xALGO launches on Avalanche
Folks Finance bridges Liquid Staking product into popular EVM Blockchain
December 29th, 2023
Folks Finance, the leading DeFi app on Algorand, continues its expansion into new networks by bringing xALGO into the Avalanche ecosystem. Powered by Wormhole technology, this is the first Avalanche-Algorand cross-chain DeFi product available.
xALGO is a liquid staking derivative; a yield-bearing version of ALGO which accrues value from Algorand Governance rewards. It is designed to consistently rise against the price of ALGO as the interest from Governance is collected. xALGO went live on BNB Chain in May 2023, and Avalanche is the second chain to welcome the premier ALGO liquid staking product.
xALGO can be obtained through two primary methods: minting and swapping.
Minting xALGO is a simple process of committing ALGO on the Folks Finance app, which will initiate minting and depositing of the xALGO into an Avalanche wallet.
You can also swap for xALGO on our partner DEX Trader Joe. Upon launch, two pools will be established for xALGO.
- xALGO/AVAX — Essential for bootstrapping adoption and sparking interest in the community.
- xALGO/sAVAX — In partnership with Benqi, the leading DeFi protocol on Avalanche, we’ve established a pool between the two liquid staking derivatives.
Click here to navigate to the xALGO Minting Application.
Benedetto Biondi, CEO of Folks Finance: “Our team has been researching which chain to dock our xALGO ship, metaphorically speaking. We needed a high quality network with a vibrant community. On Avalanche, we found great partners in Trader Joe and Benqi, so we determined it was the best place to bring xALGO.”
Matthew Schmenk, Sr. BD Associate at Ava Labs: “We’re excited to see further expansion of liquid staking possibilities in the Avalanche ecosystem. This is a good opportunity for Folks Finance to leverage the Trader Joe and Benqi networks to bootstrap adoption.”
Dan Mgbor, Cofounder at BENQI: “Liquid staking tokens (LSTs) will continue to gain adoption across the industry and it is important to establish close partnerships between the premier LSTs of each ecosystem. We are delighted to be working with Folks Finance to help accelerate the cross-chain adoption of xALGO and expand the utility of sAVAX.”
Blue, Head of Marketing & Growth at Trader Joe: “We’ve been in contact with the Folks Finance team for a number of months and we’re delighted to now move forward and help onboard xALGO to the Avalanche Ecosystem. Furthermore, it’s great to collaborate alongside Benqi to make this happen.”
Don’t miss the opportunity to mint xALGO at the start of each quarter. The minting period opens after January 5th and will last until January 15th, 2024. Written and video tutorials on how to mint or obtain xALGO will be published in the first week of January. Keep up to date on announcements by following Folks Finance’s social channels.
About Folks Finance:
Folks Finance is a leading DeFi platform providing innovative tools for lending, borrowing, trading and managing digital assets, all in one place. Folks Finance streamlines the DeFi experience with a UI and UX competitive to centralized exchanges, all while running on permissionless smart contract technology. Folks is supported by some of the leading investors in the space, such as Borderless Capital, Jump Crypto, ParaFi Capital, Coinbase Ventures, OKX Blockdream Ventures, Genesis Capital, and the Algorand Foundation. For more information, visit https://folks.finance
About Avalanche:
Avalanche is a smart contracts platform that scales infinitely and regularly finalizes transactions in less than one second. Its novel consensus protocol, Subnet infrastructure, and HyperSDK toolkit enable Web3 developers to easily launch powerful, custom blockchain solutions. Build anything you want, any way you want, on the eco-friendly blockchain designed for Web3 devs.
