Challenges Facing the Crypto Market: How to Drop User Barriers?

The current blockchain and crypto market has seen the emergence of many powerful decentralized products, but the user base for these products remains limited to those with a deeper understanding of the industry. The main reason is that ordinary users need to grasp specialized knowledge such as wallets, cross-chain bridges, and miner fees, which undoubtedly sets a high barrier to entry.

Currently, centralized exchanges serve as a temporary solution, providing convenience for users who wish to engage with but have not yet mastered the methods of using cryptocurrencies. However, centralized exchanges cannot fully leverage the powerful network effects of the decentralized ecosystem and open networks, and the products they offer are always just a subset of what is available on-chain. In contrast, permissionless protocols can deploy new types of meme coins, lending pools, and derivatives much faster than any centralized service, and this effect continues to strengthen as the network grows.

Infinex: A New Solution to Solve the DAPP User Experience Challenge

Poor user experience (UX) is a key barrier to the widespread adoption of blockchain technology. Despite the powerful features of current decentralized products, the high entry barriers create a significant gap between users and the products. Infinex aims to help users enter the decentralized world more easily by simplifying the user experience.

This comprehensive DeFi platform is dedicated to integrating decentralized ecosystems and applications under a single user experience layer designed specifically for users familiar with Web2. Infinex not only provides a simplified user interface but also unifies different decentralized ecosystems and applications through a unified user experience layer. Users can enjoy the advantages of decentralized products without needing to understand the complexities of blockchain technology. This approach makes it easier for users to access various decentralized services and fully leverage the powerful effects of decentralized networks, attracting more developers and users to join the ecosystem, driving the rapid emergence of innovative products, and accelerating the mainstream adoption of blockchain technology.

Current Data

On May 13th, Infinex opened account creation and deposit channels, announcing that it will distribute 377 million governance points GP to all deposit users in the next 30 days.

Currently, Infinex's total locked value across networks such as Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, Solana, Optimism, and Polygon has exceeded $110 million. This milestone marks the initial success of Infinex and lays a solid foundation for its future development.

Key Innovations and Breakthroughs

Infinex's innovations and breakthroughs are mainly reflected in the following aspects:

Enhance User Experience

Infinex enhances the user experience by simplifying user operations. It adopts a referral link and trading fee rebate mechanism, generating a public-private key pair for each user and storing it in the browser, automatically signing during transactions. These improvements make user operations more convenient, eliminating cumbersome on-chain operations and thus dropping the entry threshold. For example, Infinex generates a unique deposit address for each user, allowing deposits using USDT, USDC, or sUSD, with funds being transparent and traceable, ensuring security.

Enhance Liquidity and Market Appeal

Infinex plans to offer more efficient perpetual contract trading services by integrating with Synthetix Perps V3. It not only supports multiple collateral types but also enhances capital efficiency and reduces the risk for liquidity providers by using stablecoins like USDC. For example, using USDC as collateral allows liquidity providers to achieve an annualized return of 13.6% at a 110% collateralization rate, while SNX only yields 3% annualized return at a 500% collateralization rate.

Cross-Chain Expansion

Infinex supports multi-chain operations, allowing users to trade on multiple chains such as Ethereum, Optimism, Base, etc. This can expand the user base and bring more trading volume and revenue.

Enhance Market Competitiveness

The launch of Infinex aims to compete directly with centralized exchanges. By providing a similar user experience, Infinex hopes to attract more users from CEX to DEX. Additionally, the seamless experience layer design of Infinex further bridges the experiential gap between CeFi and DeFi, promoting the adoption of DeFi. For example, the highlighted features included in Infinex are login with username and password, multi-factor authentication, and cross-chain deposits, which make users feel as if they are using a centralized trading platform, but with the backend supported by decentralized and permissionless liquidity.

Analyzing the Infinex Governance Mechanism: The Role of GP and Patron NFTs

As a typical decentralized application, Infinex has built a community-centric governance framework. In this framework, governance points (GP) and Patron NFTs play a key role in ensuring the transparency of the protocol, the effectiveness of the incentive mechanisms, and the fairness of fund management.

Definition and Role of GP (Governance Points)

GP is the governance point used to reward and incentivize community members within the Infinex ecosystem. Community members can earn GP through various means, such as participating in GP Farming, being active on community platforms, joining governance conference calls, holding designated NFTs, and submitting and passing proposals. GP mainly plays the following roles within the Infinex governance framework:

• Participation in Governance: GP holders have the right to participate in Infinex's governance votes, including the approval and execution of various proposals.
• Redemption Rewards: GP can be used to redeem Patron NFTs, enhancing the status and influence of holders within the community.
• Community Incentives: Reward members who actively participate in community activities by distributing GP, promoting the healthy development of the ecosystem.

Definition and Function of Patron NFT

Patron NFT is a non-fungible token that represents the contributor identity in Infinex. Each Patron NFT can be obtained by burning 200,000 GP, and the minting fees will be allocated to the Infinex Treasury to cover operational expenses, growth and market incentives, and contributor alignment costs. The role of Patron NFT in the Infinex governance framework includes:

• Symbolizing Contributor Identity: Users holding Patron NFTs are regarded as sponsors of Infinex, enhancing their prestige and influence within the community.
• Participate in incentive programs: Patron NFT can serve as an incentive to reward members who make non-financial contributions to the Infinex protocol.
• Participation in Governance: Although the Patron NFT itself does not grant direct governance rights, its holders have a high reputation in the community, which can indirectly influence community decisions and governance.

Through GP and Patron NFT, Infinex has built a decentralized, transparent, and efficient governance framework that encourages community members to actively participate and contribute to the development of the ecosystem.

Infinex "Whitelisting Racing Event"

Infinex launched the whitelist racing event on May 13 at 00:00 UTC. Here is an overview of the event:

Create Account and Deposit

Starting from May 13th, 00:00 UTC, anyone can create an Infinex account and deposit USDC.

Governance Points (GP) Allocation

During the 30-day event, stakers will receive 377 million GP, a portion of the Patron NFT supply, and priority access to future integrations.

Infinex officially promises that the total supply of GP is limited to 630 million and will not turn into a "points scam."

GP is mainly used for governing Infinex, and the Infinex committee has allocated 3000 Patron NFTs to GP holders, with one NFT redeemable for every 200,000 GP.

Event Details

• The event starts on May 14 at 00:00 UTC (24 hours after the account is opened for deposits).
• Deposits will be locked during the event.
• Early deposits will receive more GP.
• 377 million GP will be distributed linearly to stakers based on the total TVL (Total Value Locked).

GP: Potential Economic Returns?

So, can GP bring potential profits to retail investors?

First, GP is an important review criterion for accessing the "ticket" to the official version of Infinex. According to official disclosures, Infinex has currently received over 200,000 whitelist applications, and the GP point system will be used to filter and determine which users can be the first to gain experience when Infinex launches its first integrated feature.

Secondly, will Infinex follow the trend of various Points-Fi projects currently popular in the market and launch point exchange or airdrop rewards related to GP?

It is important to note that Infinex mentioned in an article from September 2023, "Infinex's interests will align with Synthetix, so Infinex will not launch its own token," and at the same time, "a significant portion of governance rights will be allocated to Synthetix stakers."

However, in the community governance of Infinex, the proposal XIP-19 submitted in February 2024, which involved allocating more GP to SNX stakers, was rejected, which may reflect a certain degree of directional adjustment within the Infinex community.

In addition, Infinex's current development and reach have surpassed its early positioning as "the new front-end application launched by Synthetix to optimize user experience," and it is gradually thriving in the broader Web3 multi-chain ecosystem.

It is worth considering that in the governance framework of Infinex, the GP is the most core part of its incentive measures. So, in the absence of token issuance by Infinex, how should the points ultimately be realized as tangible economic returns for users?

Currently, Infinex is continuously improving and updating the supply and distribution of GP, while also stimulating users' imagination and expectations for GP by opening wider channels and launching more diverse incentive activities. However - accumulate GP, and then what?

Whether it is to launch its own governance token or to meet users' expectations through other economic incentives, Infinex still needs to provide users with a more comprehensive and reasonable answer. Therefore, the actual value and potential of GP still need further validation.

Conclusion

The launch of Infinex aims to address the bottlenecks of various decentralized applications in the current crypto market by enhancing user experience, increasing liquidity and market attractiveness, achieving cross-chain expansion, and boosting market competitiveness. By simplifying user operations, introducing various collateral and stablecoins, supporting multi-chain operations, and providing a user experience similar to centralized exchanges, Infinex demonstrates its innovation and breakthroughs.

However, the success of Infinex also requires verification of the effectiveness of its governance mechanisms and incentive measures, especially the actual economic returns of Governance Points (GP) and Patron NFTs. Although the GP point system provides users with opportunities to participate in governance and earn rewards, its actual value and potential still need further observation and verification. Whether Infinex can provide users with a well-rounded and reasonable answer will determine its long-term competitiveness and development prospects in the decentralized finance sector.