A new interpretation of Morph in the L2 siege: How do users and developers share the benefits of ecosystem construction?

Imagine, if you were asked to start from scratch and build a large and prosperous L2 ecosystem, what would you do?

Before 2023, public chains/L2s focused on innovations in on-chain use cases such as revenue, derivatives, and structured products, but were criticized for the "ghost town effect", and the users and liquidity of most networks were very bleak; in the past year, the L2 track has also begun to try new ideas. Among them, Blast, as a catfish in the L2 track, has started a cold start at a very low cost and leapfrogged to achieve hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars in TVL through the expected promotion of integral airdrops.

But, is the problem really solved? Looking back now, although the L2 track has ended the "public chain ghost town", it seems to have entered a new dilemma of "false TVL prosperity", and the new and old problems have become the two ends of the seesaw.

Against this backdrop, Morph has come up with a two-pronged approach, using testnet points airdrop incentives to cold-start + an ecosystem construction fund specifically for developers/DApps, taking into account both user/liquidity and ecosystem/consumer use cases, and then seeking to launch a new solution to end the two opposing extremes of "public chain ghost town" and "false TVL prosperity".

The "L2 Question" of Traffic or Ecology

The emergence of Blast in November 2023 is actually a breakthrough for the market's accumulated dissatisfaction with the previous Ethereum L2 track - relying solely on the expected airdrops, the TVL exceeded $500 million in 5 days, surpassing star L2 projects such as zkSync, Starknet, and Linea.

You should know that Blast had not yet launched the mainnet, and no users could experience participating DApps. Even so, TVL continued to break through the integer level, and quickly attracted a huge amount of funds of up to 2 billion US dollars in just a few months:

It ranks fourth in Ethereum L2, second only to the old L2 giants Arbitrum, Optimism and the Base network supported by giants such as Coinbase. The growth rate is crazy.

Blast also once inspired a big discussion in the community about L2 liquidity and scenario use cases. Its novel "users and liquidity are everything" approach has, to some extent, subverted the previous L2 growth model, and is seen as a new way to try to blaze a new trail of TVL first and then application.

In essence, Blast's "airdrop expectation + social fission" gameplay, essentially subverts the old gameplay of traditional L2/public chain that only talks about technology/ecology, is closer to the market, and accurately grasps the user's "investment and consumption" psychology, thereby replicating a marketing strategy similar to Pinduoduo in Web3.

This move can be regarded as a dimensionality reduction attack on the traditional L2 growth strategy, so both the communication effect and the growth rate are very successful. However, marketing is ultimately only a means of attracting traffic in the early stage. The Blast points gameplay and exit mechanism, which were controversial in the community a while ago, show that good ecological construction and service experience are still needed in the future to retain customers (rather than lock them in).

At the same time, this also reflects a "L2 question" worth pondering, that is, is it like Arbitrum, Optimism and other old L2s, by providing as comprehensive and rich application scenarios as possible to attract users and capital precipitation? Or should we learn from Blast’s approach, first attracting a huge amount of new users and funds, and then attracting project parties and DApps to migrate and build?

Each of them has its own advantages, and each faces its own new bottlenecks.

The new solution proposed by Morph is that the market (traffic-driving activities such as point incentives) and services (prosperity of on-chain scenario use cases) are not a conflicting binary opposition.

On the contrary, the two can be effectively connected and matched - while achieving the early flow of users and funds through incentives such as point airdrops, the ecosystem construction fund (about 30% of the ecosystem ratio, estimated to be as high as hundreds of millions of dollars), incubators hackathons and other activities are launched for developers to carry out a variety of on-chain scenarios, especially consumer-level scenario construction, so as to undertake the overwhelming users and liquidity:

1. In terms of community and users, Morph officially launched the Morph Holesky testnet on May 6, with enhanced performance and infrastructure, which fully matches the functions and performance of the upcoming mainnet. It can be used to preview all the functions planned to be provided by the mainnet for seamless transition in the future, and launched corresponding Morph point incentive activities to encourage users to actively interact and participate in early network liquidity and use case testing;

2. In terms of ecosystem construction, Morph continues to hold developer incentives and sharing activities in the form of incubators, hackathons, online and offline lectures for developers and DApps, encouraging and supporting different types of projects such as AI and GameFi on Morph. It is built on the blockchain and promises to launch an ecosystem fund specifically for developers/DApps to support long-term builders;

How do ordinary users and developers participate?

So from the perspective of ordinary users and developers, what specific forms can be involved at present?

For ordinary users, it is mainly the first season event "Genesis Jungle" of "Morph Zoo" launched on May 13. Currently, Morph points can be obtained through DApp interaction, sign-in voting, and platform tasks, and reference certificates for future token airdrops or other exclusive incentives can be accumulated.

For developers, there are more diverse choices. Whether it is hackathons and incubator programs for different types of projects such as AI, DeFi, GameFi, Infrastructure, or online and offline WorkShops and lectures around various application scenarios of Web3 technology, developers are encouraged to participate in the early construction of the Morph ecosystem and share comprehensive support such as Morph's initial airdrop and the quarterly return of the full first-year sorter fee profit.

Ordinary users: "Morph Zoo" first season event "Genesis Jungle"

On May 13, Morph launched the " Morph Zoo " multi-stage plan specifically for community users, aiming to attract and reward ecosystem participants in the Morph testnet and the final mainnet, and opened the first season of "The Genesis Jungle" event.

Each step of the interaction of ecosystem participants will receive Morph Points to represent their activities, participation and contribution in the Morph ecosystem. The official also directly hinted in the document that "Morph Points will play an important role considering future airdrops and other exclusive rewards."

In addition, it should be noted that Morph points are similar to soul-bound tokens, which are directly linked to the user's wallet and cannot be transferred. Currently, there are three main ways for users to earn Morph points in the "Genesis Jungle": Discovery Trail (DApp interaction), Voice of the Jungle (check-in voting) and Partners' Expedition (task platform).

1.Discovery Trail: DApp Interaction

According to the official statement, the Discovery Trail section allows users to explore the DApp world provided by Morph and discover Morph points rewards during the experience, which is a new round of DApp interaction process for the Morph Holesky test network in the conventional sense.

There are currently four DApps available for interaction on the official website. In addition to the cross-chain bridge Morph Bridge that community users are already familiar with, there are also liquidity protocol BulbaSwap , lending protocol Abra Finance and NFT trading market Morpha.NFT . The official website shows that more types of DApps will be launched later.

Morph Bridge

The full interactive experience of these 4 DApps is also very smooth. First of all, as in the previous round of testnets, “Morph Bridge” is selected to perform cross-chain token operations between the Ethereum Holesky testnet and the Morph testnet.

Of course, the premise is that we need to hold the test ETH of the Holesky test network in our wallet (Morph official documents also recommend QuickNode , Stakely.io , PoWFaucet three faucets).

At the same time, we can also join the Morph Discord community , enter the "discord-faucet" channel, and use the "/faucet+ address" command to obtain the test USDT.

After obtaining the test ETH and test USDT of the Holesky test network, we can perform cross-chain operations through "Morph Bridge":

Select the token and the corresponding amount, and cross the token from the Ethereum Holesky test network to the Morph Holesky test network on the "Deposit" page; the "Withdraw" page is just the opposite.

BulbaSwap

The second is "BulbaSwap", we can use the test ETH and test USDT that were previously cross-chained to Morph Holesky to perform regular Swap and Pool (group LP to add liquidity) operations.

For example, to exchange 5 USDT for ETH: first authorize the USDT contract call, and then confirm the Swap after completion, which means it is exchanged for 0.628083 ETH.

Then open the "Pool" page, click "Add V2 Liquidity", select USDT and ETH, enter 5 USDT, and the amount of ETH will be automatically matched to form LP. Finally, click "ADD LIQUIDITY" and confirm in the wallet.

To remove liquidity later, select the corresponding LP position in my position, then click "Remove" and confirm.

Abra Finance

Abra Finance allows us to get a similar crypto asset lending experience as Aave. First, you can click on the "Dashboard" page, select USDT in "Assets to supply", and then click Deposit.

Then you can enable the mortgage lending function for the deposited crypto assets, and then select other crypto assets for mortgage lending on the "Assets to borrow" page.

At the same time, you can view, track and manage your on-chain lending positions in real time.

Morpha.NFT

"Morpha.NFT" is an NFT trading market that allows users to search, select any NFT series, and conduct buying and selling operations.

Take the PandaGD series with the highest transaction volume as an example, we can choose any PandaGD NFT with an order for sale, click the "Buy" wallet signature to complete the purchase; the same is true for selling, click the "Sell" wallet signature to place an order for sale.

2. Voice of the Jungle: Sign in to vote

The Voice of the Jungle section "allows users to participate in shaping the Morph ecosystem through voting, thereby obtaining Morph points rewards", which means voting for the projects currently listed on the Morph official website event page.

There are currently 9 voting options. In addition to the three projects mentioned above, BulbaSwap, Abra Finance, and Morpha.NFT, there are also Public AI, PingPong, BitMetis, Starland AI, Rap Chain, and Song Protocol. These should also be the seed players for the next launch of the Morph Holesky test network or even the main network.

The key to this stage lies in "voting rights", that is, users cannot participate in voting at the beginning and must obtain voting rights through "daily sign-in".

It is also important to note that the official document specifically emphasizes that "only voting behavior can win Morph points, and simply accumulating voting rights without using them will not win points", which also shows that "voting" rather than "signing in" is the only consideration for whether or not to get points.

The corresponding "daily sign-in" rules are also quite interesting. Overall, the cycle is 7 days, and the reward multiplier is 2 times. The multiplier is increased in stages to encourage continuous sign-ins:2 (first day) + 4 (second day) + 6 (third day) + 8 (fourth day) + 10 (fifth day) + 12 (sixth day) 28 (seventh day, get an additional 2 times reward, that is, 14*2) = 70.

And when you sign in for the eighth consecutive day, you will start again from the first day of the new cycle. However, in order to reward users for their persistent sign-ins, the additional multiplier reward will be increased to 2*2=4 times on the 14th consecutive day. This means that on the 14th day, you actually get 14*4=56 voting rights, and the last day of each cycle thereafter is the same, following the increasing pattern of 28, 56, 84, and 112.

For example, if you sign in for 4 consecutive weeks (28 days), you will receive a total of 448 voting rights rewards: the same incremental voting rights for the first 6 days of each week (2+4+6+8+10+12) x4=168, plus the incremental multiplier reward on the 7th day of each week (28+56+84+112)=280, the sum of the two equals 448.

In short, stick to signing in every day to get more voting rights rewards, and the rewards will increase cumulatively with the increase in the number of sign-in days, especially after completing a full cycle, the reward increase will be larger and larger.

3.Partners' Expedition: Task Platform

The third part, Partners' Expedition, allows users to enter the list of Morph partners and earn Morph points while exploring new knowledge and networks, that is, completing the corresponding Bitget Wallet and Galxe tasks.

The tasks of Bitget Wallet are relatively simple. Enter the activity page, add the Ethereum Holekey test network and the Morph Holesky test network, and complete the (new user) token cross-chain. As of the time of posting, more than 40,000 users have participated.

Galxe’s tasks are more comprehensive. Users need to join the official Discord community, Telegram community, experience the Genesis Jungle, deposit ETH on the cross-chain bridge, token swap, and perform lending and borrowing interactive operations. As of the time of posting, more than 27,000 users have participated.

Finally, when the "Genesis Jungle" event ends, Morph will also count the total points obtained by users, which will basically serve as an important reference for users to obtain token airdrops and other exclusive rewards in the future.

Developers: Ecosystem construction dividend opportunity period

From the developer's perspective, Morph has recently launched a series of ecological activities and long-term plans, covering incubators/hackers for developers and projects in various segments, to encourage and support different types of projects and developers to participate, and the funding and other forms of support are also quite generous.

Combined with its incubator plan and the types of DApps that have been opened for interaction, Moprh is very likely to invest more resources to promote and incubate Consumer (social, entertainment, points), DeFi, AI and other types of projects in the future. This is also its main blue ocean to be built, so that it can develop a richer and more comprehensive L2 comprehensive ecology (recommended to watch " How to deploy contracts on Morph "), which is also a period of obvious Morph ecological dividend opportunities for developers and project parties in the next period of time.

Sparkloom Builder Program

On March 25, Morph announced the launch of the Sparkloom Builder Program, which will last for 4 months and include an online hackathon and incubator program. The hackathon prize pool is $20,000. The winner will be invited to join the Morph incubator program. The winner of the final incubator will have the opportunity to receive up to $100,000 in funding and share 30% of the total Morph airdrop.

Sparkloom Incubator Program

In addition, last month, Morph also launched the Sparkloom Incubator Program for 2 months, from April 29 to June 30, which is open to applications for high-quality projects in various fields such as DeFi, GameFi, Infrastructure, NFT Market, Metaverse/NFT, Middleware/Tools, etc.

Through this incubator program, Morph is committed to providing the winners with a hub that integrates funding, mentors, and incentives, providing all-round support including funding, airdrops, development guidance, etc.:

Quality Mentoring Courses:Selected projects can participate in tailored mentoring courses covering basic skills such as Web3 community building, marketing promotion strategies, token economics, and smart contract auditing, and receive professional guidance from heavyweight mentors from well-known institutions such as Dragonfly, LayerZero, The Block, Nansen, Pyth, etc.

Funding Support and Airdrop Incentives:Selected projects committed to long-term collaborative development with the Morph ecosystem will receive grants of up to $100,000 and will share 30% of Morph's initial airdrops in the future;

Reach more than 30 million crypto users:Through Morph's partnerships with top exchanges such as Bitget, MEXC, and Bitget Morph has established strategic partnerships with leading wallets such as Ethereum Wallet and Trust Wallet, and the selected projects will have the opportunity to directly reach global users;

Top resource links:The selected projects will obtain first-hand links to industry top resources, including well-known investors, outstanding project founders, top exchanges, etc. worldwide;

Full first-year sorter fee profit return:After receiving the profit from the first year's sorter fees, Morph will return it to the selected projects and pay it quarterly;

In general, developers and users/funds are two necessary options for L2 to build a prosperous ecosystem. Both hands must be grasped and both hands must be strong. Therefore, how to balance the appropriate incentives for both parties and guide more users and developers to participate has become the key to development from 0 to 1 and then to 100.

From this perspective, the new solution provided by Morph, whether it is the "Morph Zoo" related points activities that have just started the first season of activities, or the incubators, hackathons, and online and offline developer activities launched in recent months, are all maximizing the benefits for early participating users and developers, pooling resources, and jointly promoting a positive feedback loop of on-chain scenario use cases and user funds.

For users/developers with keen sense of smell and strong execution, this also means a rare bonus opportunity period:

Whether as a community user to earn points through the "Morph Zoo" event, or as a developer to take the lead in deploying different types of DApps such as Consumer Dapp, AI, GameFi, etc. to gain first-mover advantage, it is a blue ocean period. The users, projects, traffic and communities participating now will become the biggest help to each other.

Everything in the past is a prologue. From a macro perspective, if everything goes well, this set of combined punches does not rule out the possibility of laying the foundation for a new wave of DApps, new users and ultimately the growth of Morph Ecosystem TVL, thus taking a completely different step from the previous wave of L2/public chain craze.

欢迎加入律动 BlockBeats 官方社群：

Telegram 订阅群： https://t.me/theblockbeats

Telegram 交流群： https://t.me/BlockBeats_App

Twitter 官方账号： https://twitter.com/BlockBeatsAsia