Article Rewritten:
Author: Nancy, PANews
This article takes stock of the projects that have undergone brand upgrades in the past year and finds that these projects have made varying degrees of innovation in brand image, market positioning, and strategic planning due to factors such as competitive differentiation, market trends, and transformational upgrades. The token prices have also shown strong trends after the brand revamp, with an average highest increase of nearly 243.5%.
Rebranding is often an important strategy to rejuvenate brand vitality and enhance brand competitiveness. In the current Web3 field, many projects are undergoing brand revitalization, and the frequent “renaming trend” is generally seen as a positive development.
PANews has taken stock of the projects that have undergone brand upgrades in the past year and found that these projects have made varying degrees of innovation in brand image, market positioning, and strategic planning due to factors such as competitive differentiation, market trends, and transformational upgrades. The token prices have also shown strong trends after the brand revamp, with an average highest increase of nearly 243.5%.
OP Mainnet (OP)
The Layer2 star project Optimism was renamed OP Mainnet in June last year, aiming to reflect its goal of creating a “super chain” composed of multiple L2 networks. OP Mainnet will serve as the underlying layer of the “super chain.” According to CoinGecko data, as of March 15, the token OP has seen a maximum increase of 239.1% after the brand upgrade, with a current circulating market value exceeding $3.92 billion.
Mantle (MNT)
In May last year, BitDAO merged with Layer 2 network Mantle Network and the proposal to convert the BIT token 1:1 into the MNT token was approved. According to Binance data, as of March 15, after the launch of the Alpha version of the mainnet, MNT has seen a maximum increase of about 126.4%, with a current circulating market value of $2.95 billion.
Beam (BEAMX)
Merit Circle is a blockchain gaming guild that announced its brand upgrade to Beam in October last year and replaced the original token MC with BEAMX. According to Binance data, as of March 15, after the token swap and upgrade, the token BEAMX has seen a maximum increase of nearly 814.9%, with a current circulating market value of $1.98 billion.
Avara (AAVE)
In November 2023, blockchain technology company Aave Companies announced its rebranding as Avara, becoming the parent company of the lending protocol Aave, the Web3 social project Lens (which has not yet issued tokens), stablecoin GHO, metaverse mobile application Sonar, and other brands. Aave was originally named ETHLend and underwent a renaming in September 2018. According to CoinGecko data, as of March 15, the Aave token AAVE has seen a maximum increase of over 56.7%, with a current circulating market value exceeding $1.91 billion.
Ribbon Finance (RBN)
In July 2023, the on-chain structured product Ribbon Finance proposed the merger with the options trading platform Aevo and the adoption of Aevo as the new brand name. At the same time, it abolished the original token RBN and introduced the new token AEVO, which can be converted at a 1:1 ratio. Aevo has raised $16.6 million in three rounds of financing and recently launched an airdrop program, with Amber Group and Wintermute being the market makers for the AEVO token.
According to CoinGecko data, as of March 15, after the merger proposal, the token RBN has seen a maximum increase of over 780%, with a current circulating market value of $1.36 billion.
Vanar (VANRY)
In November last year, the metaverse project Virtua announced the brand upgrade of its Layer 1 blockchain Vanar Chain, and the token TVK can be exchanged at a 1:1 ratio for VANRY. Vanar Chain raised $2.5 million in funding from NGC Ventures, LD Capital, YBB Foundation, Hashed, and others in 2020 and recently announced a partnership with AI giant NVIDIA.
According to CoinGecko data, as of March 15, after the renaming, the newly launched VANRY token has seen a maximum increase of over 445.1%, with a current circulating market value exceeding $400 million; meanwhile, TVK has also seen a maximum increase of 639.1% due to this news, with a current circulating market value of $54.32 million.
Ninety Eight (C98)
Vietnamese crypto company Coin98 Finance announced its rebranding as Ninety Eight in November last year, and the token C98 will continue to be the core token of the Ninety Eight ecosystem, providing more utility and value. According to CoinGecko data, as of March 15, after the brand upgrade, C98 has seen a maximum increase of over 144.4%, with a current circulating market value exceeding $280 million.
Bounce Brand (AUCTION)
Bounce Finance is a decentralized auction platform that has received investments from Coinbase, Pantera, Hashed, Fundamental Labs, and other institutions. In December 2023, Bounce Finance announced its rebranding as Bounce Brand, which includes the Bitcoin-based application chain Bounce Bit, the Bounce Box exploring BTC DeFi, and the BTC-related auction platform Bounce Auction.
According to CoinGecko data, as of March 15, the token AUCTION has seen a maximum increase of 150.3% since the brand upgrade, with a current circulating market value of $158 million.
AllianceBlock (NXRA)
In February this year, decentralized tokenized financial infrastructure platform AllianceBlock not only announced the launch of the compliant tokenization protocol Nexera Finance but also revealed that the project will be renamed Nexera Foundation, focusing on developing the ecosystem DAO and enhancing the utility of the native NXRA token. AllianceBlock previously received a $100 million investment from Binance Accelerator Fund and lost $88 million in an attack incident in early 2023 along with BonqDAO.
According to CoinGecko data, as of March 15, after the renaming, the token NXRA has seen a maximum increase of over 49.2%, with a current circulating market value of $130 million.
Viction (VC)
The scalable blockchain TomoChain announced its rebranding as Viction last year, with the token TOMO changing to VIC, aiming to have a profound impact on humanity and the Web3 community through blockchain technology. Viction received investments from Coin98 Labs and DWF Labs for a seven-figure token lock-up investment.
According to CoinGecko data, as of March 15, VC has shown a sustained downward trend after the brand upgrade, with a maximum decrease of over 62.9%, and a current circulating market value exceeding $96.814 million.
Lumia (ORN)
DeFi project Orion Protocol suffered a loss of over $3 million in an attack but had the stolen funds returned. In March this year, Orion Protocol announced its upcoming rebranding as the DeFi infrastructure Lumia and received strategic investment from DWF Labs, which agreed to lock the purchased ORN tokens for 12 months. According to CoinGecko data, as of March 15, the token ORN has seen a maximum increase of nearly 41.4% after the brand upgrade plan was announced, with a current circulating market value of $80.152 million.
dForce (DF)
DeFi protocol dForce announced in November 2023 that the governance proposal to rename dForce Lending as Unitus had been approved. The project suffered a loss of $3.65 million in an attack but was returned the stolen funds by the attacker. According to CoinGecko data, as of March 15, after the renaming, the token DF has seen a maximum increase of over 72.2%, with a current circulating market value exceeding $43.957 million.
StaFi (FIS)
At the beginning of this month, the liquidity staking protocol StaFi released its upgrade and rebranding plan StaFi 2.0, which will be implemented in stages and includes a transformation from the multi-chain LSD protocol to the LSD Infra Layer, renaming the native token FIS, and introducing a burning mechanism. According to CoinGecko data, as of March 15, the token FIS has seen a maximum increase of nearly 82.4% since the announcement of the rebranding plan, with a current circulating market value of $41.695 million.
Wagmi (WAGMI)
The crypto project Wagmi is the rebranding of the cross-chain yield platform Popsicle Finance, launched by Daniele Sestagalli, the founder of the algorithmic stablecoin MIM, in September last year. The project suffered a loss of $25 million in a hack, and the original token ICE could be exchanged for the WAGMI token. In January this year, Wagmi announced a partnership with DWF Labs, which purchased tens of millions of WAGMI tokens.
According to CoinGecko data, as of March 15, since the project’s launch, the token WAGMI has seen a maximum increase of 114.2%, with a current circulating market value of $25.771 million.
Port3 Network (PORT3)
Web3 social data website Port3 Network announced the completion of its brand upgrade at the end of February, transforming into a decentralized AI data network that standardizes and distributes data through the integration of on-chain and off-chain datasets, thereby establishing a globally accessible AI data layer. After raising $3 million in seed funding, Port3 Network announced the completion of a multi-million dollar funding round in August 2023 and received grants from companies such as Binance Labs. A few months later, it announced another investment from DWF Labs.
According to CoinGecko data, as of March 15, the token PORT3 has seen a maximum increase of nearly 203.4% after the brand upgrade.
