Recursive Returns with Beefy on Fraxtal
Have you ever heard of "the Art of Roughness"?
Most who choose to spend their time reading about great innovations in DeFi will be all too familiar with the copious engineering metaphors and mathematical naming conventions that dominate much of this space's culture and branding. This is no surprise: blockchain technology brings a level of scientific accuracy and mathematical sophistication that has never been seen before in the history of money, giving plenty of reason to draw comparisons. But in Web 3.0 - as in mathematics itself - at some stage in our journey of discovery we must learn that the simplicity and sophistication of theory remains solely on the surface level. The real world is fraught with roughness and complexity... and to engage with it, we must appreciate the world through the lenses of both arts and sciences.
Benoit Mandelbrot - the Father of Roughness - developed a general mathematical theory to explain the natural complexity of physical geometry. For decades, his theories have been characterized by the allegory of the Mandelbrot set - a two-dimensional shape defined by simple rules of recursive geometry that give rise to infinite complexity. A form of **"fractal" structure, the Mandelbrot set is an iconic representation of the beauty of chaos. And fractal geometry has become a constant reminder that simple mathematical rules can only get you so far in understanding the complex consequences of chaos. There's no better analogy to think about how DeFi really works underneath the surface.
For our own part, Beefy can be seen as a celebration of Mandelbrot's recursive complexity. With Beefy, your earnings yield returns, on top of returns, on top of returns, in an infinite recursive loop of earning. Such is the wonder of autocompounding technology. It's exciting - therefore - to be witnessing worlds collide as Beefy arrives on Fraxtal Chain, the latest Optimistic Rollup built from the ground up as a celebration of the beauty of complexity. Together with our frens at Frax Finance, Beefy is excited to show off what our recursive returns can really do, and our deep appreciation for the Art of Roughness.
Frax
Frax Finance is one the most well-established projects in all of Web 3.0. Known for offering a suite of core financial primitives covering all of the key use cases in DeFi, Frax is a titan among the industry with no evident limits on what it can achieve. To date, Frax has conquered new markets with its $FRAX stablecoin, Fraxswap automated market maker, Fraxlend lending protocol and Fraxferry bridge. Beyond traditional primitives, Frax has also pioneered the creation of index stablecoins, like its $FPI token, which bring users exposure to real world assets through a pegged basket of consumer goods.
Beefy and Frax are longstanding frens, working together for months to deliver enormous incentives at optimal APYs, and bolster liquidity on a range of different chains. As two of the early core protocols you'll find on most new blockchains, our teams have an unquenchable thirst for building and similar reputations for shipping constantly at lightning speed. As if that wasn't enough, Frax has invited Beefy to join its journey as it now turns its focus to building its own standalone ecosystem with its brand new blockchain: Fraxtal.
At the heart of the wider Frax universe is the Frax Share governance token ($FXS) which allows stakeholders to participate in decision-making for the ecosystem and the earnings of the project. Holders can stake their $FXS into $veFXS to earn airdrops from native projects, $FXTL points and even gas fees from the new Fraxtal chain. $FXTL points promise significant future drops of the Fraxtal Chain token to early users no later than 12 months after the chain's launch. In due course, $FXS stakers will also play a key role in securing the Fraxtal network once decentralized sequencing, fractal proof validation and Fraxtal's data availability module is deployed.
Fraxtal
Fraxtal is a brand new Layer 2 network built on top of Ethereum. The chain launched in February, and is rapidly picking up speed. It's the latest in a series of rollup chains created using Optimism's OP Stack, which has been built from the ground up to deliver the very best in optimistic rollup technology to secure your assets. The team at Frax have been working closely with Optimism for months now to deliver a bespoke and highly performant ecosystem for DeFi, Web 3.0 and onchain activities of all forms. And if you've been keeping an eye on the recent performance of other OP Stack chains, you'll know that the sky is the limit for their potential. 👀
The chain makes use of Frax's Ether derivative token $frxETH as its native currency, which is loosely-pegged 1:1 with your existing $ETH. That means gas payments are denominated in Ether and the chain's growth will manifest into broader growth for Ethereum, to the benefit of the entire EVM universe. Users can also stake their $frxETH with Frax to receive their liquid-staking token $sfrxETH, and earn all the benefits of staking rewards with minimal effort.
The future roadmap for Fraxtal is almost as exciting as the recent launch; there's clearly a long way still to go. The Frax team will be continuing to work with Optimism to develop and incorporate decentralized sequencing technologies and fraud proof validation for the chain, which will allow Fraxtal to become truly decentralized. Fraxtal will also make use of a separate data availability module developed by the Frax team, which allows data to be posted offchain, to only require smaller hashes of blob data to be posted in an onchain inbox. When coupled with the impacts of the recent EIP-4844 upgrades, this technology makes Fraxtal one of the cheapest and most performant rollup chains currently in existence!
Get Me There
To start taking advantage of all the incredible opportunities on offer on Fraxtal, just follow the below steps:
Frax is operating a core canonical bridge from Ethereum to Fraxtal, which can handle the entire Frax product suite, as well as key stablecoins and a handful of other tokens. Or if Ethereum's too expensive, you can use Axelar's Satellite bridge to enter the ecosystem from other chains with $afrxETH instead. Just make sure to send over some gas first (try gas.zip) so you can swap back to $frxETH on Ra Exchange.
Once your bridging transaction is complete, head to the Fraxtal explorer to check your balances. You can also set up a Safe to secure your assets with an abstract account. Though there's already a handful of tokens to bridge, the next port of call is often to swap into some of your favorite tokens using the original stableswap automated market maker - Curve.
Now you've got your hands on a selection of different tokens, it's time to start exploring all the new applications launching into the Fraxtal ecosystem. Check out DefiLlama for current stats on the performance of the chain and its protocols. We're loving being able to stack our $sfrxETH as collateral for borrowing on Mai Finance. And of course, most users can't wait to get yield farming on Curve. Or, you can just head over to Beefy, and let us do all the hard work for you.
Recursive Returns
It's safe to say that Fraxtal is going to be a magnet for the beautiful chaos of DeFi. With so many applications and projects already launching, we're still in the very early days of frontrunning this opportunity. And we at Beefy can't wait to deliver our ridiculous recursive returns for many, many months to come.
That process starts today, with the launch of 4 new Curve autocompounding vaults on Fraxtal: crvUSD-FRAX, USDC-FRAX, frxETH-FXS and frxETH-sfrxETH. Each delivers immediate access and liquidity for all the Frax products you already know and love. But with the super low gas fees and rapid transaction times you'll find on Fraxtal, we're expecting they'll soon be delivering levels of yield that you've never seen before. 😉
So there's no time like the present to embrace the complexity and roughness of Fraxtal's early days. Get yourself onto the chain, onto Beefy, and onto the opportunity. And let us deliver recursivity for your returns.