How Stafi Integrates into the Polkadot Ecosystem

Eric, the head of the Polkadot ecosystem developer program, shared his views on the Stafi Protocol and the Substrate Builders Program.

Eric is the Head of Ecosystem Development at Parity, responsible for the Substrate Builders Program. This project aims to assist project development by integrating resources such as technology, marketing, business development, and financing within Parity.

The Substrate Builders Program is different from accelerators or incubators; it focuses on providing expertise in the Substrate ecosystem and technology stack. The program lasts for 6 months and can be reapplied for. Selected projects can receive support in various aspects, including technical assistance, community support, funding, and business development support.

Eric believes that the Stafi Protocol can solve the problem of lack of liquidity for staked assets in POS chains. By generating rTokens, users can maintain asset liquidity while earning staking rewards. The Stafi team has a strong technical background and industry reputation, and the release timing is closely tied to Polkadot, giving it a first-mover advantage.

Eric stated that Stafi and other staking derivative tools could become a unique advantage in attracting users to Polkadot. In the Polkadot ecosystem, Stafi can collaborate well with DeFi projects, such as providing more collateralizable assets for lending platforms.

For projects that want to participate in the Substrate Builders Program, Eric recommends preparing technical evidence such as a GitHub repository and being able to clearly articulate the project's business model. Currently, the application approval rate for this program is about 30%.

Eric stated that if projects like Stafi successfully launch, he might use such products to more conveniently nominate KSM tokens among more validators. He believes that these types of projects can help users maintain the ability to trade tokens while earning staking rewards.