Near-Based DeFi Protocol Bastion to Launch BSTN Token at a $180M Valuation

Near’s largest decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol, Bastion, is launching its own token in a sign of the continued rapid development of the Near ecosystem.

The BSTN token will trade on Trisolaris, a decentralized exchange on Near’s Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible layer Aurora, beginning 23:59 UTC (7:59 p.m. ET) on Thursday, April 21.

Bastion is a lending, borrowing and exchange protocol that launched in March as a fork of the popular Ethereum-based DeFi protocol Compound.

“We’re able to double the utility of the protocol while using the same amount of liquidity by re-using deposit receipt tokens,” pseudonymous Bastion founder N^2 (“Near Squared”) told CoinDesk in an interview. “No other DeFi protocol has done this.”

Within the span of several weeks, Bastion has grown to about $620 million in total value locked (TVL), according to Bastion founder N^2.

However, data provider DeFiLlama has the protocol at $507 million in TVL, a figure N^2 says omits the $110 million in its exchange protocol.

Regardless, DeFi Llama has Bastion as the largest DeFi protocol on the Near blockchain.

BSTN token

Bastion will be allocating 5 billion BSTN tokens at a $180 million valuation, according to pitch deck materials shared with CoinDesk. The initial circulating supply will be around 12.6%, or about 630 million tokens.

Bastion’s new token will give holders governance rights, including input into the development of the protocol and the ability to vote on fee models, gauges and staking in a decentralized manner.

Approximately 15% of the 5 billion total tokens will go to investors and 25% will go to team members and advisors. In addition, 30% of the tokens will be set aside for liquidity mining incentives and 30% for the protocol’s treasury.

Eligible users who pre-mined on Bastion or participated in Bastion’s lockdrop IDO will be able to claim their BSTN airdrop on the token’s launch day.

Holders of the BSTN token will be able to earn yield on their tokens by providing liquidity on Aurora’s decentralized exchange Trisolaris and also stake their BSTN tokens in the Bastion app or Aurora Realm, Bastion’s isolated lending market for Aurora ecosystem assets.

The Near ecosystem grows

Near has become one of the hottest layer 1 blockchain projects in recent weeks, with its NEAR token gaining 48% in the past month, according to data from Messari.

Bastion’s rapid growth comes as the core pieces of DeFi infrastructure are being built out on Near. Near, which boasts fewer projects than competing layer 1s such as Ethereum, Avalanche, Solana or Luna, has yet to see a DeFi project hit the $1 billion TVL milestone.

Additionally, speculation over the launch of a Near-native USN stablecoin is further building anticipation of a DeFi renaissance on the blockchain.

Bastion raised $2 million last month in its seed round and is backed by ParaFi Capital, Digital Currency Group (CoinDesk’s parent company), CMS and Jane Street.