New Protocols to Look Out For: Q2 2022
A roundup of launches worth tracking this quarter
Most "new" protocols in any given quarter are re-skins of something that worked last quarter. A few are structurally different. Here are the ones worth tracking in Q2 2022.
Retrograde
Aims to be the Convex model in the Terra ecosystem — aggregate locked ASTRO, redirect emissions, capture bribes. The strategy is proven; the question is whether Terra's bribe market becomes large enough to matter.
Multichain-native protocols
A handful of teams are launching on several L2s simultaneously, treating each chain as a distribution surface rather than a home. Watch how they handle liquidity fragmentation — the ones solving it well will compound advantages.
Retroactive rewards
Optimism's retroactive public goods funding inspired a wave of similar programs. Read the design docs carefully — "retroactive" covers everything from genuinely-retroactive-grants to thinly-disguised pre-mines.
What I'm not tracking
Yield optimizers that just wrap existing vaults. Fork-of-a-fork DEXs. NFT launches whose thesis is "what if bored apes but different theme." None of these are bad, but none will matter in twelve months.