Filecoin liquid leasing protocol Glif raises $4.5 million, offers reward points ahead of token launch

Glif, a liquid leasing protocol for Filecoin FIL +2.07% holders and storage providers, has raised $4.5 million in a seed funding round.

Multicoin Capital led the round, with Zee Prime Capital, Fintech Collective, Big Brain Holdings, Protocol Labs and other investors participating, Glif said Tuesday. This is Multicoin's first deal in the Filecoin ecosystem, a spokesperson for the crypto venture capital firm told The Block.

Glif closed the round last November; it was structured as a simple agreement for future equity (SAFE) with token warrants, founder and CEO Jonathan Schwartz told The Block, declining to comment on valuation.

What is Glif?

Glif is currently the largest protocol in the Filecoin ecosystem, with a total value locked of over $139 million, according to Filfox data. Glif enables Filecoin token holders, and storage providers or miners to earn rewards by depositing tokens in its protocol. Mechanically, Glif is like a liquid staking platform, but since Filecoin is not a proof-of-stake network, it is called a liquid leasing protocol.

"Glif is to Filecoin as Lido is to Ethereum or Jito is to Solana — a cornerstone to the Filecoin network's DeFi ecosystem and its capital efficiency," Kyle Samani, managing partner of Multicoin Capital, said in a statement. "Glif's traction is nothing short of impressive. It's one of the fastest-growing DeFi protocols in all of crypto. We expect Glif to continue its exponential growth over the next couple of years, and to renew attention in the Filecoin ecosystem."

The Glif protocol was launched in March 2023, shortly after Filecoin implemented its own virtual machine that enabled it to support smart contracts and opened it up to the world of decentralized applications.

Prior to launching the protocol, Glif built apps and tools for Filecoin since its founding in 2019. Glif says it developed the first Filecoin wallet — the Filecoin multisig wallet used for the Filecoin initial coin offering distribution — as well as the first Filecoin notary service, among other Filecoin infrastructure and tools.

With fresh funding in place, Glif aims to increase its total value locked to 100 million in FIL leases, or over $495 million at current prices.

Glif reward points and token launch

Glif is set to launch a rewards program in late Q1 2024, offering points to users.

To be eligible to earn points, Glif users will need to deposit FIL and create iFIL tokens, Glif's native liquid leasing token.

Glif didn't say if points will be awarded based on past or future activity, but a source with direct knowledge of the matter said the protocol will reward users based on both past and future activity. "Glif points will be awarded historically based on the amount of rewards received by liquidity providers, and by the amount of rental fees paid by storage providers," the source said. "This same strategy will be used to reward future activity as well."

Asked if those points will be redeemed for Glif's native token in the future, the source said the points will indeed be used to determine the initial amount of tokens to airdrop to users.

Glif plans to launch a "governance token" that would work similarly to other "vote escrowed" governance token models like veCRV, the source said.

Points are becoming increasingly popular among crypto projects to reward loyal users. Crypto projects have given out 40 billion reward points so far, as The Block reported recently.