program: primeETH XP. Users that hold primeETH will receive LST yield, EigenLayer Points, and Experience Points. OETH deposits will receive an additional 2x bonus on their XP.
*Note that transferring primeETH to another wallet will disqualify your 2x bonus.
primeETH XP will accrue based on the amount of LSTs you hold per hour. The exact calculation is as follows:
Early depositors will also earn an XP multiplier on their deposit; XP boosts are as follows:
Moreover, you can earn an XP bonus depending on the amount of LSTs you deposit:
We’re always exploring new avenues to reward our community. By harnessing primeETH, users can accrue XP from the campaign’s outset, leaving you well-positioned for future rewards.
Bob deposits 3,000 OETH at launch and receives a 5x early deposit multiplier, a 1.2x whale multiplier, and and 2x OETH multiplier.
Bob's bonus for that day would be 400% + 20% + 100% = 520% (6.2x).
Ashley deposits 50 stETH on day two and receives a 4x early deposit multiplier, a 1.05x whale multiplier, and no OETH multiplier.
Ashley's bonus for that day would be 300% + 5% (4.05x).
At launch, Prime Staked ETH will support OETH, stETH, mETH, sfrxETH, and ETHx. Stay tuned to our Twitter as we announce support for additional LSTs in the coming days.
Holders can deposit any of these tokens to mint primeETH, representing their capital and accrued yield. At the same time, supplied LSTs are restaked on EigenLayer to earn EigenLayer points, and eventually, restaking yield.
On Monday, deposits will open for supported LSTs on PrimeStaked.com. To take advantage of the early deposit multiplier, be sure to deposit soon after EigenLayer’s deposit window opens on February 5th at 12pm PT.
Get ready, as we are set to align the launch of primeETH with Eigenlayer's deposit window, which opens on February 5th at 12pm PT and closes on February 9th at 12pm PT. In the days ahead, we'll be sharing updates on additional LSTs that will be supported. Prepare your LSTs to deposit in primeETH: PrimeStaked.com on Monday!
Every month, the Origin team publishes an update to our token holders and the broader community. We hope you enjoy our January 2024 edition.
You heard that right. Listen up because a lot is cooking. 🥩
Juicy yields, juicy rewards! Rumor has it a new LRT is launching on Monday called Prime Staked ETH or primeETH for short. This new liquid restaking token is launching Monday in alignment with EigenLayer deposits reopening at 12pm PT that will provide a great way for EigenLayer fans to stack ETH yield, earn EigenLayer points, and additional experience point (XP) incentives!
If you’re currently staked on EigenLayer, you might want to hit that unstake button ASAP. A better way to stack EigenLayer points is coming, and you won’t want to miss it! Don’t say we didn’t warn you!
In addition, OGN is getting an exciting new DeFi product soon. We’re shipping at a blazing speed this quarter to drive new value to all of our users, partners, and tokens! Learn more about our progress in January below.
Welcome to our first Token Holder Update of 2024! Just a month into the year, we’ve made substantial progress on our products, working towards greater accessibility and generating new value for our community. Last month, the team passed new governance proposals, launched a new dapp for OGV, and made significant progress on a new product for OGN.
Some highlights from January include:
Let’s delve into these developments further, highlighting the progress we’ve made thus far in 2024.
Welcome to DeFi, OGN.
Two days ago, we announced OGN will be getting a new product in the realm of DeFi. We’ve been building behind the scenes, remaining laser focused on accruing new value to OGN and elevating it to new heights.
Over the course of the next few months, we’ll be introducing an innovative new product which serves to grow Origin Protocol into a comprehensive DeFi ecosystem. Origin’s upcoming product is set to drive new value to OGN while also complementing our other offerings, creating a powerful flywheel for Origin. It's a major step that will not only enhance OGN, but also boost OETH and OUSD.
What’s coming isn't just an extension of Origin DeFi; it's an exciting, new product we believe will unlock new use cases, starting with LSTs and extending to various other asset classes.
The current Total Addressable Market (TAM) for DeFi is over $60 billion, dwarfing that of NFTs. With this strategic addition for Origin Token, OGN investors will now gain exposure to both these vibrant segments. This dual exposure positions OGN as a more versatile asset, tapping into the vast potential of both DeFi and NFTs.
The new product is in its intermediate stages of development, and we're nearly ready to spill the beans on a major move that's set to supercharge OGN in 2024. Stay tuned, as we’ll be announcing more on OGN’s new product this quarter.
Get liquidity from restaking, earn EigenLayer points, and level up with XP by holding primeETH.
As EigenLayer’s deposit window nears, a new way to access EigenLayer points is coming. Get ready, as we’re gearing up for the launch of Prime Staked ETH (primeETH) on Monday, February 5th.
Prime Staked ETH is a liquid restaking token built on top of EigenLayer that keeps deposits liquid while participating in Ethereum’s restaking ecosystem. By holding primeETH, you’ll earn EigenLayer points, staking yield, and XP points. At launch, primeETH will support deposits for OETH, stETH, and other LSTs supported on EigenLayer. Excitingly, the Origin community will receive unique benefits, such as an XP multiplier for depositing OETH.
Experience Points (XP) measure your contribution to this new restaking ecosystem and will hold several benefits moving forward. By holding primeETH, users can accrue XP from the campaign’s outset, leaving you well-positioned for future rewards. A points multiplier will be granted for early depositors, which we’ll be sharing more details on soon.
As a reminder, it takes 7 days to withdraw from EigenLayer. If you plan to use LSTs that are already restaked, be sure to enter the withdrawal queue before 12pm PT on Friday to deposit into primeETH before EigenLayer’s restaking window closes on 2/09 at 12 pm PT. If you withdraw after Friday at 12 pm PT, your funds will be stuck in the withdrawal queue during the deposit window!
There’s a new dapp for OGV – it’s our final step before a unified experience for OETH, OUSD, and OGV!
We’re thrilled to have launched a new dapp for Origin DeFi Governance last month. The dapp now mirrors the aesthetics of our OToken dapps and uses similar architecture across all three platforms. Along with this reskin comes tons of new features, including historical voting activity, a new governance proposals tab, and a better staking experience.
Excitingly, the new OGV dapp marks our last step before releasing the new Origin DeFi dapp. This new unified experience will showcase OETH, OUSD, and OGV in one place, leading to better discoverability and an enhanced feature set.
Also in January, OGV stakers passed a proposal to improve OGV buybacks. The proposal aims to integrate an OLAS (prev. Autonolas) service agent to intelligently purchase OGV based on market conditions, optimizing buybacks to accrue the maximum amount of OGV for stakers. Alongside improving buybacks, the Origin DeFi DAO stands to earn OLAS incentives by creating a service agent. These incentives could accelerate the DAO’s revenue, leading to extra value for stakers.
Our community of token holders remains committed to our long-term success, with over 80% of OGV supply staked. Stakers enjoy up to 29.2% vAPY on their veOGV, as well as governance rights that determine the future of Origin DeFi.
Here’s how OETH and OUSD are working nonstop to earn you passive yield.
Origin Ether’s 30-day trailing APY in January sat between 4.5% and 5.5%, achieving higher yield than stETH, rETH, and frxETH. While yield decreased from December, this is primarily due to a temporary pause in Curve incentives that occurred in early January. Our AMO strategy on Curve is earning incentives once again, leading to increased rewards tokens being harvested for OETH holders. As such, we expect Origin Ether’s yield to increase in February.
Origin Dollar’s 30-day trailing APY continued to increase in January, thanks to a rising demand for stablecoins in DeFi. At the end of the month, Origin Dollar’s trailing 30-day APY sat above 6.3%. The potential rewards for OUSD holders, however, has increased well beyond its underlying APYs. OUSD collateral has earned substantial points from its Morpho and Ondo allocations, creating potential asymmetric upside when these protocols distribute their tokens. Adoption for Morpho and Ondo has increased substantially since OUSD integrated these protocols, with a combined TVL of over $900 million.
Learn how you can get involved in our expanding restaking ecosystem, earning points along the way.
In December, Origin Ether was added to EigenLayer’s restaking ecosystem. Over 11,300 OETH is restaked, and EigenLayer paused deposits nearly a month ago. We expect this number to start climbing on February 5th, as EigenLayer plans to reopen OETH deposits for a 4-day window.
OETH restakers have already gotten rewarded for their participation. Wallets that accrued at least 720 restaking points before January 17th qualify for the AltLayer airdrop, a restaked rollup launching with support from EigenLayer and Celestia.
Users looking to leverage their OETH can now do so on Timeswap and MYSO Finance. Timeswap is a money market protocol that promises zero liquidations, using fixed maturity dates for loans. Similarly, MYSO offers zero-liquidation loans via covered call options. By integrating OETH on these protocols, holders can leverage their position, earning the extra yield that comes from increased exposure.
We’re looking for a unicorn. Have you seen one that’s well versed in Solidity?
As we stepped into 2024, we’ve been dedicated to deepening our global community connections. Our Zealy sprint wrapped up in January, highlighting the two-month journey with rewards for the top 20 achievers. In a spirit of collaboration, we partnered with Vaultcraft, engaging members from both communities in activities that led to a random distribution of 10,000 oVCX tokens. Looking ahead, we're excited to organize more interactive events across the Origin community, particularly through our Origin community rewards program on Discord.
As a reminder, we’re looking to hire a Senior Smart Contract Engineer. Our ideal candidate has experience overseeing the development of smart contracts that hold significant value, and they must have a deep understanding of smart contract security. Sound like someone you know? Send them our way, and if they join the team, we’ll make it worth your while!
That’s all for now! February is set to be an exceptional month for Origin, with primeETH launching and the full reveal of OGN’s new product just around the corner. To be the first to know, be sure to join our weekly Community Call on Discord and follow us on X.
Curious to learn more about Origin’s developments? You can read more about the updates mentioned above on our blog. We’ve linked some of our favorites from January below:
We’re excited to announce that OGV has been listed on HEXN’s feeless Smart Exchange.
HEXN is a robust crypto platform that acts as a seamless gateway to on-chain transacting. The site offers easy on-ramping via fiat currencies, yield-bearing HODL products, and a versatile exchange with unique mechanics.
As a crypto management platform, HEXN features built-in wallets for users’ convenience. Importantly, to set up an account you can use Web2 social sign-ins without needing to deal with highly technical on-chain activities.
At present, users can trade OGV against USDT on HEXN via the exchange’s regular swap feature. OGV may also be added to the portal’s HODL and soon-to-launch lending product at a later date.
https://twitter.com/hexn_io/status/1752319743086727344
Listing on HEXN brings OGV to a fresh audience, empowering users to harness Origin DeFi Governance regardless of their technical proficiency.
As the governance and value-accrual token of the Origin DeFi ecosystem, OGV plays a vital role in shaping Origin’s incisive yield-generating products.
Users can stake OGV on time horizons of up to 4 years in return for sustainable APYs derived from a share of OETH and OUSD’s revenue. At the same time, stakers receive voting power in the form of veOGV. These voting rights can be exercised to decide on treasury allocations and fresh proposals.
We’ve been working hard to overhaul the Origin DeFi ecosystem, with a brand new dapp now live for OGV.
Join Origin’s Discord and follow us on X to be among the first to hear about fresh offerings.
Shape the future of yield with OGV: Governance portal
Editor's note – this article was written in January 2024, before the proposal to simplify and strengthen OETH. Origin Ether now operates as a true LST.
Origin Ether is a next-generation yield aggregator for Ethereum, fully backed by ether and ETH LSTs. One of the liquidity provision strategies used by OETH to earn yield is providing liquidity to the OETH/ETH Curve Pool and staking the LP tokens on Convex. An OETH holder can do what the strategy does (by providing liquidity to that Curve Pool directly) to earn rewards.
And we have had people ask us about it. So, we did an analysis to scrutinize the question: Is it more lucrative to hold OETH or actively engage in the Curve Pool for liquidity provision?
We’ve prepared a set of on-chain and off-chain data to supply us with the proper information to analyze APYs for holding OETH and providing OETH liquidity via Curve and Convex. Our process and findings are highlighted below.
To lay the groundwork for our exploration, we built a simulation model using information from various data sources. Liquidity provision events on the OETH/ETH Curve Pool and Reward Payout data from the OETH Convex Booster contracts were some of the on-chain data we relied on.
These are the contract addresses and the events we used in the analysis:
We also needed data from centralized data sources, like Curve OETH/ETH Pool's APY as well as OETH's APY, to use it with the simulation model. We used DeFiLlama as a data source for getting the Curve OETH/ETH Pool's APY, and our own analytics endpoint came in handy to get data on OETH yield.
Calculating yields for OETH is pretty straightforward; we sum all the yield accumulated over a specified period of time. However, it can be very tricky with Convex/Curve pools because the yield is generated by fee swaps and rewards tokens. To simplify things, we decided to compute the APY from the pools as we do for OETH.
OETH is a rebasing token – your balance compounds and increases over time as you earn more yields without have to do anything to "claim" or "restake" it. However, when providing liquidity to Curve pools, you have to claim the reward tokens, liquidate them, and change your liquidity position; each of these transactions is going to have some gas cost associated with it. So, to get a more accurate insight, we also include the gas costs for transactions of all the events we are interested in.
For the Convex pool, the transaction cost is taken into account when the Liquidity Provider stakes, withdraws, or claims their rewards.
For the Curve pool, the transaction cost is considered for all liquidity position changes.
For the Rewards tokens swaps, we didn’t add any cost.
There was a very substantial episode happening at the end of July where Curve was being attacked, and the OETH AMO removed all the liquidity from its Curve strategies. This caused the Convex Pool to yield 114% on the 31st of July. After the curve issues were solved, the AMO added the liquidity back, normalizing the situation.
A detailed examination was conducted to compare earnings between holding OETH and providing liquidity to the Convex Pool. In the dataset we used, there were 47 liquidity providers (excluding OETH's Curve AMO Strategy).
Out of the 47 liquidity providers, only 12 made more money by providing liquidity to the pool directly. The remaining 40 would've earned more if they had just held OETH in their wallet. Note that, of the 12 liquidity providers, only 5 still have their liquidity position active. Should they decide to close their position, they'll incur a bit more cost in the form of gas for removing the liquidity.
Since we know the APY spiked a lot during the day when Curve was under attack, we decided to see what would happen if we removed that period of rewards from the data. And it turns out that only 6 out of 47 people actually made more money from their liquidity positions, as compared to just holding OETH. Of the 6 users, 4 of them have their liquidity position active.
Going through the data, we wanted to find liquidity providers who have the biggest gap with the OETH yields. Here are the top 5 addresses that could've earned more with OETH:
There were 11 people who tried to beat OETH's yield but ended up losing money (excluding the days of the Curve pool attack). Here are the top 5 losses:
OETH and similar aggregators facilitate achieving a genuine yield, sparing users from the intricacies of individual strategies. While providing liquidity on Convex may make sense in specific scenarios, a cost analysis shows that most people are better off holding OETH than independently engaging with Convex pools. The main takeaways you can take from this analysis are:
