Author: blocmates Translator: Cointime Lu Tian

If you’ve been following Blocmates, you probably already know our love for the legendary Maia DAO team, a team with incredible brains that built an amazing DeFi prototype.

Now, we want to tell you that their journey is far from over. They have a slew of exciting updates and new products coming up, which we will introduce to you one by one. But before that, let’s take a look back at what Maia DAO has achieved so far.

starting point

Remember the early days of 2022? The bear market was coming, but most people hadn't noticed it yet. LUNA, FTX, Celsius, etc. hadn't collapsed yet, and L2 szn was in full swing. People were basically still playing the 2021 alternative L1 rotation game, but on a relatively small scale, and turned to the new L2.

One of the drivers of this rotation is Metis Network. As a smart second-layer network, Metis Network provides users with a fast and low-cost transaction experience. Maia DAO, as an early protocol involved in the ecosystem and benefited greatly from it, made the rotation of Metis Network more durable than other rotations.

Maia DAO has successfully positioned itself as the core force that captures the majority of L2 TVL. As a driver of on-chain yields, increasing liquidity through bonding, and providing an efficient AMM in the form of the Hermes protocol, Maia DAO's rise is impeccable.

As the bear market continued, liquidity began to drain out of the ecosystem. However, this did not stop Maia’s momentum, and the team continued to launch a series of highly innovative products.

Maia Token

Inspired by the success of Olympus DAO and other OHM forks in terms of bonding mechanisms, Maia DAO also decided to adopt a similar approach to improve liquidity.

Maia DAO launched the Maia Bond campaign, minting a total of 2,712 Maia tokens. The protocol incentivizes liquidity pools by adding liquidity and paying other related fees.

In order to give these Maia Bonds value, there needs to be some demand for the tokens, meaning they need to have some kind of utility. This demand can be achieved in three ways:

• Staking

• Governance

• financial support

In short, what you need to understand is that holding and staking Maia tokens enables you to indirectly participate in the entire Maia DAO ecosystem. What is included in the ecosystem?

Hermes Protocol

Hermes Protocol is the first product developed by Maia DAO.

This is a stable forked decentralized exchange (DEX) that originated from the brainchild of Andre Cronje. It allows users to trade pegged and non-pegged assets with low fees and low slippage. The first version of Hermes is similar to Uniswap V2, with the main difference that pegged assets can be traded on it. In addition, the reward distribution system of the HERMES token is also unique. By using the ve(3,3) indicator, the incentives of all users are aligned with the protocol, creating a sustainable flywheel effect.

Although the initial version of Hermes worked well, the team did not stop there. Eventually, they launched Hermes V2. The upgrade of V2 brought many new features. The three core features include:

• Unified liquidity across the entire chain

• Token economics changes from ve(3,3) to b(3,3)

• Decentralized liquidity management

The unified liquidity solution is a major improvement to the DEX architecture. It is a full-chain DEX called Hermes Ulysses, and you can learn more about it here. Here are some of the core concepts.

The team created a full-chain DEX where users can seamlessly exchange assets between different chains through its port architecture, which uses Layer0 as a messaging layer.

There are multiple ports. Each chain has its own port, and all ports are connected to a unified pool. When a transaction is made, all transactions are routed through the main pool, and then the user receives funds through the port on the chain they are trading.

Where Ulysses really shines is in its SDK (Software Development Kit) product. Any team can easily integrate this framework into their Dapp, and users can interact with Ulysses directly through the Dapp's user interface.

Let’s say you are currently on Arbitrum and your funds are only there. Instead of going through the cumbersome bridging process, you can directly interact with Dapps on Arbitrum that have integrated the Ulysses SDK. It’s that simple.

The second change is a shift in the token economics structure. For more details on this token economics change, check out our article on Hermes V2. However, the core idea behind this shift is that it would be a very tedious task for a user or protocol to maximize the rewards of the Hermes meter manually. Therefore, the move to bHERMES allows users to automatically always maximize their rewards without having to manually re-lock or perform any other tasks.

The third feature of V2 is TALOS.

TALOS

TALOS, which stands for Transparent Automated Liquidity Optimization Strategy, is a product designed specifically for managing liquidity positions.

Uniswap V3 introduced the concept of pooled liquidity, fundamentally changing the way liquidity is provided. While efficiency has been improved, the resulting technical complexity has made it more challenging for unskilled participants to provide liquidity.

TALOS smart contracts run automated strategies on Uniswap V3, bringing stable returns to investors. Other teams in the DeFi space have integrated and built strategies on top of TALOS, enabling users to deposit funds into these strategies and passively enjoy active liquidity management.

Another advantage of this product is that Maia DAO can use the liquidity earned through bonds to bring stable returns to the treasury department, thereby indirectly benefiting MAIA holders and stakeholders.

It is important to note that TALOS is a highly technical product, which we have already introduced in detail in this article. Please check it out for more information.

However, the Maia project also includes an important part, which is Maia DAO V2.

Maia DAO V2

The main change in Maia DAO V2 is the adjustment of its token economy.

As we all know, MAIA’s core goal is to first generate liquidity through bonds and then provide holders and stakeholders with investment opportunities across the Maia DAO ecosystem. While this premise remains, the team has optimized the token economics to increase users’ profit potential.

The entire token economic redesign was inspired by the Curve wars. The synergy between Curve and Convex is exactly what Maia is trying to emulate in V2, except they are using Hermes to do it.

In the V2 version, the issuance of MAIA tokens is only carried out through strategic bonds, but the purpose of MAIA tokens has changed significantly. Not only are they backed by a basket of blue-chip assets, but locking MAIA will provide users with vMAIA.

vMAIA brings users higher rewards, voting rights, sharing of treasury revenue, and exclusive access to the TALOS Treasury.

Next steps

After reading all this information, you might think that’s enough. However, there are very few teams in the DeFi space that are able to deliver products at such an efficient pace. Not only are they executing efficiently, but they are also building some of the best products in the industry.

Thankfully, they’re not stopping anytime soon. If you’re a core community member of Maia DAO, you probably know that they’re in the process of a full migration to Arbitrum. This migration will bring with it a whole new set of products.

Arbitrum is a completely different space than Metis. The competition is fierce, and to be the best, you have to beat the best. There is no doubt that a prolific team like the one behind Maia DAO is more than capable of meeting this challenge.