BENQI (QI) is the governance and utility token of BENQI, a leading decentralized lending and liquid
staking protocol on Avalanche. Founded in 2021, BENQI allows users to lend and borrow assets with isolated risk pools, and offers liquid staking for AVAX (sAVAX) that enables staked AVAX to be used in
DeFi while earning staking rewards. The QI token powers staking for governance voting, fee shares, and reward boosts in a capital-efficient lending ecosystem secured by audited contracts and Avalanche's high-performance consensus.
When Did BENQI Launch?
BENQI launched its
mainnet and QI token in 2021 on Avalanche, quickly becoming a top lending protocol on the chain. Milestones include liquid staking launch in 2022, governance activation in 2023, and 2025 expansions for cross-chain lending and new asset support, maintaining high TVL by December 2025.
What Are the Key Features of BENQI?
BENQI features isolated lending pools for risk management, liquid staking for AVAX (sAVAX) with DeFi composability, staking for governance and rewards, low-fee operations on Avalanche, audited security, and cross-chain integrations for broader asset support in a high-performance DeFi lending ecosystem.
What Is QI Used For?
QI is used for staking to earn rewards and governance votes, participating in lending and borrowing, voting on
DAO proposals, providing liquidity for yields, and accessing premium lending features.
What Is the QI Token Utility?
QI secures staking for reward distribution and governance, powers DAO votes on treasury, covers fees with burns, incentivizes liquidity, and funds ecosystem growth.
What Blockchain Does BENQI Operate On?
BENQI operates on Avalanche
Layer-1 for high-speed, low-fee lending and liquid staking.
What Are QI Tokenomics?
QI has capped supply with circulation from unlocks as of December 2025. Allocation: staking rewards, governance incentives, team vested, liquidity, treasury; deflationary via burns.