Apple Farm Season 2 Launches on Etherlink with $3M in Rewards and New Features

Apple Farm Season 2 is now live on Etherlink, launching with over $3 million in rewards to fuel continued growth across the Layer 2's expanding DeFi ecosystem. The second season builds on the remarkable success of Season 1, which attracted thousands of users, generated almost $50 million in total value locked (TVL), and distributed $3 million in XTZ rewards, while catalyzing new partnerships and protocol integrations across Etherlink.

Apple Farm is a rewards program that encourages people to actively use DeFi apps on Etherlink, such as trading, lending, or providing liquidity. This season introduces applXTZ, a new reward token that gives users instant access to 20% of their rewards, with the remaining 80% unlocking gradually over six months. The program is designed to make participation more rewarding while supporting long-term ecosystem growth.

“Season 1 showed there’s strong demand for smart, well-structured incentives,” said David Relkin, Head of DeFi at Nomadic Labs. “With Season 2, we’re leveling up, more partners, more flexibility, and reward mechanics designed to keep users active and engaged over time. We’re building real, lasting value for the ecosystem.”

Season 2 features an expanded roster of participating protocols, including Jumper.Exchange, Lombard, Curve, OKU, Gearbox, Stacy.fi, Hanji, Superlend, Uranium.io, and  IguanaDEX with additional protocols joining throughout the season. Opportunities are refreshed every two weeks based on activity and demand, ensuring optimal incentive allocation that responds to real ecosystem usage patterns.

"We're excited to continue our partnership with Etherlink through Apple Farm Season 2," said Pablo Veyrat, co-founder of Merkl, which powers the Apple Farm platform. "This season is more dynamic, more accessible, and we think it’s going to drive even stronger engagement across the board."

Today’s announcements come amid strong ecosystem momentum for Etherlink which has seen a wave of significant developments across its ecosystem, positioning itself as a key player in DeFi. Recent major integrations include Midas’ launch of tokenized assets (mBASIS, mTBILL, mMEV, mRE7YIELD); Oku’s June 2025 launch of a DeFi aggregator bringing Uniswap v3 functionality with advanced order routing. Network performance has also surged as season 1 attracted thousands of users, peaking at $47.7M in TVL and $88.5M in on-chain asset value, smart contract storage speed improving up to 30x, and bridging times reduced from 15 days to under a minute. Strategically, Etherlink is carving out a niche as a hub for advanced financial products, drawing in Ethereum-based projects seeking faster, more scalable alternatives while leveraging Tezos’ Smart Rollup technology and maintaining EVM compatibility.

For more information about Apple Farm Season 2 and to begin earning rewards, visit https://app.applefarm.xyz

About Etherlink

Etherlink is a non-custodial, EVM-compatible Layer 2 blockchain powered by Tezos Smart Rollups. Etherlink is permissionless, inherits the technology of Tezos’ Layer 1, and features a decentralized governance model, fraud proofs, and censorship resistance. https://www.etherlink.com/

About Tezos

Tezos is an open-source and energy-efficient blockchain designed to empower institutions, developers, and businesses and facilitate value transfer in a digital environment. It is designed for the scalable deployment of decentralized applications. As one of the first Proof of Stake blockchains, Tezos is globally supported and valued for its strong governance, long-term upgradability, and smart contract capabilities. For more information about Tezos, visit http://www.tezos.com. 

About Merkl

Merkl is the leading platform for incentive distribution, empowering DeFi protocols, blockchains, and Web3 projects to drive liquidity and growth through efficient, onchain reward programs. With over $80M in rewards distributed to date, Merkl streamlines token allocation across multiple blockchains, ensuring accurate calculation, seamless distribution, and tracking. Backed by a16z, Merkl is trusted by industry leaders such as Uniswap, TrustWallet, and Optimism. Discover more at https://merkl.xyz/