Reflexer Labs: The need to redefine "stability"

Nakamao

21-03-26 16:56

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With the recent decline in popularity and price of algorithm-based stables such as AmpleForth (AMPL), Empty Set Dollar (ESD) and Basis. Cash, the project has gone from a positive spiral to a negative spiral, directly leading to the "death spiral" mechanism of ESD and Basis. Cas2.0 upgrades.

Although this large round of algorithmic stablecoin social experiments failed, howeverThe allure of "the holy grail of cryptocurrencies" is still there, attracting a large number of developers and investors continue to explore. With the recentA16Z has invested in events such as algorithmic stable coin FEI Network, Float Protocol, and the launch of the second phase of liquid mining, algorithmic stablecoin concept is hot again, while"Calculate three jie"Came into being. Reflexer Labs, the first one to propose anchoring non-fixed assets and the only algorithmic stablecoin project that has been launched, has not been mentioned much.

For this reason, Rulse invited Stefan Ionescu, co-founder of Reflexer Labs, to interview him. In this exchange, Stefan not only made a very simple and understandable introduction to Reflexer and its stable currency RAI, but also faced the community's question on the issue of token allocation, and even put forward original opinions on the development of the industry and the public's views on the concept of stable assets.

Rhythm BlockBeats: It's a pleasure to have you with us. Let me begin by introducing you and your team.

Stefan:Thanks for the invitation. I'm Stefan, co-founder of Reflexer Labs. Reflexer argued that stable assets should not be linked to fiat currencies. This is why we decided to build an RAI, an unanchored stable asset supported only by ETH. Since its launch on February 17, RAI has been valued at more than $120 million, and so far, the deal has locked in around $300 million for Ethereum.

Data source:https://stats.reflexer.finance/

Reflexer Labs, formerly known as Metacoin, was founded by Stefan Ionescu and Ameen Soleimani. Ameen Soleimani is the founder of Spankchain. Ameen also built the well-known DAO organization MolochDao and is a key member of Metacartel Ventures. Nikolai Mushegian, Makerdao's chief scientist, is an adviser to Reflexer Labs.

Reflexer Labs has completed investment led by Paradigm, Standard Crypto, Compound founder Robert Leshner and & NBSP; Variant Fund Seed Round Funding by Ginseng As well as Series A financing led by Pantera Capital and Lemniscap, Metacartel Ventures, The Lau, Divergence Ventures, Synthetix founder Kain, Aave founder Stani and others.

The idea for Reflexer's stablecoin comes from the Rai Stones, one of the original currencies. Can you explain how Reflexer works in plain English?

Stefan:The simplest way to describe RAI is that it has a floating anchoring standard, while DAI or SUSD has a fixed anchoring standard ($1). If the market price of the RAI falls below this floating anchor, the system exchange rate will begin to rise (pushing prices towards the anchor). If the market price of the RAI is above the floating anchor standard, the system exchange rate will begin to fall. This is happening becauseThe RAI protocol seeks to incentivise participants to bring the market price of the RAI back to and closer to a fixed standard.

RulyBlockBeats: Why did the team make a stablecoin (stable asset) with a non-dollar anchored price, which is a challenge to the dollar in some way?

Stefan:And that's mainly because it's likeThe RAI design has the potential to achieve stability without compromising the decentralization of power. None of the anchored (or fiat) token designs we studied could (or could not) maintain a stable anchor without the use of traditional finance to encapsulate assets.You can see this in many protocols that choose to add USDC as collateral, or choose to maximize governance (human participation) over automation.

Beat Blockbeats: What do you think of the other algorithmic stablecoins, such as the early Basis Cash, AMPL, ESD of some time ago, and more recently FEI and Float?

Stefan:I thinkReality is the best judge.. Float and Fei have yet to officially launch their systems and stand the test of time to prove themselves. I agree with a lot of people who say that fiat currencies like Basis are unstable and prone to a death spiral. Even for RAI, there is still a long way to go, as it is currently closely related to ETH.

The concept of Routine Blockbeats: Reflexer was put forward early, and it has gone through the actual test network stage. Even after the main network was launched, the team did not do much Marketing activities. What was the reason for the team to do this?

Stefan:We believe that great protocols/products advertise themselves, and Uniswap is a great example of this. We believe that focusing on the developer experience and integrating more protocols is more important than flashy PR and the like. The really successful agreements are the ones that are sound, not the ones that cause the biggest splash and controversy.

Having said that, I'm curious what the Reflexer team thinks about the future development of algorithmic stablecoin. What do you think are the key factors for the success of algorithmic stablecoin (stable asset)? In fact, we see a lot of algorithmic stablecoins that don't really act as a medium.

Stefan: I think the most important factor is to redefine what "stability" means.At the moment, most people think that stable assets must be anchored in order to remain stable, but that is simply wrong. I want to ask "Is the dollar pegged to the dollar?" They either don't know what to say, or they come up with a circular answer (such as relating to taxes, goods and services). The answer is simple:The dollar is not pegged to anything.If the stablecoin industry starts to look beyond stablecoins, I think there will be some new agreements that will try to focus on floating target prices, also known as moving pegs.

We have learned that when Reflexer introduced the governance token, it was called an "ungovernance token". Does that mean that Reflexer is an "ungovernance token"Governance minimizationThe best expression of?

Stefan:I wouldn't say we're the best. Because the industry is still in its infancy, RAI is also in its development phase. The RAI plan is to remove most of the governance (e.gOpen RoadmapAfter that, the agreement will have only a few leverage parameters that can be changed. This will make it harder for people to step in at will and change the rules of the game, and it will also make it harder for attackers to add governance proposals that harm the protocol.

RulyBlockBeats: After the announcement of the mainnetwork, the community seemed to have some concerns about Reflexer's token allocation, and what do you think about the team and investors getting too much governance token in an era of relying on Farming?

Stefan:Most say insiders get too much. It was just to get more for ourselves, to which we responded by saying that we were flattered that they were interested in our project. If it wasn't a worthy project, critics wouldn't care about the distribution of tokens. So if you really care, we appreciate your support.

Reflexer team has been emphasizing the integration of other contracts. On 25th, they also integrated Cream, the loan agreement. Is there any new progress that the team can share with you?

Stefan:We are currently working with other projects that can help integrate custom currency markets that use RAI and have RAI as an option. More information will be revealed when the announcement is made.

Routine Blockbeats: Reflexer's RAI has been mentioned many times by Vitalik. Has Vitalik communicated with Reflexer's team in private?

Stefan:I think Vitalik mentioned Rai because he thought it was funny. We didn't talk about these references when we communicated, and we were very grateful for his support.

Last question from the Chinese community: Stefan, what is your day at work like?

Stefan:I usually sleep 4-5 hours, write 6-7 hours of code, and spend the rest of my time responding to community messages or meeting with other teams interested in integrating RAI.

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