Polygon, the layer-2 scaling solution designed to address the limitations of the Ethereum blockchain, has rapidly evolved into a multi-purpose ecosystem that has gained significant traction in the last couple of years.
Furthering its mission to make Ethereum a fully-fledged multichain system while expanding aggressively into the ever-evolving DeFi (decentralized finance) market, Polygon, in partnership with Layer-3 (L3) infrastructure provider Orbs, has launched a new DeFi accelerator program on the community-led DeFi accelerator platform DeFi.org.
While the DeFi accelerator program will focus on projects building on Polygon, projects employing Orbs’ L3 infrastructure to introduce new DeFi innovations will receive special consideration. Interested projects and developers can submit their applications for the upcoming program using the official application form or drop an email to the DeFi.org team.
All projects picked for the DeFi.org accelerator program are entitled to several benefits, including access to funding, mentorship, and the opportunity to gain greater exposure to the market and DeFi communities. In addition, selected projects in the upcoming DeFi accelerator program will also receive a liquidity injection from DeFi.org and a featured listing on the organization’s website alongside other select venues.
Collaborative Effort To Accelerate DeFi On Polygon
Founded by the Israeli blockchain company Orbs, DeFi.org is among the most-popular accelerators for the DeFi ecosystem. It supports the research and development of open-source projects and community development across the DeFi space. The DeFi.org accelerator program evaluates projects based on their “innovation” and “composability” alongside other criteria like fair distribution, sustainable tokenomics, risk management approach, and community ownership.
 
 
However, as part of the new DeFi accelerator program, the DeFi.org team will shift its focus to projects incorporating Polygon’s Layer-2 technologies and Orbs’ Layer-3 infrastructure, thereby heralding a new era of next-generation DeFi innovation.
Polygon’s suite of products is designed to overcome Ethereum’s limitations, leading to an increasing number of developers using its ecosystem to build innovative products and services. In addition to its plug-and-play SDK (Software Development Kit), Polygon also offers developers accessible scaling solutions, including ZK and Optimistic Rollups, sidechains, hybrid, standalone, and enterprise chains. At present, more than 19,000 decentralized applications (dApps) are leveraging Polygon’s features to deliver faster throughput and greater scalability, and, that too, at minimal gas fees.
On the other hand, Orbs offers a public blockchain infrastructure powered by a decentralized network of permissionless nodes. It facilitates interoperability with all EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine)-compatible chains. With its decentralized network of nodes, Orbs enables developers to use it as a separate L3 execution layer, unlocking many new possibilities for EVM-based smart contracts.
DeFi applications and protocols are continuously growing in prominence, primarily on the Ethereum chain. However, due to Ethereum’s ongoing problems, Layer-2 solutions like Polygon have positioned themselves at the forefront of the transformation. Together with Orbs, which adds new possibilities for smart contracts through its Layer-3 infrastructure, the upcoming DeFi accelerator program on DeFi.org will play a key role in empowering the next wave of DeFi projects.