Introduction

When the first Bitcoin transaction was made in 2010 it marked the birth of a new financial sector and a profound new vision. A vision enabled by crypto technology aiming to become a decentralized, transparent and barrier-free financial market. This market no longer relies on the authority and correct behavior of individual institutions, operates independently of middlemen and is validated by the network of participants.

The crypto market has developed rapidly since its inception, enabling a variety of new sectors. One of the new sectors is DeFi (Decentralized Finance). The same values that Bitcoin has pursued can now be extended to new kinds of financial activities. DeFi is no longer just about storing and sending digital assets, but includes financial activities such as trading, lending and borrowing them as well.

The DeFi sector was pioneered on the Ethereum Chain with smart contracts. Smart contracts are deployed as an additional layer on top of Blockchains and provide an infrastructure for so-called decentralized web applications (dApps). Through smart contracts, complex financial activities can now be offered in a decentralized, transparent, and barrier-free manner. The code of a dApp is written publicly in smart contracts on the blockchain and can thus be viewed, checked, controlled and used by anyone with an internet connection. A dApp therefore belongs to the people as soon as it goes live for the first time. It cannot be governed by any central authority. Anyone who uses the service of a dApp does not come into contact with a middleman but directly with the smart contract on the chain.

For the very first time with the launch of smart contracts on Shimmer, it will be possible to develop dApps based on the technology of IOTA. This holds enormous potential for the DeFi sector, because dApps launching on the Shimmer network will not have the same long term scaling problems as competing crypto technologies currently do. The launch of smart contracts on Shimmer has absolutely been the birth of a new DeFi sector in the IOTA ecosystem.

In this new sector, ShimmerSea has positioned itself to be there from day one to become the first and largest decentralized native exchange (DEX) and Non Fungible Token (NFT) Marketplace on the network. To do this, ShimmerSea has learned from the most successful DeFi protocols in the world and combines the best strategies and features into a new dApp which is suited best for the ShimmerEVM ecosystem. But ShimmerSea is more than just a combination of successful features. By developing its own unique smart contracts, ShimmerSea is enabling a new evolution of Token Economics where sustainability is built into the protocol from day one. We call it DEX Token Economics 3.0!

ShimmerSea DEX contains an automated market maker service with standard features such as trading, liquidity pooling, farming and staking.

Other features already developed include a launchpad for tokens and a brand new functionality we call Booster! The Booster is a new smart contract that upgrades LUM tokens into Magic LUM tokens. The Booster enables a brand new token economic model built on two different tokens! Connected by the Booster, the two tokens are designed to balance and support each other in both bull and bear markets.

The ShimmerSea NFT Marketplace with its native LUMI NFT collection. and many other highly regarded ecosystem NFT collections such as Iotapes, Iotabots, Dark Mythos, Early Adopters, Rusty Robots etc. are underlining the center stage position of ShimmerSea on the Shimmer EVM. Projects have the full set of token- and NFT functionalities to reward and build their communities around.

After already having several established partnerships with the largest projects in the IOTA space, ShimmerSea is well on its way to becoming the main DEX and NFT Marketplace on Shimmer EVM. A DEX for any project wanting to launch and scale on Shimmer. We believe that the Shimmer Network could become more than just a staging network for the IOTA Mainnet. With its unique ecosystem and experimental spirit, it has the potential to become a perfect breeding ground that attracts developers, investors and users from other ecosystems as well. In this context, ShimmerSea is set up for the long game, including an innovative token economic model with a large focus on sustainability while offering competitive annual percentage rates (APRs).

In the following whitepaper we will dive deeper into the technical and economic details that truly make ShimmerSea a DEX with a new generation token economics.