RWA Decentralization stablecoin: an innovative attempt by usual.money

Stablecoins, as the cornerstone of the cryptocurrency industry, play a crucial role in large-scale payments and industry adoption. By the end of July 2024, the total market capitalization of stablecoins reached $168 billion, with the two major centralized stablecoins, USDT and USDC, accounting for approximately 90% of the market share.

The stablecoin market is highly profitable, with major participants generating over $10 billion in revenue in 2023. This concentrated profit situation contradicts the idea of Decentralization in cryptocurrencies, thus giving rise to numerous decentralized stablecoin projects. These projects can be divided into three categories based on their collateralization methods: over-collateralized, equal-collateralized, and under-collateralized.

However, most decentralized stablecoin projects still use crypto assets as collateral, requiring complex mechanisms to cope with price fluctuations. Introducing real-world assets (RWA) as collateral can effectively address this issue. In 2023, RWA on the blockchain grew by over 800%, demonstrating significant potential.

The usual.money project innovatively introduces U.S. Treasury bonds as collateral, while utilizing Ethereum smart contracts to ensure transparency and security, and returns profits to the community and contributors. This design can be seen as an on-chain version of Tether, combining the 1:1 RWA characteristics of centralized stablecoin protocols with the security and transparency advantages of blockchain.

In April 2024, Usual Labs completed a $7 million financing round, led by IOSG and Kraken Ventures, with participation from several well-known institutions. Founder Pierre Person, a former French politician, has extensive experience in promoting cryptocurrency legislation.

The project launched its mainnet on July 10, and by early August, the total locked value (TVL) reached 146 million USD. Its stablecoin USD0 is primarily traded in the Curve USD0/USDC pool, with liquidity exceeding 11 million USD. Additionally, USD0 has various liquidity pools and lending options on platforms such as Maverick Protocol and Morpho.

Minting of USD0 can be achieved in two ways: direct deposit of RWA or indirect deposit of USDC/USDT. This design allows users to obtain USD0 without directly handling RWA, effectively addressing the issue of RWA liquidity shortage.

The project has also launched USD0++, which is a value-added treasury bond that allows users to earn returns by locking USD0. The returns can be chosen in the form of USUAL tokens or a basic interest guarantee.

To encourage user participation, Usual has launched the "Pills" campaign. Users can earn Pills by minting, holding USD0++, and providing liquidity in specific liquidity pools. These Pills will be exchanged for USUAL tokens in the future, expected to account for 7.5% of the total supply.

Overall, usual.money brings new possibilities to the decentralized stablecoin market by introducing RWA as collateral. As the project develops and more users get involved, it has the potential to become an important player in the stablecoin market.