Boyco: Let the Bera Eat
Boyco: Let the Bera Eat
The chain has a bera on it; but how does it eat? Boyco.
Boyco is the pre-launch liquidity bootstrapping program for select Berachain dApps. Boyco’s goal is to address the ecosystem cold-start issues through an open and transparent framework that benefits both users and Berachain protocols.
This blog explores what Boyco is, how it works, and how users can start participating.
All Eyes on Berachain
Historically, decentralized applications (dApps) on newly launched blockchains have struggled to secure seed liquidity. While narratives and memes generate initial buzz, they often fail to deliver the robust liquidity needed to stay competitive in crypto’s fast-moving ecosystem. Applications were frequently forced to strike unfavorable deals with industry whales or resort to inefficient spend—solutions that lacked transparency and market efficiency.
Enter pre-pre deposit vaults and Boyco.
The pre-pre-deposit program is a community-driven initiative by Berachain’s protocols and dApps, offering early exposure to Berachain through third-party managed allocations into Boyco. Major protocols like StakeStone, Pendle, Lombard, Concrete, Ethena, Ether.Fi, Kelp, and more created vaults for users to deposit assets. In less than a month, these pre-deposit vaults amassed over $2 billion in assets–well before Boyco’s official launch!
So what is Boyco and how does it differ from pre-pre deposit vaults?
Boyco is Berachain’s official pre-launch liquidity program, designed to incentivize liquidity for select dApps on Berachain ahead of the chain’s public launch. Once Berachain goes live, liquidity from the pre-pre-deposit vaults will automatically flow into Boyco markets. Then, using the Royco cross-chain deposit module (CCDM), Stargate, and LayerZero, the combined liquidity from the pre-pre vaults and Boyco markets will be seamlessly bridged to the corresponding Berachain dApps.
Boyco Unites Leading Technology Partners
Boyco is a collaboration between Berachain, Royco, Enso, Stargate and LayerZero.
- Berachain: Berachain is an EVM Layer-1 blockchain that uses a unique Proof of Liquidity (PoL) consensus mechanism.
- Royco: Royco is an Incentivized Action Market (IAM), allowing anyone to create a market for any onchain action. Royco’s IAMs are used by select Berachain dApps to incentivize their liquidity bootstrapping events.
- Enso: Enso is a DeFi middleware API that simplifies blockchain integrations by abstracting complex interactions into easy-to-use shortcuts. Enso integrates seamless one-step actions with all DeFi markets used in Boyco.
- Stargate: Stargate is the largest token bridge on LayerZero. Its bridging-as-a-service product, Hydra, powers the transfer of native assets like USDC, USDT, and ETH on Berachain.
- LayerZero: LayerZero is an omnichain interoperability protocol that connects over 100 blockchains, allowing for seamless cross-chain communication and asset transfer. Omnichain Fungible Tokens (OFTs) built on LayerZero are the only assets used in Boyco markets and will be transferred to Berachain when it goes live.
How Does Boyco Work?
With Boyco, select dApps can create markets that incentivize users to deposit liquidity. For example, a dApp could create a market that incentivizes users with their native governance token to deposit USDT0 into a single-sided money market pool.
Users select their preferred markets, deposit their liquidity, and lock their assets until Berachain goes live (and Boyco ends). At that point the liquidity is bridged to Berachain via LayerZero, along with the liquidity from the pre-pre deposit vaults, as mentioned earlier.
Here’s a simplified overview of the process:
- Deposit Assets: Users deposit their assets into Boyco-specific Royco markets on Ethereum.
- Routing Liquidity: When Berachain launches and Boyco concludes, the assets are transferred via LayerZero to the Deposit Executor contract on Berachain.
- Automatic Deposits: The assets are deposited into the designated dApp pools as specified by each individual Boyco market via Enso Shortcuts.
- Claim Rewards: Users can claim their assets along with any incentives provided by the participating dApps.
There are a few things to note. Since Boyco is built on LayerZero, all assets deposited into Boyco markets must be compatible with LayerZero’s OFT standard. Boyco officially supports three different asset categories:
- Majors: HONEY, USDC, wBTC, wETH, USDT0
- Third-Party Tokens: Other assets within the Berachain ecosystem
- Hybrid Pools: Liquidity pools with one major asset and one third-party asset
The full list of tokens eligible for Boyco markets can be found at the end of this article.
The Bera is Fed
All in all, Boyco combines the excitement of a novel marketplace protocol designed to tackle the liquidity bootstrapping problem with over $2 billion in assets locked in pre-pre deposit vaults and 100+ incentivized dApp markets (pre-deposit vaults) that just went live and growing rapidly.
The result? A fat Bera.
For more information on Boyco, including market incentives and participating dApps, check out the following resources:
List of tokens eligible to be used for Boyco Markets:
- USDT0
- USDe
- sUSDe
- USDC
- wETH
- weETH
- MIM
- SolvBTC
- SolvBTC.bbn
- SBTC
- STONE
- rsETH
- USDa
- sUSDa
- rUSD
- weBTC
- enzoBTC
- stBTC
- waBTC
- pumpBTC.bera
- uniBTC
- LBTC
- fBTC
- ylrsETH
- ylPumpBTC
- ylBTCLST
- yluniBTC
- ylstETH
- rswETH
About LayerZero
LayerZero is an omnichain interoperability protocol that unifies development across 110+ blockchains. Using LayerZero, developers can create applications that exist on many blockchains at once: from stablecoins to onchain lending markets to digital identity. Over 300 teams have built on LayerZero, with the protocol facilitating over 140 million messages between chains.
