BENQI (QI) Price Prediction

Deep Dive

1. Avalanche Ecosystem Growth (Bullish Impact)

Overview: BENQI’s liquid staking product, sAVAX, held 15.7M AVAX ($~300M at current prices) as of July 2025, with 64,005 stakers. Its role as Avalanche’s foundational DeFi protocol ties QI’s demand to AVAX’s adoption. Recent integrations like Silo Finance’s 95% LTV loans using sAVAX deepen utility.

What this means: Increased AVAX staking via BENQI directly boosts QI’s use case for governance and fee discounts. A 10% rise in sAVAX TVL could incentivize more QI staking, reducing sell pressure.

2. Exchange Listings & Liquidity (Mixed Impact)

Overview: QI’s July 2025 listing on Kraken improved accessibility but coincided with a 17% 60-day price drop. Turnover (volume/market cap) remains low at 4.07%, signaling thin liquidity.

What this means: While listings broaden investor access, low turnover leaves QI vulnerable to volatility. Sustained volume above $2.5M daily (vs. current $2.3M) is needed to stabilize price discovery.

3. Staking Incentives & Supply (Neutral Impact)

Overview: All 7.2B QI are circulating. Stakers earn BENQI Miles (veQI) for governance and validator voting, but unstaking resets rewards to zero. Only 336 Miles/day per QI staked—modest vs. competitors.

What this means: Current yields may not sufficiently incentivize long-term holding. A DAO transition (planned but undated) could increase governance demand, but delays risk apathy.

Conclusion

QI’s medium-term outlook leans on Avalanche’s DeFi growth and staking product adoption, countered by weak liquidity and untested tokenomics. Watch sAVAX TVL trends and QI’s turnover ratio—can protocol utility outpace its high circulating supply?