Since our Ethereum mainnet launch in June, Sturdy has experienced explosive growth. In just a couple of months, the protocol has claimed the title of the largest Ethereum lending protocol without a token. While most projects release a token as one of their first public developments, Sturdy has delayed doing so to ensure product market fit and avoid vaporous interest in the token’s price action.
Primary objective: obtaining product-market fit
Though not having a token certainly has its pitfalls, Sturdy is dedicated to building a valuable lending protocol free from the gimmicks which have become rife in web3. Releasing a token generates a ton of noise for a given protocol and can be great for marketing by boosting brand awareness and getting more eyes on the project. Having a token also allows protocols to bolster the APYs they can offer users by including their native token emissions.
While using tokens to attract liquidity can serve as a legitimate growth strategy, relying on token emissions for user acquisition can mask a lack of product-market fit. As a result, many protocols fail to build something people will continue to use and not just rotate out of when the next shiny yield source pops up. Sturdy is dedicated to providing real, sustainable yields for DeFi users without relying on token emissions to artificially boost the APY.
Staying connected with the entire community
Sturdy has continued to thrive without the help of a token by staying actively engaged with the community. While the lack of a token means Sturdy can’t currently use services such as snapshot to issue governance proposals, it requires the team to spend a ton of time with the community on Discord and Twitter.
By not taking the traditional tact and using a token for governance, the Sturdy team has been engaged in an arguably more egalitarian system of governance where all community members’ voices are provided an equal platform, rather than giving preference to whales. Spending so much time engaging with the community has allowed the team to gain insight into what the average user is looking for out of the protocol, regardless of their wallet size.
Moving forward
Through delaying what is typically considered to be one of the central elements of any dApp, Sturdy has been able to focus on achieving true product-market fit. By only offering real yield and actively listening to the community, Sturdy has created a protocol that is of genuine use to its users. Once the core team feels the model has been sufficiently proven, Sturdy will release a token to give the community a greater stake in the future of the protocol.
There’s no reason to wait until a token is released to start using Sturdy. Join the community, hop in the Discord and get started with the first positive sum lending protocol!
About Sturdy
Sturdy is a first-of-its-kind DeFi protocol for interest-free borrowing and high-yield lending. Rather than charging borrowers interest, Sturdy stakes their collateral and passes the yield to lenders. This model changes the relationship between borrowers and lenders to make Sturdy the first positive-sum lending protocol. Sturdy is live on Ethereum Mainnet and Fantom Opera.
To learn more, you can connect with us on Twitter, Discord, and Medium.
