How we got to now
Less than a month after Lazy Summer’s launch, I was concerned: could we attract users and capital with only conservative, low-risk strategies?
Since then, it has been great to see the community and $SUMR token holders rally around the quick and onboarding of new strategies (ARKs) and Vaults (Fleets).
The path to 1b TVL is 10% there
Today, with >$100M in TVL, there is clear demand for the problem we are solving, but we’re still just 10% of the way to our real target for the year, $1B+ in TVL.
Key TVL Insights:
- Growth is no longer just from Mainnet USDC and ETH vaults
- Nearly 50% of capital now sits in higher-risk or non-Mainnet markets
| Vault / Group | TVL (USD) | % of Total TVL | Asset Type | Risk Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All Higher Risk | $16,591,395 | 15.64% | — | Higher Risk |
| All Lower Risk | $89,503,687 | 84.36% | — | Lower Risk |
| All Stablecoin | $52,653,730 | 49.61% | — | Mixed |
| All ETH-based (weth) | $53,456,592 | 50.39% | weth | Mixed |
| All Mainnet | $75,169,154 | 70.85% | — | Mixed |
| All Non-Mainnet | $30,925,928 | 29.15% | — | Mixed |
What has worked
So, what has helped the Lazy Summer Protocol achieve strong(ish) growth to date? In my view, there have been a few critical things.
- Solved a key pain: no more manual yield chasing for DeFi natives
- Fast onboarding of in-demand ARKs and vaults: Sonic, Fluid Lite, much much more …
- $SUMR incentives: the hope of fast wealth upon transferability
What’s blocking growth
We haven’t seen the explosive growth of Ethena, Morpho Blue, or other best in class DeFi protocols… why?
- Painkiller, not a cure / Incomplete solved problem: We solve for some user problems that DeFi natives have. But when it comes to DeFi yield - its clear they still have issues that we do not solve for… yet.
- Weak awareness & distribution: We lack virality and visibility among the DeFi community.
- Low shareability: No built in network effects, few embedded growth loops.
The next 10x: 1b = Product, number go up marketing and protocol ponzinomics
For the Lazy Summer Protocol, to achieve massive scale and get to the next 10x, and then next 10x after that, we must focus on resolving these bottlenecks to growth.
Specifically:
- Understanding where we fit in the crypto value chain, who we are for and how we are unique.
- Solve our awareness problem.
- Make our product more entrenched within the wider crypto ecosystem.
1b+ is done by being different, not better: Why try to be the best, when you can be the only?
Lazy Summer should not think of itself of the “yield aggregator” race. That’s a race to the bottom. The real opportunity is to exit the category entirely, the real competition, or the real market is one that is much more opaque, fragmented, and less well defined.
That is the market of High quality yield and high quality assets on chain. Something entirely new:
Lazy Summer = The default router for high quality onchain economic value
not the real competition
Whom are we for and what do they want?
A key lesson has been non-DeFi natives aren’t coming to the frontend. Great UX isn’t enough, they need embedded, abstracted yield. Until then, the focus belongs elsewhere.
Lazy Summer serves three real user types. Two we know and one we need to learn about.
1. DeFi Natives
Clear problem we solve: We win by outperforming diy yield.
- Automated access to high yield, high quality strategies
- Less yield chasing, more earning
2. DeFi Protocols
Unexpected but valuable users. They want:
- Distribution for their strategies
- TVL + credibility from integration
- Easy capital routed based on objective criteria into a trusted vault layer
3. Institutions & Integrators
This is our most important yet least understood user group. “Institutions” is vague and so is our grasp of what they truly need. We face a double challenge here, low awareness of Lazy Summer, and low insight into their real pain.
Source (A) Source (B) — This is not a single group, these are different types of users with different types of needs, pains and goals when it comes to crypto native yield and assets.
How Lazy Summer becomes “The Only”: Doubling down on what won’t change
DeFi evolves fast, what worked in 2020 is obsolete in 2025. x*y=k is legacy math, Morpho graduated from optimizer to protocol layer. Yet the protocols that have lasted, the ones that have become category leaders, have some things in common:
Solve one big problem exceptionally well. Stick to first principles. Build tokenomics that reinforce the core.
Lazy Summer should do the same. To get there, we must relentlessly execute on three things that don’t change:
- A product that automates and abstracts away DeFi yields most high friction parts
- Marketing that turns performance into narrative and status
- Tokenomics that reward aligned behavior and reinforce usage
Each feeding on each other. Together, they drive the next 10x plus.
Lazy Summer Product Pillars
Great protocols are built around things that don’t change. For Lazy Summer, our product strategy should rest on three durable truths:
-
Automated access to the best of DeFi yield:
Users will always want exposure to the highest performing strategie, across chains, assets, and protocols. Our job is to bundle and automate that access.
-
Democratization of advanced yield:
As yield strategies grow more complex, users need tools to execute them. We reduce friction and make premium yield accessible.
-
Mastering the basics:
In DeFi, the bar is still low for core UX. Onboarding, engagement, and product utilities (swap, bridge, send) are often broken. We win by doing the fundamentals right.
Product Execution to 10x TVL
For DeFi natives & protocol Users
Automated Access
- Continue onboarding best-in-class ARKs and strategies
- Launch cross chain vaults to abstract away multi-chain friction
Democratization of advanced yield:
- Ship yield bearing stable and ETH vaults designed to be as collateral.
- lazyloopETH & LazyloopUSD: Pristine and bespoke vaults for yield loop strategies designed for lending platforms.
- Launch carry trade vaults (e.g. funding rate or interest rate spread trades)
- Gather input from power users to uncover what’s still too hard or too manual
Master the basics
- Add tracking to identify onboarding friction
- Build habit loops (vault updates, yield summaries, upsells via in-app utilities)
- Collect/ learn from users about improvements (cross-chain switching, auto-yield conversion)
For institutions & integrators
The same three pillars apply but we don’t yet know how they translate.
- Get specific: Are we serving funds, wallets, DeFi frontends, or RWA infra? Who has the real problems?
- Understand work: Do user research allocator/integrator interviews this quarter
- Plug in, don’t compete: Integrate with players like Maple, rwa.xyz, Securitize—where the institutions already are. We don’t need to own the distribution, we just need to be in the flow of capital.
Number go up marketing
For better or worse, greed and the degree to which you can confer wealth or status on your users is the degree to which they will spread your product.
TL;DR: Make your community rich, and they’ll do your marketing for you.
Product as marketing
People don’t share dashboards. They share outcomes.
If Lazy Summer makes people more money, saves them time, or puts them ahead of others, we need to capture and amplify that.
Product as marketing execution to 10x TVL
- Implement in-product referrals, boosted by SUMR rewards
- Auto surface User generated content: “New strategy added to your vault,” “+11.8% vs. base staking,” “37h saved this month”
- Showcase outcomes with content: More yield / money, less work/ time , no management
example from COW swap
Money as a network effect
The OG network effect product is money. Being a superior form of money is inherently viral—every platform wants to offer the best version.
Money as network effect road to 10x TVL
- Tokenize our flagship vaults: LazyUSD and LazyETH, composable, yield-bearing assets that flow through the ecosystem. (no $SUMR rewards)
- Integrate them everywhere: wallets, borrowing protocols, AMMs, DEXs etc.
there is a new money king in town
Green Dildo Marketing
Let’s be honest, $SUMR number go up is the single best marketing strategy we have. Nothing drives awareness like a big fat green dildo on the SUMR/USDC chart.
Green Dildo Marketing road to 10x TVL
- Price → narrative → usage → price. Implement Ponzinomics (see below).
Own the meme’s of production
Influencers are overpriced. Paid media is misaligned. And most media orgs eventually shill garbage just to survive. Instead of renting attention, own the pipes. Build the narrative machine.
Own the meme’s of production road to 10x TVL
-
Approach DeFi native media for core partnership, M&A, or revenue-aligned co ownership
(e.g. Defiant, Rollup, Blockworks)
-
Give them real upside: SUMR exposure, fee share, vault-based affiliate revenue
-
Align incentives around promoting the best of DeFi, not whatever new bullshit protocol raised a large round.
Ponzinomic’s
With $SUMR token transferability on the horizon, it’s encouraging to see the community—led by contributors like @chrisbducky—actively shaping the discussion. (I am personally for a TVL threshold of 500M or August 31st, whichever comes first.. but that is beyond the scope of this essay.)
Beyond core product value, token design is the single most important growth lever. Price drives narrative, narrative drives usage, and usage feeds back into price.
“Ponzinomics” Done Right: aggressive, transparent Incentives for 10x TVL+
Token earning as product, token price as marketing—this is the engine of DeFi growth. For Lazy Summer, the following initiatives can create a powerful feedback loop:
Position Lock-Up Boosts:
- Boost $SUMR rewards for users who lock their deposits for longer periods or increase their deposit size.
- Example: 3mo = 10% boost, 6mo = 20%, 12mo = 40%, 1yr+ = 60%+; additional 10% boost for every 10% deposit increase.
- Outcome: Higher TVL, more protocol stickiness, stronger price support.
$SUMR Staking Lockups:
- Offer escalating reward multipliers for fixed staking periods:
eg. 3mo: 1.1x, 6mo: 1.25x, 12mo: 1.5x, 2yr+: 2x+ etc … - Outcome: Encourages long-term alignment and reduces circulating supply.
Real Yield Fee Sharing:
- At defined staking thresholds (e.g., 6mo+), distribute a portion of protocol fees to $SUMR stakers as “real yield,” paid in stablecoins.
- Outcome: Increased inctentive for staking $SUMR and locking up supply.
Protocol-Owned Liquidity (POL) via Bonding
- Enable users to bond assets (USDC, other tokens) at a discount for $SUMR with vesting, building protocol-owned liquidity that supports deep, stable markets.
- Outcome: Builds a permanent base of liquidity that can’t leave, reducing reliance on mercenary LPs. This deepens SUMR markets, stabilizes price action.
Automated SUMR buybacks:
- At TVL milestones (e.g., every $500M), allocate vault fees to market buybacks of $SUMR, which are then staked or sent to the treasury, increasing per-token value and signaling confidence.
Additional Ideas (Inspired by Tarun Chitra’s Tokenomics Research)
- Dynamic Emissions: Adjust $SUMR reward rates based on protocol health metrics (TVL, revenue, user retention), reducing inflation as the protocol matures.
- Slashing for Misbehavior: Penalize stakers or curators who act against protocol interests, redistributing slashed tokens to honest participants.
On Two-Trick Ponies
While the focus of this post is on Lazy Summer’s core engine, DeFi native passive yield and the SUMR flywheel, t’s worth entertaining a broader, longer-term question:
What would it look like for Lazy Summer to eventually become a two-trick pony?
Some of the most enduring protocols in crypto didn’t stop at one breakthrough, they found a second act. Rode or created a new mega trend.
We’re not there yet. But if we wanted to get there, what paths might make sense?
1. DeFi native liquidity as a service
Many new protocols need help bootstrapping liquidity. Lazy Summer already excels at sourcing and routing high quality TVL: What if we extended that toward serving protocols directly?
Inspiration: Andrei David on bootstrapping liquidity
2. Institutional access layer
Institutional flows into on-chain assets are rising—whether through tokenized treasuries, private credit funds, or on-chain equity-like products.
Questions to explore:
- Could we offer vaults that wrap RWA tokens from partners like Ondo, Maple, or Ethena into Lazy Summer-style passive strategies?
- What tooling or integrations (compliance, custody, reporting) would we need to serve these users?
- Could Lazy Summer become a preferred front-end for real-world asset allocators—combining abstraction, liquidity, and risk control?
Example players:
- Ondo Global Markets / Ondo Chain
- Apollo’s Private Credit Fund
- BUIDL (BlackRock x Securitize)
- Ethena Converge
Final thoughts and request for comment / feedback
The above are thoughts and ideas that should certainly be refined and require debate. This post is hopefully a conversation starter on how we, as a community want to drive growth for the Lazy Summer protocol ASAP.
@chrisb @halaprix @FBrinkkemper @Maple_Finance @Recognized_Delegates