PUFFER soars after token launch and claims open

Puffer Finance’s native token saw a sharp price increase on October 14 after the liquid repurchase protocol announced that token requests are now open.

The PUFFER token, which received support from many leading crypto exchanges including Kraken, Bybit and Bitget, rose to a high of 49 cents.

This represented a more than 55% increase for the token right after Puffer announced that token requests were open. Puffer Finance has experienced a congestion that has ‘overwhelmed’ the website as a growing number of users attempt to retrieve their PUFFER tokens.

What is Puffer Finance?

PUFFER is the native governance token of Puffer Finance, a decentralized finance protocol that offers yield farming and staking to its users.

The token’s role in UniFi, a Puffer-based aggregation, includes use in liquid repurchase and support of actively managed services. Puffer’s integration into liquid repurchase technology and UniFi’s AVS allows holders to earn returns and participate in the decentralized governance that manages the protocol’s treasury rewards.

Holders can stake or redeem PUFFER under the governance of the restaking protocol through the vePUFFER staking service.

Puffer Finance’s liquid repurchase platform on Ethereum (ETH) is led by ecosystem giants such as Ether.Fi and EigenLayer, making it among the top protocols in terms of total value locked. According to DeFiLlama data, Puffer’s TVL is over $1.4 billion.

Protocol raised $18 million during its Series A funding round in April 2024. Brevan Howard Digital and Electric Capital accompanied the round, which also received support from Coinbase Ventures, Lemniscap and Franklin Templeton.

In an earlier round in August 2023, Puffer raised $5.5 million. Lemniscap and Lightspeed Faction led this round together.