Exponent Finance Goes Open Source - Should More Solana Apps Follow Suit?

Exponent Finance, Solana’s leading yield-exchange protocol, has open-sourced its codebase, aligning the protocol with one of crypto’s fundamental first principles.

Ecosystem leaders across Solana have lauded Exponent’s commitment to transparency, calling for more apps to follow suit and replicate the open source culture more common in rival chains.

Amidst a maturing Solana DeFi scene, Exponent’s TVL is returning to the peak levels last witnessed in July.

Exponent Open Sources Codebase

On November 12, Exponent Finance joined Solana DeFi heavyweights like Kamino, Drift, and Orca, open-sourcing the code powering its flagship interest rate markets and inviting curious users and public auditors to explore the protocol’s inner workings.

To mark the occasion, Exponent has also launched a $250k bug bounty program designed to incentivize white hat hackers to find vulnerabilities and contribute to the protocol’s overall resilience. The yield-trading platform has already been audited by leading blockchain security firms like Certora, Ottersec, and Offside Labs.

Beyond the bug bounty, Exponent has also teased future improvements to its application, hinting at a V2 launch later in the year.

Ecosystem Leaders Call For Further Open-Sourcing

While open-source codebases have historically been the bread and butter of the crypto ethos, this level of transparency is often overlooked in Solana culture. Given the Solana ecosystem’s extremely competitive climate, many applications choose to keep their source code private. 

Open-sourced material can easily be replicated, potentially causing projects to lose their competitive advantage.

Solana DeFi leaders like Kamino co-founder Marius Ciubotariu and Drift Protocol’s Chris Heaney have celebrated Exponent’s shift to open-source, commending the emerging app’s commitment to transparency.

Solana Foundation Head of Staking Ben Hawkins reinforced the DeFi ecosystem’s push towards public codebases, calling for “more of this please”.

Exponent On Verge of Reclaiming $100M in TVL

After abrupt outflows in July, likely due to one of its yield markets reaching maturity, Exponent is on track to reclaim its previous all-time highs. According to DefiLlama, Exponent Finance’s TVL has surged 90.26% in the last month, rising from $52.49M to $99.87M.

While the majority of Solana users are yet to embrace yield-trading with the same intensity as their EVM counterparts, integrations with other DeFi applications are causing a resurgence in Exponent’s TVL.

Recent collaborations with protocols running popular and competitive points campaigns, such as Hylo, Bulk, and Solstice. The challenge for Exponent now is to maintain a solid lineup of partners to sustain TVL; otherwise, the app could face similar outflows to those witnessed in July.

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