Ethereum and L2s

  • Mantle - $MNT 

    • Description: a Layer 2 Ethereum network with a hybrid CeFi-DeFi model, combining low-cost, fast transactions

    • Backed by: VanEck & State Street

    • Catalyst: Mantle ($MNT) gains traction from the expanded "MNT x Bybit 2.0" partnership: 20+ new spot pairs, fee discounts, 10x leverage, staking/Launchpool integration, and a $60K HOLD & Earn campaign.

  • Worldcoin - $WLD

    • Description: Project founded by Sam Altman’s Tools for Humanity, using iris scans for proof-of-personhood and a global digital ID.

    • Backed by: Andreessen Horowitz, Khosla Ventures, Reid Hoffman

    • Catalyst: Eightco Holdings (OCTO) adopts $WLD as a $250M core treasury asset, university AMPC partnership, Upbit listing.

  • Pendle - $PENDLE

    • Description: DeFi protocol for tokenizing and trading future yield, enabling fixed income, leveraged strategies

    • Backed by: HashKey Capital, Bixin Ventures, Binance Labs

    • Catalyst: TVL tops $11.5B, Boros V3, dynamic caps, and Ethena USDe integration, income backbone with upcoming Solana, TON, and Citadels expansion.

Solana

1. Raydium ($RAY)

Raydium stands as Solana's premier DEX, leveraging a hybrid AMM and order book to solidify its role as the network's primary liquidity hub, recently seeing its daily volume spike to over $87 million.

Looking ahead, Raydium is perfectly positioned to capitalize on major ecosystem upgrades and partnerships:

  • Firedancer Integration: The upcoming integration with Solana's Firedancer upgrade (testnet expected late September) promises to dramatically enhance throughput, with volume forecasts projecting over $100 million daily.

  • New Liquidity Pools: Fresh liquidity pools resulting from recent partnerships, like World Mobile, are expected to go live, further deepening liquidity and incentivizing participation.

2. Hylo ($HYLO)

Hylo is a fast-growing DeFi protocol on Solana, attracting $40 million in TVL with its LST-backed stablecoin, hyUSD, and a simple airdrop farming model that offers high yields.

The protocol's rapid ascent is set to accelerate with several key events on the immediate horizon:

  • Next Airdrop Phase: The next phase of the airdrop is expected to unlock for users this coming week (September 17-20), distributing rewards and driving a new wave of adoption.

  • Platform Expansion: The team plans to expand its leverage pools and integrate additional Liquid Staking Tokens (LSTs), with the goal of pushing TVL towards the $100 million mark.

3. Mecca ($MEA)

Mecca is an all-in-one ecosystem on Solana integrating gaming, shopping, and payments, all powered by the $MEA token and focused on driving tangible, real-world utility over speculative hype.

The platform's utility is about to receive a major boost with a key upgrade this month:

  • MYX V2 Upgrade: Scheduled for the end of September (around Sep 25-30), the V2 upgrade will introduce zero-slippage trading and cross-chain support.

  • Marketplace Launch: This upgrade will coincide with the full launch of Mecca's gaming marketplace, significantly enhancing the $MEA token's utility and rewarding early users through a dedicated airdrop.

Base

1. Aerodrome Finance ($AERO)

As the dominant liquidity hub and AMM on Base, Aerodrome Finance currently commands over 55% of the DEX market share with a TVL exceeding $1.2 billion. The project's strength lies in its highly effective ve(3,3) model, which has proven incredibly efficient at attracting and sustaining deep liquidity for the entire ecosystem.

  • Epoch Flip (Sep 17): The upcoming epoch transition will activate rewards for new liquidity pools, notably the $SYND pool, which is anticipated to drive a significant surge in trading volume.

  • Ecosystem & Coinbase Integration: Aerodrome is continuously onboarding new partner pools and strategically leveraging Coinbase's retail access to attract fresh capital inflows.

2. Avantis ($AVNT)

Avantis has established itself as the leading perpetuals DEX on Base, offering up to 500x leverage on both crypto assets and RWAs like forex and commodities. Backed by powerhouse VCs including Pantera Capital and Founders Fund, the project powerfully merges the high-growth narratives of DeFi Derivatives and Real World Assets.

  • Airdrop & CEX Listings: The ongoing $AVNT token airdrop is creating significant buzz, coupled with imminent plans for listings on major exchanges like Binance and the expansion of RWA trading pairs this week (Sep 17-20).

  • Zero-Fee Upgrade: A major "Zero-Fee Perpetuals" upgrade is set to launch, aimed at optimizing the trading experience and enhancing integration with other protocols on Base.

3. SeamlessFi ($SEAM)

SeamlessFi is a premier lending and borrowing protocol on Base, built by a veteran team with experience from Aave, Uniswap, and Coinbase. The platform is distinguished by its Integrated Liquidity Markets (ILMs), which enable highly flexible and customized borrowing strategies, contributing to a 25% TVL increase this past week alone.

  • Incentive Program Phase 2 (Sep 18): The launch of the second phase of its incentivized lending program will introduce additional $SEAM rewards for users participating in ILMs and staking.

  • Ecosystem Expansion: Plans are in motion for deeper integration with other Base DeFi pillars, like Aerodrome, and a strategic expansion to other Layer-2 networks by the end of September 2025.

Bitcoin Ecosystems 

Introduction: Lombard brings Bitcoin to life on-chain via LBTC, the leading Bitcoin Liquid Staking Token (LST) with over $1.4B TVL. Recently expanded to Solana, Lombard unveiled a roadmap for on-chain Bitcoin Capital Markets. Explore our in-depth post for details.

Catalyst: Lombard recently completed a highly successful $BARD token community sale on Buidlpad, with 1,400% oversubscription at a $450M FDV, reflecting strong community confidence in their upcoming TGE.

Lombard has secured $17M in funding from top-tier VCs, including YZI Labs, Polychain, and Franklin Templeton, among others. 

Introduction: Spark protocol is an open-source, Bitcoin-native Layer 2 solution using statechain technology. Its lightweight, non-custodial signing protocol enhances Bitcoin transaction performance and supports stablecoins for efficient payments and advanced financial applications. Think of Spark as an upgraded Lightning Network with an expanded playground for innovation.

Catalyst: Spark has partnered with leading Bitcoin ecosystem projects like Privy, MagicEden, and Xverse, gaining strong community traction. Its launch of the USDB stablecoin with Brale and the BTKN token standard has further boosted its prominence.

Lightspark CEO is Ex-Meta crypto chief David Marcus, and Lightspark has an undisclosed funding round with participation from a16z Crypto and Paradigm 

Introduction: Arch blends Bitcoin’s robust security with Solana’s high-speed performance, enabling smart contracts on Bitcoin’s base layer. Its ArchVM environment allows developers to access native Bitcoin and UTXO assets without bridges or wrapped coins.

Catalyst: Arch is an execution layer for Bitcoin, not a Layer 2 or metaprotocol like Runes or BRC-20. Its bridgeless architecture preserves Bitcoin’s full liquidity, enabling smart-contract programmability without relying on Layer 2 solutions or metaprotocols—an innovative design unprecedented in the Bitcoin ecosystem.

Arch is currently on testnet and has raised a total of $20M from Multicoin Capital, Pantera,......

Introduction: BOB is a hybrid Layer 2 network combining Bitcoin’s security and liquidity with Ethereum’s smart contract capabilities. Built on the OP Stack as a "Bitcoin-augmented rollup," it uses BitVM for trust-minimized bridges, enabling EVM-compatible DeFi dApps for staking, lending, trading, and yield farming without compromising Bitcoin’s principles.

Catalyst: BOB, with over $210M in TVL (94% in BTC and derivatives), supports a vibrant ecosystem of 125 projects. Its innovative BitVM Bridge, enabling trust-minimized BTC deposits and transfers, is slated for mainnet launch soon. With the BOB TGE approaching this year, it’s a key project to watch.

BOB has raised a total of $21M from investors like Castle Island Ventures, Ledger Cathay Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Sats Ventures and more

Introduction: Best in Slot enhances the Bitcoin ecosystem with its Open Protocol Indexer (OPI), an open-source indexing tool. Developed by the BiS team, OPI is a premier client for indexing Bitcoin meta-protocols like BRC-20, Runes, and Ordinals, bolstering ecosystem infrastructure and development.

Catalyst: Best in Slot launched “BRC2.0” at Bitcoin block height 912690, integrating EVM functionality into its core indexer. Developed with Domo and the Layer 1 Foundation, this upgrade enables Ethereum-style smart contracts on Bitcoin without bridges, making BRC-20 tokens composable and interoperable with EVM-compatible chains.

Since its mainnet launch, over 50 projects have started building on BRC2.0 within nine days, underscoring Best in Slot’s rising momentum in the Bitcoin ecosystem.

BNB Chain

Introduction: Four.meme is the leading token launch platform on BNB Chain, enabling users to create tokens without coding or blockchain expertise. With an intuitive interface, it offers a simple, fast, and cost-effective way to deploy tokens in minutes.

Catalyst: Since its launch, Four.meme has attracted over 1 million unique users and facilitated more than 300,000 token launches, solidifying its status as the top launchpad on BNB Chain.

Four recently announced its expansion into Real World Assets (RWA), introducing a new section for assets like equity, mining rights, dividend rights, intellectual property, and more. This move aims to empower projects with diverse fundraising options and enhanced liquidity channels on BNB Chain.

Introduction: Aster DEX, formed by merging Astherus and APX Finance, is a decentralized perpetual exchange enabling users to trade crypto derivatives directly from their wallets without a custodian.

Catalyst: Since its launch, Aster DEX has driven over $500 billion in trading volume and attracted more than 1M users.

Backed by YZI Labs, Aster stands as the leading perpetual futures DEX on BNB Chain and a direct competitor to Hyperliquid. With its Token Generation Event (TGE) approaching in the coming days, Aster is a key project to watch.

Introduction: Holoworld AI is a decentralized marketplace and social platform on Solana blockchain for creating, trading, and deploying interactive AI agents—virtual characters with personality, voice, memory, and autonomy—without coding skills.

Catalyst: Holoworld AI has seen remarkable success, surpassing 1 million users, 700,000+ AI agents created, and 35 million+ interactions. The recent launch of its $HOLO token has been a resounding triumph, reaching a peak market cap of $250 million and securing listings on top-tier exchanges like Binance, Upbit,....

Holoword has raised a total of $6,5M with participation from Polychain, Nascent,...

Introduction: $JAGER is a memecoin on BNB Chain, where 1 $JAGER equals 0.00000001 BNB, making it the smallest unit of BNB. Named by Binance’s earliest supporters in its Telegram group during the exchange’s founding days, $JAGER draws inspiration from that legacy.

Catalyst: Jager has recently launched the $JAGER Treasury to support the token ecosystem through two key initiatives: buy back or burn $JAGER tokens, and distribute rewards to holders of 146 billion $JAGER.

Additionally, Jager has announced its first partnership for the Treasury with StarMint. 10% of StarMint's platform revenue on X Layer will be allocated to buy back $JAGER tokens cross-chain and burn them permanently.

Introduction: Stables Labs is a next-generation stablecoin infrastructure provider focused on building a decentralized, bankless ecosystem for stablecoin issuance. They developed USDX, a crypto-native USD-pegged stablecoin designed for scalability, censorship resistance, and DeFi integration, enabling stable value storage, transactions, and applications like lending and yield farming.

Catalyst: Stable Labs’ USDX is the fourth-largest stablecoin in the BNB Chain ecosystem, trailing USDT, USDC, and USD1. Amid the rising stablecoin narrative, including USDe, USDT0, and USDf, Stable Labs is leading the charge in advancing the stablecoin ecosystem on BNB Chain.

Stable Labs has raised $45 million in funding, with investments from NGC, BAI Capital, Generative Ventures, UOB Venture Management, Dragonfly Capital, and Jeneration Capital.

HyperLiquid

Hyperbeat (@0xHyperBeat): A non-custodial vault protocol optimizing liquidity across HyperCore and HyperEVM, with Morpho-powered markets and a liquid-staking token (beHYPE) that drew $150M+ in pre-deposits. Hyperbeat currently has a points program, joining to stake your assets to earn Hearts for the future airdrop.

Ventuals (@ventuals_): A protocol for leveraged trading (up to 10x) on pre-IPO companies and assets, currently in testnet phase that offer you $500 in test tokens for trading. While you should only trade on testnet for fun, there may be prizes for the top testnet traders in the future.

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