Author: TechFlow
The value of the Binance listing effect is still rising.
In the past few days, Binance's sudden launch of ACT and PNUT has sparked multiple rounds of discussion, which has also brought considerable wealth effects to everyone.
And today, according to the official announcement, Binance will launch Usual (USUAL) on Launchpool and Pre-Market. Among them, the Pre-Market will be launched on USUAL at 10:00 (UTC) on 2024-11-19. Launchpool will start from 00:00 (UTC) on 2024-11-15.
The total supply of USUAL is 4 billion, with an initial circulating ratio of 12.37%, of which the total for Launchpool is 300,000,000 USUAL (7.5% of the maximum token supply).
Compared to the unstable Meme, Usual is actually a stablecoin protocol.
You may ask, isn't the current mainstream Meme? What's so special about listing this token? Won't it follow in the footsteps of VC coins?
Top CEXs certainly won't just choose Meme to list, essentially any coin with a good enough narrative and sufficient secondary space has the potential to be favored.
If you want to participate in Usual, you might as well take a look at the following interpretation, which will help you quickly understand all the information you might need to know about the protocol.
Why another stablecoin?
First, let's clarify two positions, Usual is a stablecoin protocol, and the USD0 it launches is a permissionless and fully compliant stablecoin backed 1:1 by real-world assets (RWA);
The USUAL token itself is the project's governance token, allowing the community to guide the future development of the network.
Following these two positions, quickly understand what Usual is doing.
Everyone knows that the current stablecoin market is already quite mature, with Tether and Circle's positions unshakable, so what is the necessity of a new stablecoin?
Or in other words, what is the narrative of a new stablecoin entrant that can stand on its own? The answer needs to start from three real-world observations.
First, in 2023, Tether and Circle generated over $10 billion in revenue, with valuations exceeding $200 billion. However, the users who provided liquidity for them did not share in these huge profits. This centralized institution's privatization of profits and socialization of risks is at odds with the original intention of decentralized finance.
Secondly, although real-world assets (RWA) are highly regarded in the crypto market, even for on-chain US Treasuries, the number of holders on the mainnet is less than 5,000. This shows that the deep integration of RWA and DeFi still faces daunting challenges.
Third, DeFi users generally hope to share in the success of the projects they support. But the existing profit distribution model often ignores the greater risks borne by early users, and also fails to adequately incentivize those who have contributed to the success of the project.
So this narrative points to democracy and equity.
It is based on these observations that Usual has put forward three of its own selling points:
First, to fully move the stablecoin onto the chain. Unlike traditional stablecoins, the issuance of Usual is fully controlled by the community of governance token holders, including important decisions such as risk policies, collateral nature, and liquidity incentive strategies. This decentralized control ensures the neutrality and transparency of the protocol.
Secondly, to solve the problem of bankruptcy isolation. The reserves of traditional stablecoins are often deposited in commercial banks, exposing them to the partial reserve risk of the banking system. As the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank has revealed, this model has systemic risks. Usual takes a different approach, directly linking to short-term bonds, supplemented by strict risk policies and insurance funds, to ensure 100% collateralization of assets.
Finally, to redefine the ownership and profit distribution mechanism of stablecoins. Users not only can obtain the income generated by the stablecoin collateral, but more importantly, they have obtained complete control over the protocol, treasury, and future income through the governance token.
Essentially, the emergence of Usual is not simply to compete with existing stablecoins, it is trying to solve a more fundamental problem: how to make the stablecoin truly the users' own financial infrastructure, rather than a profit tool for a centralized institution.
Quickly understand Usual's USD0, a stablecoin supported by RWA
The Usual Protocol ecosystem is mainly composed of three core products: USD0, USD0++, and the USUAL governance token. Each product has its unique functions and value propositions, together forming a complete financial ecosystem.
USD0: A safe and stable foundation
USD0 is the cornerstone of the Usual ecosystem, it is the world's first RWA stablecoin that aggregates multiple US Treasury token assets. This design makes USD0 a secure, bankruptcy-isolated solution, independent of traditional bank deposits, thereby avoiding the systemic risks that the traditional financial system may bring.
The reason why USD0 has a 0 is that it wants to be the equivalent of central bank money (M0) in the monetary protocol.
The main features of USD0 include:
Fully transferable and permissionless: Ensures seamless integration and wide accessibility within the DeFi ecosystem.
Multifunctionality: Can be used as a payment tool, counterparty, and collateral.
Transparency: Provide the latest collateral information in real-time, enhancing user trust.
Scalability: Theoretically can be scaled to trillions of dollars due to the deep liquidity of the US Treasury market.
USD0++: An innovative product that doubles the yield of Treasuries
USD0++ is an innovative product in the Usual ecosystem, essentially an enhanced Treasury bond. Through the enhanced 4-year DeFi Treasury bond, with the principal guaranteed to be locked in as USD0 within 4 years, it ensures the principal can be recovered. It allows users to benefit from the growth and success of the protocol. Unlike the traditional model, USD0++ not only provides protocol income, but also distributes protocol ownership through its innovative reward mechanism.
The innovative design behind this reflects deep financial wisdom. When users convert USD0 to USD0++, they are actually entering a carefully designed dual-layer profit structure. The first layer is the basic yield from US Treasuries, which is guaranteed through the Basic Interest Guarantee (BIG) mechanism to ensure that investors can receive a return comparable to ordinary Treasuries even in the worst-case scenario. The second layer is the enhanced yield from the protocol's development, which is distributed in the form of USUAL tokens.
It is worth noting that the lock-up period of USD0++ is set at 4 years, and the choice of this time span is not arbitrary. It not only matches the maturity of US medium-term Treasuries, but also gives the protocol enough time to develop and create value. During this 4-year period, USD0++ holders actually become long-term partners of the protocol, and their interests are closely tied to the growth of the protocol.
From a technical implementation perspective, USD0++ adopts a smart contract-automated management approach. When users deposit USD0, the contract will automatically allocate the funds to the optimal Treasury bond portfolio and initiate the token issuance plan. This process is completely transparent and tamper-proof, and users can check their investment status and expected returns at any time. More importantly, the entire system adopts a modular design, which means that parameters can be flexibly adjusted or new functions can be added in the future based on market needs and regulatory requirements.
The innovation of USD0++ lies in its successful transformation of passive government bond investment into active protocol participation. Investors are no longer just waiting for interest to mature, but can participate in protocol governance through USUAL tokens, share the growth dividends, and even trade these equity rights in the secondary market. This design essentially creates a brand-new financial product category that retains the safety of government bonds while endowing the growth potential of the crypto economy.
From a risk management perspective, USD0++ provides a unique risk hedging solution. In the highly volatile crypto market environment, investors can not only obtain the stable cash flow from government bonds, but also share the industry growth through USUAL tokens. This combination strategy effectively balances risk and return. Especially in a market downturn, the underlying interest guarantee mechanism can provide important downside protection, while in a market upswing, the USUAL tokens offer significant upside potential.
USUAL: The Core of Governance and Incentives
As the governance token of the Usual Protocol, the design concept of USUAL goes far beyond a simple voting rights token. It is the core of value capture and distribution in the entire ecosystem, ensuring the sustainable development of the protocol and the maximization of user interests through a carefully designed token economic model.
In terms of governance, USUAL adopts an innovative "value-oriented governance" model. Holders not only can participate in important protocol decisions, such as risk parameter adjustments and new product launches, but more importantly, their voting rights are directly linked to their contribution to the protocol. This mechanism ensures that long-term holders who actively participate in ecosystem building can have a greater voice.
The value capture mechanism of USUAL is established on multiple levels. First, all the revenue generated by the protocol, including minting fees, redemption fees, etc., will be used to support the value of USUAL. Secondly, through the staking mechanism, USUAL holders can obtain continuous revenue sharing. More importantly, as the scale of assets managed by the protocol grows, the issuance speed of USUAL will gradually decrease, and this deflationary design ensures the long-term value growth potential of the token.
In practical application, the functions of USUAL have already extended beyond governance. It can be used as a reward token for liquidity mining, participate in the pricing of various financial products in the ecosystem, and even serve as a medium for cross-chain bridges. This multi-dimensional utility not only increases the demand for the token, but also strengthens the network effects of the entire ecosystem.
Through this comprehensive design, USUAL successfully integrates the various components of the protocol into an organically connected, self-reinforcing positive feedback system. As more users participate and assets accumulate, the value proposition of USUAL will become increasingly clear and powerful.
Outlook
From the current market environment, the launch of Usual can be said to be perfectly timed. As the crypto market gradually recovers from the bear market, the demand for high-quality projects is on the rise. Unlike pure short-term speculative meme coins, Usual provides a complete financial infrastructure solution, and this differentiated positioning may become its unique advantage.
From a valuation perspective, we need to focus on several key dimensions:
First, the overall space of the stablecoin track. The combined market capitalization of USDT and USDC currently exceeds $100 billion, with an annualized revenue of over $10 billion. If Usual can capture 5% of this market share, the stablecoin business alone can support a considerable valuation.
Secondly, the growth potential of the RWA track. As traditional financial institutions gradually enter the crypto market, the demand for compliant on-chain government bond products will increase significantly. As the first protocol to tokenize government bond yields, Usual is likely to become an important participant in this emerging market.
Looking at the market performance after listing on Binance, recent cases show that the market's enthusiasm for high-quality projects is still high (whether or not they are meme coins, as long as they have a unique narrative). Usual has a complete product matrix, a clear value capture model, and a broad market space, all of which are highly consistent with the characteristics of successful projects that have been listed.
However, investors also need to be aware of several key risk points:
The first is regulatory risk. Although Usual uses compliant government bonds as collateral, in the context of tightening global financial regulations, any innovative financial product may face policy uncertainties.
The second is the cost of market education. The model that combines stablecoins, government bond yields, and governance tokens is innovative, but it also increases the difficulty for users to understand. The project team needs to invest a lot of resources in market education.
The third is competition risk. Once Usual proves that this model is feasible, it will inevitably attract more teams to enter the market, and how to maintain the first-mover advantage will be an ongoing challenge.
Overall, Usual represents an important exploration direction in the DeFi 2.0 era. It is not simply copying existing models, but trying to solve real problems through technological innovation. For investors seeking long-term value, this is undoubtedly a project worth paying attention to. At the same time, investors also need to allocate positions reasonably and manage risks according to their own risk tolerance and investment cycle.
