88x Finance partners with Axelar Network for cross-chain yield aggregator

The crypto bear market may be lasting longer than expected, but some Web3 startups see it as the perfect opportunity to build solutions and infrastructure that will welcome users and institutions when the next wave of adoption arrives.

Cross-chain yield aggregator 88x Finance claims that the emergence of general message passing and true composability between blockchains is an opportunity to provide services both to retail and professional investors.

Roughly six months after starting to build the platform, the protocol is now participating in the Axelar Ecosystem Startup Funding Program, a $60 million startup funding program dedicated to accelerating Web3 protocols, backed by Axelar and a group of 15 blockchain investors. 

“We started working on cross-chain yield aggregation because it seems like the natural evolution of bridges/general message passing protocols, etc.,” Nick Avramov, co-founder of the crypto startup, told Cointelegraph.

Related: Security and interoperability, the challenges ahead of Web3 mass adoption

Yield aggregators combine multiple smart contracts protocols and strategies to maximize return on investment. They use smart contracts to invest crypto assets in yield-paying products and services through automated strategies. They are similar to having a fund manager in charge of a crypto portfolio, providing the best decentralized finance, or DeFi, crypto staking opportunities.

Georgios Vlachos, co-founder at Axelar, explained to Cointelegraph that since crypto is becoming increasingly decentralized, with a growing number of blockchain networks and DeFi platforms operating independently of one another, cross-chain yield aggregation will be an important aspect of DeFi in the coming years. He also noted:

“Cross-chain yield aggregation can also help to diversify risk and increase returns. By combining yield-generating strategies across multiple blockchain networks, investors can potentially reduce the impact of market fluctuations on their overall portfolio.”

88x said it intends to provide vault automation strategies and diversification through predefined investment strategies running across multiple blockchains. “Within a single interface, users can enjoy yield farming opportunities on Ethereum, BNB Chain, Avalanche, Polygon and many more networks — without the need to switch between wallets,” Will Kamalov, co-founder of 88x Finance, told Cointelegraph.

Even with the market crisis, Web3 projects attracted $30 billion in 2021 and $36 billion in 2022, data from Cointelegraph Research shows. Among one of the first rounds of funding this year, blockchain development platform QuickNode closed a $60 million funding round intended to onboard more Web3 users and developers worldwide.