When was the last time you used a decentralized exchange (DEX) and thought to yourself, "This is something new"? Exactly! 

DEXs have largely remained unchanged, lacking originality and a quality user experience. Consequently, liquidity providers (LPs) tend to hop from one DEX to another in search of marginally better returns on their investments. So, what's the solution? How can we incentivize people to consistently contribute to building a robust liquidity layer?

SpartaDEX seems to have found the answer: a gamified DEX. By intersecting gaming and DeFi, Sparta aims to create a self-sustaining DEX that stabilizes liquidity and rewards active LP participation accordingly. 

Curious about how two seemingly unrelated entities like a video game and a DEX can work together? This article is for you! It will dive into how SpartaDEX integrates a gaming layer and how you can participate in their ecosystem.

Age of Empires Meets DeFi 

When it comes to gamifying a DEX, Sparta is going all-in. The team isn't just adding gaming elements to enhance the interface. They are building an actual game that aligns with the different functionalities of a DEX and increases the financial benefits for active players. 

The game draws inspiration from famous titles such as Age of Empires, Warcraft, and Stronghold, providing players with a sense of familiarity in terms of gameplay. As a player, you assume the role of a war leader and governor, responsible for growing your city set in ancient Greece by collecting resources, upgrading buildings, and training troops for battle.

How Is The DEX Integrated

Sparta seamlessly integrates various features of a DEX into the game, creating a cohesive experience. To stake and manage liquidity positions, players must visit the Senate, which also serves as a command center for upgrading buildings and handling other off-chain functions. 

From a gaming perspective, achieving a higher Senate level enhances your yield. For instance, a level 2 Senate provides a 4% boost, while a level 10 Senate can boost your yield by 26%. To increase the Senate level, players need to raise other buildings to the same level and accumulate enough experience points. 

Furthermore, players have the opportunity to participate in the governance process by casting their votes in the Senate for adding new liquidity pools to the DEX. This voting procedure takes place once a month.

Besides the Senate, the Market is another important building. It facilitates token swaps available on Arbitrum. And these swaps operate similarly to traditional DEXs at a 0.3% fee of the transaction value.

On the gaming front, the Market will process micropayments and in-game purchases of resources using premium currency — Gems. These Gems can also be used to buy mythical warriors for battle and reduce building time. 

What is the Role of NFTs 

Along with a gaming layer, Sparta is adding an ownership layer in the form of NFTs. Currently, there are three different NFTs inside the game, which are: 

- Polis NFTs: This is a free NFT you mint to start your journey in the game. To get this NFT, you simply have to add $100 to one of the liquidity pools. Polis NFT is very important because it stores all your game progress (from achievements to building levels). So if you achieved a top Senate level, the demand on secondary can be high as it can boost APR for liquidity providers. 

- Spartans NFTs: These utility NFTs play a key role in the SpartaDEX ecosystem. Holders get access to multiplayer mode, $SPARTA airdrop, and special quests that unlock more game rewards. 

- Map NFTs: You win a Map fragment for every successful attack on a barbarian village. You need 20 such fragments to claim the Map NFT. Sparta will reward one lucky holder of Map NFT every month with $SPARTA token prizes.

From all these layers building on top of the DEX, Sparta is aiming for high retention in players which can potentially translate to a loyal LP base. 

But wait…There's more!  

More than a Decentralized Exchange 

To support an entire ecosystem of projects, Sparta is expanding its product line beyond a gamified DEX by introducing its launch vehicle, SpartaPad. This product aims to address a significant challenge in crypto, which is bootstrapping liquidity for new projects. 

Through its association with SpartaPad, projects gain access to an active community with aligned interests, facilitating a successful capital raise and enhanced token liquidity. SpartaPad has already achieved its first Initial DEX Offering (IDO) sale with GameSwift, a blockchain gaming platform, raising an impressive $300,000. 

The value unlocked for Sparta NFT and token holders lies in early token allocations to pre-public rounds. In the case of the GameSwift IDO, Sparta NFT holders received a $200 allocation per NFT, with a maximum of 3 NFTs per wallet.

In the Sparta ecosystem, one thing stands out as a common thread — $SPARTA. This versatile token offers multiple utilities both within and beyond the game. But what about its tokenomics? Is it well-designed, and how does it handle token inflation? Keep reading to find out.

How the Tokenomics Work in Favor of Community 

When evaluating $SPARTA's tokenomics, it's crucial not to perceive it merely as another DEX token. While it serves DEX users for governance voting and single asset staking, $SPARTA takes on an additional role for active gamers by being utilized to purchase in-game currency, Gems. 

By functioning as a versatile token, $SPARTA plays a vital role in establishing a self-sustaining gamified DEX. This self-sustainability is achieved by removing 1/3rd of the total ecosystem earnings from DEX commissions, micropayments, and in-game fees from circulation. Moreover, SpartaDEX implements an anti-inflation mechanism, employing long vesting periods and blocking 75% of ecosystem rewards in single asset staking. 

The remaining 2/3rds of earnings are evenly distributed to stakers, offering real yield, while also allocating a portion to support the exchange's ongoing development and ensure operational security. In terms of total supply, Sparta has dedicated over 50% to ecosystem rewards, while only 2.5% is reserved for early investors. 

By carefully balancing these elements, SpartaDEX fosters a dynamic ecosystem that encourages active participation from both DEX users and gamers, thereby strengthening its position as a gamified DEX with sustainable tokenomics.

How to Participate in SpartaDEX Launch 

SpartaDEX is scheduled to launch in August, and ahead of this launch, they are organizing a lockdrop event to bootstrap liquidity for different pools. In return for their deposits, participants will receive $SPARTA tokens, accounting for 80% of the initial supply. 

The primary objectives of this lockdrop event are to create substantial liquidity, onboard essential partners in the Arbitrum ecosystem, and distribute tokens in a decentralized manner. The event will span 11 days and consist of two main phases, operating as follows:

Phase 1 

Phase 1 commenced on 24th July and will conclude on 30th July, 2023. Throughout this period, participants have the freedom to provide and withdraw liquidity without any restrictions. Moreover, those who deposit within the first couple of days during Phase 1 will receive a reward boost of up to 15%.

It's essential to note that rewards differ across the liquidity pools due to varying allocations. For instance, the WETH/ARB pair has an allocation of 1.5 million $SPARTA tokens, while WBTC/WETH has 750,000 tokens available. 

As this phase is currently in progress, early data has already been gathered. Within the initial four days of the event, over $9 million has been deposited into SpartaDEX's liquidity pools. Notably, the USDT/USDC and WETH/ARB pairs have emerged as the two pools with the highest locked liquidity, totaling more than $2.8 million. The team has also shared insights into how people are distributing their locked liquidity across different time durations.

When it comes to rewards, the pool offering the highest number of $SPARTA tokens for $100 liquidity is WBTC/WETH at 206 tokens, whereas the lowest is for WETH/ARB, providing 122 tokens. These reward amounts are based on participants locking their liquidity for a duration of 52 weeks. 

To take part in Phase 1, participants have two options: they can either add new liquidity or migrate liquidity from selected pairs found on Camelot or Sushiswap. Once liquidity is provided, they should proceed to the lockdrop site and lock their LP (Liquidity Provider) tokens. 

During this process, participants need to specify the amount they wish to allocate and the desired lock-up period. After confirming the action in their wallet, they will be able to view their LP position and an estimated $SPARTA reward.

Lockdrop Phase 1 Interface 

Phase 2

In the second phase, which commences on 30th July, participants can deposit fresh liquidity in $USDC and lock their $SPARTA tokens received during Phase 1. However, it's important to note that withdrawing $SPARTA tokens will not be possible until the lock-up period of 26 weeks is completed. The rewards for the $SPARTA/$USDC liquidity pool is 1 million tokens or 1% of the supply. 

Following Phase 2, the ratio of the $SPARTA/$USDC pair will determine the initial price of the token. To take part in this phase, it's a simple process of adding your $SPARTA rewards from Phase 1 to the liquidity pool, which means there's no need to migrate any liquidity pairs.

Conclusion

SpartaDEX aims to bring originality to a crowded DEX space by gamifying the platform, with the goal of creating a loyal user base committed to building a robust liquidity layer. Moreover, the exchange is diversifying its offerings with new products like SpartaPad, which will support projects in the Arbitrum ecosystem and other chains in the near future. 

The native token, $SPARTA, plays a central role, providing utility both within and outside the game. Through well-designed tokenomics, $SPARTA is poised to contribute significantly to making SpartaDEX a self-sustaining DEX. The token launch is approaching, and anyone can participate in the latest lockdrop event to seize early rewards. 

While it's still too early to determine whether gamified DEXs will be the future, we are excited and eagerly await to witness how this innovative approach is received by the market.