Initia Mainnet: Onboarding Notes for the Multichain Garden of Eden

Key Takeaways

• Initia launched its mainnet and began activating the Interwoven Economy, with VIP gauge vote underway and key appchains starting their services.

• For users who did not experience the testnet, concepts like enshrined liquidity, guage vote, and the Interwoven rollup structure may feel unfamiliar.

• This article helps users navigate the multi-chain environment by connecting Initia’s technical concepts with the actual user interface.

• A smooth user experience, from onboarding to protocol operations, will be just as important as Initia’s architecture in realizing its multi-chain ecosystem.

1. Welcome to the Multichain Garden of Eden

Source: X(@initia)

Initia has officially signaled the beginning of its mainnet. With the formal launch, Initia proclaimed itself as “an appchain’s final destination.” This refers to Initia’s vision of offering the most complete environment for application-specific chains, going beyond the previous stages where apps existed only as single smart contracts or where appchains independently built their own validator sets and infrastructure. In other words, this statement represents Initia’s goal of enabling appchains to build sovereign execution environments based on the Interwoven Stack, while simultaneously forming an interconnected ecosystem through shared security, native liquidity, and the VIP incentive mechanism.

The most notable development with the mainnet launch was the initiation of gauge vote and the announcement of upcoming VIP emissions. At the same time, appchains such as Inertia and Rave officially launched their services on Day 1. Given that Initia had extended its testnet phase once to optimize its technology stack, the community, after a long wait for mainnet, responded with great enthusiasm.

However, for users who were not actively involved in the testnet, the Initia mainnet environment might have felt somewhat unfamiliar. In reality, Initia differs from existing chains in several respects and presents an unfamiliar structure. In particular, concepts such as staking based on enshrined liquidity, gauge vote for VIP incentive distribution, and asset movement between interwoven rollups may be understood theoretically, but users likely encountered difficulties when interacting with the actual interface.

Accordingly, the following sections aim to provide a guide to help users avoid getting lost in the Multichain Garden of Eden. We will closely examine the user journey by comparing how Initia’s architectural principles are implemented through actual interfaces.

For a more detailed explanation of Initia’s philosophy and architecture, refer to our previous article: Initia: Entering the Multichain Garden of Eden.

2. Initia Interface Guide

2.1 Staking Interface (Feat. Enshrined Liquidity)

For users who received an airdrop, the most noticeable difference compared to other chains is likely the staking mechanism. On most chains, immediate staking is possible using a single native token. However, Initia operates a unique liquidity mechanism called Enshrined Liquidity, which changes the staking experience for users seeking to participate.

Enshrined Liquidity is a structure designed to convert liquidity provider positions into staking assets that contribute to the network’s economic security. Users deposit assets into liquidity pools that include INIT and stake the LP tokens obtained from these pools to delegate them to validators. This design simultaneously achieves network security and liquidity, ultimately promoting rich liquidity flows across the entire ecosystem.

Let’s explore what the user journey looks like when a user stakes via the INIT:USDC liquidity position under this liquidity mechanism:

1. Select a Whitelisted Pool: Users must first select a liquidity pair that has been approved as a whitelisted pool and prepare the assets to deposit. As of now, only the INIT:USDC pool is approved, but it is expected that governance will gradually expand the scope of pools eligible for enshrined liquidity.

   In order for enshrined liquidity to be applied, the liquidity pair must include INIT and be approved through governance as a whitelisted pool. For instance, if INIT is paired with yield-bearing assets such as sUSDe or weETH, or with native tokens from interwoven rollups, the resulting LP tokens can be used as staking assets.

2. Provide Liquidity: Users deposit assets in an 8:2 ratio of INIT to USDC. The Initia DEX operates with a Balancer-style weighted pool designed to maintain predefined ratios within the pool. To increase demand for INIT and enhance its utility across the ecosystem, the INIT portion is always configured to be at least 50%.

3. Initiate Staking: Once the liquidity is deposited, users stake the LP position obtained from the INIT:USDC pool.

4. Set Lock-Up Duration: Staking can be performed without any lock-up, but users may choose to set a lock-up period of up to 720 days. The longer the lock-up, the greater the voting power users receive in gauge vote, which determines the distribution of VIP incentives.

5. Complete Staking: After completing staking through the enshrined liquidity mechanism, users receive three types of rewards simultaneously: LP trading fees, staking rewards, and gauge voting power.

As shown, Enshrined Liquidity requires users to go through a staking procedure that may be unfamiliar, but it functions as a core mechanism that enhances the network’s overall capital efficiency by combining security and liquidity. In other words, staking no longer serves merely as a cost for network security, but functions as an economic mechanism that facilitates liquidity flow within the ecosystem. Conversely, assets that might have remained idle are now transformed into liquidity assets contributing to the network’s economic security. This structure enables the ecosystem to simultaneously secure both security and liquidity. As a result, appchains can build services based on enshrined liquidity without separate liquidity mining programs, and users can enjoy a predictable trading experience in a deep and stable liquidity environment.

2.2 VIP and Gauge Vote Interface

With the launch of the mainnet, the core mechanism of the Interwoven Economy, the Vested Interest Program (VIP), is now live as an active economic system where users can track current conditions and participate in gauge vote. VIP is an incentive program at the chain level that allocates esINIT rewards to rollups and users. A total of 25% of INIT’s supply is allocated to VIP, and rewards are distributed on a biweekly epoch basis. The amount of esINIT distributed is determined based on two factors: the amount of INIT bridged to each rollup (Balance Pool) and the results of gauge vote (Weight Pool).

Source: Initia

Looking at the current state of the mainnet, several interwoven rollups such as Yominet, Civitia, and MilkyWay have already obtained VIP eligibility through governance, and gauge vote for them is actively underway. During Stage 0 of the VIP program, which began with the mainnet launch, the first two weeks are dedicated to gauge vote. Then, on May 8, 2025, Stage 1 will begin, and the first round of VIP rewards will be distributed.

The esINIT distributed through VIP is first allocated to each rollup, then redistributed to users based on the distribution rules defined by each rollup. At this stage, rollups can freely establish their own distribution criteria based on unique KPIs, and users earn VIP scores accordingly, receiving esINIT in proportion to their individual scores. Each interwoven rollup has already disclosed its own VIP distribution rules. Users can check these criteria directly via the VIP interface. A few examples include the following:

• Inertia: Supply and borrow INIT and sINIT on Inertia Lending.

• MilkyWay: Bridge INIT to MilkyWay and liquid stake those INIT tokens.

• Intergaze: Trade NFTs on the Intergaze Marketplace.

• Civitia: esINIT is distributed in proportion to the SILVER accrued during the epoch.

• Yominet: Players can gather VIPP in-game in the VIP zone. VIPP tickets can be burned to claim VIP score.

• Zaar: Swap on Sudoswap, participate in the Flip game, and stake tokens.

Meanwhile, gauge vote, the key mechanism powering VIP, has also begun in practice. Users can participate in voting through the gauge vote interface, and once voting is complete, all results are tallied to determine what percentage of the Weight Pool each rollup will receive.

At this point, users are free to allocate any percentage of their 100% voting power across multiple rollups. For example, a user may allocate 60% of their total voting power to Rollup A and 40% to Rollup B. One particularly interesting aspect is that this allocation can be adjusted freely until the epoch ends.

In particular, when the bribe marketplace Cabal becomes active in the future, users will adjust their vote allocations strategically based on the bribe conditions offered by rollups. Consequently, the esINIT rewards each rollup receives will vary dynamically, and these political and economic dynamics are expected to become a core variable in VIP’s incentive distribution once the system is in full operation.

2.3 Bridge Interface (Feat. MinitSwap)

As interwoven rollups gradually launch, one of the first entry barriers users will encounter is the bridge interface. Given Initia’s multichain architecture, asset movement between Initia Layer 1 and rollups, as well as between rollups themselves, requires use of bridges. The degree to which this process is made seamless will directly impact the overall user experience on Initia.

From the early design stages, Initia placed significant emphasis on building an interoperability infrastructure centered on MinitSwap to support smooth asset movement across Layer 1, rollups, and external chains. Even so, realizing a truly seamless user experience requires not only infrastructure refinement but also efforts to lower the user learning curve. The following explanation offers a detailed look at the bridge interface and how it works under the hood.

Users can move assets from Initia Layer 1 to each rollup through a relatively simple process. By selecting the asset type and destination chain in the bridge interface, SkipGo’s API routing automatically finds the optimal path. As a result, users can transfer assets to rollups like Inertia, Yominet, or Civitia to participate in VIP activity or use appchain services. Currently, asset deposits and withdrawals, including INIT, USDC, and liquid staking tokens such as sINIT, milkTIA, and nINIT, are working smoothly with low slippage.

A particularly notable feature of Initia is that deposits and withdrawals between optimistic rollups and Layer 1 can be executed instantly, without the usual challenge period. This is made possible by MinitSwap, which combines IBC-based transfers with automatic swaps to provide a near-instant user experience. The core of this functionality is the Peg Keeper mechanism, which absorbs the challenge period on behalf of users by offering immediate liquidity. This mechanism ensures that delays typically associated with optimistic rollup withdrawals are effectively eliminated.

For more technical details about MinitSwap, refer to our previous article or the Initia Docs.

Source: Initia Bridge

Through MinitSwap, users can choose between two withdrawal options when moving assets from a rollup to Initia Layer 1. The first option leverages the natively integrated optimistic bridge, which requires a challenge period of approximately 7 to 9 days. The second option enables near-instant withdrawals via MinitSwap.

With the optimistic bridge, users must wait through the fraud proof period, during which challengers on Initia verify transaction validity. While this method ensures higher security and allows for slippage-free withdrawals, it comes with a longer wait time. On the other hand, MinitSwap facilitates instant withdrawals by swapping the asset with a bridged INIT-equivalent token. Although this introduces a certain level of slippage, the immediacy of the transaction can be advantageous. These two options give users the flexibility to choose based on asset size and operational needs.

3. Toward a Multichain Ecosystem That Requires No Map

Looking back at Initia’s vision and architectural structure, it becomes clear that the relationship between Initia’s Layer 1 and Layer 2 is not a simple hierarchical one. Rather, they are intricately connected through chain-level incentives (VIP), enshrined liquidity, and interoperability infrastructure. In this structure, appchains maintain their own sovereign execution environments while sharing liquidity and user bases, thereby securing sustainable growth drivers. As such, each appchain coexists with a unique purpose, collectively forming a harmonized network that embodies Initia’s blueprint for a Multichain Garden of Eden.

However, realizing this vision presents a significant operational challenge for Initia. Since dozens of appchains operate based on their own sovereign execution environments and autonomous growth strategies, it is not only necessary to connect them technically without friction, but also to coordinate them economically in a complementary and sustainable way.

Of course, Initia has designed a deeply thought-out architecture across all layers to strengthen connections within the ecosystem. But if this architecture does not function smoothly when real users begin onboarding and interacting with the network post-mainnet, then even the most elaborate design becomes meaningless. Moreover, even if appchains across verticals like DeFi, gaming, and NFTs offer high-quality services, the ecosystem’s growth will inevitably be constrained if users abandon the network due to high entry barriers and a steep learning curve.

In this context, realizing Initia’s vision of a multichain ecosystem will require not only technical completeness but also flexible operational strategies and continuous improvements focused on the overall user experience. Accordingly, we can identify several key areas for improvement and expected changes from a user-centric perspective:

3.1 Challenges and Areas for Improvement

3.1.1 Liquidity Bootstrapping Problem

Immediately after mainnet launch, Initia DEX’s INIT:ETH pool suffered from critically low liquidity, causing users to experience significant price impact. As more appchains launch and the chain environment becomes increasingly fragmented, this kind of degraded user experience caused by shallow liquidity must be avoided. Not only must the overall ecosystem have sufficient liquidity, but each appchain also needs liquidity pools capable of trading their native tokens.

However, as of now, rollups have limited means of securing liquidity. Since VIP is primarily designed to reward user activity within rollups, liquidity provision is explicitly excluded from VIP scoring. Similarly, enshrined liquidity is likely to be limited, at least initially, to whitelisted pools that contain major or yield-bearing assets (e.g., USDC, sUSDe, milkINIT) that can provide stable economic security.

Of course, rollups can adopt market-based approaches by launching their own Liquidity Bootstrapping Pools (LBPs), or by offering liquidity mining campaigns funded by native incentives. However, these approaches either lack sustainability or impose additional liquidity acquisition costs. This contradicts Initia’s design ethos, which aims to support developers with a complete suite of infrastructure, including dev stack, shared security, and liquidity, so they can focus entirely on core service development.

Therefore, as the number of appchains grows and the risk of liquidity fragmentation increases, protocol-level mechanisms may be needed to help bootstrap initial liquidity for new pools. One possible approach is to temporarily boost APY on Initia DEX for specific liquidity pairs that include native rollup tokens, thereby providing additional LP incentives.

3.1.2 Bridge Challenges

Shortly after Initia’s mainnet launch, a temporary issue arose where assets were being stuck in intermediate contracts when bridging from EVM chains to Initia via LayerZero. Although this issue was resolved quickly, the bridge infrastructure remains one of the most critical components in the Initia ecosystem and must be continuously improved for robustness and reliability.

In relation to this, Initia and LayerZero are currently co-developing an interoperability module specifically tailored for the Cosmos ecosystem. This solution will be implemented as a Cosmos SDK-based module, rather than the traditional smart contract approach. Through this design, Initia’s Layer 1 validators will be directly involved in maintaining interoperability security. Combined with LayerZero’s custom DVN (Destination Verifier Network), this approach will allow Initia to configure LayerZero’s infrastructure in a way that meets its own security and interoperability requirements. As a result, Initia is expected to achieve a higher level of both interoperability and security in the future.

3.2 The Final Link in the Interwoven Economy: Precision Operations and Seamless UX

The multichain ecosystem Initia aims to build is not merely about accommodating large numbers of appchains. Rather, Initia’s goal is to make the ecosystem feel unified to users, such that even if thousands of appchains exist, they are perceived as part of one coherent flow. This philosophy was clearly reflected in the onboarding interface that users encountered immediately after mainnet launch. Upon entering the portal, accounts are created seamlessly, assets can be deposited, and users are guided through an introduction to appchains within the Interwoven Economy, all without requiring a deep technical understanding of the multichain structure.

The reason Initia is taking a careful approach to every UI/UX element is that, as mentioned earlier, it presents users with a blockchain environment that may feel unfamiliar. However, this unfamiliarity also implies that Initia is proposing a fundamentally different model of a multichain ecosystem.

Moreover, as users gradually adapt to this environment, and as VIP rewards and appchain services continue to roll out, Initia has the potential to become the new benchmark for multichain ecosystems. In this process, we hope that the same level of sophistication applied to architectural design will also be reflected in future operational execution and user experience.

4. References

• Initia Docs: https://docs.initia.xyz/home/general/welcome