Deep Dive into the Step Ecosystem

DeFi (Decentralized Finance) ecosystem has been growing for years by taking various investments. According to Grand View Research, DeFi is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 42.5% from 2022 to 2030. With this growth, we’re witnessing many projects in various DeFi 💻 areas, such as Step Finance. Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of U.S DeFi Market Today, we’re going to learn more about Step Finance. Let’s start the digging then! 🚀

INTRODUCTION TO DEFI AND STEP FINANCE

Let’s start from scratch, from what DeFi is. DeFi, or decentralized finance, is a movement to use blockchain technology and smart contracts to create a more open, transparent, and accessible financial system. DeFi seeks to enable financial activities that are transparent, secure, and accessible to anyone with an internet connection, without the need for intermediaries such as banks. DeFi applications and services include decentralized exchanges, lending and borrowing platforms, and other financial tools that operate on blockchain networks. Nevertheless, this growing ecosystem also brings complexity along with its benefits.

There are several ways to address the complexity of the DeFi ecosystem. One approach is to develop user-friendly interfaces and tools, such as DeFi dashboards, that make it easier for users to interact with and manage their DeFi investments and activities. Furthermore, users can access dApps, and track their transaction history by using dashboards. In addition, they can also provide valuable information and analytics about the state of the blockchain network, helping users to make informed decisions about their interactions within the ecosystem.

This is where Step Finance steps in 😶 (sorry for this joke). To summarize briefly, Step Finance is the front page of Solana. It has the largest portfolio dashboard on Solana and provides data insights about your wallet while making your life easier with its built-in functions and tools including Swaps, Order Management, Position/Address Monitoring, and more.

FEATURES OF STEP FINANCE

In order to use Step Finance, you need a non-custodial wallet, specific to the Solana blockchain. You can have detailed information about self-custodial wallets and connecting wallets using the attached links. It goes without saying that Phantom is the most used Solana wallet.

After successfully creating your wallet and depositing your funds, you can connect your wallet to Step and enjoy its features. Currently, about 15 wallets are supported on Step Finance. Now, let’s take a look at the pages of Step Finance.

Dashboard

When you open the Step Finance dashboard, the first thing you need to do is connect your non-custodial wallet. Then, you can improve your experience by selecting currency and language from the settings section in the top right corner. In addition, you can also set network and other optional features from here.

Step Dashboard

This page shows you the general status of your Solana wallet. To elaborate, on this page, you can see the assets in your wallet and their values, your NFTs, the value of yielding positions, balances, and more. In addition, you can claim your farming rewards directly from the Step dashboard, or compound the yields.

Compounding the yields of a farming position is a complex process for beginners. Step Finance helps you to automate this procedure, in which only approving the transactions is required. You can have more details about this process using this link. 😛

Another feature offered by the Step is managing DEX balances to track 👀 funds properly on the dashboard. Users can see their open orders within Serum DEX order books; in addition, they can cancel their unfilled orders since it’s hard to trade on multiple exchanges and tokens. For the tutorial, you can visit this link.

In the digital collectibles section, you can see the floor price of your NFT, which is acquired from Magic Eden. In this way, these NFT values are added to the portfolio’s net worth. Use this link to learn more about it.

Swap

A swap on DeFi, or decentralized finance, refers to the exchange of one cryptocurrency for another without the need for intermediaries 💰 🏦 such as banks. Swapping on DeFi is typically done through smart contracts, written into lines of code, which allows for a transparent, secure, and efficient way to exchange cryptocurrencies on the blockchain.

Swap Page

Step Finance’s swap feature offers you the most suitable options by finding different routes from various DEXs by using the infrastructure of Jupiter aggregator. Don’t forget to set slippage to avoid price differences! You can see detailed use of the swap feature from this link.

Reward Options

Besides other reasons to use Step’s swap feature another reason is that it offers Reward Option 🏆 for swaps done within the platform. Step swappers are airdropped relative to the amount of the fee paid by other users within each 5-day period. Reward Options are basically called options, which have a 10% higher strike price (the price at which a put or call option can be exercised) than the price of STEP at the time they are minted, which is valid for 15 days. This feature is beneficial in a bull market because of drastic rises in asset prices since these options are exercisable, so-called ITM (in the money), after a 10% rise from the mint. You can learn more about reward options by using this link.

NFT Gallery 🎨 (View/manage/share NFTs on Solana)

You can display or see the NFTs in wallets by filtering them. From the details section, you can transfer or burn your own NFT, or see its description and such details. You can also easily show your NFTs to others by sharing your gallery link.

Step Staking

STEP token holders are able to earn a yield on their staked STEP from the revenue generated by the protocol itself. When a user stakes their STEP, they receive the xSTEP token which represents their stake in the staking vault. Stakers will earn a portion of the protocol’s fees based on the amount of xSTEP held relative to the weight of the staking. This proportional division means their xSTEP is now worth more STEP. To redeem STEP plus fees earned, stakers shall convert xSTEP back to STEP. Gained amount, which is based on fees and the use of the protocol, isn’t shown until the withdrawal. In short, xSTEP changes over time depending on how many xSTEP rewards are in the pool.

STEP DATA INSIGHTS 📊

There are many future value accruals and utility features yet to be built on Step. The team is working to plan and add more. One of them was the Step data insights, which was released on June 11, 2022.

Step users are already able to track the recent or current state of their wallet. Indexing APY, TVL, LP, whale movement, or any other data coming from the public blockchain and all other protocols are highly valuable and demanded, for which people pay a lot of money. Protocol-specific insights are the area where Step Finance would do the best. In addition to features of other existing data projects in crypto like Nansen, Glassnode, or Dune; Step Finance shines out with its dashboard.

Step Data Insights Newsletter In order to elevate transaction revenues, more users have to be brought to Step Finance since more clicks mean more revenues over time, which depends on external factors. Thus, Step introduced their newsletter, which contains Solana NFTs, Solana ecosystem opportunities, DEX data, recent events, on-chain Solana data, and more, in June 2022. More information can be found on the Substack page.

SOLANAFLOOR

On the 28th of July 2022, Step Finance acquired SolanaFloor, which is an NFT data insights platform, to create a community in which both DeFi and NFT degens learn and share with each other. Furthermore, with this move, data surrounding the Solana ecosystem has been flourishing.

SolanaFloor users can analyze the current state and growth of the Solana NFT market, by tracking data such as blue-chip index, value and volume graph, recent sales, and more.

SolanaFloor also provides its users to track their NFT Portfolio’s values and current state. Moreover, users can access Bonfida’s .SOL domain insights and open a new door into a new sector. SolanaFloor also has PRO features, which can be reached by having Shi Guardian NFT. By using PRO features, you can set an alert for a specific NFT listing, or acquire real-time insights.

Solana Crossroads

A strong and engaged community can help drive the adoption and use of the project’s technology. Moreover, community members can spread awareness and knowledge about the projects, which can lead to more people using them. Hence, taking a closer look at the community is important while evaluating the projects.

Step has an active Discord community, as I witnessed myself. You can follow the announcements on Discord and also engage with the community. If you have a technical problem, you can contact the Step team via Discord or you can provide valuable feedback on Discord. Furthermore, you can talk about different topics such as trading, NFTs, and more. There are 15 chats in different languages that you can join.

Solana Crossroads, powered by Step Finance, is another way of meeting with the community in real life. It is a 3-day conference hosted in Istanbul, Turkey, which is the crossroads of many civilizations for thousands of years. It brings the brightest minds in Solana together and provides opportunities for collaboration.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Step Finance emerges as a pivotal player in the DeFi ecosystem, offering a user-friendly gateway to the Solana blockchain. Through its intuitive dashboard, innovative features like swaps and staking, and comprehensive data insights, Step Finance empowers users to navigate the complexities of decentralized finance with ease. With a vibrant community and commitment to continuous improvement, Step Finance is poised to lead the charge towards a more accessible and transparent financial future on Solana.