April 2023 was an interesting month for Aleph Zero, as smart contracts were launched on the mainnet at the end of March. After a month, we can now evaluate the impact of these new smart contracts on the growth of the entire blockchain.

New smart contracts

In a month and a few days, 357 smart contracts (SCs) were launched on the Aleph Zero blockchain with 49 active developers. The graph shows a significant increase of SCs in a few days after launch, but since April 4, it has been only a few per day. In fact, many projects that are creating dApps and SCs for the Aleph Zero blockchain have announced delays in deploying their SCs on the mainnet due to development setbacks.

SC transfers are another sign of declining developer activity, and the whole blockchain is now transitioning back to the phase it was in before SC deployment. Therefore, we will have to wait longer for wider utilization of SCs.

Active and new users

In March, the Aleph Zero blockchain surpassed the milestone of 50,000 users, and this number continues to grow. In April, another 730 users joined the ecosystem, bringing the total number of users with addresses on the Aleph Zero blockchain to 50,730. This is a 1.46% increase, which is not massive, but the number of active users has increased by 16.12% in April compare to previous months, possibly due to the launch of SCs, which is allowing people to interact more with the Aleph Zero ecosystem.

Thanks to this, the total transfer rates also increased after the deployment of SC, albeit only for a few days.

Dev Portal

Developers working with Aleph Zero and ink! can now utilize the Dev Portal, which provides a repository of information on creating smart contracts and decentralized applications. This portal includes a database of information on how Aleph Zero works, educational programs, and a list of developer tools. Developers can learn about the basics of Aleph Zero, the consensus protocol, basic features, and data privacy. The Dev Portal also explains the differences between WASM and EVM and provides an introduction to ink! 4.0 programming.

EDX

The European DLT Exchange (EDX) is collaborating with the Aleph Zero Foundation and Cardinal Cryptography to create a powerful multi-chain setup with privacy protection features for EDX, and to strengthen the regulated DeFi ecosystem on Aleph Zero. EDX has applied for a license for a DLT-based trading and settlement system and plans to offer secondary markets for blockchain-based financial instruments. EDX will deploy the initial versions on both the Polygon and Aleph Zero blockchains.

New marketing advisor

The Aleph Zero Foundation has welcomed a new advisor, Maciej Skrzypczak from Block 54, who specializes in marketing. His contribution will mainly be in an advisory capacity to the Aleph Zero Foundation and all projects regarding better marketing strategies that will raise the visibility of the Aleph Zero ecosystem.

Abax lending protocol

Abax is the first lending platform created with ink! 4.0 and built on the Aleph Zero protocol. Its goal is to innovate in several areas that increase the security of solutions and offer fair interest rates. Abax uses innovative concepts regarding liquidity pools and peer-to-contract relationships for the easy and efficient lending and borrowing of assets. At the heart of the Abax protocol is the Lending Pool smart contract, which manages all deposits, debts, and interest rate calculations for all registered assets in the pool. Abax is part of the Ecosystem Funding Program and has plans for DAO governance, as well as being one of the first use cases for DeFi in the Aleph Zero ecosystem.

Abax will trigger its protocol in 3 phases:

Tangen hardware wallet (HW)

The Tangen wallet is the first HW to integrate AZERO as one of its supported coins.

Funding program

In April, Aleph Zero Foundation launched its own funding program to support the ecosystem with a value of 50 million USD. This program includes extensive support for new and existing developers, who can receive up to 500,000 USD for their project.

The program has three key components:

• Aleph Zero Foundation Grant Program
• Incubation through a partner network
• Follow-on angel and venture capital investments

Impact

The news was initially received positively by the market, with the price of AZERO rising to 1.66 USD, an 18% increase over two days, largely driven by the hype surrounding the deployment of SCs. However, since then, the price has gradually declined and hit a local minimum of 1.2 USD on May 2 (-29%), a position it has since held. This gradual decline may be attributed to high expectations surrounding the SCs prior to launch, and mild subsequent disappointment.

Opportunity for investment

Some of the challenges that the Aleph Zero project must face include competition in the cryptocurrency world, a lack of user base, and low awareness of the project. Other challenges include technical issues such as ensuring sufficient scalability, speed, and network security.

For these reasons, it is important to realize that investing in the Aleph Zero blockchain is still a risky speculation. Before making any investment decisions, it is crucial that you conduct your own thorough research (DYOR) to gather as much information about the project as possible. To do this, you can read the white paper and other project documentation, and follow developments and activity on social media, discussion forums, and other platforms.