LSTR and SURGE holders have had the option to move their tokens from Hive Engine to BASE for some time. I suppose I might have missed the memo. The blog posts I remember reading mostly dealt with how the tokens work. And there are days when I don't log on to Hive except to do some wallet operations. In other words, I didn't know that we could bridge, nor how.
About LSTR
If you're not a frequent visitor to InLeo, then you may not know about LSTR. The token came about after the tokenomics of LEO were changed from being inflationary like HIVE, which theoretically can print out infinite tokens, to a fixed amount of LEO. They set the maximum number at 30 million LEO. Soon after that, it became possible to do what Strategy is doing, buying up Bitcoin for their treasury by issuing stocks and bonds for funding. Despite the current flat market, Bitcoin generally goes up in value over time. By buying Strategy stock, you are effectively buying tomorrow's Bitcoin today. Incidentally, MSTR (Strategy's stock ticker symbol) has grown faster than Bitcoin.
Strategy is buying thousands of Bitcoin, which takes it out of circulation. They do not expect to ever have to sell any Bitcoin. With less Bitcoin in circulation, they are also driving up the price, although you wouldn't know it with today's market.
A group got together to create @leostrategy, which models itself off of Strategy. The LeoStrategy plan is to buy up LEO and stake it to generate yield on LeoDex to buy more LEO for staking to increase LPS (LEO per share), very much like Strategy is piling up Bitcoin in their treasury. To raise funds to buy LEO, LeoStrategy sells LSTR tokens on Hive Engine and BASE, which they turn around and use to buy more LEO.
So far, LeoStrategy has been successful in growing their treasury and raising the price of LEO in the process. The price of LSTR has been hovering around $5 during the current market turbulence. But even with that, it's still more than a 300% return for those holding on to LSTR. And the price of LEO has been increasing as well.
At first, LSTR was only traded within Hive Engine. But it expanded to BASE in order to tap into more liquidity (cash). Eventually, they built a bridge that allows you to transfer your LSTR on Hive Engine out to your BASE wallet. I guess this is around the time I tuned out. We'll come back to this later.
About SURGE
After their success with LSTR, LeoStrategy took another page out of Strategy's playbook, which involves selling bonds to raise money. Bonds are different to stock in that they do not generally go up in price. But they pay out yield regularly to bond holders. There are a special type of bond that can be converted to stock, aptly named convertible bonds. People who buy the convertible bonds can choose to get their cash back, or they can redeem their bonds for a fixed number of stock once the bond's term runs out. This is the idea behind SURGE, another token issued by LeoStrategy.
In the financial markets, bond holders have first dibs at getting their money back should the company fold. Whatever is left over goes to stock holders. Similarly, those who buy and hold SURGE would get their money back, if LeoStrategy would go under for some reason. And whatever is left over would go to holders of LSTR.
Like convertible bonds, SURGE pays their holders a yield. And holders can redeem 50 SURGE for 1 LSTR at any time. However, unlike most bonds, SURGE does not have a set term. So long as a person holds SURGE, they'll get paid roughly 15% per SURGE. Except that SURGE does not currently trade at the $1 par value. This is causing SURGE to pay a "higher yield". It's the same interest payment, except that you aren't paying $1 for it, you're paying less. As I am writing this post, the yield is around 20%.
On the subject of yield, you can choose to have your weekly SURGE earnings sent to you in HBD or LSTR.
Like LSTR, SURGE started on Hive Engine and was later also launched on BASE. And now there is a bridge to transfer your Hive Engine SURGE tokens out to your BASE wallet.
TTSLA
LeoStrategy recently launched TTSLA (tokenized Tesla). Basically, it's similar to a stablecoin, except that instead of being pegged to the dollar, it is pegged to 1/100th the price of Tesla stock. And it also pays out a yield. I won't go into more detail as there is currently no bridge for TTSLA between Hive Engine and BASE. But, when they do enable the bridge, I'm sure it will be similar to those for LSTR and SURGE as described below.
Transferring LSTR or SURGE to BASE
Transferring LSTR and SURGE to BASE is very straightforward. From your Hive wallet, you simply send your token to its oracle with your BASE wallet address in the memo.
For LSTR, you send your tokens to @lstr.oracle with the amount you're sending and your BASE wallet address in the memo.
For SURGE, you send your tokens to @surge.oracle with the amount you're sending and your BASE wallet address in the memo.
Before you do that, I suggest you be certain you want to do that. Sending from BASE back to Hive Engine is more involved. It should be easier once LeoStrategy builds an interface. But for now, I couldn't explain how to do it. Therefore, keep in mind that, at present, this is a one-way transfer.
Another factor to consider is that there is a 2% fee when bridging. Expect to get a little bit less LSTR or SURGE than what you sent.
Why Transfer LSTR or SURGE to BASE?
Why would somebody want to transfer their LSTR or SURGE to BASE, you might wonder. I can't speak for everyone. For me, my main reason for migrating my LSTR and SURGE out of Hive Engine to the BASE blockchain is impatience. Hive Engine has had instances in which they are down or they temporarily disable withdrawals. I don't blame them for the DDOS attacks that hit them. They have no control over that. But during their downtime, we can't trade or much of anything with our tokens. All we can do is wait until they're back online to conduct our business.
As for temporarily disabling withdrawals, it's a perfectly rational thing to do when the market is tanking. People panic and start withdrawing their assets like mad, which puts out everybody else. Again, all we can do is wait until withdrawals are enabled again.
Another factor of my impatience is that I don't have a direct line between fiat and Hive or Hive Engine. If I have cash, I need to buy crypto on an exchange, then send it to Hive Engine to deposit, convert to something else, and then transfer to Hive. There are some exchanges that will convert directly to Hive, like SimpleSwap. But there are times when my transfer does not meet the minimum.
Having these tokens directly on BASE allows me to add to their position by swapping from USDC purchased from fiat. It's a more direct route.
I don't often buy HIVE or HBD as these can be earned on chain. But when I need to buy, it's often a contortion. In short, it is more convenient for my purposes to have my tokens consolidated in my BASE wallet.
Should You Bridge Your LSTR or SURGE to BASE?
This is a very personal decision. I'm not concerned about leaving my tokens on Hive Engine. They have a good track record of keeping our tokens safe. I don't think safety should be a motivation. Putting your tokens on your BASE puts all wallet security in your hands. You might not want to keep them in a hot wallet, a wallet you use frequently. It may be easier to hack you than it is to hack Hive Engine.
The main purpose in writing this post is to inform you that you have the option to move your tokens, if it's your preference. I have my reasons for having done it. But these reasons may not be the same as your reasons to do it, or not do it. In fact, you may choose to keep some of your tokens in Hive Engine and some on the BASE chain, which is what I had going on before consolidating.