Why usual?

• Stablecoins can be said to be the foundation of the cryptocurrency industry. People need stablecoins for large-scale payment use cases, and stablecoins play a key role in the industry's mass adoption. As of July 30, 2024, the total market capitalization of stablecoins is $168B, and from the overview chart of stablecoin market capitalization below, it can be seen that the two major centralized stablecoins, USDT and USDC, together account for about 90% of the total market capitalization of stablecoins.

Source: Defillama, data as of July 30, 2024

• Stablecoins are the printing machines of crypto. The two giants, Tether and Circle, generated over $10 billion in revenue in 2023, with a valuation exceeding $200 billion. Tether recorded a record profit of $4.52 billion in Q1 2024. Such enormous profit monopolies are clearly contrary to the spirit of crypto, which is why various decentralized stablecoin projects are emerging continuously. Decentralized stablecoins can be categorized based on collateralization levels: over-collateralized represented by MakerDAO (DAI), equal collateralization represented by Ethena (USDe), and under-collateralized (currently, there are no large market cap projects).
• There have been several successful projects in decentralized stablecoins; however, the collateral for these projects is generally crypto assets, which necessitates the design of a sophisticated mechanism to combat price volatility. Introducing RWA (real-world assets) can solve this problem. RWA is growing and thriving, with over 800% growth in RWA on the blockchain in 2023. usual.money introduces U.S. Treasury bonds as collateral while providing transparency and security based on Ethereum smart contracts, returning profits to the community and contributors. This design can be described as tether-on-chain, combining the 1:1 RWA characteristics of centralized stablecoin protocols with the security and transparency of on-chain solutions.

Source: https://docs.usual.money/start-here/why-usual

Background

• On April 17, 2024, Usual Labs completed a $7 million funding round, led by IOSG and Kraken Ventures, with participation from GSR, Mantle, Starkware, Flowdesk, Avid3, Bing Ventures, Breed, Hypersphere, Kima Ventures, Psalion, Public Works, and X Ventures.
• Founder Pierre Person was a French politician and member of the National Assembly, recently serving as the deputy chairman of the presidential party, leading the push for the country's crypto asset legislation.
• On July 10, Usual announced the launch of its mainnet. As of August 6, the project's TVL is $146M.
• According to Coinmarketcap data on August 6, nearly 95% of USD0 transactions are in Curve's USD0/USDC pool, with $11.33M in liquidity. Meanwhile, on Maverick Protocol, there are liquidity pools for Aave's stablecoin GHO and USD0, with a current TVL of $100k.
• Currently, USD0 has a treasury orchestrated by MEV Capital on the lending project Morpho, with liquidity pools for USD0USD0++/USDC and USD0++/USDC, totaling nearly $30M in collateral at an 86% LLTV (Liquidation Loan-to-Value). Through this pool, users can simultaneously earn Usual's Pills rewards (see the interactive section at the end) and Morpho token rewards.
• The $USUAL TGE is expected in Q4 2024, with 90% of USUAL tokens allocated to the community.

Mechanism Analysis

Collateralization and Minting

• $USD0 is the first RWA stablecoin that aggregates various U.S. Treasury bond tokens, which can be minted on Usual in two different ways:

• Direct RWA Deposit: Users deposit eligible RWA into the protocol and receive an equivalent amount of USD0 at a 1:1 ratio.

• Indirect USDC/USDT Deposit: Users deposit USDC/USDT into the protocol and receive USD0 at a 1:1 ratio. This indirect method involves third-party collateral providers who supply the necessary RWA collateral. This allows users to obtain USD0 without directly handling RWA.

  RWA is growing significantly but still only represents a small portion of the underlying assets in the cryptocurrency market. The main challenges lie in liquidity issues, including the difficulties institutions face in liquidating RWA holdings in the secondary market, as well as retail investors being unable to earn RWA returns within the core DeFi ecosystem. Through USD0, Usual can seamlessly integrate RWA token liquidity from platforms like Hashnote.

Earnings

• $USD0++ is an appreciation-type Treasury bond, and USD0++ is the wrapped and locked version of USD0.

• $USUAL is the governance and reward token of the Usual protocol.

• Earnings come from staking: Users lock their USD0 in USD0 Liquid Bond (USD0++) for a period of time. Earnings can be chosen from the following two options:

• USUAL Earnings: Holders of Liquid Bond can receive their earnings daily in the form of USUAL tokens (calculated per block).

• Base Interest Guarantee: Ensures that USD0++ holders earn at least the equivalent of the earnings from USD0 collateral (risk-free earnings). To achieve this, users must lock their USD0++ for a specified period (currently designed as a 6-month cycle). At the end of this period, users can choose to receive the base interest guarantee in the form of USUAL tokens or as risk-free earnings in USD0.

  It is important to note that regardless of whether USD0++ is obtained through primary issuance or the secondary market, holders automatically have the right to receive USUAL tokens.

Interaction

Pills Activity Overview

• The pre-launch phase started on July 10 at 0:00 (UTC), lasting for 4 months.
• Airdrop amount: 7.5% of the total $USUAL supply will be minted at the token generation event (TGE).
• Users can earn $USUAL airdrop allocations through referral programs and TVL contributions, similar to Ethena's planting pills activity.
• Linear distribution: The more you deposit, the more you receive.

Detailed Interaction Guide

1. Open the Usual Money dApp: https://app.usual.money/#ZHWQS or access it through the official website and enter the early access code: ZHWQS.
2. Deposit USDC, USDT, ETH to mint USD0 (Ethereum mainnet). Click the link to mint: ++https://app.usual.money/counter/deposit++
3. Earn Pills in the following ways: 1.
   1. Minting: Users earn 5 Pills each time they lock USD0 as USD0++.
   2. Holding: Users holding USD0++ can earn 3 Pills daily.
   3. USD0/USDC Pool: Users providing liquidity in Curve's USD0/USDC pool can earn 1 Pill daily.
   4. USD0/USD0++ Pool:
      • Users contributing USD0 to this pool can earn 3 Pills daily.

* * * * For each USD0++ minted, an additional 5 Pills can be earned, proportionally distributed to USD0 LPs in the pool.

* * * * Note: Providing USD0++ to this pool does not generate any Pills.

Additionally, there is a time multiplier starting at 1, increasing by 2% daily. If a user exits their position, it resets to 1.

4. Add liquidity to earn Pills: Choose the USD0/USD0++ option and enter the amount of USD0. Link: ++https://app.usual.money/desk/liquidity++

Pills Activity Phase Two

• On August 4, Usual launched the second phase of the activity, allowing users to earn Pills by completing tasks on Galxe. Activity link: https://app.galxe.com/quest/usual/GCsgvtvTNA