Lif3 Protocol: One Year Anniversary Edition
My oh my, what a year it has been. Yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of Lif3. One year ago, we unveiled the very beginning of a vision that started nine months prior when the Tomb | Lif3 team took over Tomb in September of 2021. Speaking of Tomb, we just celebrated two years of Tomb as well. This past year has been loaded with highs and lows, challenges and accomplishments, and everything in-between.
Today’s announcement marks the 92nd Weekly Update, and it’s safe to say this will be longer than you’re used to. Brew a cup of coffee and settle into the comfy spot on your couch before you begin. We have a lot to talk about as we have worked continuously over the course of the last year.
Let’s take a walk down memory lane before we gaze on the future ahead…
In the Beginning:
The Tomb protocol was the Teams’ first real entry point into the world of DeFi, and it was a very quick and easy love affair. The perfect marriage of complexity, anticipation, excitement, and thrill. Tomb was built with a one-year emission schedule for $TSHARE, which acted like a cement brick tied to our shoes. There was only so much we could do with Tomb in the short term, and we knew it was time to step out of our comfort zone and build something without the restraints of traditional DeFi and something that could help complement Tomb further in the future. Fear not, our beloved $TOMB and $TSHARE lovers, we have plans for the future. Time was not on our side, and we needed to focus on the immediate solution and set Tomb to auto-pilot in the meantime. And so it was…
The finality of $TSHARE emissions was indeed the Birth of Lif3. Lif3 was conceived completely differently than any other protocol to date. Lif3 was built to be flexible, sustainable, rewarding, simple, elegant, and, most importantly, safe. Far too many good people get hurt in DeFi, and it was time to find a solution that adds a layer of safety for the user without restricting their ability to generate yield.
Tomb Chain gave us the learning experience and the know-how to later build Lif3 Chain, but more on that later. When Lif3 was born, the market suffered a fairly epic downward spiral from the Bitcoin All-Time-High of $69,000. We knew there had to be a way to roll out some of the initial supply that could be utilized in tandem with users in the Tomb protocol. This was Genesis, which later became the Nursery. Genesis launched on Tomb.com the day $TSHARE emissions ended, June 12th, 2022. Genesis served as the initial exposure to $LIF3 and $LSHARE while preparations were being finalized to launch Lif3 and Tomb Chain simultaneously. This was one of the few opportunities in all of DeFi, that rewarded users’ early access to a future gas token while single-staking tokens during a downward market. Genesis/Nursery was the safe haven to generate yield while the market was creating new lows, month after month.
Genesis, as the word implies, was only the beginning. See, there was this limitation with $TSHARE that we didn’t want in $LSHARE. One-year emission schedule was simply too short for a protocol with sustainability and long-term growth potential. We needed $LSHARE to be scarcer, more flexible, and just as fun as its big brother $TSHARE. Less than a month after launching Genesis, we had 14 different single-staking opportunities to earn the very first $LIF3 tokens in existence. Coupling that $LIF3 with other tokens in our brand-new Cemetery V2, rewarded the very first $LSHARE in existence. But at this time, we still didn’t have a Lif3 protocol. That was until there were only 69 Days left of Genesis…
An L2 and Lif3 are Born:
Tomb Chain went live right around the 4th of July, 2022. Tomb Chain, our own in-house, permissioned Layer 2 built on top of Fantom Opera was a massive undertaking. Serving not only as a proof of concept for future builds but as a home for Lif3 and the start of a permissioned blockchain movement to bring safer areas to DeFi for all users to adopt and utilize.
The very first dApp on our new permissioned Layer 2 was the beta version of the Lif3 bridge. Coordinating the Tomb Chain mainnet launch with the Lif3 Bridge was quite an ordeal, but we launched everything without a hitch, and we couldn’t be more proud of the entire team for their execution.
With the ability to now move tokens from Fantom Layer 1 to Tomb Chain Layer 2, we could concretely say the foundation was set for Lif3.com to secure its rightful place in the books of history. The Bridge was the first piece of the initial Lif3 puzzle and a prerequisite for establishing the Lif3 protocol on Tomb Chain. With the new bridge properly in place, the stage has been set for Lif3 Swap…
Line ’em Up and Knock ’em Down:
The next several weeks in July and August were incredibly busy, with more and more pieces of the overall initial Lif3 protocol getting rolled out one at a time. Following the Bridge, we launched the initial version of Lif3 Swap, the premiere DEX on Tomb Chain, featuring all Tomb | Lif3 ecosystem tokens and a host of other great tokens.
Lif3 Swap was set to be the DEX for all activity on Tomb Chain. The initial rollout featured 14 available tokens and liquidity provided by the team for initial swaps. This liquidity would soon grow from users as the next piece of the puzzle was revealed shortly after Lif3 Swap went live.
Welcome to the Garden. The Garden is the main driver for liquidity on Tomb Chain and, therefore, the liquidity used for Lif3 Swap. The Garden was rolled out in late July and offered users the ability to create LPs and earn $LSHARE as a reward for doing so. With Tomb Chain using $TOMB as the native gas token for the Layer 2, options for LPs included Tomb Ecosystem tokens, bringing the Tomb | Lif3 ecosystem full circle. There was a lot of experimenting in the beginning regarding LPs and how far we could diversify the available options. After months of testing, analyzing, and sifting through the data, it was more efficient and beneficial for all users and the protocol to trim these options down to Lif3 ecosystem tokens and the associated gas tokens on each chain… but more on those other chains later.
After the successful launch of the Garden, preparations were finalized for releasing the Greenhouse. However, the Greenhouse is directly tied to the Terrace, and therefore, in early August, the beta launch of both the Terrace and the Greenhouse landed for all users. The Terrace allows users to lend or leverage their LPs and retain more farming and liquidity provider rewards. This also unlocks the power of borrowing. Lending and borrowing, when used correctly, are cornerstones of successful portfolio and wealth growth. Bestowing this power on users gives them the flexibility they need and the tools required for simple and complex strategies.
The Greenhouse receives its APR directly from usage in the Terrace. This delicate system needs fine-tuning from time to time but gives users the power to single-stake tokens that become borrowable tokens and, in return, receive a receipt token in its place. This is what created our stl tokens. What started as $TOMB and $LIF3 for available options quickly grew to include $USDC and $L3USD. Single-staking tokens inherently come with less risk, an option that many users tend to diversify a portion of their portfolio into when developing strategies.
In the background, things like Tomb Chain being added to DexScreener and DeBank were well on their way, paving the way for a better user experience across the ecosystem. The Lif3 Team never sits still or develops idle hands. Sometimes they move so quickly that they find themselves on the race track…
Lif3 in the Fast Lane:
The elephant in the room, when it comes to Tomb, is its marketability to a larger audience not yet invested in DeFi. Lif3 solves this issue by being more marketable and approachable for the everyday investor. We take branding very seriously, but it is a very long, slow, and methodical approach that tends to deliver the best results. Because we build for the future and for a long-term sustainable protocol, we don’t seek the quick turnover, fly-by-night type of investor. This mentality, coupled with our love for Formula 1, brought us the Lif3 sponsorship for Pierre Gasly and the AlphaTauri race team at that time. Pierre has since moved from AlphaTauri to Alpine, and Lif3 continues to sponsor him. The Lif3.com brand name is proudly displayed on his current helmet and is seen by millions in every race this season. This sponsorship also reflects the comradery we share with the Fantom FDN, as both Lif3.com and Fantom are represented on the track. However, we didn’t stop there. We added another sponsorship involving high speeds and race tracks. We welcomed a sponsorship deal with MotoGP Champion Fabio Quartararo. Later in the year (September 13th, 2022), we also announced our brand new sponsorship with the UAE Warriors.
It was also at this time, and written in a press release from AlphaTauri, that we were in the very early stages of developing Lif3 Chain. As everyone is well aware, Lif3 Chain is currently in testnet and being diligently worked on every day. Lif3 Chain will prove to be the next major piece of the overall Lif3 puzzle.
Lif3 is Live:
After a month or so in beta, tweaking some code, adjusting APRs, and getting an overall sense of the protocol, the Lif3 protocol came out of beta and went LIVE! This was a monumental step as it solidified Lif3 and cemented Lif3 as the protocol and Tomb Chain as a successful, stable, fast, and reliable Layer 2.
It was at this time that we were fast approaching the end of Genesis and the end of Quarter Three of 2022. The market was turbulent, with Bitcoin hitting lows of $17,500 and highs near $25,200. With the successful launch of the Bridge, Swap, Garden, Terrace, and Greenhouse, it was decided to extend Genesis on Fantom and create the Nursery on Tomb Chain. This created a safe, single-stake solution that removed the fear of the market and gave power to users to create yield with tokens they wished to hold. After assessing the overall macro market conditions, we decided to run each instance of Genesis/Nursery at quarterly intervals.
Building with Purpose:
In early August of 2022, we announced our vision for a stablecoin that was designed to support Fantom, Tomb, and the Lif3 ecosystem. After the crash in May of 2022 from LUNA/UST, stablecoins, algorithmic tokens, and anything even remotely similar all came under scrutiny. Some were well deserved; others were treated unfairly and targeted because of a misunderstanding of each token’s underlying functions and use cases. Be that as it may, the fall of $UST became the door to open the all-new $L3USD. At that time, the work for $L3USD was already 24 months in the making, but the timing to launch became now or never.
Building with purpose means building to solve a problem. It means writing code that can improve people’s lives in the long term. Creating a Variable Collateralized Stable (VCS) token started with building liquidity, and we did that by hitting the Factory on Curve and creating all new $L3USD Curve Pools. At this time, we announced new pools available in Cemetery V2 and the Garden. $L3USD has been a very long process, but its proof of concept continues to ring true. Over the following weeks, we released tons of information on $L3USD and an explanation of the phases required for a successful launch. As with all things in development, one must be able to evolve and adapt as the market shifts and priorities change. We have spent a great deal of time and resources on $L3USD, but there was a time we needed to shift to Lif3 Chain as the priorities had shifted. $L3USD continues to be worked on in the background.
Lif3 in Crypto Begins:
Let’s face it; the world needs more humor, and what better way to facilitate some humor than by smashing storytelling with comics? Lif3 in Crypto was launched on August 23, 2022, in the TT labeled Tomb | Lif3 Update 50.
We launched Lif3 in Crypto with the Fanty Genesis Story, where Death comes to collect Fanty only to sadly find out Fanty still has six of his nine lives left. In an unexpected twist, while walking away from Fanty, Death drops the first-ever Lif3 token…
Chairman for 52 Weeks:
“September 9th, 2022, marked the one-year mark since my first announcement in the Tomb Discord after taking over the reins of Tomb.com. The rollercoaster, including all the ups and downs, was well worth the ride and continues to reward me over time. 52 Weeks of Updates was a personal milestone for me, as staying in touch and updating the community on what’s going on remains as important as ever.” — Harry Yeh, Chairman Tomb | Lif3
This time was spent launching the brand-new UI for Tomb.com. The newer, sleeker, more refined look of Tomb that you all have come to know and love today. At the same time, we announced the Mortuary and the Mausoleum were coming to Tomb.com. These pieces of the Lif3 puzzle were now making their way over to Fantom, giving everyone easy access and more opportunities to generate yield within the Tomb | Lif3 ecosystem. We didn’t stop there, though, as we also announced that the coming of Genesis/Nursery would officially begin in October of 2022 and run for 90 days.
We also used this time to officially announce the coming of DeFi Derivatives (Lif3 Trade) was in the very early stages of development. We wanted to bring an extremely complex but exciting product to all our users. Giving people the tools they need to take their portfolios to the next level was something we were extremely excited about as a team. More on Lif3 Trade later.
We spent the following weeks cleaning up and optimizing code, adding new options to the Terrace, Garden, Mortuary, and Mausoleum, building liquidity for $L3USD, writing code for single-stake vaults, updating V3 Tomb to Tomb.com, creating landing pages for Tomb and Lif3, integrating with Edge wallet and DefiLlama, etc. The list continues as September and October were very busy months, but… Of all the things that came from Q4 of 2022, one stands above the rest in regard to the anticipation of release…
A Fountain has Sprung:
Memories of $TSHARE prints from the Masonry dance around in our heads like tasting Birthday cake for the first time as a child. When the printer goes BRRR — the printer really goes BRRR. These were incredible times, and one could sense the community’s energy, excitement, and thrill on both Discord and Telegram. Even in a downward market, we knew the foundation would need to be laid so that we could recreate that same energy, excitement, and thrill in the future. This was the birth of the Fountain of $LIF3 and the final piece of the initial Lif3 puzzle.
The Fountain proved to be a critical test of the protocol’s ability to monitor the market and adjust accordingly. Never before has there been a way to alter such a fundamental piece of the orchestra. It’s like having the ability to fine-tune an instrument during a live performance. These elements are not to be taken lightly, and critical thought must be applied before each and every move, but the proof of concept was solidified; it worked. This concept can now be applied in the future to add variable and adjustable parameters to a once-fixed and static operation. The Team experimented with a number of different parameters, up to and including, for a short while, a double Ratio requirement. Although we eventually moved to a single Ratio requirement for Fountain prints, one cannot understate the true value of having the flexibility to be able to experiment from the ground up, a luxury not to be taken lightly.
On Tuesday, October 25th, both before and after the TT Update 59, The Fountain of $LIF3 went BRRR. The first back-to-back prints for the all-new Fountain and the beginning of the completed initial rollout of the Lif3 protocol.
The Expansion Begins:
Between announcing the development of Lif3 Wallet, Quantum Miami, audits for vaults and other codes, Cemetery V3, everything with Felix, and other minor tweaks and fixes, we announced Lif3 would be going cross-chain. This was a huge step and undertaking, but it was the right call for many reasons. No longer could we stay isolated to a single chain and a Layer 2. It was time to break those barriers down and populate some other chains.
This step-by-step process needed to begin with bridging tokens from one chain to another. For the New Year’s TT — Update 68 — we announced Lif3 cross-chain on Fantom as the first and obvious choice to begin the road to expansion. Polygon and BNB Chain would follow in 2023 as per the announcement in the same TT.
Creating a solution on multiple chains that allows a user to have the most flexibility for their portfolio and an almost unlimited amount of options for generating yield was no easy task, but tapping into the vibrant communities of Polygon and BNB, on top of the relationship we already had with Fantom, proved to be a complicated process. Be that as it may, we delivered, and we didn’t just stop there.
The Nursery kicked off our cross-chain endeavor right about the same time we said goodbye to 2022 and hello to 2023. Tomb Chain, Fantom, Polygon, and BNB Chain all received a fresh 90 days of the Nursery for a safe single-stake option during some of the worst price action we saw for the previous six months.
The clear second step for cross-chain was the Garden. The heart of the Lif3 protocol is providing liquidity, and the Garden is responsible for that task. We experimented again with different sets of LPs and different pairings that made sense, but it all boiled down to Lif3 and Gas Tokens. This was the combination that had the most beneficial impact for the Lif3 protocol and, therefore, all of the Lif3 users.
This is when there was a fork in the road. The option was to bring the Terrace and Greenhouse over to Polygon and BNB or fill the newly installed piping and turn on the water to the Fountain of $LIF3 on Fantom. In the end, we chose the latter, and who doesn’t love another Fountain? Less than a month later, we had the Terrace and Greenhouse live on both Polygon and BNB Chain.
The Fountain on Fantom went live just about the same time Harry was on stage in Miami talking about all things Lif3 and, coincidentally, the same time we opened the doors to the Lif3 Discord.
Well, Hello Miami:
Ever since the Fantom Developers Conference of 2021, the itch to get back into the conference scene simply needed to be scratched. Quantum Miami was essentially the first major conference in DeFi post-Covid. All throughout November, December, and January, we unveiled more and more speakers who would be speaking within their respective fields.
There is something about a live presentation that adds more weight to the subject’s matter. In today’s world of Facetime, Zoom, and other forms of video chat, we lose that true sense of speaking to someone and having a real, true, and meaningful conversation. A conversation that invokes emotions, thoughts, and clarity on a particular topic.
Networking is another major advantage for conference-goers. Sitting or standing elbow to elbow with some of the smartest minds in the industry is an opportunity most people never get to realize in their entire life. The conversations, sit-downs, parties, experiences, memories, etc. are all important, relevant, and impossible without the backdrop of a conference.
Harry was elated to host Quantum Miami 2023, and he will be honored to host Quantum Miami 2024. Start making your preparations today because 2024 will be kicking the door down to say hello before you know it.
Perpetual Motion:
The time around Valentine’s Day 2023 brought us a new love in the Lif3 Family…Lif3 Trade: Fantom. The initial launch of Lif3 Trade was only on Fantom, but as you all know, we very quickly brought Lif3 Trade: BNB to market. Saint Patrick’s Day brought us Lif3 Trade: BNB. There might be something to launching on holidays…
Lif3 Trade is a complicated but outstanding product with tons of features and many aspects to attract many different styles of traders and investors. Lif3 Trade opens the door for single-staking $LIF3, now that the Nursery has been retired. Lif3 Trade opens the door to mint $LLP — the basket of tokens represented on either version of Lif3 Trade. Lif3 Trade offers leveraged trading for some of the biggest derivatives on the planet.
Since launch, many improvements have been made, such as integrating Trading View charts, adding a Leaderboard, and tons of tweaks and optimizations under the hood. Lif3 Trade is now a mainstay for the Lif3 ecosystem and an incredible tool for all our users. Before long, we were able to implement Firebird within the Lif3 Trade Swap routing feature to allow users the best possible swap rates in DeFi.
The World in the Palm of Your Hands:
Lif3 Wallet was in the making for a very long time before going live on May 2nd, 2023, for Apple iOS devices. This was a huge sense of relief once it hit the App Store. The back and forth for months is all part of the development process, but we were slowed down by things like LUNA, FTX, bankruptcies, and banks shutting down. Be that as it may, we kept the axe to the grindstone and came out with a mobile wallet that is fast, sleek, beautiful, and powerful.
Between the security, the Ramp integration, the seamless access to Lif3.com and Lif3 Trade, the Web3 browser, WalletConnect, and more, Lif3 Wallet has everything you need for a complete mobile solution in today’s DeFi. The team did an amazing job getting this product to the public and didn’t stop there.
As you all know, within two weeks of releasing the iOS version, we were able to get the Android version available on the Google Play Store. This was the last major hurdle for Lif3 Wallet, and it was a sigh of relief and a time to celebrate once Lif3 Wallet was available to the largest pool of mobile users in the world.
But Wait…There’s More:
Above were some of the major highlights and milestones over the very first year of Lif3. However, far more than what is listed above has been accomplished in 365 days. In January 2023, the Request Network added us to their integration, February brought Lif3 users the very first Sprints, and Quantum Events kicked off their first EnjoyLif3 events.
March brought us a host of incredible things, including $LIF3 listing on BitMart, Ramp and Multichain integrations on Lif3.com, Limit Orders on Lif3 Swap, Lif3 Swap Firebird integration, Lif3 Trade on DeBank, and, of course, Lif3 Chain Testnet.
April gave us the very first back-to-back double printer print from our Fountains on Tomb Chain and Fantom, Twitter Spaces with BNB Chain, an announcement for AI.Lif3.com, and the unveiling of Validator Nodes for Lif3 Chain.
May brought us cross-chain swaps powered by LI.FI, the Ethereum blockchain being added to the front end of Lif3.com and our own in-house Lif3 Support.
And even though June has just begun, as early as last week, we announced the addition of supporting both Optimism and Arbitrum on Lif3 Swap.
We can think of no other protocol on the planet that has had a busier year than us, and we are honored to celebrate the One Year Anniversary of Lif3 with the greatest community in the universe!
All Roads Lead Here:
Of course, everything we have built, everything we have done, and every product released and contract deployed has brought us here to today, the One Year Anniversary of Lif3. It’s a time to pause for a second and reflect on the accomplishments, the friendships, the comradery through the Bear Market, and the memories no one can ever take from us.
Yesterday was June 12th, one full year from the launch of the Lif3 protocol, one full year from the launch of the $LIF3 token, and the precursor day for halving the $LSHARE emissions. Today is the halving, bringing a sense of scarcity to our share token. This will be the first of three scheduled halvings over the course of four years in an emission schedule of eight years.
As it is said, “Real Bulls Build in the Bear,” which is exactly what we have and continue to do. We have watched countless projects close their doors, shut down their socials, or sit on standby waiting for things to turn around. Not us… We BUILD, and we continue to build. As mentioned in a previous announcement, we sometimes need to pivot away from something we are working on and shift focus to another, but these are calculated decisions that need to be made with understanding and clarity. In this market and in Lif3 in general, one needs to “Adapt and Evolve,” or you’ll be left on the sidelines wondering what happened.
Our future is brighter than it has ever been. Week by week and month by month, more pieces of the master plan are unveiled, and more pieces to the overall puzzle are put in their rightful places. Long-term, safe, and sustainable are what we are building for, and we believe we have not wavered from that path.
In closing, we want to thank each and every one on Team Lif3, from the Mods to the Devs; your work over the last 21 months has been nothing short of incredible. You are the blood flowing through the heart of Lif3. And a very special thank you to everyone in the Tomb | Lif3 community; your dedication, resilience, patience, and understanding have been inspirational and lend their hands as one of the driving forces to hit the ground running every day. We have much more to come, but we aren’t done building yet, and we look forward to the next year ahead!
We’re Just Getting Started:
A lot more is happening behind the scenes, and these are all in various stages of development or planning. FANTY & TBONE, Airdrops, Masonry V2, ONLY, Lif3 Chain, and more.
Λ Lif3 in Crypto:
Please enjoy this week’s comic.
ENJOY LIF3!
