Balancer

Balancer is hosting their weekly office hours today at 2PM UTC on Discord Stage. Key updates to be discussed: - Latest developments on Balancer V3 - New pool implementations - Recent and upcoming partnerships - Behind-the-scenes developments Join the conversation at [Discord](https://discord.com/channels/638460494168064021/930442359932600380) to hear directly from the team.

The GHO/USR Balancer pool continues to expand its DeFi integrations. After reaching $7M TVL within 24 hours of launch, the pool now adds Pendle Finance support to its growing list of integrations. - Pool participants earn multiple yield streams: * Balancer swap fees * Aave lending fees * GHO LP incentives * Pendle rewards (new) The pool previously integrated with Spectra Finance, demonstrating increasing composability in the DeFi ecosystem.

Balancer V3 has launched the MEV-Cap Hook, a mechanism that captures and redirects MEV back to liquidity providers. The hook dynamically increases pool fees based on priority fees paid, working on any pool type across chains with priority ordering like Base and Optimism. Key ecosystem updates include Balancer joining the Strategic ETH Reserve ($1B+ holdings), StakeDAO's liquid locker surpassing 300K veBAL, and Euler Finance launching the first 100% Boosted Pools on Avalanche. New integrations with GHO and ResolvLabs are expanding to Base, while KelpDAO continues delivering top rsETH/wrsETH pools.

Balancer Protocol has officially launched its V3 upgrade featuring two major improvements: - **100% Boosted Pools** are now fully operational, enhancing capital efficiency - **Hooks functionality** is live, enabling customizable pool behavior These features represent significant technical advances for the protocol, with builders already actively developing on the new infrastructure. Explore the new pools at [Balancer Pools](https://balancer.fi/pools?protocolVersion=3) Learn more about Boosted Pools in the [documentation](https://docs-v3.balancer.fi/concepts/explore-available-balancer-pools/boosted-pool.html)

Balancer V3 launches MEV-Cap Hook, a new feature that redirects Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) back to liquidity providers. The system works by dynamically adjusting pool fees based on priority fees paid by MEV bots on OP Stack chains like Base and Optimism. Key features: - Higher priority fees trigger higher dynamic pool fees - Captured value stays within the pool - Works across all pool types, not just ETH pairs The mechanism allows MEV bots to operate while ensuring value flows back to LPs instead of leaking out. Currently live on Base, with plans to expand MEV protection offerings through collaboration with CoW Protocol.

Balancer V3 introduces a new boosted pool featuring MiCA-compliant stablecoins $USDR and $USDQ, with initial TVL of 1M. Key features: - Powered by Morpho Labs and curated by Steakhouse - 100% LP liquidity redeposited into lending markets - Enhanced yields through lending incentives - Fully compliant solution for business operations The stablecoins are issued by StablR ($USDR) and Quantoz ($USDQ), designed for both on-chain and off-chain financial solutions. Learn more: - $USDQ: [Quantoz](https://quantozpay.com/eurq-usdq/) - $USDR: [StablR](https://stablr.com/usdr)

Balancer v3 is launching a new Priority Fee Router on Base in Q1 2025, introducing a mechanism to redistribute MEV rewards to liquidity providers. - The system taxes high-priority transactions and shares fees with LPs - Creates new revenue stream for liquidity providers - Reduces sequencer MEV dominance The innovation draws inspiration from Paradigm's research on priority fees. Implementation aims to create a more equitable distribution of transaction fees in the DeFi ecosystem. [Read the full research](https://medium.com/@mikeisballin/mev-internalization-through-priority-fee-taxes-coming-to-balancer-v3-on-base-q1-2025-f20b3e1b7295)

Balancer has partnered with BackedFi to launch permissionless trading of tokenized S&P 500 index ($bCSPX) on Gnosis Chain. Key features: - Regulatory-compliant access to S&P 500 performance - ERC-20 token format for easy transfers - New liquidity pool pairing $bCSPX with $sDAI - Earning opportunities through swap fees and $GNO rewards The integration represents Balancer's first step into tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), with more developments planned.

The Path of the Panda content competition by Balancer has concluded, with winners sharing $10,000 in rewards. Top prizes went to @iamcapote and @RaqPawel ($3,000 each) for creating a developer guide dashboard and liquidity visualization tool. @0xAnon0602 earned $1,750 for a Dune analytics dashboard, while @Spyros_Zikos and @0xkurufaza received $1,250 and $1,000 for educational content. The competition showcased community talent in explaining Balancer v3's features through various creative formats.

Following Balancer v3's launch, the protocol outlines three key objectives for the next two quarters: - Supporting Partners: Creating an environment for partners to innovate with v3, fostering collaboration and new use cases - Building on v3: Prototyping and demonstrating unique applications to showcase platform capabilities and inspire developers - Driving v3 Integrations: Prioritizing integration with major DeFi primitives like aggregators, wallets, and dashboards through standard conventions and robust tooling The initiative aims to establish Balancer v3 as a foundational DeFi layer.