Tezos L2 Etherlink Sees 12x TVL Increase as Apple Farm Rewards Program Drives Substantial Growth (18 Apr)

London, England, April 18th, 2025, Chainwire

• Apple Farm incentive program exceeds targets, fueling TVL growth from $1.4M to more than $18M and driving record volumes across Etherlink's DeFi ecosystem.
• Calypso upgrade delivers 30x faster smart contract storage and enhanced network stability, paving the way for faster tez withdrawals between Etherlink and Tezos.
• Etherlink ecosystem expands with seven new Fortify Labs startups.

Etherlink, the EVM-compatible Layer 2 powered by Tezos Smart Rollups, is undergoing strong ecosystem growth following its February exit from beta and the deployment of the Calypso network upgrade in March. The $3M USD Apple Farm rewards program has already exceeded initial targets, with Etherlink’s TVL undergoing rapid growth from $1.4M to $18M+ in the first weeks of the initiative. In addition, Apple Farm has effectively catalyzed on-chain activity across Etherlink's growing suite of decentralized applications. Decentralized exchange IguanaDEX recorded $150M in trading volume as users create positions for Apple Farm rewards and capitalize on arbitrage opportunities.

"The success of Apple Farm demonstrates the effectiveness of our approach to incentive programs and the development of this ecosystem," said David Relkin, Head of DeFi for the Tezos ecosystem, Nomadic Labs. "We're building a sustainable environment where users find genuine value in meaningful on-chain interactions."

DeFi platform Superlend has emerged as a cornerstone of Etherlink's DeFi infrastructure, with deposits reaching $16.93M and active borrowing at $10.49M. Uranium.io, the first decentralized platform for buying and selling physical uranium also saw increased activity with $6.46 TVL. The Hanji platform reached its vault cap of $200,000 in a single day on March 26th, and has since increased limits to $1M to ensure system integrity. User data indicates that participation is primarily coming from retail audiences, with the largest wallet holding approximately $1M in value. A recent report published by Messari further underscores the rapid growth of the Etherlink ecosystem, highlighting sustained network growth across both accounts and transactions and identifying upwards of 50 projects actively developing on the network.

In addition to the rapid growth of its DeFi ecosystem, the Etherlink tech stack is also being continuously and swiftly upgraded. The Calypso network upgrade deployed in March has delivered on its promise of enhanced performance, with up to 30x faster smart contract storage, a smaller disk footprint for operator nodes, and improved protection against network surges. These enhancements directly support the platform's growing transaction volume while maintaining stability and preparing the network for faster tez withdrawals between Etherlink and Tezos.

The Etherlink ecosystem looks set to expand further in coming weeks, following the launch of the second edition of the Fortify Labs program, hosted by TZ APAC. The 2025 cohort features seven promising projects building primarily on Etherlink, including BluWhale AI for decentralized data analytics; IDRX, a stablecoin pegged to the Indonesian Rupiah; and Miomi Game's eSports platform. These startups join Etherlink's growing ecosystem of innovative Web3 applications and look set to further enhance the experience of users exploring Etherlink this year.

About Etherlink

Etherlink is an EVM-compatible Layer 2 blockchain powered by Tezos Smart Rollups technology. It empowers developers to smoothly deploy any EVM codebase and migrate users and assets from Ethereum and other interoperable chains, enabling seamless interaction and asset transfers across different networks

Learn more: https://www.etherlink.com/

About Tezos

Tezos is an open-source and energy-efficient blockchain designed to empower institutions, developers, and businesses and facilitate value transfer in a digital environment. It is designed for the scalable deployment of decentralized applications. As one of the first Proof of Stake blockchains, Tezos is globally supported and valued for its strong governance, long-term upgradability, and smart contract capabilities. For more information about Tezos, visit http://www.tezos.com. 

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