One of the fun things in the crypto world is that learning is rewardable and memorable. For instance, Ethereum’s Layer 2 solution, Arbitrum launched the Odyssey event in June (which has now halted due to enormous gas fees), awarding NFTs to users who complete the designated quest. Not only we can collect commemorative NFTs, at the same time we are learning how these solutions and protocols work, and also getting chances to claim airdrop tokens in the future, I can say the rewards are pretty attractive.
In late September, Galxe (previously Project Galaxy) partnered with another L2 solution, Optimism (OP), and together launched a brand new learn-to-earn campaign, introducing Web3 users to OP’s ecosystem. The OP Quests give those who are new to the L2 solution an opportunity to enter the ecosystem risk-free, exploring OP’s dApps while earning NFTs along the way. There is a total of 18 NFTs to be collected and here comes Coinlive’s ultimate guide on how to obtain all of them!
Before we start, you need to prepare the following of these:
1. MetaMask
2. Add “Optimism Network” in MetaMask. One of the easiest ways to add OP network is via chainlist.org
3. At least 0.01 ETH in OP network as gas fees
4. An equivalent of US$150 in any crypto (can be ETH, USDC, DAI, etc). USDC is recommended
Bookmark the campaign page:
https://galxe.com/Optimism/campaign/GC6xiUtedg
https://app.optimism.io/quests/
Most of the quests require only gas fees and probably you may lose a bit of slippage but nothing more than $1. However, some quests may cost much more than that, so you may consider skipping those.
1. Uniswap
Task: Swap $20 worth of tokens on Uniswap between at least 2 swaps.
Difficulty: ★☆☆☆☆
Turnaround: ASAP
Comment: In fact, you may even swap more than 2 times using Uniswap throughout this campaign, so no rush doing this quest.
Attention: None
2. Synapse
Task: Deposit either $20 worth of ETH or stablecoins in Synapse’s stableswap Liquidity Pool (LP).
Difficulty: ★☆☆☆☆
Turnaround: ASAP
Comment: I chose the nUSD-USDC pair to complete the deposit.
Attention: Need to swap nUSD using Synapse. After completing the task, swap it back to USDC using Synapse again.
3. Rubicon
Task: Swap $20 worth of tokens and add $20 to any of the LP. Follow the Twitter page and join Discord.
Difficulty: ★☆☆☆☆
Turnaround: ASAP
Comment: Slippage in Rubicon is quite high, so only swap tokens for once. If you wanted to swap it back, use Uniswap for subsequent swapping.
You may swap $21 of USDC to DAI, then use the DAI to add LP. You can immediately withdraw it after adding LP.
Attention: The token swap slippage in Rubicon is pretty high, use Uniswap after completing one swap.
4. Perpetual Protocol
Task: Place a trade position with at least $100 USDC.
Difficulty: ★☆☆☆☆
Turnaround: ASAP
Comment: Deposit $105 USDC first and click “BTC” on the left.
Enter 105 on the USD column, you may select either long or short. After opening the position, please close the position immediately as speculation is not our job in this campaign. You may withdraw your USDC after closing the position.
Attention: Do not go leverage, keep the buying power at 10%.
5. Granary
Task: Lend $50 worth of assets and borrow $20 worth of assets. Follow the Twitter page, join Discord and claim a role.
Difficulty: ★★☆☆☆
Turnaround: ASAP
Comment: Deposit $55 of USDC.
After the deposit, visit the “borrow” page and borrow $21 worth of crypto with the lowest APR, USDT/USDC/DAI is preferable.
After the transaction, you can immediately repay the loan and withdraw the deposit. After dealing with the main task, join Discord and claim the “Galxe quest” role.
Attention: Granary only recognizes USDT/USDC/DAI/BTC for the task, not sure about the WBTC Coin. Anyway, just go ahead with USDT/USDC/DAI, nothing can go wrong.
6. Velodrome
Task: Add $20 as LP to a stable pool (e.g., USDC-DAI) and stake. Follow the Twitter page.
Difficulty: ★★★☆☆
Turnaround: ASAP
Comment: Swap $21 worth of USDC and DAI via Uniswap and add LP under “Pools” in Velodrome. After adding LP, Velodrome will prompt and ask for staking. Proceed with it. As soon as the staking is successful, you may withdraw it immediately.
Attention: Click the crypto icon to select cryptos. The balance of staked LP sAMM-USDC/DAI is available in OP’s block explorer. You may access the explorer via MetaMask, and check the balance under token. Click “sAMM-USDC/DAI” to go to the token page, copy the token balance and paste it under Velodrome’s withdrawal tab.
7. Stargate
Task: Bridge a minimum of $100 USDC to any network from Optimism.
Difficulty: ★★☆☆☆
Turnaround: 30 minutes – 1 Hour to reflect on Galxe
Comment: Remember to bridge from OP using only USDC. To save some gas fees, you may choose to bridge it to Arbitrum.
Attention: Bridging the USDC from Arbitrum back to Optimism required ETH on Arbitrum. If you do not have any ETH on Arbitrum or think it is too troublesome to transfer ETH to Arbitrum, you may choose other networks instead. Just make sure you have the native coin of the chosen blockchain to bridge your USDC back to OP, e.g., BNB for BSC, MATIC for Polygon, etc.
8. Polynomial
Task: Have an active position in any of the Polynomial Earn v2 Vaults. Follow the Twitter page.
Difficulty: ★★☆☆☆
Turnaround: 4 hours (another 4 hours for withdrawal)
Comment: Swap for $50 worth of sUSD via Uniswap.
Visit Polynomial and select “put selling” in USD.
Deposit all the sUSD and wait for 4 hours to complete the process. You may claim the NFT on Galxe after 4 hours and are able to withdraw funds from the vault. Withdrawal will take another 4 hours as well. After withdrawing, you may swap sUSD back to USDC via Uniswap. You may hold the sUSD for Quest 10 & 12.
Attention: Swap sUSD in Uniswap for the best deal. Remember to claim the NFT on Galxe before withdrawing.
9. Pika
Task: Open a trade with margin of at least $30 USDC and add at least $30 LP to the USDC vault.
Difficulty: ★★☆☆☆
Turnaround: ASAP (3 days for withdrawal)
Comment: Similar to the Perpetual quest (Quest 4), open a long or short position with the lowest leverage, e.g., $31 with 1.2x leverage.
After opening the position, close it immediately and proceed to the “vault” page. Stake $31 and the quest is completed.
Attention: You can claim the NFT in Galxe immediately but your fund will be locked for 3 days. Therefore, you may do this quest after finishing others. Remember to bookmark the page and unstake it 3 days later.
10. Kwenta
Task: Open a futures position worth at least $100 sUSD. Follow the Twitter page and join Discord.
Difficulty: ★☆☆☆☆
Turnaround: 2 days
Comment: Swap $105 USDC to sUSD via Uniswap, and deposit all of it in Kwenta.
Similar to the Perpetual quest (Quest 4), select BTC and open either a long or short position with 1x leverage. After opening the position, close it immediately and withdraw the fund. You may hold the sUSD for Quest 12.
Attention: According to Kwenta’s announcement, we can close the trade position immediately but it takes up to 48 hours to update the record in Galxe. Remember to claim the NFT 2 days later.
11. Pooltogether
Task: Deposit $20 and keep it for 3 days.
Difficulty: ★☆☆☆☆
Turnaround: 3 days
Comment: Deposit $21 and wait for 3 days. Only withdraw the deposit after claiming the NFT on Galxe.
Attention: As your fund will be locked, you may do this quest after finishing others.
12. Clipper
Task: Deposit $20 into the OP liquidity pool and wait for 10 days. Swap $20 USD worth of tokens on the normal pool. Add $20 LP in Clipper Coves. Follows 2 Twitter pages and join Discord.
Difficulty: ★★★★☆
Turnaround: 10 days
Comment: This quest is not really that difficult but rather a lot of tasks to do. First, click “Liquidity” on top and select “Pool”. Deposit $21 USDC, this fund will be locked for 10 days. You may withdraw it 10 days later.
Click “Swap” and swap for OP tokens worth $21.
Click “Liquidity” again and select “Coves” this time. Click “Add a deposit” and select sUSD. Choose OP as the core asset and proceed. You may withdraw this LP immediately after. Swap sUSD and OP via Uniswap for maximum saving.
Attention: To claim this NFT, you need to wait for 10 days, and also remember to bookmark the “Pool” page to unlock your fund.
Above are the 11 NFTs I have collected so far, 1 NFT (Kwenta) is still pending. For the remaining 6 NFTs, it is up to you whether to complete the collection or not. Here’s my verdict:
1. Quix
Task: Purchase an NFT with a minimum of 0.0099 ETH.
Difficulty: ★☆☆☆☆
Turnaround: 2 to 3 hours to reflect on Galxe
Comment: You are required to spend 0.0099 ETH on NFT. For my case, I listed an NFT using an alternate wallet, pocketed the 0.0099 ETH myself, and transfer it back to the main wallet. If you do not have any NFT, you may purchase the cheapest NFT on Quix using an alt wallet, then list it for 0.01 ETH and use your main wallet to buy it.
Verdict: Just do it!
2. Hop Protocol
Task: Provide liquidity to a Hop AMM on Optimism. The fund locking period varies depending on fund size. More details on Galxe.
Difficulty: ★☆☆☆☆
Turnaround: 9 days to 3 months depending on your fund size
Comment: Easy task but your fund will be locked. I would suggest the $500 tier instead of $200 so that your fund will only be locked for a month.
Verdict: Probably?
3. Beethoven
Task: Invest at least the equivalent of 0.05 ETH or rETH into the Rocket Fuel pool, stake the BPT and leave it staked for at least 24 hours.
Difficulty: ★★☆☆☆
Turnaround: 1 day
Comment: Seems like the task was updated. If I remember correctly, the original requirement was 3 months instead of one. By completing the prior tasks in this guide, I believe this quest will be relatively easy for you. Remember to stake all the BPT after the initial deposit.
Verdict: Definitely.
4. QiDao/Mai Finance
Task: Open a Vault and deposit WETH/OP. Borrow at least 100 MAI and keep the “health ratio” within a certain range.
Difficulty: ★★★☆☆
Turnaround: 1 week
Comment: In order to keep the health ratio in range, it is best to deposit as much WETH/OP as you can, probably talking about $300 worth of tokens. After creating the vault, borrow 100.1 MAI and hold for 1 week. Only repay the loan after claiming the NFT.
Verdict: Much likely doing it.
Not recommended
5. Synthetix
Task: Stake a minimum of 100 SNX and claim weekly rewards at least twice.
Difficulty: ★☆☆☆☆
Turnaround: 2 weeks
Comment: As of the time of writing, 100 SNX costs around $230 USDC. In order to complete this task, you need to stake the SNX tokens on Synthetix and claim weekly rewards twice, which means your fund will be locked for 2 weeks. Fund locking is not a big deal, what matters is the crypto price. You may suffer a loss in 2-week times, of course, there is also a chance you may gain extra. If you don’t mind this risk, you may go ahead with the quest.
Verdict: Pass for me.
6. Lyra
Task: Trade $100 in premiums and follow the Twitter page.
Difficulty: ★☆☆☆☆
Turnaround: ASAP
Comment: You can complete the task within a blink of an eye by selling the option immediately after buying it. As the platform charges 5% on each transaction, you paid roughly $10 to complete this task. If you don’t mind paying the $10, you may go ahead with the quest.
Verdict: Nah.
Summary
All in all, I am having a blast throughout the whole campaign, indeed it is a fun learning journey as Galxe said in its blog. You need not complete all the quests, by completing 10 of them you are in for the tier 3 Quest NFT which will be released in the future. Speaking of which, the highlights of Optimism’s network are its fee and speed. The gas fees of OP’s network are ridiculously low, I spent about $4 in a total of 120 transactions, and that’s an average of $0.0333 gas fee per transaction. It’s even cheaper than Arbitrum which is using Optimism rollups as well. Aside from fees, the OP network is incredibly fast too compared with Arbitrum, especially during bridging. I am not sure what’s the rationale behind as many claims that Arbitrum should be working faster than OP, yet my experience in using both networks told me a different story. As a Web3 user, I guess we really need to play around with the solutions and protocols to get real hands-on experience.