Why Bear Markets Demand a Shift from Acquisition to Retention

The Problem: Generic AMMs are commoditized, forcing competition on fees alone. The Solution: Programmable hooks turn the DEX into a customizable liquidity platform.\n- On-chain limit orders and dynamic fees create sticky, advanced trading flows.\n- Custom LP logic (e.g., TWAMM, auto-compounding) locks in professional market makers.\n- Shifts competition from price to features, making liquidity harder to fork and migrate.

The Problem: Borrowers are mercenary, chasing the lowest rates across lending markets. The Solution: Native stablecoin (GHO) and safety module staking create a self-reinforcing economic loop.\n- Stakers earn revenue share and boost GHO borrowing capacity, locking AAVE tokens.\n- GHO minters are incentivized to stay within the Aave ecosystem for discounted rates.\n- Converts transient borrowers into long-term, vested ecosystem participants.

The Problem: Liquid staking is winner-take-most; users flee to the highest yield with minimal friction. The Solution: stETH's deep DeFi integration and the upcoming dual-token (stETH / wstETH) model create immense switching costs.\n- $20B+ DeFi integrations make stETH the default collateral asset, not just a yield token.\n- wstETH enables seamless cross-chain expansion via LayerZero and Axelar, capturing liquidity everywhere.\n- Protocol revenue funds Lido DAO treasury, enabling strategic partnerships and subsidies to defend dominance.

The Problem: Algorithmic stablecoins fail without sustainable demand and yield. The Solution: Frax builds a vertically integrated yield ecosystem (Fraxswap, Fraxlend, frxETH) around its stablecoin.\n- Fraxferry (native bridge) and frxETH (liquid staking) capture ETH liquidity and secure the chain.\n- Fraxswap AMM with time-weighted markets and Fraxlend money market create internal demand loops for FRAX.\n- veFXS governance locks tokens for protocol revenue share and gauge voting, creating a long-term holder base.

Protocols spend millions on airdrops to attract mercenary capital, only to see >90% TVL exit post-claim. This burns runway and provides zero sustainable value.

• Key Benefit 1: Shift incentives to vesting and lock-ups (e.g., Curve's veTokenomics) to align user and protocol timelines.
• Key Benefit 2: Implement loyalty tiers and fee discounts for long-term stakers, turning passive capital into active defenders.

Stop renting liquidity from LPs who will flee at the first sign of trouble. Own your core liquidity pools to guarantee permanent depth and capture fees.

• Key Benefit 1: Use treasury assets to seed and manage pools (e.g., Olympus Pro, Frax Finance).
• Key Benefit 2: Creates a revenue flywheel where protocol earnings are reinvested to deepen liquidity, reducing dependence on external incentives.

Building endless new products scatters developer focus and overwhelms users. In a bear market, simplicity and core utility win.

• Key Benefit 1: Ruthlessly audit your product suite. Sunset low-usage features and double down on the one thing you do best (e.g., Uniswap for swapping, Aave for lending).
• Key Benefit 2: Invest in superior developer documentation and tooling (like Foundry, Hardhat) to retain the builders who create lasting ecosystem value.

Move beyond wallet-as-account to wallet-as-identity. Reward consistent onchain behavior to foster community and reduce churn.

• Key Benefit 1: Leverage attestation protocols (e.g., Ethereum Attestation Service) to build portable reputation for governance, undercollateralized lending, and access.
• Key Benefit 2: Integrate with social primitives (Lens, Farcaster) to create sticky social-capital layers that transcend token price volatility.

Paying users to use your product is a drug. When the subsidies stop, so does the activity, revealing an empty product-market fit.

• Key Benefit 1: Design sustainable fee models from day one. If your product isn't valuable enough to charge a small fee, it's not valuable.
• Key Benefit 2: Use retroactive public goods funding (like Optimism's RetroPGF) to reward value creation after it's proven, not before.

Reduce operational burn by leveraging modular infra (e.g., Celestia, EigenLayer) and progressively decentralizing control to the most dedicated users.

• Key Benefit 1: Cut ~50%+ infra costs by using modular data availability and shared security, reallocating capital to grants and bug bounties.
• Key Benefit 2: Implement gradual decentralization of core functions (treasury, upgrades) via DAO tooling (Safe, Tally) to cement community ownership and long-term alignment.