Rubic ended Q2 with a transaction volume of $92 million, representing a 6.4% increase from the previous quarter.
The platform saw cross-chain transactions rise to 75% of its total volume in Q2 2024, up from 49% in the same quarter the previous year. Meanwhile, the transaction value of these swaps grew to $69 million, highlighting Rubic’s expansion and integration with over 80 blockchains.
Despite broader market swings, Rubic maintained strong staking engagement, with over $750,000 in RBC staked by the end of Q2, representing about 20% of the total circulating supply.
Primer
Rubic (RBC) is a cross-chain bridge and DEX aggregator that offers efficient trading routes and competitive crypto exchange rates. As a front-end application that doesn’t use external servers, Rubic routes all swaps through existing bridges and DEXs. To find the best swap for most cross-chain bridges and onchain DEXs, Rubic routes to the exchange’s API and processes the data through the exchange’s services.
By leveraging multiple providers, Rubic can execute swaps and aggregate liquidity even if some exchanges stop operating. Rubic currently aggregates over 220 bridges and DEXs. It never holds funds on its front end, and every transaction is performed via API by sending calls to smart contracts. By not relying on external servers, Rubic significantly reduces attack vectors (e.g., DDOS). Rubic’s SDK and widget service over 130 crypto projects.
Its architecture is structured around three core SDK modules, external API providers, and the RPC node. The RPC node facilitates interaction with other blockchains. The cross-chain manager queries the provider’s API, initiating transactions through Rubic’s smart contracts. These contracts, in turn, engage the contracts of cross-chain bridges and DEXs. For EVM-based swaps, Rubic’s SDK utilizes 1inch, OpenOcean, ODOS, XY Finance, and other natively integrated DEXs as its primary providers.
In March, Rubic introduced its BestRateFinder, a tool that compares users’ trades against over 200 DEXs in real time. Doing so ensures the most favorable rates without having to search each DEX manually. The integration is directly available via MetaMask’s wallet.
Rubic concluded Q2 with a transaction volume of $92 million, marking a 6.4% increase from the previous quarter. Base emerged as the leading source chain, accounting for over $13 million of the total volume, closely followed by Ethereum and Arbitrum with $12 and 10 million. Historically, zkSync and Linea have been popular among users in the “Other” category.
Rubic was among the first DEX aggregators to list emerging chains like Base, Linea, and Scroll. This move attracted users eager to farm and gain exposure to new networks where traditional bridges may be scarce and unreliable. In turn, Rubic’s first-mover advantage has contributed to larger volumes. The advantages were particularly noticeable during Q1 and Q2, aligning with the token launches on these newer chains.
Similarly, Rubic experienced a transaction spike after Linea and Manta announced points programs in November. However, users gradually moved away following token launches on these chains, contributing to a decline in Rubic's volume in Q1. In contrast, this quarter saw a significant resurgence in transactions, with a 61% increase to 210,000, as X Layer, Mode, Blast, and Metis teased token rewards. Specifically, May and June recorded transaction counts of 80,000 and 77,000, respectively, marking them as the highest in 2024 and the third and fourth largest months since Rubic’s inception. The growth periods helped Rubic reach the 1 million transactions threshold.
Q2 marked Rubic's second-highest all-time transaction count, only surpassed by Q4 2023. This period saw a higher proportion of transactions on emerging chains than the overall volume, highlighting Rubic's role as a gateway to new networks. This quarter, Rubic integrated ZKFair, the first community ZK-rollup based on Polygon CDK and Celestia DA. It also added Mode, X Layer, Merlin, Rootstock, CoreDAO Network, Taiko, ZetaChain, Sei, zkLink, and many more, totaling the 83 live networks on Rubic. Despite major EVM chains traditionally handling most transactions, the trend is shifting towards cross-chain swaps as they become more prevalent.
The prevalence of cross-chain swaps on Rubic has significantly increased in volume, rising from 49% in Q2 2023 to 75% in Q2 2024. The transaction value of these swaps grew from $30 million in Q2 2023 to $69 million in the same quarter this year, reaching an all-time high. This surge is primarily due to Rubic's rapid integration with new blockchains, which fills a gap in the market for secure routing solutions.
As of writing, Rubic connects to over 80 blockchains, 20 bridges, and 200 DEXs while uniquely leveraging competitors XY Finance and Li.Fi as routing options. However, onchain swaps still prevail when it comes to the number of transactions, constituting 57% in Q2 2024.
Despite RBC's price decrease from $0.036 to $0.017, Rubic’s circulating market cap decreased by only 11% QoQ to $3.1 million. This was partially offset by an increase in circulating supply due to the vesting of marketing and treasury tokens during Q1 and Q2. For comparison, Rubic’s competitor, XY Finance, had a circulating market cap of $2.4 million in Q2.
Staking
During Q2, Rubic offered a 52% APR, which was paid in ETH. By quarter's end, more than $750,000 in RBC was staked on the platform, with an average lock time of nine months. It represents roughly 20% of RBC's total circulating supply. Notably, Rubic has just under 3,000 RBC holders on Ethereum and around 1,200 on Arbitrum. In May, Rubic briefly offered an elevated APR of 95% for one month of staking but typically ranges between 30% and 50%. These programs' revenue is partly supported by Rubic's treasury, with 50% of the platform's fees being redistributed to users.
Rubic has distributed over 142 ETH, or $425,000, in rewards and has offered options of one-, three-, and nine-month lockups.
Qualitative Analysis
Q2 provided several network integrations for Rubic, most notably: Sei, zkLink, Taiko, and ZetaChain.
Outside of integrations, Rubic instituted several protocol upgrades and developments. The platform introduced its MetaMask Snap BestRateFinder in March 2024 and continued its development in Q2. It also released several marketing campaigns to attract users, such as its first Warpcast campaign. The campaign offered 50,000 OP rewards from Layer3 and attracted almost 18,000 followers for Rubic on Warpcast. Additionally, Rubic was selected for a 12-month journey with the Consensys Scale Program, allowing access to the entire development world of Consensys. Through this program, Rubic gained hands-on experience collaborating with relevant developer tooling and projects. Also, Rubic’s widget was integrated into the Blockscout Explorer.
In addition, Rubic was integrated into the Coin98 Wallet. With this integration, users can easily utilize Rubic’s advanced cross-chain technology directly within their wallets.
Rubic announced a pre-alpha version of its API development in June. The API will offer providers some core functions such as swap rates, swap data, and several provider options. It is not yet live for production use, but Rubic is eyeing a Q3 launch.
Closing Summary
Rubic closed Q2 with notable achievements despite fluctuating market dynamics. The platform recorded a 6.4% increase in transaction volume, reaching $92 million, with Base and Ethereum emerging as leading source chains. The quarter witnessed a significant transaction recovery, totaling 210,000 — a 62.5% rise from the previous quarter. The increase was largely fueled by anticipation around new token rewards on Blast, XLayer, Mode, and Metis.
Cross-chain swaps particularly bolstered Rubic's growth, accounting for 75% of total transactions in Q2 2024, up substantially from 49% the previous year. This shift indicates that Rubic has successfully adapted to market needs by offering secure and diverse routing options. Despite a decline in its native token's price, Rubic's market cap only fell by 11% due to strategic token vesting.
Moreover, Rubic's staking initiatives have seen strong participation, with significant portions of RBC being locked up. The lockups point towards confidence in Rubic’s long-term viability and rewarding stakers with competitive APRs. These efforts collectively mark a strong Q2 for Rubic despite a price compression and overall market sentiment.
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Toe is a technical research analyst at Messari specializing in DeFi coverage. Before joining Messari, he worked as a data scientist at both Celsius Network and IBM. Toe graduated from the University of Michigan School of Information.
Toe is a technical research analyst at Messari specializing in DeFi coverage. Before joining Messari, he worked as a data scientist at both Celsius Network and IBM. Toe graduated from the University of Michigan School of Information.
