Astar Network Partnered with Acala to Give a Major Boost to DeFi on Polkadot

For the first time, two of the biggest parachains will work together to launch the "DeFi Rising" program on Polkadot

Astar Network, a crypto bridge connecting layer-1 blockchains like Ethereum and Cosmos with the Polkadot ecosystem, today announced a partnership with blockchain development platform Acala. The two leading parachains have come together to launch the "Astar x Acala DeFi Rising " program to unlock new opportunities and rewards for developers.

Acala's suite of flexible financial products that serve the Polkadot network are pivotal to the booming ecosystem of dApps on Astar. The collaboration will enable developers to build on Astar's vibrant DeFi ecosystem using Acala-native assets like aUSD, LDOT, and ACA, while receiving extra ACA and additional rewards from various Astar ecosystem teams.

"With Acala, we have built a DeFi app-chain to provide products like aUSD to other networks in the Polkadot ecosystem and broader Web3 space," said Bette Chen, co-founder of Acala. "Our deep integration with the Astar team is very exciting for us as we look to help accelerate the growth of Astar's strong DApp ecosystem with aUSD liquidity and cross-chain use cases."

Acala is a DeFi network powering financial applications on Polkadot and home to aUSD. Acala USD or aUSD, is a stablecoin protocol that is pegged to the US Dollar to enable a stable currency that is decentralized and operational in cross-chain activities. Minting aUSD allows holders to earn, spend, trade, and access services without worrying about price volatility.

The network is designed for DeFi and is modular plus Ethereum-compatible. Additionally, the platform will be connected to other systems like Compound Gateway. The DeFi Rising program is the first step towards a thriving DeFi ecosystem leveraging the power of Astar's Cross-Consensus Messaging Format (XCM) to execute trustless and decentralized cross-chain transfers.

"This collaboration is the first official campaign conducted by major Polkadot parachains in the ecosystem. As it has been the case in the past, Acala and Astar will lead the Polkadot ecosystem and create multichain use cases together. This partnership is our first step to prove the value of trustless Polkadot bridges (XCM) and create the future of multichain dApps," said Sota Watanabe, founder and CEO of Astar Network.

Establishing Astar as the future of smart contracts for multichain requires having deep liquidity of institutional-grade assets, like aUSD and LDOT, for builders to work with. Astar developers can build new dApps on top of Acala's reliable assets. In return, the Astar ecosystem will build the early use-cases needed for aUSD mass adoption across the multichain future.

Projects adding utility to aUSD on Astar Network can apply for Acala's $250 million aUSD Ecosystem Fund and Astar's SpaceLabs program. The $250 million aUSD Ecosystem Fund supports early-stage startups building applications with strong stablecoin use cases on any Polkadot or Kusama parachain. It is seeking Solidity or Substrate-based applications driving yield or utility for aUSD, including money markets, DEXs, derivatives, asset management, DAOs, payments, and other use cases.

About Acala

Acala is the DeFi platform and liquidity centre of Polkadot. It is a layer-1 smart contract ecosystem with built-in liquidity and pre-made financial solutions that is expandable, Ethereum-compatible, and tailored toward DeFi. Acala has two main features and was created as a Polkadot parachain.

The initial is aUSD, a multi-collateral, decentralized stablecoin insured by cryptocurrency, and the second is a decentralized exchange. Acala offers developers the best aspects of Ethereum and the entirety of Substrate thanks to its permissionless exchange, decentralized stablecoin (aUSD), DOT Liquid Staking (LDOT), and EVM+.

The native coin of the ACALA Network is ACA. The whole quantity of ACA Tokens will be created during the mainnet launch. And kept in the ACA Reserve Pool before being split between the ACALA Foundation, Seed Investment Partners, IPO Participants, and the general public for sale.

About Astar Network

Astar Network is The Future of Smart Contracts for Multichain. Astar Network supports the building of dApps with EVM and WASM smart contracts and offers developers true interoperability, with cross-consensus messaging (XCM). We are made by developers and for developers. Astar's unique Build2Earn model empowers developers to get paid through a dApp staking mechanism for the code they write and dApps they build.

Astar's vibrant ecosystem has become Polkadot's leading Parachain globally, supported by all major exchanges and tier 1 VCs. Astar offers the flexibility of all Ethereum and WASM toolings for developers to start building their dApps. To accelerate growth on Polkadot and Kusama Networks, Astar SpaceLabs offers an Incubation Hub for top TVL dApps.

SM promotion: The collaboration will enable developers to build on Astar's vibrant DeFi ecosystem using Acala-native assets like aUSD, LDOT, and ACA, while receiving extra ACA and additional rewards from various Astar ecosystem teams.