Introducing Merkl's Onchain Referral Program: Make your Incentive Campaigns Viral

Incentive programs have become a cornerstone of DeFi growth, helping protocols and chains attract liquidity and engage users. As the leading platform for incentive distribution, Merkl is constantly innovating to make reward distribution even more effective and engaging.

Today, we're excited to introduce a new feature that takes incentive campaigns to the next level: onchain referral program. With this new mechanism, Merkl enables a more viral and community-driven approach to incentive distribution, helping protocols acquire new users and boost liquidity participation.

How the referral program works

The referral system is simple yet impactful:

1. A user (the referrer) generates a unique onchain referral code in the Merkl App
2. He shares the referral link with another liquidity provider (referee) and validate the referral onchain.
3. When both the referrer and referee deposit liquidity, they each receive a 5% reward boost, based on the smaller deposit amount between the two.

This mechanism drives a viral, world-of-mouth effect, encouraging users to actively bring more liquidity providers to the ecosystem while ensuring fair and proportional rewards.

Why incentive distributors should care

For web3 projects running incentive campaigns, the referral program brings three major advantages:

• Lower acquisition costs

  Instead of relying solely on direct incentive payouts, you can leverage user networks to drive organic participation.

• Higher engagement & retention

  Users have a vested interest in bringing high-quality liquidity providers who stay engaged.

• Fraud prevention and onchain security

  The program is secured via the smart contract, ensuring no sybil attacks or self-referrals dilute your rewards.

Available now — by request

The referral system is now live but is currently available upon request. It is reserved for custom liquidity programs created with Merkl and is not yet available for one-shot campaigns.

The first use case for this feature is Apple Farm, the newly launched incentive program by Etherlink, which is already leveraging this viral reward mechanism to drive liquidity growth.

Want to integrate referral rewards into your incentive campaign? Reach out to us today!