Arken: Navigating the Bear Market
So, Arken joined the DeFi party right at the tail end of the wild 2021 bull market. Within the blink of a few months, we had over a million users on board. How? Well, this was because of the strength of our community and the product that hit all the right spots of DeFi users.
Fast forward to 2022–2023, things got a bit rocky. The retail market which is our primary user base shrunk heavily. You can catch all the details in our blog post, “The DeFi Review”. Anyway, surviving the market dip meant getting smarter and more efficient. Lots of projects went into ‘hibernation’ mode — conserving resources to ride out the storm. Arken learned the hard way that what worked at full throttle during the bull market barely gets the engine running in a bear market. So, it’s a rational choice to conserve resources and choose what to do wisely.
Now, the game plan shifted. Arken decided to test out smaller ideas, quicker, and very decisive in terminating/pausing features that don’t yield good results. For instance, we hit pause on Bridge Feature and paused support for some networks that just weren’t picking up steam.
We got ruthless about pulling the plug on things that didn’t sparkle.
This year, Arken has been in full-on experimentation mode; think Trustless Fund Management, Arken Options, and Super Aggregator. We also made a lot of small adjustments as you can see that the site constantly changed — this is to onboard new people who just discovered us through token launch. A few of them haven’t produced substantial outcomes, and for some, it’s just a matter of time before the results become evident.
Arken is More Focused
Until the winter gets warmer, Arken Finance will be more focused on experiments that meet these qualifications.
- Tiny but Mighty: Arken realized that being a big fish is great, but it’s not easy to maintain. So, we will aim for spin-off smaller projects under the Arken umbrella.
- Sticking to the Main Territory: With DeFi numbers not exactly skyrocketing, Arken will focus on what still has volume & traction.
What to Expect Next From Arken Finance
In addition to our product development efforts, as highlighted by feedback from our community, we’re channeling our focus towards BD & marketing. Our products are robust, and now our priority is ensuring they reach a wider audience.
Arken is all about partnerships now. Here’s what’s cooking:
- Liquidity Providers: Arken teamed up with some big names like Chronos, Ramses, Gamma, and Thena. Boosting our liquidity game.
- Network of Networks: Talks are on with blockchain networks who want to share the Arken magic with their users.
- Game On: We’re cooking something exciting for the gaming sector. Stay tuned!
- Fitting In with Arken Abstraction Layer: We’re all about fitting right into the DeFi puzzle with our Arken TxFlow, Price API, Swap API, SLAMM, and widgets.
So, bottom line, Arken’s ride through the bear market has been a rollercoaster of strategy twists and turns. Going from rapid growth to calculated experiments and smart partnerships is our game plan. With DeFi never sitting still, we want to reaffirm our commitment to the community that we are still BUIDLing and pushing. And last but not least, thank you for all your support, Arkeners!
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