Avalanche is a well-established Layer-1 and there are plenty of yield opportunities to explore in its DeFi ecosystem, which has a current TVL above $1 billion. The Core Wallet is part of an Avalanche-native platform that also includes a bridge for transferring assets across to the network, and some key DeFi protocols to look at include Avant, Stable Jack, and Pharaoh, among many others.
Moments when the market is down can provide a great opportunity to look around new ecosystems while waiting for sentiment to approve, and you can get a good idea of which protocols continue to look impressive. We recently looked at Sonic, so check this earlier Sonic DeFi guide to get up to date with what’s happening there, but this week we’ll take a look at Avalanche, a familiar Layer-1 competitor with an expanding DeFi ecosystem.
Avalanche in Use
In terms of TVL, Avalanche is the tenth biggest chain for DeFi use, with a current DeFi TVL just above $1 billion, and 426 protocols in operation, while there are almost 62,000 daily active addresses.
Notably, Avalanche has also been in the crypto news recently for its plans to put land records on-chain in a District Administration in India, and before that, for the launch of the Avalanche Card, a Visa credit card that allows holders to spend against AVAX, wrapped AVAX, USDC and USDT.
Wallets to Use on Avalanche
There are several wallets you can use on the Avalanche blockchain, and the most familiar option is MetaMask–you’ll just need to switch the network to Avalanche.
Alternatively, among others there are Core Wallet, which is a dedicated Avalanche product and part of a comprehensive Crypto Command Center, while Rabby is a solid alternative to MetaMask.
You’ll need USDC on Avalanche to make use of the yield opportunities on the protocols we’re going to look at, and at least a small amount of AVAX to pay for gas fees on Avalanche. To bridge assets from Ethereum to Avalanche, there’s the Core Bridge, which is part of the same platform as the Core Wallet mentioned above. Alternatively, as a third party bridge Stargate Finance enables transfers across a wide range of chains.
Avalanche Yield Opportunities
Let’s move on to some protocols offering good yield opportunities right now, but before using any DeFi application, always be aware of the risks involved, which include: smart contract vulnerabilities, market volatility and impermanent loss, frontend attacks, and systemic risks across the crypto ecosystem.
Avant
This protocol currently offers an APY of 14.32% on its avUSD stable token, which is featured as soon as you land on the Avant site. To get hold of the token, you need to click where it says Mint Now and you’ll be taken to the app.
From there, you can connect your wallet and exchange USDC for avUSD, meaning that the avUSD is minted in the process of depositing USDC. This is also where you should visit to change avUSD back to USDC, and to do that you’ll need to click on the Redeem tab, but note that redemption can take up to seven days.
Having received avUSD, you then need to click on the Stake tab, and you can deposit avUSD in return for the savUSD liquid staking token, which will accrue yield rewards as long as the avUSD remains staked. Unstaking takes place from the same interface (click the Unstake tab), but takes seven…
