Etherlink TVL surges 12x as Apple Farm incentive program fuels ecosystem growth

Etherlink’s TVL has surged 12x to over $18 million as the Apple Farm incentive program accelerates ecosystem adoption and DeFi activity.

Etherlink , the EVM-compatible Layer 2 built on Tezos Smart Rollups, has seen significant growth since transitioning from its beta phase in February. Central to this growth is the $3m Apple Farm rewards initiative, which has surpassed expectations by pushing Etherlink’s total value locked (TVL) from $1.4 million to over $18 million within weeks.

The Apple Farm program has been instrumental in driving user engagement and transaction activity across Etherlink’s dApps. IguanaDEX, a decentralized exchange on the network, recorded $150 million in trading volume as users pursued reward opportunities and engaged in arbitrage trading.

“The success of Apple Farm demonstrates the effectiveness of our approach to incentive programs and the development of this ecosystem,” said David Relkin, Head of DeFi for the Tezos ecosystem, Nomadic Labs.

A recent Messari report highlights the significant growth of the Etherlink ecosystem, noting consistent growth in user accounts and transaction volumes, with over 50 projects currently building on the platform. DeFi protocol Superlend has emerged as a key player in the ecosystem, amassing $16.93 million in deposits and $10.49 million in active loans.

Etherlink’s technical architecture has also seen notable upgrades. The March deployment of the Calypso network upgrade introduced 30x faster smart contract storage, a smaller disk footprint for operator nodes, and increased resilience to network surges. These enhancements are designed to support growing throughput and pave the way for faster tez withdrawals between Etherlink and Tezos.

Further expansion is expected following the launch of the 2025 cohort of the Fortify Labs program, hosted by TZ APAC. The cohort includes seven projects primarily building on Etherlink, including BluWhale AI (decentralized analytics), IDRX (an Indonesian Rupiah-pegged stablecoin), and Miomi Game (an eSports platform).