The most important metric for measuring crypto's adoption is active users.

Here are three Optimism protocols that have hit significant user growth this year 👇

Protocol #1

Gamma

Gamma is a platform that actively manages UniswapV3 and QuickswapV3 liquidity provider (LP) positions on behalf of its users.

On these concentrated liquidity DEXs, LPs specify the price range in which they want to provide liquidity. They only earn fees when the tokens are trading within that range, so LPs must constantly update their settings to account for current prices. Gamma handles all of the liquidity range shifting, allowing LPs to deposit funds and earn passively.

‌‌What's next?

Gamma's growth on Optimism has been largely driven by the $OP rewards for providing liquidity on popular pools, such as WETH-OP. Optimism Foundation governance granted Gamma 300k OP to use in this incentive program.

Many people believe that the core value of UniswapV3 LP managers is in simplifying the LP process for unsophisticated users. But I think that making it easy for protocols and foundations to run LP incentive programs is an even bigger value proposition.

Incentivizing liquidity for your token on UniswapV2 was simple: you just paid people based on how much liquidity they provided. On Uniswap V3 (and soon V4), it's more complicated. You only want to reward LPs who are in range, and you might want to customize rewards based on factors like how tight their range is.

Incentive programs are the lifeblood of DeFi. There are countless examples of protocols using them to overcome the cold start problem and to drive growth (read my state-of-DeFi report to see how the playbook has evolved over time). As DEXs evolve, managing these programs is only going to get harder. Gamma and its competitors are well-positioned to take advantage of this opportunity.

Protocol #2