Ion Protocol Testnet: Unlocking the Future of Staked Capital

Back so soon? We’re so happy that you’ve made it all this way.

In case you missed the first 2 editions of our introductory series you can find them here:

Welcome to Ion: https://medium.com/@ionprotocol/welcome-to-ion-protocol-f2cdc4ce35d3

The Solution to Unlocking Validator Staked Capital: https://medium.com/@ionprotocol/demystifying-ion-protocol-25424f60fd0d

We’re thrilled to announce the launch of the Ion Protocol testnet, a crucial step towards our mission of unlocking the potential of staked capital in DeFi.

The Purpose of the Launch

Our testnet aims to provide users and developers with a sandbox environment to experiment with our platform’s features, identify potential issues, and gather valuable feedback. By participating in the testnet, you’re helping us improve Ion from the ground level. It’s our mission to create an product where you, the users, tell us what you need, and we deliver.

Why you should participate is simple. If you’re a staker, validator, or just a regular DeFi user, we want to be your home for financializing your staked assets. If you actively participate in our Discord and testnet, giving helpful and actionable feedback, you’ll have a greater chance to experience future features early before their official release. Plus, there’s always added benefits to being early as well ;)

Ion Testnet Features

Our testnet release showcases some exciting features, including:

• LST Vaults: Liquid Staking Tokens (LSTs) can be securely held in these vaults, providing users with an easy way to manage their staked assets. By depositing into an LST Vault, you are submitting their LSTs into Ion’s lending market to accrue staking rewards, which you can withdraw at any time.
• $allETH: $allETH is a synthetic representation to ETH that is backed by your deposited collateral. User’s who deposit LSTs as collateral will be able to mint $allETH.
• For the loyal researchers who have read this article, you now have an idea of what comes after our mainnet launch… ;)

What’s Coming Next for Ion

The future of Ion Protocol is packed with innovations and improvements, such as:

• Novel Liquidation Mechanism: This feature will address ecosystem wide issues with current staking solutions and offer increased capital efficiency on our $allETH loans.
• LST Restaking: Users will be able to restake their LSTs and lend $allETH against their positions, opening up new opportunities for compounded rewards.
• Novel Staking Strategies: Enhanced Liquidity (EL) positions will provide support for additional entrant LSTs. We’ll also support exotic LST-backed assets such as dsETH, unshETH’d, and Aura LP positions. Ultimately, we aim to support any staking strategy, so you can unlock your staked capital.
• Reward Composability: We’re exploring ways to improve the composability of rewards, making it easier for users to utilize their yield.

How to Participate in the Testnet

To get started with the Ion Protocol testnet, you’ll need to acquire testnet tokens and familiarize yourself with the process of minting $allETH. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you through the process:

Get Testnet Tokens

In this guide, we’ll show you how to use a Goerli faucet to load your wallet with testnet ETH and how to obtain Goerli rETH or stETH, so you can start testing our application.

Prerequisites

You will need:

• An Ethereum-compatible wallet (e.g., MetaMask)
• Your ETH address

Using a Goerli Faucet

Once you have a Goerli-compatible wallet and a Goerli ETH address, you can use a Goerli faucet to load your wallet with testnet ETH. Here’s how to do it:

Other faucet option: Paradigm Faucet

• Open your web browser and navigate to a Goerli faucet website (alchemy). We’ll use this faucet for the guide.

• Sign in and copy your Goerli ETH address and paste it into the field on the faucet website.
• Complete the captcha or other verification method if required by the faucet.
• Click the “Send me test Ether” button to initiate the transfer.
• Wait for the transfer to complete. The amount of testnet ETH you receive may vary depending on the faucet and the current network conditions.
• Check your Goerli wallet to confirm that the testnet ETH has been added.

Send goETH to the stETH Contract

Once you have goETH in your wallet, you simply send a transaction to the stETH token contract address for the amount of stETH you want to swap:

1. Open your wallet
2. Click SEND
3. Paste: 0x1643E812aE58766192Cf7D2Cf9567dF2C37e9B7F
4. On MetaMask, click “I Understand”
5. Enter the amount you want to swap & confirm the transaction
6. Click NEXT
7. Click CONFIRM
8. Add 0x1643E812aE58766192Cf7D2Cf9567dF2C37e9B7F to your wallet

Swap Using RocketPool Testnet

NOTE: For this release of testnet, rETH will not be enabled, but we do plan to enable it in the near future. These instructions are in anticipation of that.

1. Go to https://testnet.rocketpool.net/ and connect your wallet
2. Stake the amount of goETH you want to test
3. Confirm the transaction
4. Add: 0x178E141a0E3b34152f73Ff610437A7bf9B83267A to your wallet

You can now use this testnet ETH and rETH or stETH to test the features made available by Ion Protocol.

$allETH Minting

With your testnet tokens in hand, you’re ready to begin exploring the Ion Protocol testnet and mint $allETH. All you have to do is connect your wallet. Then on our dashboard, you can find the different vault options.

Once you select a vault to deposit into, you can click the deposit button which takes you to the vault dashboard. Here you can deposit, withdraw, and reduce debt.

The $allgoerliETH address is: 0x7d88cb48E7F0c97836D5D01F5E20E4fbD8165b14

You should be sure to add this to your wallet so that you can view the tokens you mint.

You can also claim your rewards at any time from the personal dashboard! Head over to the “My Page” tab to find your total collateral deposited total collateral borrowed, your wallet balance and your current positions. The claim button is unique to each staking strategy as we pay out rewards in like kind to the rewards distributed from the underlying collateral position.

The Only Thing Left to Do…

The Ion Protocol testnet is now live, and we can’t wait for you to dive in and experience the future of staked capital in DeFi.

ionprotocol.io

Your participation, feedback, and enthusiasm are vital in shaping the Ion Protocol, so don’t hesitate to join our community and help us build a more efficient, secure, and innovative DeFi ecosystem for stakers. You can find us on Twitter for updates. The optimal place to provide feedback would be in the Discord.