Red-Hot DeFi Opportunities ($)

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1. 👨‍⚖️ Trump's Tariff Policies Preserved Amid Appeals Battle. A trade court panel ruled that Trump did not have the authority to roll out the majority of his threatened tariffs. An appeals court stayed the ruling while it sorts out each side's arguments.
2. 🍎 NYC Mayor Eric Adams Calls for Upheaval of City's Crypto Licensing Program. The controversial leader called for the repeal of BitLicense in his speech at Bitcon 2025.
3. 💰 Tether-Backed Twenty One Capital Raises More Cash for BTC Treasury. The high-profile Bitcoin Treasury Company now has $685M in its coffers.

	Crypto $3.37T	↘ 0.7%	↘ 3.7%
	BTC $106,133	↘ 1.2%	↘ 4.5%
	ETH $2,653	↗ 0.3%	↗ 0.5%

Market Plays:

• 🪪 Trading profile memecoins on Ego
• 🪨 Exploring Starknet’s Asset Runes
• 🪙 Depositing to the new coveUSD vault
• 🏦 Borrowing via GONDI’s new ERC-20 vaults
• 🌊 Supplying $AUSD on Fluid for $POL rewards

Hot Reads:

• 🌀 Fractal Protocols - Jack Longarzo
• 🍻 REKT and Brand Coins - TPan
• 🐂 The Bull Market Is Coming (So Is the Grift) - dime.fiddy

Farming Opps:

• 🟠 BTC: 13% APR with Aerodrome’s cbBTC-LBTC pool on Base
• 🟠 BTC: 5% APR with Suilend’s WBTC vault on Sui
• 🔵 ETH: 15% APR with Aerodrome’s weETH-WETH pool on Base
• 🔵 ETH: 6% APY with Pendle’s cmETH PT on Mantle
• 🟢 USD: 19% APR with STEAMM’s suiUSDT-USDC pool on Sui
• 🟢 USD: 15% APY with Pendle’s cUSD0 PT on Ethereum

Airdrop Hunter:

• 🏦 Kamino: Check for Season 3 KMNO drop
• 🐠 Nemo Protocol: Hunt NEMO airdrop
• 🏃‍♂️ Momentum: Hunt “bricks” for airdrop
• 🪙 Resolv: Claim RESOLV airdrop
• 🗣️ Sophon: Claim SOPH airdrop

Last week, we broke down a litany of bullish catalysts behind Sui’s swelling momentum. Just as excitement was building, however, the Sui ecosystem was rocked by the $260M exploit of Cetus – its leading liquidity provider.

Despite this setback, for those betting on the network’s potential, opportunity abounds. With validators working to recover stolen spoils and the Sui Foundation stepping in with a loan to cover the remainder, Cetus users will soon be made whole and better days could lie ahead for the network…

Today, we’re diving deeper into the alt L1, exploring red-hot protocols reshaping Sui with juicy yields and first-mover rewards for early adopters.

Here are the top 5 DeFi deposit opportunities we’re tracking on Sui. 👇

🐟 Nemo Protocol

Twitter | Website
Category: Yield

About:

Just like Pendle – a widely popular yield swapping application on top EVM networks – Nemo is a Sui-native platform that enables users to split yield-bearing tokens into principal (PT) and yield (YT) components. PTs can be redeemed for a vault’s underlying tokens at maturity and YTs accrue all returns generated from the underlying until vault maturity.

Vault depositors can provide liquidity to earn swap fees while maintaining crypto exposure while accessing future yields by selling their YTs. Alternatively, Nemo speculators can leverage their yield exposure by purchasing YTs, and risk-averse users can purchase PTs to lock in guaranteed fixed returns on crypto assets for a defined period of time (i.e.; until maturity).

Nemo has an ongoing points program that rewards protocol users with non-transferable points, which will serve as a proof of engagement for future airdrops. Points are distributed every 24 hours and can be earned by depositing liquidity, holding PT/YT tokens, and trading on the Nemo Protocol.

How to Use:

Earn double-digit APYs by providing liquidity for select SUI, ETH, and USD deposit opportunities with incentives, leverage variable yield exposure with YTs, or lock in guaranteed fixed yields with PTs.

• Provide liquidity by clicking “+POOL APY”
• Leverage variable yields by clicking “YT”
• Receive fixed yields by “PT”

💨 Momentum

Twitter | Website
Category: Exchange

About:

Momentum is the fastest growing decentralized exchange on Sui; the protocol has seen its TVL increase by 220% over the past month off the back of its “bricks” airdrop rewards program (detailed below), which explicitly promises tokens for early users.

The Momentum Building Program, which began on April 28, rewards users with “bricks” for trading, providing liquidity, and referring others to Momentum. Momentum’s blog indicates that brick holders will receive fungible tokens (which confer protocol voting rights and accrue yield) at a future date.

How to Use:

Referring others to Momentum, providing liquidity to earn yield, or using the exchange to swap between assets on Sui will yield “brick” airdrop rewards.

• Refer others to Momentum (connect wallet, then click “Start Earning”)
• Provide liquidity to Momentum
• Swap assets with Momentum

🌋 Magma Finance

Twitter | Website
Category: Exchange

About:

Essentially the Aerodrome of Sui, Magma Finance employs ve(3,3) tokenomics, incentivizing its users to lock MAGMA for veMAGMA to receive voting rights and a share of protocol fees. Liquidity providers receive MAGMA tokens as rewards, which can be sold for profit or locked to participate in governance.

While Magma’s veTokenomic functionality is not yet live, the protocol’s website claims token voting, veMAGMA locking, and incentives are “coming soon,” meanwhile, protocol documentation indicated these features could be expected in early March.

At this time, Magma liquidity providers earn platform fees and MAGMA token rewards, which can be used to participate in governance once requisite functionality is eventually deployed. 

How to Use:

Conduct Sui-native swaps through Magma Finance or receive MAGMA tokens and yield by providing liquidity.

• Swap assets with Magma Finance
• Provide liquidity to Magma Finance

🏦 Suilend

Twitter | Website
Category: Money Market, Exchange

About:

With $700M in TVL at the time of this analysis, Suilend ranks as the largest application on Sui.

This lending protocol was developed by the same team behind Save Finance (f.k.a. Solend), a leading lending application on Solana. By launching on Sui, the Suilend team successfully leveraged its successful track record on Solana to establish itself as the predominant money market for the emerging chain.

Protocol-imposed borrow fees on Suilend were reduced to 0% on May 8, and platform engagements through May will qualify users for Season 2 of the SEND airdrop. Additionally, in the aftermath of the Cetus exploit, Suilend announced that it would provide $1M of incentives for depositors in eligible STEAMM pools.

How to Use:

Position for Season 2 of the SEND airdrop by lending/borrowing with eligible Suilend vaults or receive STEAMM points by swapping Sui-native tokens through the STEAMM exchange.

• Lend/borrow crypto tokens with Suilend
• Deposit into Suilend STEAMM LP pools
• Swap assets with Suilend’s STEAMM exchange

🌊 Kai Finance

Twitter | Website
Category: Leveraged Farming

About:

Kai Finance is a yield farming platform that provides depositors with two distinct vaults to harvest returns on Sui. Funds in Kai’s “Single Asset Vaults” provide liquidity for “Leveraged LP Vaults,” which return triple-digit APRs by looping DEX liquidity provider deposits by up to 11x.

While this protocol does not currently have plans to launch a token, the FAQ section of Kai’s documentation indicates that the team will “start considering it” after achieving $100M in TVL; the metric was reading $28M at the time of this analysis.

Although Kai Finance exposed depositors to losses via composition with Cetus (a recently exploited DEX), the team promptly responded by outlining a redemption process for impacted vaults and launching new isolated vaults that shield depositors from previous losses.

How to Use:

Position for a potential airdrop and juice your yields by depositing Sui-native tokens into Kai Finance.

• Deposit into Single Asset Vaults
• Deposit into Leveraged LP Vaults

Unlock the power of Unichain – a fast, decentralized Ethereum Layer 2 network built to be the home for DeFi and cross-chain liquidity. To bridge tokens to Unichain and start swapping today, get started with Uniswap Labs’ web app or mobile wallet.

After a sluggish start to 2025, Aave has staged a notable resurgence laden with record-breaking metrics and millions in token buybacks. Alas, behind the bullish headlines lies a significantly heightened risk profile. Is AAVE evolving or overreaching?

Catalyst Overview:

While Aave’s TVL had been in decline for the first three months of 2025, Ethereum’s bluechip lender managed to turn a new leaf in early April, immediately before BTC began its most recent ascension to new all-time highs.

Pros:

• More Deposits: Since setting local lows on April 10, Aave total value locked and active loans metrics have increased more than 50%, achieving new respective all-time highs of $26.1B and $16.3B at the time of this analysis.
• Token Buybacks: Aave’s governance-approved token buyback program began on April 9 and has accumulated 38.7k AAVE for $7M since inception, netting over $3M in profit for the DAO and presenting a continual source of token buy pressure.

Cons:

• Increased Risk Profile: Starting April 30, Aave began accepting Pendle principal tokens (PTs) for Ethena assets as collateral. On May 6, Aave signaled interest in extending credit against Uniswap LP positions via its GHO stablecoin. The onboarding of such exotic token types injects novel risks and should warrant a reassessment of Aave’s long-standing bluechip status.

Price Impact:

The Bankless Analyst Team is upgrading its AAVE rating to bullish, believing the token behind Ethereum’s quintessential lending market is well positioned to benefit from an increasing demand for leverage so long as crypto prices continue to rise.

While Aave appears to be on a positive trajectory, a pattern of risky decision making as of late could place the Protocol in riskier positioning should market conditions take a turn for the worse, causing liquidity to evaporate for time-locked synthetic dollar claims and wreaking havoc on the value of passive liquidity provider positions.

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