Gnosis Chain's total value locked doubles to $150 million after MakerDAO's Spark Protocol expansion

The total value locked on Gnosis GNO +1.41% Chain, an Ethereum sidechain, has doubled from $75 million to approximately $150 million since the beginning of October, coinciding with a surge in transactions and fees on the network.

This surge was fueled by the transfer of $50 million in stablecoins to Gnosis Chain, data shows. The funds are being used to secure an enhanced savings rate through MakerDAO's Spark lending protocol, which currently provides rates exceeding 7%.

By bridging to Gnosis Chain, users have increasingly converted their xDAI into Savings xDAI, thereby accruing interest from all sDAI held by the mainnet bridge.

Gnosis Chain, formerly known as xDai Chain, operates alongside Ethereum and is overseen by GnosisDAO. The sidechain is secured by its native staking token, Gnosis (GNO), and hosts a variety of decentralized applications including Perpetual Finance, SushiSwap, HoneySwap, Curve Finance and POAPs.

Spark's expansion to Gnosis Chain

On Oct. 10, Spark Protocol, a DAI +0.20% -centric decentralized finance lending platform from MakerDAO, commenced its multi-chain strategy by deploying on Gnosis Chain. The sidechain incorporates a bridged version of DAI, known as xDAI, as its native currency.

This deployment marks Spark Protocol's initial foray beyond Ethereum and the beginning of its multi-chain strategy, offering the DAI savings rate on the sidechain as well. The move represents the first time a MakerDAO-affiliated DeFi product has been launched on a blockchain other than Ethereum.

Subsequent to the deployment, contributors to Gnosis Chain approved a measure to transfer most of the DAI on its bridge with the Ethereum Mainnet into Spark Protocol's sDAI vault. The arrangement allows xDAI holders to continue accessing the Dai Savings Rate yield available on the mainnet, whereas prior to the proposal, contributors had noticed a drop in DAI being moved to the mainnet to access Spark.