axlUSDC: Soon to be forgotten?

    Recently, Circle announced the implementation of an IBC-native USDC, inserting itself into an ecosystem where axlUSDC currently dominates. Let's look at how pervasive axlUSDC is within IBC. Track Satellite bridge activity strictly related to axlUSDC transfer. Which app-chains have the most/least flows of axlUSDC? Looking at Osmosis specifically, analyze how dominant axlUSDC has become compared to both ATOM and other USDC assets in trading and pools.

    Conclusion

    • ATOM is still and will be dominant token in terms of LPing and Swapping on Osmosis for a foreseeable future.
    • axlUSDC came into the light right after the Terra Crash around May 2022, since then it has been doing relatively well and is the second most popular token after ATOM.
    • It certainly has been dominant in the IBC space and Osmosis, with circle coming in with native USDC that would definitely be the preferred token for choice for many to use.

    axlUSDC vs ATOM vs other stablecoin Swap Metrics

    • For swaps we look at the osmosis.core.fact_swaps table for the following tokens

      where token in ('DAI.axl','DAI.grv','USDC.axl','USDC.grv','USDT.axl','USDT.grv', 'USTC','ATOM')
      
    • We only look at the swaps from tokens listed above.

    • axlUSDC really came into the scene around May 2022, right when USTC or Terra crash happened.

    • Tn terms of number of swap transactions ATOM dominates the scene on Osmosis with 2.46M swap transactions followed by axlUSDC with 638K and USTC with 625K.

    • For Number of swappers ATOM complete dominates the swaps from with a total of 726K followed by USTC with 201K and axlUSDC with 114K.

    axlUSDC Pools Liquidity provided

    • For Liquidity we look at the fact_liquidity_provider_actions table for the following pools ids with ATOM, USDC and other stable coins.
    '678' -- axlUSDC / OSMO
    ,'1'  -- ATOM / OSMO
    ,'674'  -- DAI / OSMO
    ,'560'  -- USTC / OSMO
    ,'633'  -- USTC.grv / OSMO
    ,'818'  -- USDT.grv / OSMO
    
    • Most of the amount LPed over time was seen until May 2022, majority of which came from ATOM and USTC(Terra USD)
    • The LP amounts just died down afterwards to mere 1-2M $USD from a high of like 80M $USD in a single week in Mar 2022, right before the Terra Collapse.
    • However even with the less LP volume we have seen axlUSDC accounting for the majority of liquidity after ATOM.
    • The number of Lpers just died down with the LP amount as well, however ATOM leads with 250K Lpers till date followed by USTC with 95K and axlUSDC with 34K
    • As we can see the number of LP transactions have died down too, but ATOm is still the king with 412K LP transactions followed by axlUSDC with 67K.
    • The average amount of LP have come down significantly where ATOM and USTC still have the highest average, but it is coming closer to axlUSDC.

    axlUSDC Inbound Transfers

    Transfer Volume

    • Most of the axlUSDC volume into Axelar has come from Kujira with about 1.2K transfers.
    • Followed by Osmosis with around 1K transfers.

    Transfer Amount $USD Over Time

    • In terms of $ amount, Osmosis has the highest amount with 700K in transfers.
    • Followed by kujira with 670K and evmos with 620K transfers.
    • The average amount of transfer is pretty close for Kujira and Osmosis with 656K vs 707K
    • Oct 2022 was the month with the highest transfer amount with a total of 2.5M $USD.

    Transfer Volume Over Time

    • Oct 2022 was the month with the highest volume as well, with a total of 3.2K transfers.
    • 1.2K of these transfers came from Kujira, followed by .9K from Osmosis.

    Liquidity Pools for Bridged Assets on Axelar-Connected Chains

    • Using Axelar’s sample bridge app, Satellite, and other bridges built on Axelar, cryptocurrency holders can transfer their assets from any connected chain, to any connected chain. This opens up new possibilities for ways to use their cryptocurrencies, without swapping them for other tokens.
    • Bridges remain an important and useful part of cross-chain infrastructure, but there is a caveat: users need to be sure there is enough liquidity for the wrapped asset on the destination chain. To make this easier, here is a list of known liquidity pools for bridged assets that have been transferred cross-chain using Axelar. We also provide information on liquidity incentives, where applicable.[1]
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    Methodology

    • For this analysis we look at the axelar transfers table for inbound and outbound transfer axlUSDC wher transfer type is IBC_TRANSFER_IN or IBC_TRANSFER_OUT and the currency is uusdc

    • The analysis starts from the beginning of 2022, till date.

    • For the transfers in the satellite bridge we look at various metrics like the amount transferred, average amount, number of wallets transferring, the chain where it is being transferred from, etc.

    • We then also look at the fact_liquidity_provider_actions table for the following pools with ATOM, USDC and other stable coins.

          	'678' -- axlUSDC / OSMO
        		,'1'  -- ATOM / OSMO
        		,'674'  -- DAI / OSMO
        		,'560'  -- USTC / OSMO
        		,'633'  -- USTC.grv / OSMO
        		,'818'  -- USDT.grv / OSMO
      
    • For swaps we look at the osmosis.core.fact_swaps table for the following tokens

      where token in ('DAI.axl','DAI.grv','USDC.axl','USDC.grv','USDT.axl','USDT.grv', 'USTC','ATOM')
      
    • We only look at the swap volume from these tokens to compare against each other.

    db_img

    axlUSDC Outbound Transfers

    Transfer Amount

    • Axelar has been the most popular chain with 170M $USD transfers till date
    • Other chains like cosmos and kujira have a very few transfers.

    Transfer Volume

    • Axelar has been the most popular chain with around 50K transfers till date.
    • Other chains have almost negligible transfers of axlUSDC.

    Transfer Amount $USD Over Time

    • Aug 2022 really saw a sharp increase in the outbound transfers of AXLUSDC from Axelar with around 52M in a single month.
    • It slowly starting rising in May 2022.
    • The Average amount has been slowly going up as well currently the monthly running average transfer amount is 4.5K

    Transfer Volume Over Time

    • Aug 2022 was the month with the highest number of transfers with over 11.2K transfers.
    • Almost all of them were from axelar chain.