Last updated on March 8th, 2026 at 02:22 pm
Layer 1 blockchain Alephium has opened the public testnet for Powfi, its new core decentralized app built to strengthen the network’s crypto economy.
The launch begins Phase Two of the project’s roadmap, called Aligned Economics. The goal is simple. Instead of just being a high-speed blockchain, Alephium now wants to build a system where activity on the network directly supports the ALPH token and long-term holders.
— Alephium (@alephium) February 19, 2026
Dex designed to support alph
At the heart of Powfi is a Concentrated Liquidity Market Maker decentralized exchange. The DEX is designed to become the main trading hub on Alephium.
When users trade on Powfi, the protocol captures fees. The team says 50% of those fees will be used to buy back and burn ALPH tokens. The other 50 per cent will go to ALPH stakers. This creates a loop in which more trading could lead to more rewards and a declining token supply over time.
Powfi is fully open source and built using RALPH, Alephium’s smart contract language. The team said it spent months testing the contracts before opening them to the public.
Staking layer aims to unify the ecosystem
Powfi also introduces a staking model powered by xALPH, a wrapped version of ALPH. The staking layer is designed to collect value not just from the DEX, but from other apps that may choose to share part of their revenue in the future.
The testnet phase will focus on checking smart contract stability and backend logic. Users are invited to test the platform and report bugs in exchange for ALPH rewards.
The team said the full user interface will come later on mainnet, as security remains the top priority during testing.
In another DeFi development, Aave Labs announced it is retiring its umbrella brand, Avara, in a strategic move to sharpen its focus on decentralized finance and streamline its product identity.
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