Solidly is André Cronje’s experimental ve(3,3) decentralized exchange launched on Fantom in February 2022, combining Curve Finance’s vote-escrow tokenomics with Olympus DAO’s (3,3) game-theoretic staking model to create a self-reinforcing liquidity incentive system — and inspiring a wave of derivative protocols that became the dominant DEX architecture on multiple chains.
Overview
Launched all at once — protocol, token, and governance — with no traditional fundraise or careful rollout, Solidly became one of the most influential DeFi protocol designs despite running for only a few weeks before Cronje stepped back from DeFi. The ve(3,3) concept fused two powerful DeFi mechanisms: Curve’s vote-escrow model (lock tokens to vote on gauge emissions) with a game-theoretic claim that rational actors maximizing protocol fees should always lock rather than sell, creating a (3,3) equilibrium resembling Olympus DAO’s staking game theory. The protocol’s code became the foundation for Velodrome, Aerodrome, Thena, Ramses, and many other chains’ leading DEXs.
ve(3,3) Core Mechanism
Here’s how this works in practice.
Vote-Escrow Component (from Curve)
- Gauge voting — veSOLID holders vote weekly on which liquidity pools receive SOLID emissions
- Bribe market — protocols wanting emissions for their pool pay SOLID or other tokens as bribes to veSOLID holders who vote for them
- Fee capture — veSOLID holders earn 100% of trading fees from pools they vote for (not from all pools — a critical design choice differing from Curve)
(3,3) Game-Theoretic Component (from Olympus)
- In practice this creates strong initial lock pressure during launch but doesn’t prevent eventual selling once the equilibrium breaks
- Cronje’s innovation was embedding this into the gauge voting loop: locked tokens earn fees, encouraging perpetual locking
Anti-Dilution Rebases
- This “anti-dilution” mechanism meant long-term lockers were protected against inflation reducing their share of governance power
Launch and Collapse
Solidly’s launch in February 2022 became one of DeFi’s most chaotic:
- Top-50 Fantom protocol NFTs — airdrop rights allocated to the top 50 Fantom DeFi protocols by TVL (as of a snapshot)
- Simultaneous release — no testing period; protocol launched with immediate liquidity and token trading
- Exploit concerns — rapid launch created confusion and manipulation around the airdrop snapshot
- Cronje departure — André Cronje announced his withdrawal from DeFi in March 2022, leaving Solidly without a development team
- Fantom TVL collapse — combined with broader market conditions, Fantom’s TVL declined sharply
Despite Solidly’s own short life, its design specifications were open-source and comprehensively documented — enabling the wave of forks that followed.
The Solidly Forks Ecosystem
Solidly inspired the most successful family of DEX forks in DeFi:
| Protocol | Chain | Notable Innovations Over Solidly |
|---|---|---|
| Velodrome | Optimism | Relay auto-compounding, improved tokenomics |
| Aerodrome | Base | veAERO bribes, AERO emissions |
| Thena | BNB Chain | theNFT governance, fusion liquidity |
| Ramses | Arbitrum | Concentrated liquidity CL pools |
| Chronos | Arbitrum | — (less differentiated) |
| Equalizer | Fantom/Base | — (close Solidly fork) |
Sources
- Solidly Technical Specifications — André Cronje, Dani Sesta, 2022. Original Solidly codebase and design documentation covering the ve(3,3) vote-escrow mechanism, gauge system, anti-dilution rebase, and fee distribution logic entirely to pool voters rather than all veSOLID holders.
- “ve(3,3): Understanding the Solidly Model” — Delphi Digital Research, 2022. In-depth analysis of Solidly’s game-theoretic claims: why the (3,3) equilibrium may not be stable, how fee-to-voter (vs. fee-to-all-lockers) changes incentive alignment, and the practical implications for protocol partners using bribes.
- “The Solidly Launch: A Postmortem” — DeFi community research, 2022. Documents the chaotic Solidly launch sequence: NFT airdrop snapshot manipulation concerns, protocol vulnerabilities from rushed deployment, Fantom TVL impact, and Cronje’s departure timeline.
- “From Solidly to Velodrome: The ve(3,3) Evolution” — Velodrome / Optimism community research, 2022. Explains how the Velodrome team (formerly Velo Network) took Solidly’s design, fixed known issues (particularly around the NFT lock mechanism and emission schedule), and launched on Optimism as the much more successful derivative.
- “DeFi Game Theory: Olympus (3,3) Applied to DEXs” — Bankless Research, 2022. Analyzes the Olympus DAO (3,3) staking game theory and how Cronje adapted it for Solidly’s liquidity governance, evaluating whether the Nash equilibrium of universal locking holds empirically or breaks down under selling pressure.