Make dydx token great again

dYdX Chain
1

I apologize for the somewhat clickbait headline, but I believe it’s time to discuss what’s happening with the dYdX token. I remind you that we hit ATL today.

My belief is that if you’re building something in the crypto world, for most potential clients and observers, the token price and its dynamics are indicators of the project’s success and attention. This is absolutely native marketing for the project.

It doesn’t matter what technologies you have, what you write in your press releases, which metrics you reference, or which bloggers you give interviews to and advertise with; if the token is in “down only” mode, that becomes irrelevant.

I understand that there were issues with regulations, the team being in the U.S., and so on, but after the U.S. president launched his meme coin, it seems like it’s time to act more transparently.

Since the launch of MegaVault, the staking yield is basically non-existent for such a risky asset.

I think we need to come up with additional utility for the token; otherwise, no marketing budget or collaboration with KOLs will save it.

8 Likes
2

thanks Real, I think we’re in a hole that’s hard or almost impossible to get out of at this point. I’ll just give my personal view of the situation.

we had the lead with v3 because we offered a good product that users liked, a nice and responsive UI and an overall positive trading experience with almost no limitations. Although v4 is a great initiative, and we should be striving for full decentralization long term, I think the technology just isn’t there yet to provide a good trading experience for perpetuals. Combine that with other factors like:

  • migration complexity (seems to be okay now)
  • unlocks (has improved, about 80% has already been unlocked)
  • liquidity fragmentation (both exchange and DYDX liquidity, although DYDX will improve in June with the shut down of the ETH bridge)
  • regulatory uncertainty (improving as you’ve mentioned)
  • competition (that’s a tough one, because it has already sucked all liqudity/users)

the irony is that DYDX is still the most technologically advanced perp trading platform, but that doesn’t matter if the trading experience isn’t good. And it hasn’t been good since the launch of v4 due to technical issues, limitations and complexity

as I see it, we can obviously work to improve the platform (better UI, more features, etc.), but it’s just not possible to compete with more centralized platforms at this point. The best we can do is keep at it, have an overhaul and reduce unnecessary costs and overhead to stay lean, and wait for technological breakthroughs (which will likely come in the next 2-5 years)

4 Likes
3

I agree with what you wrote. However, 2-5 years is a long time in the modern world; it essentially represents a full cycle in crypto. I’d also like to add that there’s a complete uncertainty in the team’s plans for the token. I don’t see the team participating in discussions on the forum.

We consider people who hold the token as stakeholders in the project, but with the launch of MegaVault, the staking yield has become non-existent. Essentially, the stakeholders are now the ones providing liquidity, and the utilization of the vaults is really low.

I think it would be a great idea to have some quotas for providing liquidity in MegaVault. Perhaps a veStake system, where you stake a certain amount of tokens for a specific period to receive a larger quota, or some other system.

I struggle to understand the necessity of the token at all. The overall percentage of staked tokens is one of the lowest across all Cosmos networks, which poses a serious security threat. The TVL is already significantly higher than the value of the staked tokens. Since the majority of tokens are provided by the Treasury subDAO, Foundation or dydx trading team (Yes, it wasn’t difficult for me to identify those wallets) , I have certain suspicions about the decentralization and independence of the validators’ decisions. If the main competitive advantage that was emphasized is decentralization, then personally, I don’t see it. It essentially resembles some sort of oligopoly.

Regarding the rewards program, there was quite a deep discussion on this topic, but then Chaos Labs came up with a program that is even less retail-oriented than the previous one.

Grants program: Same expensive people, often same expensive grantees (hello, Max Lattice research), an absolutely non-existent community aspect of the grants. No accountability for the results.

It’s starting to feel like the project is turning from something ambitious into a money grab for a few insiders.

I see nothing but hate on crypto Twitter, and I just don’t understand where the project is headed.

I really hope someone from the team can clarify the direction of movement.

3 Likes
4

Agreed! I think you said out what most $DYDX holders’ heart.

6

Well done RealVovochka .
Token price and its dynamics are indicators of the project’s success and attention.

8

To make dydx token great again focus on increased adoption strategic partnerships, and enhanced utility Stay updated with Poehub for the latest insights.

9

I respect Antonio and got into dydx because I saw his interview on Youtube. In the past few months, I feel like he made a miscalculation. I think he came up with a good ideaa on expanding tradable assets on dydx, but he made a mistake by dramatically reducing % paid out to the dydx token holders. Also, the trading volume on dydx has been dropping pretty steadily and recently has been dramatically down. We have a problem here, dydx token offers almost no yield and the volume is also declining. We are circling the drain right now and it can be dangerous for dydx. The dramatic drop on its value is an indicator of such. Defi is the future, but dydx is keeping others’ interest on its app by having such a low token value of 70 plus cents … Antonio, tokenomics you set up may work if the trading activity has increased by 5x due to the change, but instead we have dropped by 70 to 80%. This creates a downward spiral effect. Please bring back ~15 to 30% reward, maybe use dydx token instead of USDC. Do something and remodel tokenomics. If you do something, i will stay with dydx, but if it is status quo, then I think many may have jump the ship for self preservation. I want to see dydx to win so badly. I hope you make a change that will make dydx great again.

1 Like
10

the trading volume is in low to mid 100M over a couple days. Are we becoming irrelevant? I don’t see any interest on dydx. where is the marketing team? Now Trump is in the whitehouse who is crypto friendly, why no action on taking advantage of this?

11

Let’s be pragmatic, the recent change in tokenomics, or rather the introduction of a true (recent) tokenomics in the DYDX project is an asset for the protocol. Users (retail) in this industry confuse tokenomics with token distribution, which is sad and demonstrates a profound lack of knowledge about economic systems. The problem of appreciation or, in this case, depreciation of the $DYDX token, stems from the project’s lack of innovation, in line with other OGs in this industry such as, for example, Synthetix. The fact is that competition became much stronger and those who did not innovate were left behind. The recent introduction of Megavault is a response to Hyperliquid’s HLP vault, it is nothing more than a response to a competitor’s innovation. In turn, Hyperliquid bet on the creation of an L1, which is nothing more than following in the footsteps of the DYDX Chain. The fact is that DYDX has to respond to its main competitor (Hyperliquid) with product updates, increased DYDX Chain performance, establishing partnerships, launching an EVM environment in order to attract infrastructure and dapps and liquidity. If you achieve all this you are just responding to the competition. After that, we need to introduce innovation. After all these steps, the tokenomics is in place and will allow the $DYDX token to appreciate in value. The problem is not with the token, it is with the market share of the business.
It would be helpful for the team to communicate their roadmap to the community to help reverse the feeling of loss.
It is also necessary to focus on the inclusiveness of all participants in the ecosystem. It makes no sense that the points associated with MM in the Megavault are only earned by the top MM. All participants with liquidity in the Megavault must receive points in proportion to their participation (this was Hyperliquid’s big secret: inclusivity).
The project is currently in survival mode, hence the value of the $DYDX token.
Stakers have two options: liquidate or strengthen their position (mine is the latter). Being completely honest here, my buying position is equivalent to those who bought Apple shares when it was on the verge of bankruptcy (they made a fortune). And yes, let’s not kid ourselves DYDX was following the same path that nearly bankrupted Apple.
I believe in the team’s ability to turn the project around, but 2025 is the decisive year.
I reiterate that it is useful to hold an AMA with the community to understand the actions that are underway to recover DYDX’s market share.

4 Likes
12

Some questions:

  1. What is being done to improve the performance of the DYDX chain? For example, is Malachite on the table?
  2. What is being done to attract new traders? We are losing them every day.
  3. What is being done to promote greater liquidity in Megavault? We reached almost 80M, now we are at 51M. The HLP vault acquired around 500M.
  4. What is the technical possibility of introducing an EVM environment on the DYDX Chain? Is it possible to associate an EVM L2 to DYDX Chain and use IBC for liquidity sharing? What solutions are being considered?
13

I maybe wrong with my analysis here. But still like to share my 2cents. Many good posting here on forum to make holders think … and I hope Antonia and team are humble enough to consider changes. Otherwise, I think dydx may go out of existence with all these innovations around the space. Below are my feelings+facts+opinions, hope they help the community.

  1. I remain the interface and design color of dydx is not attractive. I think to attract users to try and return, the interface needs a market study. This reminds of Microsoft Dos versus Apple interface in the 1980s. We are the Dos.
  2. I said this before. Dydx, you must have a tokenomics system where the staking on the validators are stable. With such a low incentive almost zero when volume drops to below 100M for a few days, it makes people sell their dydx after unbounding as there is no incentive to stay. Devaluing of the token will lead to reduced interest in the utility. You need to stop the bleeding asap, or it will be hard to participate in the next bull run. I would put a floor to the % of staking reward to 10%. Just enough not for people to sell out and put their elsewhere making 15% and above. I like the upside for holding dydx if the volume can go up in billiions per day, but right now you need to get to $5 billion in daily volume to make dydx interesting. You are way below that right now with the new tokenomics.
  3. You need to do more marketing and get put your app out there. You need to bring it back to the United States now with Trump whitehouse, or you will be obsolete.
  4. Your mission is noble and your innovation is good, but timing seems to off at the moment. I hope you can pivot and be nimble and make changes that work. My commitment was a 10 out of 10 when you guys were paying stakers around 20%. In the past painful 3 months, my loyalty has dropped to a 3 out of 10. I wake up everyday and wonder if I should stay if you guys don’t pivot and do something tangible to bring the stake incentive back up. In a way, feeling neglected and not cared for. When I get that healthy stake distribution, it tells me that dydx loves me back. Right now I think most dydx stake holders probably feeling like orphans.

If I don’t post anymore, it means I am out. I wish all holders and dydx great future I hope that I will stay and be part of it.

1 Like
14

Well, 17 days this has been up and not one single word of reply here from any leadership.

What’s left to say after that?

15

There is now a buyback proposal being discussed on the forum ([DRC] dYdX Treasury SubDAO DYDX Buyback Program)