In a sector as deep and vibrant as DeFi, every power user can probably rattle off at least 5 different products they’ve used in the past 30 days. Now, what if those interactions were tracked via a global leaderboard, granting you points for accomplishing tasks within leading DeFi protocols?
Today, this notion becomes a reality with the launch of RabbitHole – a platform to earn rewards by using decentralized applications.
Excited to announce a project that I’ve been working onhttps://t.co/FWSH0KRpR1
— Brian Flynn (@Flynnjamm) May 13, 2020
Built by Brian Flynn as a part of MetaCartel’s Dragon Quest hackathon, Rabbithole leverages insights from Brian’s popular newsletter NFTY and his time at Dapper Labs to combine elements of DeFi and Gaming as the first target RabbitHole sectors.
When asked for comment on what makes the project unique in the wider DeFi ecosystem, Brian commented:
“Most DeFi interfaces are about what you own. RabbitHole is about where you’ve been. That opens up a ton of new possibilities for projects who want to incentivize users across the DeFi ecosystem”
As stated in the official blog post, RabbitHole adds a crucial layer for Ethereum user onboarding in regards to:
- Creating incentives to bootstrap new networks and test their functionality.
- Helping users filter through the noise.
- Providing a “fun” factor that crypto protocols desperately need.
With that, let’s dive into how it works.
What’s to Know?
Simply put, RabbitHole users earn XP for completing various DeFi tasks. This could be anything from swapping a token on Uniswap to opening a Maker Vault or lending on Compound. The deeper you get down any given rabbit hole, the more complex those tasks become.
We can envision a rabbit hole for Synthetix culminating by learning how to stake sETH Uniswap liquidity tokens to earn SNX inflation on Mintr. Alternatively, we can picture something like creating your own PoolTogether Pod or borrowing against a TokenSet on Aave.
Thanks to the public ledger that is Ethereum, RabbitHole can leverage tools like Zerion’s DeFi SDK to quickly query different subgraphs and smart contracts. This allows the product to see whether or not these actions have actually been performed – drastically optimizing legacy bounty programs that required significant manual overhead.
The major takeaway here is that DeFi can become fun. The notion of someone being able to flex their RabbitHole XP score to show how deep down the rabbit hole they are (no pun intended) adds an exciting engaging layer for both new and power users.
As someone new to DeFi, Rabbithole provides gamified tutorials on how to become acquainted with the most popular tools in the wider ecosystem. Inspired by Coinbase Earn tutorials, it’s also possible that projects may reward users for completing their rabbit holes. This drastically optimizes airdrops and referral programs as we’re now incentivizing people through tangible usage, rather than by surface-level excitement or FAQs.
What to Expect
RabbitHole will soon launch its beta with a number of leading DeFi products. As someone who was lucky enough to get a demo of the product from Brian, I can confidently say this project has a very bright future.
Taking a journey through #DeFi just got gamified.
Definitely worth keeping an eye on @rabbithole_gg 🎩 https://t.co/LqZnIi61uD
— Cooper Turley (@Cooopahtroopa) May 8, 2020
Tying into the notion of participatory incentives, RabbitHole’s announcement plays perfectly into the emerging SAFG model in which users collect non-economic rewards (XP to start) in exchange for value-added actions. Backed by educational content, how-to’s, and the potential for partnered campaigns, RabbitHole may quickly become many crypto user’s first window into the ever-evolving DeFi landscape.
Now that DeFi has established a clear market fit within Etheruem, it’s time to start expanding its userbase. There are only so many people with ETH who can drive DeFi forward, and this sector is entirely reliant on solutions like RabbitHole which make playing with DeFi fun and rewarding.
In the coming weeks, we’ll be keeping a close eye on RabbitHole for their official beta rollout. To be one of the first to access it, sign up for the waitlist here.
In the meantime, we recommend following RabbitHole on Twitter or by joining the conversation by pinging Brian to set up a user-feedback session.
Cooper is the Editor of DeFi Rate and an active contributor to leading DeFi media outlets like The Defiant, DeFi Pulse, and Bankless. He works with early-stage teams through Fire Eyes DAO to incubate governance models and grassroots community development. He is an ambassador to Set Protocol and an author of a weekly publication called Token Tuesdays. To stay up with Cooper, follow him on Twitter.