Defira: Tranquil Finance’s Pivot into the Metaverse
Happy Sunday! Today’s article is about the pivot of a popular DeFi protocol to the metaverse, what it means for the user experience and accessibility of these financial instruments, and how the Harmony network has become the go-to blockchain for GameFi.
The Profile Basics
Project Name:
Defira
by
Tranquil Finance
Industry:
web3 - Consumer (Play-to-earn)
Network:
Harmony One
Market Cap:
$11.5MM+
Break It Down for Me
The Problem:
Protocols, like Tranquil Finance, are looking to expand beyond DeFi primitives, simplify the user experience, and attract a new user base.
The Solution:
GameFi has been the natural next step for integrating DeFi concepts into the metaverse. The in-game storyline simplifies the onboarding experience for users without the technical-financial background needed to participate in web3’s robust financial ecosystem.
Core Users:
Users similar to
DeFi Kingdoms
- Gamers, Play-to-earn consumers, investors, and more
Walk Me Through It:
Inspired by DeFi Kingdoms, Tranquil Finance has launched its own GameFi platform called Defira.
Defira is a cross-chain, metaverse game world rendered with an anime-inspired, pixel-art style (think the Final Fantasy series). The game will host Tranquil Finance (the team’s first DeFi borrow and lending project) as its in-game lending protocol, with plans to offer additional DeFi primitives within the game.
Now, for the game-play, players will aim to rule the Defira empire in this 4X strategy game, which simply means it includes turn-based and real-time strategies. Along the journey, players will purchase or summon NFT heroes to deal with scarce resources, geographical expansion challenges, and battling other players in addition to the in-game enemies. All of the game mechanics will occur on a persistent world map, updating in real-time for each player.
Based on the team’s recent announcement, here’s a mapping of the in-game interface to respective financial instrument:
Marketplace: Decentralized Exchange (DEX)
Bank: Lending protocol (for all your loan needs)
Temple: Liquid Staking (Earn rewards for locking up your funds – though liquid means you can still use the “staking receipt” for loans, purchases, etc)
Skyport: Bridge to other blockchain networks for easy transfers
Apothecary: Launchpad for new projects
Mint: Stablecoin
Vault: Yield optimizer / SSOV for deploying portfolio strategies on your behalf (think automated hedge fund)
Armorer: Insurance
Show Me the Money
Currently:
Defira will leverage two tokens: FIRA and TRANQ.
Defira will have its own governance token, FIRA, and leverage Tranquil Finance’s TRANQ token
for all in-game activities.
In the game, the TRANQ token will be repurposed as a “Tranquil orb” that will be needed for summoning new heroes or purchasing land deeds. The token spent for the game will also be permanently burned (no longer accessible and out of the total supply).
Otherwise TRANQ can be earned by borrowing, lending, or staking on the Tranquil Finance platform. Both tokens can expect appreciation inline with the success and usage of the Defira game / Tranquil platform.
Be Wary
Where to be wary for Defira:
The metaverse plan was only recently announced, so development beyond a few sneak peaks, has mostly been under wraps. Top of mind concerns are around the differentiation and the GameFi industry:
How can Defira truly differentiate itself from being labeled as a DeFi Kingdoms copycat?
And are they catching the tail end of a temporary GameFi narrative or will GameFi as a whole persist?
Now Get Excited
It’s very early for Defira. In fact, the roadmap announced the pivot to GameFi just this month, but I’m cautiously optimistic about the upside of Defira and the TRANQ token.
Why am I still optimistic? The team.
Tranquil Finance, created by the team behind Defira, is the second biggest lending platform by TVL (Total Value Locked) on the Harmony network. Tranquil Finance and Defira’s team has continued to hit milestones laid out in the roadmap, even ahead of schedule – in fact, their liquid staking token, stOne, launched a quarter early. The relentless execution of the team combined with a lead developer who’s background includes extensive career experience in the AAA video game industry instills confidence for the game’s development.
Even more so, the team is planning to aggressively reach the roadmap’s milestones and will be hiring in roles specific to game development. The shift in resources to a game and art studio for developers, business staff, and professional artists is additional evidence of the team’s commitment to developing a world class game rather than just a “gamified” DeFi experience.
The initial core financial components of the game are already built as top-notch products. The lending and liquid staking protocols launched in 2021 through Tranquil Finance, and are first-class DeFi products in their own right. I expect the new DEX and other primitives built from scratch for the game will be of the same standard, making it another educational resource for users to onboard into the web3 financial ecosystem.
Finally, the Harmony network currently hosts ~75% of the daily GameFi volume, making it the premier chain for the space. Though DeFi Kingdoms was the first mover on Harmony, the project has lost 15%+ of its market dominance since the start of 2022 implying other projects are gaining steam – one of which will be Defira.
Defira’s game genre is well-positioned to leverage the Harmony blockchain technology as it allows for the game state to persist indefinitely, while offering users a cheap, fast, reliable network to play on.
I expect the game development, especially the launch of its hero NFTs to happen quickly and I’m excited to watch the progress unfold.
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Thanks for reading and see you next Sunday.
- Nico
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