2023 Recap: A Transformative Year for the Radix Ecosystem
In 2023, the Radix Ecosystem experienced an exciting period of growth and development driven by initiatives that fostered innovation and community engagement.
Here's a look at the key milestones and developments of 2023.
Q1: Empowering Innovators and Developers
The year began with a strong focus on nurturing talent and innovation within the Radix community. The inaugural Cohort of the “Radix Grants Program,” launched as a 12-week initiative, played a significant role. Inspired by Y Combinator, this program supported entrepreneurs in turning their ideas into successful market-ready products. Each participant received $30,000 in XRD tokens, expert guidance, and the opportunity to present their projects at Consensus 2023 in Austin, Texas, one of the biggest events in the Web3 industry.
Another highlight of Q1 was the Scrypto DeFi Challenge, which encouraged the development of DeFi functionalities using Scrypto, Radix's native smart contract language. This challenge offered $50,000 in XRD prizes, concluding with prize announcements on April 18th, 2023. The submissions were judged based on their quality, functionality, creativity, and alignment with DeFi principles.
In parallel, the Scrypto Incentives Program, initiated during the Alexandria era, continued to reward developers for their innovative contributions to the Radix Ecosystem. This program offered up to $200 in XRD for each accepted Scrypto blueprint and recognized individual developers for their exceptional work.
Learn more about Developer Incentives, win $200 with your Scrypto code
The launch of “Scrypto 101” in January 2023 marked another significant milestone. This 20-hour online course was designed to teach anyone in Scrypto for free, from beginner to advanced levels. With over 1200 registrations so far, it offers a comprehensive learning experience, including incentives for participation, a prize of $200 in XRD for valid blueprint submissions, practical coding examples, and programming exercises.
Q2: Enhancing Developer Experience and Showcasing Ecosystem Growth
The second quarter saw the launch of “RCnet,” a crucial development that provided developers with essential tooling and standards for testing their dApp in anticipation of the Babylon mainnet upgrade. RCnet introduced innovative features like transaction preview within the Wallet and user-customizable deposit guarantees.
One of Q2’s highlights was Radix's vibrant presence at Consensus 2023. The Radix team showcased its upcoming Babylon upgrade and five Ecosystem projects, generating significant interest and excitement in its unique platform features. This event reinforced Radix's position in the Web3 industry and highlighted the Ecosystem's potential for growth and innovation.
The introduction of the Babylon Booster Grant in Q2 supported the post-Babylon upgrade phase. This initiative aimed to stimulate the development of various dApps within the Radix Ecosystem. Projects with a ready Minimum Viable Product (MVP) would have been eligible for up to $15,000 in XRD tokens and co-marketing opportunities after the Babylon launch, emphasizing Radix's commitment to expanding its dApp Ecosystem.
Q3 Highlights: RCnet Releases and Babylon Upgrade Implementation
As anticipation built toward the Babylon upgrade, Q3 witnessed substantial progress achieved by the Radix core development team with the release of two new versions of RCnet testnet. In July, "RCnet v2” was launched, a significant step in implementing Radix testnet with advanced features and tools. This was followed by the release of “RCnet v3” at the end of August, focusing on stabilization and minor tweaks, a final update for the smooth implementation of the upcoming Babylon upgrade.
September 28th, 2023, was a landmark day for Radix as the public network successfully implemented the Babylon upgrade. This major update introduced advanced smart contract functionality and launched the new Radix Wallet for iOS and Android alongside significant user and developer tools. This marked a new era in DeFi and Web3. Now, accessibility and security are available to anyone, strengthening Radix's position in the blockchain and DLT space.
Q4: Breakthrough with Babylon and Ecosystem Expansion
The successful launch of the Babylon upgrade catalyzed remarkable growth across multiple metrics within the Radix network:
- Throughout the last quarter of 2023, multiple projects launched their MVP on mainnet, creating an ecosystem of more than 20 dApps plus various NFTs collections and meme coins.
- Total Value Locked (TVL) surpassed the $20 million threshold on November 21st, making Radix one of the fastest ecosystems to reach this milestone after smart contract enablement in mainnet.
- The ecosystem also grew with community support and innovative contributions. For instance, the user "Punk" demonstrated Radix Engine's capabilities through an arbitrage transaction, displaying outcomes instantly in the Radix Wallet preview.
These accomplishments were significantly supported by the RDX Works Team's dedicated efforts toward the builders on Radix. The 'Runs on Radix' initiative celebrated and elevated builders within the Radix Ecosystem and provided them with essential mentorship, masterclasses, and a platform to showcase their projects and achievements.
Moreover, the Babylon Booster Grants program, initiated in Q2 of 2023, came to fruition in Q4. Several projects that launched their MVPs on the mainnet were recognized and rewarded for their significant contributions to Radix. As a result of these grants, an environment of innovation was cultivated within the Radix Ecosystem.
Key mentions regarding projects in the Babylon Booster Grant program are:
- CaviarNine - a DeFi Hub that implements efficient trading, diverse liquidity options, and innovative features like the LSU Pool, Shape Liquidity, an on-ledger Order Book, Index Pools, and an Aggregator into Radix. CaviarNine was the first project in the Radix ecosystem to reach $10 million in Total Value Locked (TVL).
- Ociswap - a decentralized exchange that prioritizes user-friendly token swapping and liquidity provision focusing on concentrated liquidity. Ociswap also implemented features like dynamic fee settings and limit orders.
- DefiPlaza - a decentralized exchange built on Radix and Ethereum that maximizes capital efficiency for liquidity providers and users, utilizing a proprietary mechanism with single-side contracts, the platform's token DFP2, and a dynamic pricing algorithm called CALM.
- Weft Finance - a decentralized lending & borrowing platform that implemented unique features like 'Wefties’, which are NFTs representing loans and collateral that can be independently transferred.
- Trove - a pioneering peer-to-peer (P2P) trading platform with several key features, including open swaps, versatility for OTC deals and user-friendly trade proposals. Trove has rapidly gained traction within the Radix community as they recently surpassed 1.000.000 XRD of volume.
The success of these dApps in terms of TVL growth and users adoption has been further amplified by marketing initiatives that form part of the 'Runs on Radix' program, including producing demos with the founders and the 'ecosystem success' campaign to showcase the projects' achievements.
The last quarter of 2023 brought significant new exchange listings on AscendEX, Bitget, Bybit, and BitMex, while partnerships with Supra Oracles and Grove bolstered the network's infrastructure.
The integration of Radix into the Supra Oracles tech-stack will introduce "push" and "pull" Oracle services to Radix, offering precise data for over 100 crypto asset pairs and supporting a variety of Web3 and DeFi applications. Meanwhile, Atlan Digital's collaboration provided a comprehensive security assessment of the Radix Tech Stack before the Babylon network upgrade, highlighting Radix's commitment to platform security and reliability.
Additionally, the Radix Engine underwent a successful code audit by Hacken, affirming the robustness and security of the Radix technology.
2024: A Promising Future for Radix
2024 will mark a pivotal chapter in Radix's journey towards a radically better DeFi experience. Throughout this year, several positive developments will significantly impact the Radix Ecosystem:
- Keyrock deploys $10 Million to Radix Ecosystem. By optimizing market liquidity, Keyrock will facilitate trading environments where prices are more reflective of true market value, featuring narrower bid/ask spreads. This will enable larger trade volumes with minimal price impact, effectively reducing slippage and ensuring a more efficient, frictionless trading experience on Radix. The injection of liquidity by Keyrock is expected to benefit the backbone of DeFi in Radix, including dApps such as CaviarNine, Ociswap, and DefiPlaza.
- 25M XRD ($1M+) Ecosystem Fund to Support dApp Builders. The Ecosystem Fund aims to empower and accelerate the growth of the Radix builders' community by providing various activities, rewards, and grants such as developer incentives, milestone rewards, Booster Grants, Scrypto challenges, and the Radix Grants Program Cohort 2.
- The core development team will be dedicated to introducing Multi-Factor Authentication to the Radix Wallet, offering a unique and innovative approach in the Web3 industry. Be prepared to say goodbye to lengthy 12-24-word seed phrases and welcome a new era of on-chain account recovery and security. Moreover, the core development team is set to introduce an exciting enhancement to the user experience with the implementation of "deep linking." This feature opens up the possibility of seamlessly connecting the Radix Wallet in a mobile-only environment. With deep linking, users will have an extended range of options to interact with the Radix network directly through their phones, ensuring a more accessible and user-friendly experience when engaging with decentralized applications (dApps) on Radix. Learn more about the upcoming releases for the Radix Wallet by checking the Wallets section of the Roadmap on Radix Docs.
- RDX Works is gearing up to introduce an exciting new feature that will greatly enrich the developer experience: NFT-Based Pools & Pool Units. This addition is set to follow the footsteps of the previously successful Native Pools, marking another advancement in the Radix ecosystem. Unlike the existing fungible Pool Units, these innovative NFT-based Pool Units are crafted to encapsulate individual contributions within a pool. This development aims to overcome the constraints of traditional Pool Units, paving the way for a more personalized method of handling assets in the DeFi space.
This provides just a glimpse of what Radix has in store for 2024; stay tuned for a detailed article coming soon. Meanwhile, ensure you've downloaded the Radix Wallet to explore the upcoming features. If you're a developer, don't miss out – subscribe to the Developer Program and kickstart your journey as a Scrypto developer.