Stable Coins

2019 STATE OF
STABLECOINS
FORWARD
We are pleased to present the 2019 State of Stablecoins report, which builds on our first empirical
stablecoin study published in September 2018.
Stablecoins, as the name suggests, are cryptocurrencies that are designed to minimize price volatility.
This minimization of exchange rate volatility (most commonly against the US dollar) places stablecoins
in stark contrast with more volatile cryptoassets like bitcoin, which lack any inbuilt price stability
mechanism. Significant volatility is often cited as one of the main reasons why many institutions
and individuals have remained on the cryptocurrency sidelines to date, and stablecoins have been
developed to address this issue.
Today, stablecoins like Tether are most commonly used by cryptoasset traders to address market
volatility. However, they also open up a number of other use cases where a volatile cryptocurrency may
be less desirable (e.g., smart insurance). Stablecoins can serve as alternative stores of value or unit of
accounts – use cases that globally amount to tens of trillions of dollars in value.
The report findings are based on the analysis of a data set comprised of 54 individual stablecoins. The
total number of active projects makes stablecoins one of the largest cryptoasset categories, and as we
show in the report stablecoins are also one of the top ranked cryptoasset categories across a number
of other key metrics (e.g., cryptoasset market value share, venture funding).
The level of interest and resources devoted to stablecoins is striking and indicates that stablecoins are
viewed as a very important part of the digital assets ecosystem. Indeed, stablecoins are often thought
of as a foundational or infrastructure layer, one that could significantly expand the cryptoasset userbase
from our current estimate of approximately 20-30 million individuals. In other words, stablecoins could
help create a tipping point for much broader cryptoasset adoption.
What’s new in the 2019 report?
This report significantly expands on our earlier research study with new data and analysis to highlight
the rapidly growing world of stablecoins. Changes from the 2018 report include:
• Approximately double the data, refreshed to reflect big changes in the space in the last six months
• New research primers on three leading stablecoins: Paxos Standard, Stasis and Reserve
• A new section comparing three leading stablecoins: Paxos Standard, USD Coin and Gemini Dollar
• Expanded data profiles on 34 stablecoins, including many new stablecoins
• Overview of how to gain investment exposure to stablecoins
This report represents the next major publicly available research output from the Blockchain research
team. You can freely download our other research from our website:
https://www.blockchain.com/research.
We are looking forward to continuing and expanding our research into other digital assets and
decentralized technologies, and we welcome your feedback on both this report and future research
topics. Please contact us by email at research@blockchain.com.
The Blockchain Team
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REPORT DATA & METHODOLOGY
This study utilizes both public and previously non-public empirical data to present new insights on an
innovative and rapidly evolving sector of the cryptoassets ecosystem. Data was collected on a total of
54 stablecoins across a broad range of data categories, including:
• Format: asset-backed vs. algorithmic, backing collateral type, etc.

• Adoption: market value, trading volume, Tier-1 exchange support, etc.
• Technology: platform (e.g., Ethereum), degree of stablecoin system automation, open source, etc.
• Legal structure: jurisdiction registration, software licenses, etc.
• Investors and partners: funding, strategic/business development partners, etc.
• Team: team size, headquarters location, recruiting priorities, etc.
In total, we collected over 2,000 individual data points across 62 unique categories, which is up from
1,600+ data point and 44 categories in last year’s report. Our analysis of this data is highlighted in the
body of this report and 17 ‘primers’ on some of the leading live and pre-launch stablecoins. We have
also presented a substantial portion of the raw data we collected in the Data Profiles included at the
end of the report.
A number of sources and methods were utilized for data collection and analysis, including:
• Surveying stablecoin project teams

• Publicly available data from stablecoin websites and other project resources
• Other public and private data sources
Where appropriate, data sources are noted next to charts and diagrams presenting key findings.
Stablecoin ratings methodology
In Table 1 and the individual stablecoin primers and data profiles we have provided comparative ratings
across the following stablecoin characteristics:
Complexity
Automation Transparency Upside Participation
Stability Mechanism
High High Medium Yes
• Automation: a score of ‘High’ is given for fully automated systems (e.g., coin supply mechanistically
determined by smart contracts) and a score of ‘Low’ for stablecoins requiring manual processes by
issuers. Fiat-backed stablecoins generally score lower on this category.
• Complexity (Stability Mechanism): this rating primarily focuses on how complex the stability
mechanism is, but it also factors in complexity from other elements of a stablecoin system (e.g.,
governance). A score of ‘Low’ is generally given for USD and other fiat backed stablecoins, and
‘High’ for less tested stability mechanisms (e.g., seigniorage shares)
• Transparency: a score of ‘High’ is generally given for stablecoins which utilize only cryptoassets and
which operate fully ‘on-chain’, a score of ‘Medium’ for fiat-backed stablecoins that provide regular
attestations or reserve audits, and ‘Low’ for more opaque stablecoin systems.
• Decentralization: a somewhat ambiguous and difficult to precisely define measure, the
decentralizaiton rating aims primarily at capturing the degree of trust-minimization in a a
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given stablecoin system. Stablecoins generally score higher in this category if they utilize more
decentralized governance structures (e.g., through the use of decentralized autonomous
organizations (DAOs), avoid the use of off-chain assets/backing-collateral that rely on trusted third
parties, etc.
• Upside Participation: (Yes/No) simply means whether a stablecoin system features some type of
incentive scheme or instrument that is widely available that can help drive adoption and network
effects, such as a governance token or another instrument that accompanies the stablecoin (e.g.,
seigniorage shares), the redistribution of stablecoin transaction fees, or some other incentive
mechanism.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A number of people and organizations contributed to this report, with thanks in particular owed to the
over 50 stablecoin project teams included in this report that contributed data and feedback.
At Blockchain, contributions to the report were made by Dr. Garrick Hileman (lead author), Andy
Kim, Nicolas Hourcard, Xen Baynham-Herd, Marco Santori, Mats Jerratsch, and Sydney St. Clare (lead
designer).
A special thanks to the Mosaic.io team for providing data and chart visualization assistance, particularly
Eliézer Ndinga and Lanre Ige, along with Jason Yannos and Deepjyoti Deb. Editing and other
contributions were made by Mary Schollum, Stanley Sater and Alexandra Bertomeu-Gilles.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
SUMMARY 06 DATA PROFILES 99
Empirical Data 06 Jibrel 104
Viewpoint Summary 08 BitUSD 105
Investment Summary 09 MineXCoin 106
Stably - StableUSD (USDS) 107
OVERVIEW OF STABLECOINS 11 White Standard 108
Taxonomy 14 Goldmint 109
Use Cases 18 HelloGold 110
Adoption 20 NuBits 111
Regulatory Landscape 23 Coin Payment Processor 112
Funding & Business Models 25 Peg 113
Stablecoins Comparison: Pax vs 27 Mile 114
USDC vs GUSD Moneyfold 115
Looking Ahead 33
HKDT 116
36 Pre-Launch Stablecoins 117
STABLECOIN PRIMERS
Token 118
Live Stablecoins 37
Super Dollar (SSDO) 119
Tether (USDT) 38
Celo 120
USD Coin (USDC) 42
X8C 121
TrueUSD (TUSD) 45
Stronghold USD 122
Paxos (PAX) 49
SwissRealCoin 123
Dai (DAI) 53
Augmint 124
Stasis (EURS) 58
Nos 125
Digix (DGX) 61
Phi 126
Synthetix (sUSD) 64
StableUnit 127
AAA Reserve (AAA) 68
Aurora 128
Carbon 72
GlobCoin (GLX) 129
Pre-Launch Stablecoins 76
Xank 130
Terra 77
CryptoPeg 131
Saga (SGA) 80
OnRamp 132
Ampleforth 83
Peblik 133
Reserve (RES, RSH) 86
LibreCash 134
Kowala (KUSD) 89
Freedium 135
Monerium 92
ndau (NDAU) 136
CementDao 95
Parcoin (PUSD) 137
DATA PROFILES 99 Unum 138
Live Stablecoins 100 BitBay 139
Gemini 101
Bridgecoin (Sweetbridge) 102
SteemDollars (SBD) 103
Notice: This document is intended for high-level information purposes only. The views expressed in this document are not investment advice nor
recommendations. The facts contained herein are not necessarily complete and recipients of this document should do their own due diligence, including seeking
independent financial advice, before investing. This document is not an offer, nor the solicitation of an offer, to buy or sell any of the assets mentioned herein. This
document contains forward-looking statements, which Blockchain may not update publicly and may not prove accurate. They are provided solely as indications of
portions of Blockchain’s internal strategic planning. The individuals contributing to the report have positions in some of the assets discussed.
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SUMMARY
EMPIRICAL DATA
Overview
• Size: the total of market value of all stablecoins has more than doubled in the last twleve months,
up from $1.4 billion at the start of 2018 to $3 billion today
• Market share: the total stablecoin market value share has grown to 2.7% of all cryptoassets, up
from 1.5% in Sept. 2018
• Activity: a total of 54 live and pre-launch stablecoins were identified for this research study sample,
down slightly from th 57 identified in Sept. 2018 due to the shuttering of some projects like Basis
• Maturity: just under half of stablecoins are now live (48%, or 26), up from 23 (40% of total) in Sept.
2018; the remaining 28 stablecoins (52%) in the pre-launch phase are mostly expecting to launch in
2019
• Timing: while a number of stablecoin projects that committed to launching in 2018 achieved
this goal, a number of high-profile planned 2018 launches failed to materialize (e.g., Saga, Terra,
Sweetbridge, etc.)
• Stability: live stablecoins have mostly succeeded to date in achieving price stability, with asset-backed
coins (e.g., Tether) generally delivering on their stability promise and outperforming algorithmic
coins (e.g., NuBits)
Format
• Stablecoins can be broadly divided into two main stability mechanism categories: algorithmic and
asset-backed, with 81% of our total sample asset-backed (up slightly from 77% in 2018)
• Of the asset-backed stablecoins, a higher percentage (62%, up from 54% in 2018) utilize on-chain
collateral (i.e., cryptoassets like ether (ETH)) versus off-chain collateral (38%) (i.e., US dollars held
in escrow)
• The US dollar is the most common stability benchmark or ‘peg’ and is utilized by 65% of
stablecoins; other benchmarks include other fiat currencies (e.g., euro, yen), commodities (e.g.,
gold), and inflation (e.g., G10 average country inflation)
• Over half of all stablecoins offer some type of ‘upside participation’ (60%, up from 51% in 2018) in
the form of holding another token with some rights over the stablecoin system (e.g., governance
token), or a ‘dividend’ or incentive mechanism built into the design of the stablecoin system (e.g.,
‘seigniorage shares’, sharing transaction fees, etc.)
Adoption
• Stablecoins are already an important part of the digital assets ecosystem: Tether (USDT) is the
second most actively traded cryptocurrency at ~75% of BTC daily trading volume in 2019 (up
from 57% in 2018)
• In 2019 Tether entered for the first time the top-5 cryptoasset rankings by market value
• Stablecoins are listed on over 60 different exchanges at present, with Tether featuring the greatest
number of total individual exchange listings (at least 65, up 41% from 46 listings in Sept. 2018)
• Stablecoins have continued gaining listings on major exchanges, with 15 stablecoins featuring on
one or more Tier-1 exchanges (almost double from eight in Sept. 2018); 58% of live coins now
have at least one Tier-1 exchange listing (up from 42% in 2018)
• Use of stabelcoins outside of exchange trading and store of value have failed to materiale in any
material fashion to date
• Emerging markets are being targeted by many stablecoin projects for additional use cases, such as
remittances and merchant payments
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Competition
• Stablecoin ccompetition heated up for the first time in Q4 2018 with Tether’s market value share
dropping from 93% in Sept. 2018 to 69% today
• Tether has recoved some from its rocky Q4, with its market value today up 23% from its early Nov.
2018 low of $1.7b
• Since Sept. 2018, both USD Coin and Paxos Standard have enjoyed outsize success, wich the
former knocking TrueUSD from the #2 position in terms of market value, and Paxos Standard
leaping to #2 in daily trading volume
• Even with the success of the so-called ‘better Tethers’ at gaining market value share and listings on
major exchanges, Tether continues to dominate stablecoin trading volume with approximately 96%
of total stablecoin daily trading volume, down only slightly from Sept. 2018 (98%)
Technology and Licensing

• None of the Tier-1 wallets have made any extra effort to support stablecoins to date, creating
incentives for stablecoins to run on Ethereum and piggyback on broadening ERC20 token support
• While Ethereum is by far the most widely used technology platform for stablecoins, only 50% of all
stablecoins are building exclusively on top of Ethereum (down from 60% in 2018)
• Other technology platforms chosen for use by at least two stablecoins include Bitcoin and Stellar
• Over two-thirds of project teams (67%) have made their stablecoin code (e.g., smart contract)
open-source for audit inspection
• Little clarity exists around code licensing, with very few projects disclosing or having made final
decisions about how their code can be used or licensed by third-parties
• A growing number of fiat-backed stablecoins feature a centralized ‘freeze function’ in their
smart contracts that enable the issuer or law enforcement to freeze or zero out individual
stablecoin balances
Funding, Legal, and Team

• $250m in venture funding has been raised by all stablecoin project teams to date, down
substantially due to the shuttering of Basis from $350m in 2018
• Algorithmic stablecoins have now raised substantially less funding at $41m or 16% of the total
(down from $174m, or 50% in 2018) than traditional asset-backed stablecoins ($177m, 71%);
crypto-collateralized stablecoins continue to bring up the rear with $32m or 13% of total funding
raised, up from 9% in 2018
• Stablecoins are legally domiciled in a wide variety of legal jurisdictions, with the US (8) and
Switzerland (6) leading
• While the vast majority of stablecoins (73%) are structured as for-profit, the number operating
not-for-profit structures has increased significantly from 15% in 2018 to 27% today.
• The leading home for stablecoin teams is the US (17), with Europe (13) the second most popular
location
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VIEWPOINT SUMMARY
Short-Medium Term
• While there is a great deal of excitement surrounding stablecoins, the technology and platforms
on which they operate are still nascent; it is unlikely the perfect stablecoin design exists today, and
further experimentation/innovation is expected
• As we correctly forecasted in our last report, some of the enthusiasm for algorithmic stablecoins
has at least temporarily dampened due to the exit of Basis and growing concerns over whether
some stablecoins can successfully navigate legal uncertainty, securities laws, and technical and
liquidity challenges
• Due to the aforementioned design uncertainty as well as regional factors (e.g., local regulations),
we continue to believe that space exists for approximately 5-8 significant stablecoins in the short
to medium-term; our view here received some validation in Q4 2018 with the reduced dominance
of Tether and the rising use of Paxos Standard, USD Coin, and other top-100 market value
stablecoins
• Stablecoins continue to be more complementary than competitive with other cryptocurrencies
like bitcoin or ether, with many stablecoins relying on the security, compatibility and infrastructure
provided by such cryptocurrencies
• Stablecoins will continue to see an increase in listings on more cryptoasset exchanges, and these
listings will be motivated for reasons beyond simply offering traders options to reduce exposure to
market volatility e.g., algorithmic stablecoins may prove popular to list as they could attract ‘Soros-
attack’ trading (and significant trading volume) aimed at breaking the automated stability peg
• Key near-term regulatory issues include whether stablecoins (or aspects of stablecoin systems) are
in compliance with securities and money service laws in some jurisdictions
Longer Term
• Overall, stablecoins are best viewed as a form of infrastructure or foundational layer for
cryptoassets that will generate immense value for the digital assets ecosystem
• A stablecoin could help create a tipping point for much broader cryptoasset adoption by
successfully addressing volatility, which is often cited as a key reason why many institutions and
individuals have remained on the digital assets sidelines to date
• Many asset-backed stablecoins will attempt to transition to a more algorithmic design
• Due to competition and other factors, it is unclear how much direct, long-term financial profits
stablecoins will generate for the entrpreneurs and investors behimd them; greater long-term value
may be derived from stablecoin-powered products and services (e.g., smart insurance)
• Some stablecoins may be viewed as posing greater direct competition to fiat currencies than
more volatile cryptoassets like bitcoin; if a stablecoin were to become widely used as a means of
payment it may spark a competitive response or regulatory backlash from central banks, which in
many jurisdictions have largely remained on the sidelines of cryptocurrency regulation to date
• Rising use of stablecoins may weigh on the prices for some cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin, that
will face greater competition for certain medium of exchange (MoE) and store of value (SoV) use
cases
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INVESTMENT SUMMARY
Gaining investment exposure to growing stablecoin use and adoption

We expect the range of options for gaining direct investment exposure to growing stablecoin use
will increase as more algorithmic and cryptoasset-backed stablecoin systems go live in the coming
months. However, today the number of options for gaining direct investment exposure to stablecoins,
particularly for the largest live stablecoins, are extremely limited.
Amongst the largest live stablecoins, the Dai stablecoin system is currently the only one that by design
has a second token, the MakerDAO (MKR) governance token, which may appreciate in value in
response to growing use of its associated stablecoin, Dai (DAI). Please see our Dai primer later in this
report for more details.
A significant number pre-launch stablecoins, as we show in the Funding section of this report, have
received investments from venture and crypto-focused funds. However, these funds are generally only
accessible by high net worth individual (qualified investors). Some pre-launch stablecoin systems also
conducted initial coin offerings (ICOs), and some of these did provide broader access to early stage
stablecoin projects. While secondary markets for ICO tokens do exist, considerable legal and regulatory
uncertainty continues hang over some ICOs in many jurisdictions.
Indirect investment exposure
The lack of ‘pure play’ stablecoin investments has led to a search for indirect means to gain investment
exposure, and some assets and platforms that may materially benefit from rising use of stablecoins
include:
• exchanges on which growing stablecoin trading volumes could drive increased token appreciation
or more revenue (e.g., decentralized exchanges (DEXs), centralized exchanges)growing use of
dApps that will integrate stablecoins
• publicly traded companies that have issued or announced an intention to issue stablecoins (e.g., JP
Morgan Chase, perhaps Utility Settlement Coin members)
• technology platforms on which stablecoins run and function
• total market value of cryptoassets
Some follow-up points on two indirect investment areas:
Technology platforms on which stablecoins run and function
50% of stablecoins currently run on Ethereum (ETH) and growing use of Ethereum-based stablecoins
should increase demand and use of ETH. Indeed, nearly 2% of all ETH in existence is currently ‘locked-
up’ as Dai stablecoin backing collateral, thereby reducing the available supply of ETH for other use
cases.
However, it is important to note that we have observed in the last five months a material decline in the
percentage of stablecoin projects running exclusively on Ethereum. This decline is likely driven in part
by concerns over Ethereum’s relatively high transaction fees and scalability concerns (limited capacity).
Other competing ‘Ethereum killer’ smart contract platforms have also attracted significant funding and
are deploying some of this capital to attract leading applications to build on their platform. While the
barriers to transitioning a stablecoin from a technology platform like Ethereum to a competing smart-
contract platform are not insignificant, they are by no means insurmountable.
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Total market value of cryptoassets
There are a growing number of general cryptoasset investment index products, such as the Bitwise
10 Crypto Index (BIT10), which offers exposure to approximately 80% of the total market value
of all cryptoassets. In addition, Bitcoin (BTC) has historically responded positively to overall growing
cryptoasset use and adoption given its status as the leading cryptoasset across a number of key metrics,
including exchange trading volume (liquidity), market value, and number of cryptoasset trading pairs. In
other words, what’s been good for the cryptoasset ecosystem as a whole has generally proven good
for the price of BTC.
Bitcoin, as the leading decentralized store of value cryptoasset, is likely well positioned to benefit from
rising stablecoin use in the short-to-medium term. However, over the longer-term stablecoins could
compete more directly with bitcoin on some of its current use cases, like payments.
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OVERVIEW OF STABLECOINS
Overview
Digital assets are notoriously volatile. The volatility of bitcoin (BTC) has been trending downwards as
compared to earlier periods in the cryptocurrency’s now 10-years in existence (Figure 1). However, for
the foreseeable future bitcoin is likely to remain more volatile than well-managed national currencies, as
well as physical commodities like the one that with which it is most frequently compared, gold.
Figure 1: Volatility - Bitcoin vs Gold vs Fiat

Standard deviation of daily returns
60-Day BTC/USD Volatility 60-Day USD/EUR Volatility 60-Day USD/EUR Volatility
To be clear, bitcoin’s volatility from the perspective of many market participants is viewed as a positive
characteristic. Indeed, contrary to the view expressed by Nobel Prize-winning economist Friedrich
Hayek in The Denationalization of Money, bitcoin has demonstrated that millions of people would prefer
to hold a currency that has the potential for price appreciation over one that is relatively stable.
In short, bitcoin’s volatility has proven to be “a feature, not a bug”.
However, this feature is also preventing cryptocurrencies from realizing their full potential as an
alternative means of payment and unit of account in the broader economy, and many feel the gap will
be filled by stablecoins.
What is a stablecoin?
As the name suggests, a stablecoin is a cryptocurrency that has been designed with the aim of
minimizing price volatility.
Most stablecoins have been designed to be equal to the US dollar, the world’s leading reserve
currency. For example, a single currency unit of the largest stablecoin, Tether (USDT), is intended to be
equal to one US dollar, and for the roughly three years that Tether has been actively traded in public
cryptocurrency markets its exchange rate has proven to be generally reliable in delivering on this
design objective (Figure 2).
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Figure 2: Tether (USDT) - Exchange Rate and Market Value, 2017-Present
Price
Market Value
Market
Price
Value
Daily
Volume
Other stability benchmarks besides the US dollar are also being employed by stablecoins, including
other fiat currencies (e.g., Euro), baskets of various fiat currencies (e.g., IMF Special Drawing Rights),
commodities or other tangible assets (e.g., gold, real estate), or economic measures (e.g., indexed
inflation).
This debate over
Stablecoins stand in stark contrast with bitcoin, and most bitcoin’s price reflects
other cryptocurrencies, which have no inbuilt mechanism
to minimize exchange rate volatility. While a number of
genuine and legitimate
novel valuation methodologies have been developed uncertainty over what a
for cryptoassets, the debate over what a bitcoin should bitcoin is worth
be worth carries on as strongly (and probably more
strongly) today as it did in 2010 when bitcoin exchange markets first materialized. The marketplace for
bitcoin, and its often volatile supply and demand forces, are what determine bitcoin’s price. In contrast,
stablecoins are designed to be anti-volatile, matching or closely mimicking the performance of so-called
‘hard’ currencies like the US dollar, euro, yen, and Swiss franc.
Why use a stablecoin?
A highly volatile cryptocurrency such as bitcoin may be inappropriate or even unusable in certain
circumstances, and for a number of products and services. For example, if someone is living paycheck-
to-paycheck and needs to make a regular rental housing
Stablecoins can provide payment each month, that person would be ill-advised to
a critical infrastructure hold the funds needed for this payment in a currency as
layer for the digital volatile as bitcoin.
assets ecosystem
At the same time, if you are bullish on bitcoin’s ‘digital
gold’ investment thesis, and you believe it will continue to appreciate and successfully store value over
time, then using bitcoin for everyday purchases may be psychologically unappealing. In both of these
examples, a stablecoin, serving respectively as a store of value and medium of exchange, could be
preferable for use.
Another important point to emphasize is that stablecoins are simply price-stabilized cryptocurrencies,
meaning they incorporate many of bitcoin or ether’s most compelling features: programmability
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(e.g., smart contract integration), efficiency (e.g., low-to-zero transaction fees, fast settlement times),
fungibility, open (i.e., permissionless) access, and so on.
The emerging area of ‘smart travel insurance’, which insurance giants like Axa have begun exploring, is
a compelling example of how smart contracts and stablecoin technology can be paired together (see
inset). We document and discuss further stablecoin use cases later in this report.
Smart Insurance: Why Stablecoins, Not Ether (ETH), Will Serve as the Numeraire
In the UK, annually approximately 600,000 passengers do not file eligible insurance claims for
delayed/canceled UK flights. A delayed/canceled flight is a public record that can be queried by a
‘smart flight insurance’ blockchain application; if the flight is delayed or canceled then the smart
contract automatically pays the claimant, eliminating the painful claims process. Insurance premiums
can also be escrowed ‘on-chain’ to eliminate counterparty risk.
In travel and many other smart insurance use cases, it would be preferable to denominate the
smart contract with a stablecoin rather than a more volatile cryptocurrency, such as ether (ETH).
Generally, people take out insurance to reduce risk and would therefore want smart contract
insurance underpinned by a stable currency.
There are other motivations for the development of stablecoins. Although significant capital gains can
be quickly made in the cryptoasset markets, there is growing demand from investors to periodically
reduce risk exposure by rotating into a less volatile cryptoasset. Market makers and traders may also
welcome the steadier nature of stablecoins as they carry out their daily operations.
Figure 3: Stablecoin Launch Timeline
STATICOIN
10+ others
2014 2015 & 2016 2017 2018 2019-20 E

Source: Mosaic.io
Volatility is one factor that has also stunted the development of debt and credit markets within
the cryptoassets ecosystem. In certain jurisdictions, exchanging cryptocurrencies back into national
currencies may also trigger a taxable event, an event some may prefer to postpone.
For these and other reasons, the emergence of stablecoins is a natural development in the
cryptocurrency ecosystem. Tether, the largest stablecoin in terms of its market value of approximately
$2 billion USD, illustrates the underlying demand for a stablecoin. Tether recently moved up in the
rankings into the Top-5 largest cryptocurrencies, and for some time now it has had the second highest
daily trading volume after bitcoin.
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TAXONOMY
The Search for the Perfect Stablecoin
Stablecoins are one of the categories that best illustrate the tremendous creativity and innovation
underway in the digital assets economy. While a wide variety of different stablecoin designs have been
developed and released to date, all stablecoins can be broadly characterized as either a) ‘asset-backed’
or b) ‘algorithmic’.
An asset-backed stablecoin design is one where some

Figure 4: Asset- asset or set of different assets, often US dollars but
Backed vs.
17% Algorithmic
increasingly cryptoassets like ether (ETH), are held in
Stablecoins reserve with the aim of supporting the stablecoin’s
exchange rate. Tether is the most well-known live
83% Asset-Backed example of such a fiat-based design, and Maker Dai is the
Algorithmic largest cryptoasset-backed stablecoin.
In contrast with asset-backed designs, algorithmic

stablecoins employ a set of rules, expressed in software code, that aim to maintain exchange rate
stability by dynamically matching the supply of the stablecoin with demand. An important point to note
here is that of the 26 live stablcoins only 19% are algorithmic, making algorithmic designs less tested.
Further, some algorithmic stablecoins as part of their rollout strategy also incorporate asset-backing.
Of these two types of stablecoins, asset-backed ones have been more popular to date, representing
83% of all stablecoins. Generally, asset-backed stablecoins are easier to bring to market and simpler in
their design, particularly when they are ‘traditional asset-backed’ (eg USD, gold). More complex designs
include MakerDAO’s Dai stablecoin, which is ‘crypto-asset backed’ with ether (ETH) and soon other
cryptoassets.
Figure 5: Taxonomy of Main Stablecoin Design Types
Traditional Collateral: 31% Crypto Collateral: 52% Algorithmic: 17%
Cryptoasset-
Asset-Backed Seigniorage
Gold
Backed Shares
ETH
Single
USD
Crypto-and-Fiat-
Fiat-Backed Backed Fee-Backed
USD, EUR, etc.
ETH & USD
Multiple
USD & EUR
Asset-and-
Fiat-Backed Hybrid
Mix of gold & fiat
The perfect stablecoin design, the so-called “Holy Grail of crypto”, probably does not exist at present,
and it may never exist. As we describe in more detail in the individual stablecoin primers later in the
report, significant trade-offs have featured in every stablecoin design presented to date, and insufficient
empirical data exists to understand which are the ‘least bad’ trade-offs. Further, it is unlikely than a single
design is optimal for all use cases or users. In other words, which stablecoin is ‘best’ depends upon a
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wide variety of sometimes competing factors, including:
• Intended use (e.g., short-term trading store of value)

• Degree of desired trust minimization and decentralization
• Regulatory/jurisdictional compliance
• Scalability/capacity to grow
• Desired upside participation by users in the success of a given stablecoin system
We now review some of the pros and cons, and key hurdles, of several of the main stablecoin design
types.
Type 1a: Traditional-Collateral (‘Off-Chain’) Backed
Pros
• Demonstrated market demand and use: Tether’s market value of $2 billion has been achieved in
spite of significant concerns around regulatory compliance, transparency and brand reputation
• Enforceable price floor: hard assets can be used to counter price instability and ’death spirals’,
which are a particular concern for some algorithmic stablecoins
• Trust: traditional asset-backed stablecoins may help facilitate traditional trust-enforcement measures
(e.g., legal action); may be easier for some people to conceptualize and feel comfortable using
• Funding: asset-backed stablecoins have demonstrated strong fundraising appeal
• Simplicity: no complex inbuilt incentive structure required as value exists in the collateral; no need
for smart contract issuance / on-chain collateralization, meaning less engineering talent needed to
implement
• Collateral flexibility: reserve can consist of one or many of the same type of asset (e.g., USD and
EUR), or different assets (e.g., commodities, fixed income)
• Regulatory compliance: have been approved by regulators (e.g., NYDFS); banks can manage
licensing, which is especially useful in the US given the fragmented nature of e-money regulations
Cons
• Centralized: requires trust in the issuer or escrow agents

• Inefficient: lacks automated monetary supply mechanism; may require manual redemptions
processing
• Banking: requires partnership with a bank or escrow agent that holds licenses for deposits /
reserves
• Limited peg options (e.g., fiat that the banks can easily manage)
• Compliance: possible risks from underlying fiat (KYC / AML, security rather than utility token)
• Taxes: uncertain tax status, may generate taxable income
• Scalability: requires more backing assets to scale
Type 1b: E-Money
A variation on the traditional off-chain asset backed model that carries some (but not all) of the same
pros/cons is becoming an EU electronic money (E-money) institution, which some stablecoins like
Monerium are pursuing. The process for becoming an E-money issuer includes:
• Applying to become an Electronic Money Institution (EMI), which can be a short process (<90
days)
15
• Creating a company in the state of application (typical options include Lithuania and Ireland) with
an initial capital requirement of €350,000
• Partnering with a reputable auditor and redemption parent (e-money is always redeemable).
Pros
Several additional advantages over traditional asset-backed designs include:

• EU compliance: solution across SEPA payment system
• Financial integration: opens up other financial activity like money transfers, payments and issuing
payment cards
• Reduced need for banking support: less reliant on finding a risk-averse banking partner.
Cons
As well as possessing many of the same cons as asset-backed models, additional cons for E-money
include:
• Reporting: KYC / AML requirements from EMI status unless small balances (< €250) and small
annual transactions (< €2,500)
• Regional limitation: E-money likely does not port to the US and other jurisdictions
• Resources: likely more legal work than setting up EMI and reporting
Type 2: Crypto-Collateral (‘On-Chain’) Backed
On-chain collateral-backed stablecoin designs, while ‘natively digital’, are similar to the above traditional
asset-backed design in some ways. Some stablecoins are employing a hybrid on-chain/off-chain strategy
to gain advantages from both designs.
Pros
Several additional advantages over traditional asset-backed designs include:

• Decentralized: auditable and open; greater degree of trust-minimization than an off-chain design
• Asset flexibility: collateral can span crypto, fiat, commodities and other assets; can choose to tie-up
some collateral in smart contracts to create some trust-minimized asset backing
• Reduced banking requirements: less concern about actual trading liquidity / holding complications
• Network effects: adoption incentives through an additional system token (e.g., the MKR token in
the case of Dai) that allow for speculation and appreciation.
Cons
• Stability: harder for the market to trust the maintenance of the peg, may be prone to gaming or
other attacks; reputation may be damaged if peg is broken
• Complexity: may require additional tokens (e.g., governance tokens like Maker (MKR))
• Volatility of underlying assets: problematic if they concentrate around digital commodities or
cryptoassets
• Resource-intensive: more complex than fiat asset-backed to create and can require substantial
engineering resources
• Security: rely on smart contracts, which offer attackers additional threat surfaces and vectors; may
require the use of trusted ‘oracles’ for price determination
• Market manipulation: natural targets for gaming/shorting, which may compromise decentralization
16
• Global competition: in contrast with stablecoins sheltered by local regulations, a digital native
stablecoin may be more open to global competition
• Use cases: in contrast with asset-backed stablecoins like Tether, digital stablecoins have less well
defined and established uses cases; less market demand for a decentralized stablecoin
• Scalability: requires more backing assets to scale; also unclear whether a decentralized stablecoin
can reliably offer the same transaction capacity as a more centralized system
Type 3: Algorithmic
Given the prioritization of creating trust in the stability mechanism over decentralization, many stable-
coin designs have started with an asset-backed token. Asset-backed tokens are arguably less complex
and easier to bring to market (assuming a banking partner can be found). However, many believe the
long-term stablecoin winner(s) will likely be a digital-native, fully-algorithmic stablecoin, and we expect
over time that many asset-backed stablecoins will attempt to transition to a more algorithmic design.
Algorithmic designs share many of the same pros and cons of on-chain collateral-backed stablecoins,
with arguably the key difference being the greater complexity of a non-asset backed stability
mechanism.
Potential advantages possessed by algorithmic stablecoins could include greater scalability (due to
obviating the need for an ever-growing quantity of additional assets to back further stablecoin issuance)
and stronger network effects / adoption incentives through different upside participation schemes.
Stablecoin upside participation
One of the more interesting area of stablecoin design is the potential opportunity to realize upside
on the creation and growing use of stablecoins. 60% of stablecoins offer some type of ‘dividend’ or
incentive mechanism built into the design of the stablecoin system (e.g., ‘seigniorage shares’, transaction
fee dividends). Later in the report primers we highlight which stablecoins offer upside participation.
17
USE CASES
Stablecoins can be employed for many of the same use
Stablecoins are a
cases as other cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, with the
added benefit of price-stability. Whether or not price
multi-trillion dollar
stability is desirable or a worthwhile trade-off will depend opportunity and have
on the individual context and circumstances, but the the potential to grow
crucial point to understand about stablecoin use cases is into one of the largest
that many of them are multi-trillion dollar opportunities. digital asset categories
In other words, stablecoins have the potential to grow
into one of the largest, if not the largest, digital asset categories.
Medium of Exchange
At present, any business would take a significant risk accepting cryptocurrencies for payments due
to the significant volatility of this asset class. Stablecoins hold the potential to help unlock the use of
cryptocurrencies for day-to-day payments for businesses and commerce as price stability is a key
missing element for the adoption of cryptocurrencies by merchants and retailers all over the world.
Companies need a degree of certainty about their short-term cash reserves and revenues. Transacting
in ether or bitcoin would make the role of a financial officer a difficult task as the business’s runway
(how long the company can survive if expenses exceed income) could adversely shift in an instant due
to unfavorable cryptoasset market swings.
Unit of Account
The unit of account is the measure by which goods and services are priced and a necessary feature for
a given asset to become “money”. In the US, retailers price goods in USD, employees are paid in USD
by their employers, profits/losses and assets/liabilities are denominated in USD. There is currently no
agreement regarding the intrinsic value (and future value) of a given cryptocurrency, meaning accepting
bitcoin as a “unit” is therefore problematic.
Stablecoins can be pegged to established units of accounts in their respective countries and can thus
become a digital representation of the unit of account (so long as the peg is maintained). Given their
emphasis on price stability and the ability to peg stablecoins to inflation, stablecoins also arguably have a
greater chance of becoming an independent unit of account in the longer-term.
dApps
In the web 3.0 stack, decentralized applications (“dApps”) are being built on top of infrastructure
protocol layers. Many of those applications will likely rely on price stable cryptocurrencies to distribute
value. For example, Augur, a decentralized predicion market, is planning to integrate the Dai stablecoin.
Stablecoins should accelerate the shift from token speculation to usage in dApps as users won’t be
incentivised to hold (or sell) the token in anticipation of future price appreciation(or depreciation). This
should in turn increase the token velocity, helping to fulfill the potential of decentralised networks.
ERC20 stablecoins can be held and transferred by anyone who already has an Ethereum wallet, and
approximately half of all stablecoin projects are running on Ethereum. Provided that Ethereum is a
successful underlying infrastructure protocol for dApps, ERC20 stablecoins should be adopted faster
and benefit from the Ethereum vibrant ecosystem.
18
Store of Value
A store of value is a commodity, asset, or money that retains its purchasing power or value into the
future. Some view cryptoassets including bitcoin as too volatile to be commonly accepted as a store of
value.
Some companies need to hedge themselves over the long-term. For example, miners are currently
highly exposed to the price of the cryptoasset they receive in return for computing resources. A stable
reserve of liquid assets is needed to cover one-off additional fixed costs (such as purchasing hardware)
and on-going variable costs (such as electricity).
In the current crypto ecosystem, volatility risk is currently being highlighted in fundraising via Initial Coin
Offerings (“ICOs”). Projects generally raise a given amount of ether to allocate resources in order to
deliver on their committments. Some founding teams have held most of their funds in ether. In a bear
market associated with falling prices like the present one, management would have to meet investor
expectations while suddenly having less capital at their disposal. Stablecoins could thus help founding
teams of ICO projects manage their funding more safely over the long-term.
Performance Measurement
If we consider a hypothetical project that grows over some reference period (e.g., three years), the
same project priced in a stablecoin better demonstrates the growth in intrinsic value than when
a volatile cryptocurrency like bitcoin is used as the reference currency, as bitcoin has dramatically
appreciated over the past few years. In other words, tracking performance in terms of stablecoins
should lead to a better representation of historical performance measurement. Stablecoins pegged to
inflation would also obviate the need for making inflation adjustments to historical data.
Derivatives/Lending
Derivatives can be an effective way to hedge a position in an underlying asset. For example, commercial
airline companies need to hedge their fuel costs, which is denominated in USD per barrel. An exposure
denominated in USD is essential in this context. As an example, owning three bitcoins while shorting
three bitcoin futures (currently possible via cash settled futures) results in a neutral USD exposure.
Derivatives are mostly cash settled, and stablecoins would enable this transfer of value at expiry in the
digital world. As of now, CME and CBOE leverage the current underlying banking infrastructure, relying
on costly intermediaries such as clearing houses and settle each contract in fiat. In order to shift these
complex interactions onto blockchains via smart contracts, USD denominated assets will be needed.
One can imagine any derivative being settled on-chain via stablecoins in the future. This should minimize
frictions and remove the need for centralized entities, which provide trust amongst participants in the
current financial markets framework. Similarly, stablecoins could unlock decentralized lending.
Remittance
Stablecoins reduce price volatility risk as crypto payments are being processed. To stay relevant in this
context, transactions would have to be confirmed rapidly (ideally in a matter of seconds) to provide a
good user experience and a noteworthy improvement compared to transfers relying on the current
underlying banking infrastructure (international banking transfers can currently take as long as three
days or more).
19
ADOPTION
Stablecoins are nothing new and have been actively used for the past four years. They also already
form an important part of the digital assets ecosystem. The total market value of all stablecoins is
approximately $3 billion, or 2.7% of the total market value of all cryptoassets (Figure 6).
Figure 6: Market Value of Live Stablecoins
DIGIX GOLD
GUSD
$4.1M $87M
TETHER
DAI
TRUEUSD
$76M
$207M
USDC
$2B
PAXOS
$291M
$121M
Source: CoinMarketCap
Stablecoins are listed on over 60 different exchanges at present, with Tether featuring the greatest
number of total individual exchange listings (at least 65) (Figure 7).
Figure 7: Number of Cryptoasset Exchange Listings for Live Stablecoins
65
60
55
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
!"#
DAI
20
A number of stablecoins have also had success gaining listings on major exchanges, with ten stablecoins
(43% of live coins) featuring on one or more Tier-1 exchange listings: Tether (7), TrueUSD (6), Paxos
(5), USD Coin (5), Gemini (4), SteemDollar (4), Dai (2), Stably (2), NuBits (2), BitBay (2), STASIS (1),
HelloGold (1).
Figure 8: Stablecoins Listed on Major Cryptoasset Exchanges
DAI
DAI
However, the story of stablecoin use and adoption to date is primarily a story about Tether (USDT).
Tether is the second most actively traded cryptocurrency, equal to approximately 75% of BTC daily
trading volume in 2019 (up from 57% in 2018). Earlier this year Tether entered the top-5 cryptoasset
rankings by market value and it currently comprises 69% of the total market value of all stablecoins.
Even with the success of new ‘better Tether’ entrants like Paxos, USD Coin, Gemini Dollar and
TrueUSD in gaining listings on major exchanges and in attracting market value share, Tether continues
to dominate stablecoin trading volume, commanding approximately 96% market share. (Figure 9).
Figure 9: Stablecoin Exchange Trading Volumes - April 2018-Jan 2019
Trading volume: Tether vs. other Stablecoins Trading volume: other Stablecoins (sans Tether)
100% 100%
99% 90%
98% 80%
97% 70%
96% 60%
95% 50%
94%
40%
93%
30%
92%
20%
91% 10%
90% 0%
4/24/18 5/24/18 6/24/18 7/24/18 8/24/18 9/24/18 10/24/18 11/24/18 12/24/18 1/24/19 4/24/18 5/24/18 6/24/18 7/24/18 8/24/18 9/24/18 10/24/18 11/24/18 12/24/18 1/24/19
Tether Other Stablecoins

DAI TrueUSD Paxos USDC GUSD
21
A similar picture emerges when we look at the currency trading pairs for stablecoins, with Tether in
the clear lead with at least 396 different cryptocurrencies trading against Tether, up from 159 in Sept.
2018 (Figure 10). The next closest stablecoins, TrueUSD and USD Coin, have 140 and 109 crypto
pairs, respectively. There are also relatively few fiat-stablecoin trading pairs, which reflects the fact that
stablecoins at present are primarily used by cryptoasset traders to address market volatility.
Table 1: Number of Cryptocurrency and Fiat Trading Pairs for Stablecoins
Tether TrueUSD USD Coin Paxos Gemini Dai BitUsd Stasis Digix Gold AAA Reserve
Token
Number of 4 5 2 1 3 3 0 2 1 3
fiat pairs
Number 396 140 109 76 58 67 24 13 3 0

of crypto
pairs
22
REGULATORY LANDSCAPE
While certain countries and regions are home to more stablecoin activity than others, stablecoins
are a global phenomenon. Project teams are based in North America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East,
and Oceania (Figure 11). The leading home for stablecoin project teams is the US (17), with Europe
(14) the second most popular location. Within Europe Switzerland (5) leads, followed by the UK (3).
Interestingly, one of the leading cryptocurrency trading locations, Japan, does not have a stablecoin
project team based inside the country.
Figure 10: Primary Physical Location of Stablecoin Project Teams

Canada Sweden Russia
Standard.One
United Kingdom
Serbia
Ukraine
Minexcoin
Iceland
Denmark Korea
Israel
DAI Malta
Hong Kong
Switzerland United Arab Emirates
United States
Reserve Panama
Phi
Malaysia
Australia
OnRamp
Singapore
Source: Mosaic.io
Key near-term regulatory issues include whether stablecoins (or aspects of stablecoin systems) are
in compliance with securities and money service laws in some jurisdictions. Because someone buying
a stablecoin pegged to a fiat currency often does not expect profit, then an argument can be made
that these types of stablecoins do not in fact meet the definition of a security in some jurisdictions.
However, if someone is buying a related asset, like say a bond in an algorithmic seigniorage shares-style
system, they might be expecting a profit, and so this asset might be a security. Stablecoins backed by
commodities like gold may also be deemed an investment and therefore qualify as a security.
Standard money transmission laws may also apply to stablecoins, which in the US would entail abidance
with anti-money laundering (AML) laws at the Federal level and licensing at the state level. Various
consumer protection laws may also be relevant. Stablecoin projects would be well advised to familiarize
themselves with the Liberty Reserve case.
23
Figure 11: Legal Domicile of Stablecoin Projects
Canada Russia
United Kingdom Standard.One
Belgium
Jersey
Korea
Serbia
Denmark
Denmark Malta Japan
Cayman Islands
DAI
Hong Kong
Switzerland
United States Barbados Minexcoin
Reserve
Malaysia
Phi
Australia
OnRamp
British Virgin Islands
Singapore
Source: Mosaic.io
We also gathered data on where stablecoins are legally domiciled, and again the sample data shows
that stablecoins are spread globally in terms of their legal personality (Figure 12). The leading legal
domicile for stablecoins is again the US (10), followed by Switzerland (7). Australia, Cayman and Jersey
are the legal homes for more than one project.
For the above and other reasons, we anticipate that legal and compliance expenses will continue to be
significant for many stablecoin projects.
“Stop trying to create money”
In July of this year the Mr. Agustín Carstens, General Manager of the Bank of International Settlements
(BIS) (sometimes referred to as the central bank for other central banks), published a statement saying
“My message to young people: stop trying to create money”. Mr. Carstens’ statement was generally
directed at the cryptocurrency community, although it is not clear whether his comments were
directed specifically at volatile cryptocurrencies like bitcoin or stablecoins. What is clear is that many
economists and central bankers for some time now have been highly critical of cryptocurrencies like
bitcoin, in large part due to its volatility, with some going so far as to jettison the term ‘cryptocurrency’
from official speeches in favour of the term ‘cryptoasset’.
The growing regulator preference given to the term cryptoasset may be a reflection of bitcoin’s greater
use today for investment purposes (store of value) over its use in everyday transactions and payments
(medium of exchange). However, the use of the term cryptoasset may also reflect the more seemingly
open embrace by regulators of new digital assets, commodities or securities over new currencies.
Rightly or wrongly, volatile cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are not viewed by many central bankers as
a serious competitive threat to their own national currencies. However, a stablecoin of sufficient size
and use may be deemed to pose greater direct competition to fiat currencies than bitcoin and may
therefore spark a competitive response or regulatory backlash from central banks, which in many
jurisdictions have largely remained on the sidelines of cryptocurrency regulation to date. What is less
clear here for cryptocurrencies is “how big is too big?” Central bankers have been reluctant to provide
specific quantitative levels that would trigger concerns (e.g., what percentage of payments made with
a cryptocurrency would be deemed to pose a threat to a central bank’s ability to conduct monetary
policy?).
24
FUNDING & BUSINESS MODELS
Stablecoin projects have raised significant funding, $250m to date, highlighting their importance within
the crypto landscape. However, total stablecoin venture funding is down almost one-third from 2018
with the surprise December announcement from Basis, which had raised $133m, that it was shuttering
and returning capital to investors. With the exit of Basis the funding landscape is much less lopsided:
a number of projects have raised around $20-$30m (Figure 13). The project with the most publicly
announced funding at present is Terra at $32m.
Figure 12: Stablecoin Project Funding
CARBON RESERVE
TRUEUSD AMPLEFORTH
SAGA
$5M
$2M
$3M
MONERIUM
$21.7M $30M
TERRA
DIGIX GOLD
DAI $2M
$32M
TOKEN
$1.3M
USDC
$27M JIBRA
$8M
$32M $20M
Source: Mosaic.io
The most active investors in stablecoin projects are divided into two broad categories: traditional
venture capitalists and funds solely focused on cryptoassets. The former include Andreessen Horowitz
(investments in TrustToken, Dai/Maker and Celo), Lightspeed (SAGA), Octopus (Token) and True
Ventures (Ampleforth). The latter include the usual suspects such as Polychain Capital (Dai/Maker and
Celo), Blocktower (Synthetix and TrueUSD), Digital Currency Group (Carbon and Token), and Pantera
Capital (Ampleforth).
Figure 13: Many Investment Funds have Backed Multiple Stablecoins
Synthetix
A16z Crypto Polychain Celo Carbon

Blocktower Capital
Capital General
Catalyst
FBG Digital
Capital Currency
DAI Coinbase Group
TrueUSD
Reserve
ZhenFund
USD Coin
Ampleforth Pantera
Danhua Capital
Capital
Source: Mosaic.io
25
Investors have been allocating funds across a Figure 14: Funding by Stablecoin Type
variety of different stability mechanism designs,
highlighting the diversity of views on different
stablecoin designs. The off-chain asset-backed
collateralized stablecoin projects, which include
TrueUSD, CENTRE (which designed USDC),
SAGA, Digix, Token and Monerium, raised a
combined $177m. Non-collateralized tokens
(also sometimes referred to as “algorithmic
central banks”), such as Terra and Carbon, have $177m $41m $32m
raised a combined $41m. Crypto-collaterlized
tokens, such as Maker Dai and Reserve, have Off-Chain Algorithmic Crypto-
Asset Backed Collateralized
raised the least total funds at $32m.
Busines models
In the case of algorithmic central banks (non-collateralized stablecoins), token holders benefit from
the growth of the network, expecting future purchases from new participants. As the adoption of
stablecoins grows, an increase in supply should follow to maintain the peg, resulting in dividend-like
payments to stablecoin system token or share holders. Other algorithmic designs incorporate some
type of transaction fee sharing with holders of stablecoin system assets.
Today, interest In contrast, the revenue model for fiat-backed cryptocurrencies

income on such as Tether is to charge a fee once USD is converted into
Tether’s bank the stablecoin (and vice versa). However, increased competition
deposits alone between such centralized companies should bring downward
should yield pressure on fees, which could converge to zero in the long run.
more than $20m Indeed, we have already seen some evidence of this with TrueUSD
recently cutting fees to zero.
annually
The elimination of issuance/redemption fees would leave the following two main sources of revenue
for off-chain asset backed stablecoin issuers: a) stablecoin exchange trading fee income (for exchanges
like Bitfinex that also issue stablecoins) and b) earning interest on fiat assets held in reserve. Interest
income alone could be quite sizable source of revenue. For example, assuming a 1% interest bearing
deposit rate, interest income on Tether’s bank deposits should yield more than $20m annually.
Finding a way to pass some of this interest revenue on to stablecoin holders may be a way to
counterbalance the network effect advantage that algorithmic and some cryptoasset-backed
stablecoins (e.g., Dai with its MKR token) have over fiat-backed stablecoins, which largely today do not
offer upside participation.
26
STABLECOINS COMPARISON: PAX VS USDC VS GUSD
In late-2018 the dominance of Tether was shaken as several major new stablecoins came into existence
and quickly rose in size and use: Paxos Standard (PAX), USD Coin (USDC), and Gemini Dollar (GUSD)
In this section of the report we share our comparative analysis of these three coins and their issuers
across a number of dimensions, beginning with a high-level overview presented in Table2.
Table 2: Overview of Paxos Standard, USD Coin and Gemini Dollar
MEASURE PAXOS USD CENTER GEMINI DOLLAR

Outstanding supply $124m $302m $89m
Avg daily volume $73m $22m $53m

(60d)
Price daily standard 0.4% 0.6% 2%

deviation (60d)
Most actively traded ZB (33%), Binance (21%) Binance (22%), Coinbase Fragmented
exchanges (% vol.) and Okex (14%) (16%) and Coinbase pro (Gemini volume not
(12%) disclosed)
Issuers Paxos Trust Circle and Coinbase Gemini Trust
Regulated under NYDFS MSB under FinCEN & NYDFS

BitLicense
Explicit fund freeze Only if law enforcement Yes Only if law enforcement &
requires fork
Fees / min size None / $100 None / $100 None / $0

redemptions
Key differentiator Strong relationships in Onboarding, multiple Wire processing, issuance

Asia to grow more quickly issuers, inclusive approach and redemption
Structure and issuance process
At a high level, these three stablecoins are more similar than they are different, with each maintaining
stability by holding fiat (US dollars) in reserve at a trusted third-party custodian, with the reserves
subject to periodic, independent verification (Figure 15).
27
Figure 15: Issuance Process for Paxos Standard, USD Coin and Gemini Dollar
Retail/Institution:
$ $ $
Stablecoin Issuers:
Custodian Banks:
However, there are a number of notable differences. For example, as of today USDC has multiple
issuers (Circle and Coinbase), while both PAX and GUSD are the first stablecoins whose issuance
received prior approval by a major regulatory agency. Our analysis identified a number of differences
across the three as summarized in Table 3.
Table 3: Rating Paxos Standard vs USD Coin vs Gemini Dollar
BRAND Strong Strong Strong
GENERAL INDUSTRY Medium Medium Low

ADOPTION
HISTORICAL STABILITY Average Average Average
CREDIBILITY OF BANKS Average Average High
TIME IN USE - LINDY EFFECT Recent Recent Recent
REGULATED Pre-issuance approval by Registered Pre-issuance approval by

NYDFS NYDFS
TEAM Very Credible Very Credible Very Credible
OPERATIONAL “PLUMBING” Average Average Good
FEES Zero Zero Zero
COMMITMENT TO LOW FEES Yes Yes Yes
LONG-TERM COMMITMENT Medium High Medium
BANKING BACK-UP/ Medium High (multi issuer) High (2 more tiers in Q1/2)
REDUNDANCY
PLAN FOR MULTI CURRENCY? Yes Yes Yes
28
User Experience Testing
Setting up accounts to use the three different stablecoins was a somewhat mixed experience (Table
4). Those who already have Circle or Coinbase accounts will have an easier time accessing USD Coin,
and the process for Paxos was relatively straightforward. However, one of our testers ran into trouble
setting a Gemini Dollar account due to several restrictions, including the requirement that a traditional
phone number be entered (e.g., Google Voice numbers, which can offer greater security due to
featuring two-factor authentication for account access, are not supported by Gemini).
Table 4: Account Setup and Know Your Customer (KYC) Process
Paxos Standard USD Coin Gemini Dollar
Account Setup & Login Typical requirements. Existing Circle and After confirming email
Overall quick. 2FA Coinbase accounts can address requires entering
required every time, no be used a phone number to setup
option to trust device 2FA. Does not accept
Google Voice phone
numbers, forcing user
to enter a regular carrier
phone number. Also
forces the use of a country
code for the country of
residence. Had to contact
customer support to get
help. Was directed by
customer service to make
phone number change
via Authy, which has a
multi-day process.
KYC Requirements Relatively straightforward Additional KYC beyond Passport and proof of
for PAX. Enabling 2FA existing Circle account address
required to proceed. required to gain access
Uploaded US drivers to USDC, including
license (or passport or confirming: country
ID card). No live photo of birth, country of
required. Process was residence, SS#, address.
less smooth during No delay after this
onboarding to the itBit information was added.
exchange.
KYC Speed 1-day approval process Instantaneous 1-day approval process
After establishing an account, the next step in the process of creating a fiat-backed stablecoin is to send
funds (e.g., US dollars) to the stablecoin issuer. Silvergate was the receiving bank for both Circle and
Paxos. Our comparison of this process is detailed in Table 5.
29
Table 5: Funds Deposit and Banking Process
Bank Wire - Deposit Wire information was After entering my US Only same-day wire
presented in a clear way. bank information was transfer is allowed. Was
$0 fee from Paxos. sent an email to confirm required to send funds to
the addition of the bank Silvergate with reference
account. However, the code.
bank account did not
appear after completing
this step. I repeated and
the bank account was
added the second time.
To wire funds a unique
reference number needs
to be included in the wire
instructions.
Wire Speed Wire received less than Received email Yet to to be received after
24 hours after being confirming that wire was 24 hrs and no emails from
sent, although not sure converted to USDC 2.5 Gemini
exactly when it arrived hours after sending the
as no email confirmation wire.
was provided; under the
transaction ‘Date’ heading
it states “Invalid date”.
Bank Wire - $0 fee from Paxos. $100 A redemption fee of 0.1% N/A
Withdrawal minimum withdrawal (with a minimum of $50)
amount. is charged by Circle. $100
minimum withdrawal
amount
We saw the slowest deposit time with Gemini, and the Circle process was both the quickest and most
user friendly (e.g., email notification when deposit received). Where USD Coin/Circle scored low was
on fees.
With regards to actually using and transferring the coins, the experience was broadly similar with a
couple of key differences (Table 6).
30
Table 6: Coin Minting, Transactions, and Redemptions
Paxos Standard - Paxos Standard - USD Coin – Circle USD Coin -

Paxos Binance Coinbase
Stablecoin Requires the user Minted directly
minting to already have an to the Circle web
Ethereum address wallet. In contrast
to mint new PAX with PAX, no other
into existence. $100 wallet or address
minimum minting is required to mint
requirement. USDC into existence.
Stablecoin Took over three Circle requires that

Transfers – hours to be received you first approve
Outbound User by Binance. by email the ETH
Newly minted address where USDC
Experience
PAX transfered to will be sent.
Binance. Paxos
provides an
Etherscan link to the
transaction after it is
confirmed.
Fees - Transfer 0 fee from Paxos Binance charged a Circle charges ETH In contrast with
Out $0.80 withdrawl fee gas fees. $0.10 Circle, a lower gas
($0.025 reported as on $100 transfer. fee that what was
standard gas fee on Etherscan reported shown on Etherscan
https://ethgasstation. that the gas fee was charged by
info) was lower, only Coinbase ($99.90
$0.06. $99.90 - $99.87 = $0.03
was transfered to vs Circle’s $0.10;
Coinbase. Etherscan showed
the gase fee at
$0.04)
Stablecoin itBit does not Within about 5 Within 1-2 minutes

Transfer – support PAX (they minues received of transfer from
Inbound for say because they email from Coinbase Circle, received
offer USD). Was not that USDC had email from Coinbase
Redemption
as intuitive how to been sent back to that USDC had been
transfer PAX back Circle. Different received. Received
to Paxos Standard syncronization: status also reflected
account (which is funds showing on Coinbase web
separate from itBit; as received in wallet.
had to call itBit Circle within
support). Process is approximately 10
confusingly called minutes, but still
“Redeem PAX” but showing “Pending”
did not look at this on Coinbase.
menu item because Email from Circle
assumed would first confirming receipt
have to transfer PAX arrived within
in before they could approximately
be “redeemed” for 15-20 minutes of
USD. transaction.
31
Overall, the user experience for both Paxos and USD Coin was generally positive, particularly by
cryptocurrency use standards. Unfortunately, we were not able to fully test Gemini Dollar due to setup
issues. In terms of which offers the best overall experience, from an ease of use perspective Paxos is
not quite as polished (particularly for less savvy/experienced users) as Circle. However, the lower fees,
speed and redemption flexibility Paxos are compelling compared to USD Coin.
Table 7: Overall User Experience - Rating Paxos Standard vs USD Coin vs Gemini Dollar
Account Setup & Login Overall, good UX for Overall, good UX for Significant work needed
crypto, but not quite as crypto. Some slight issues on both user account
polished (particularly for on getting the bank setup and funds deposit
less savvy/experienced registered and some experience.
users) as Circle. questions about gas fees,
as noted above. Main
UX concern is the $50
min fee Circle charges to
redeem USDC for USD.
32
LOOKING AHEAD
Competitive landscape
New stablecoins continue to be announced, although the pace announcements has certainly slowed
from 2018 and we have started to see some projects close down (most notably Basis). Still, the total
number aof stablecoin projects raises questions around competition and how many stablecoins the
cryptoassets ecosystem can support.
One way to examine how projects are competing with each other is by analysing recruitment. In
addition to the emphasis placed on hiring engineering and product talent that is seen across most
cryptoasset projects, hiring areas of focus for stablecoin projects include business development (e.g.,
exchange listings), community management, and legal/compliance. Beyond developing the software and
core product, obtaining a sufficient number of exchange listings and liquidity are seen as the two most
important success factors by many stablecoin projects.
As we have reviewed in this report, there are many different ways that stablecoins can differentiate,
including stability mechanism design, technology platform, reference pegs, jurisdictional/regional focus,
fundraising, and so on.
In terms of the core stablecoin design, different choices

create trade-offs across a number of dimensions, such Today, the more
as the degree of transparency and automation (trust- decentralized the
minimization) offered by a stablecoin, as well as the stablecoin design, the
complexity of the price stability mechanism. Utilizing the less confidence exists
empirical data collected, we have compared the various in its price stability
stablecoin projects across these three metrics in Table 8.
33
Table 8: Comparative Overview of Stablecoin Design Features by Platform
Platform Stablecoin Transparency Automation Complexity

Ethereum AAA Reserve Low-Medium Low Low
Ampleforth High High-Medium High
Augmint Medium-High Medium-High Medium
Bridgecoin Low-Medium Medium Medium
Carbon High High-Medium High
Coin Payment Low-Medium High Medium
Processor
Dai High Medium-High High
Digix Gold Medium-High Medium Low
Gemini Dollar Medium Low Low
HelloGold Medium Medium Medium
HKDT N/A Low-Medium Low
Jibrel Medium Medium Medium
Kowala High Medium-High High
Synthetix High Medium-High High
Paxos Medium Low Low
Reserve High Medium High
SAGA Medium Medium High
Stably Medium-High Low-Medium Low
Stasis Medium Medium Low
TrueUSD Medium Low-Medium Low
Token Medium Low-Medium Low
USDC Medium Low Low
x8c Low-Medium Low-Medium Medium
Omni Protocol Tether Low-Medium Low Low
Nano NOS Medium Low Medium
Dfinity Phi Medium-High TBD TBD
Proprietary Celo High TBD TBD
Unknown Stableunit High High High
Terra High Medium-High High
Elliptic Enterprises Peg Medium-High Medium-Low Medium
Stellar White Standard Medium Medium Medium
Today, it would appear that prioritization of automation/transparency generally carries with it the
trade-off of greater complexity of the stability mechanism (i.e., risk that the peg will be broken). In other
words, the more decentralized the stablecoin design, the less likely it is to remain price stable against a
peg like the US dollar.
The success to date of centralized stablecoins like Tether and newer entrants like Paxos Standard, USD
Coin, and TrueUSD over other more-decentralized stablecoin designs offers at least some evidence
that so far the market has prioritized the simplicity of the stability mechanism over decentralization
(i.e., transparency and automation). Our view is that market participants are likely to continue to
place a premium on stability over decentralization for the near-term. Anyone who heavily prioritizes
34
decentralization already has the option to own arguably the most decentralized cryptoasset, bitcoin.
Indeed, the current preference for price stability is recognized by many of the algorithmic stablecoins,
some of which are in the process of developing hybrid algorithmic/asset-backed launch designs.
Longer-term we expect stablecoins to become increasingly decentralized as projects continue to

experiment with various designs, and additional data is gathered on ‘what works’. For now, design
uncertainty, as well as other factors such as regional/local regulations, lead us to believe that space may
exist for approximately 5-8 significant stablecoins in the short to medium-term.
Impact
A successful, well-designed stablecoin could help create a tipping point for much broader cryptoasset
adoption by successfully addressing concerns around volatility, which are often cited as a key reason
why many institutions and individuals have remained

Today, stablecoins are
on the digital assets sidelines to date.
The rise of stablecoins may also affect the prices
more complementary than
for some cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin, that will competitive with other
face greater competition for certain medium of major cryptocurrencies like
exchange and store of value use cases. However, in bitcoin or ether
our view stablecoins are more complementary than competitive with other major cryptocurrencies
like bitcoin or ether. Indeed, many stablecoins rely on the security, compatibility and infrastructure
provided by cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ether. Overall, stablecoins are best viewed as a form of
‘infrastructure’ or foundational layer for cryptoassets that will generate immense value for the overall
digital assets ecosystem.
The advantage of reduced volatility that stablecoins offer over other cryptocurrencies makes them
attractive in certain settings and use cases, such as reducing exposure to market volatility. But does the
broader world beyond the digital assets ecosystem really need (or want) stablecoins?
Stablecoins do not exist in a vacuum, and in addition to competing with other more volatile
cryptoassets like bitcoin, they are also competing against national legal tender currencies (fiat). How
successful or unsuccessful central banks are at managing national currencies will certainly influence
the fate of stablecoins and cryptocurrencies as a whole. But stablecoins do not simply offer great
competition in the marketplace for currencies and money. Like bitcoin, stablecoins are helping to usher
in a new era of monetary innovation and encouraging established institutions like central banks to
re-examine the nature and possibilities around one of our oldest institutions, money, and its role in the
financial system.
35
STABLECOIN
PRIMERS
LIVE
STABLECOINS
HIGHLIGHTS
• Continued rise into the Top-5 cryptocurrency rankings demonstrates Tether’s importance, as well
as the overall market demand for stablecoins
• More centralized and opaque than other stablecoins, but making efforts of late towards greater
transparency
• Despite entrance of new competitors, continues to dominate the stablecoin market
• Most similar to: TrueUSD, USD Coin, Paxos Standard, Gemini Dollar and Stably
OVERVIEW
Formerly known as RealCoin, Tether (USDT) was established in 2014, making it one of the oldest
stablecoins. It is a cryptoasset that leverages distributed ledger technology to allow individuals and
organizations “to store, send, and receive digital tokens pegged to dollars, euros, and yen person-to-
person, globally, instantly, and securely for a fraction of the cost of any alternative”.
A ‘tether’ (the currency unit) is issued and redeemed using the Omni Layer protocol (previously
known as Mastercoin), which is an ‘overlay network’ that runs on top of the Bitcoin blockchain. Backed
by off-chain collateral, Tether is designed to protect its stakeholders from cryptocurrency volatility by
maintaining a one-to-one reserve ratio between the cryptocurrency token (tether) and its associated
real-world asset (fiat currency). This configuration is supported by a ‘Proof of Reserves’ process and
“Tether Limited”, the business entity responsible for custody of fiat reserves and conversion of value
across the network.
Once a tether has been issued it can be transferred, stored, spent, etc. just like a bitcoin or any other
cryptocurrency. The fiat currency held in reserve is thereby effectively transformed, gaining the general
properties of a cryptocurrency while also having its price “tethered” (stabilized) to the price of the fiat
currency held in reserve.
Tether tokens have no transaction fees and can be traded for other tokens at exchanges or withdrawn
and held in any bitcoin wallet where the user controls their private keys. Tether Limited generates
revenue from imposing a small fee on the issuance of new tokens.
Complexity
Stability Mechanism
Low Low Low-Medium No
STRENGTHS
Longevity and Familiarity

Tether is one of the oldest stablecoins and therefore benefits from the so-called ‘Lindy effect’, which
posits that the life expectancy of a technology is enhanced by its age. Of today’s large stablecoins,
Tether also has a significantly longer stability and redemptions track record, and thereby earned the
trust of many traders.
38
Liquidity
While its market value share significantly declined in Q4 2018, Tether dominates the current stablecoin
trading volume landscape with 93% market share.
Tier-1 Exchange Support

Tether has proven particularly attractive to major exchanges that do not offer US dollar customer
accounts. For example, in 2017 Tether experienced a rapid increase in volume on Poloniex, arguably
playing a key role in it becoming the market leading exchange by volume in mid-2017.
Tether’s market cap has grown from ~$7million in 2017 to $2.7 billion today. The upsurge in market
capitalization has mainly come from adoption by active cryptocurrency traders who use Tether as a
risk management and hedging tool. Crypto traders can move funds into USDT to de-risk from general
crypto volatility while simultaneously avoiding leaving the cryptocurrency market by converting back
to fiat currency. As shown in the below chart, Tether’s continued growth demonstrates the significant
demand for fiat-backed cryptocurrencies in the market.
Tether (USDT) - Exchange Rate and Market Value, 2018-Present
Price
Market Value
Market
Price
Value
Daily
Volume
ISSUES/TRADEOFFS
Negative Publicity
Since 2015, many cryptocurrency exchanges and trading platforms have integrated and partnered
with Tether to support deposits and withdrawals. However, Tether has been accused of running a
‘fractional reserve.’ Tether’s reputation and image has been impacted by challenges associated with
public transparency regarding its backing, though it has maintained that USD reserves have always been
sufficient. The recent FSS report was a first step in showcasing such proof, but more will be needed to
improve public transparency going forward.
Counterparty Risk & Reliance on Traditional Banking System

Tether’s vulnerability to counterparty risk is significant and inherent to its current design. The company
relies on legacy banking institutions in Taiwan and perhaps Puerto Rico to custody its fiat reserves.
Tethers are therefore subject to the same credit and counterparty risk inherent with any standard bank
deposit.
Lack of Legal Rights for Tether Holders

Concerns have arisen over what exactly Tether promises and its legal obligations regarding redemptions.
39
Tether Limited issued a legal clarification, which in essence states that holding tethers provides no
legally enforceable rights for the holder.
Opaqueness / Single Point of Failure

Tether more broadly represents two main problems with fiat backed stablecoins: (1) lower
transparency than on-chain collateralized systems, and (2) a centralized, single point of failure. Many
believe Tether has not gone far enough to minimize the degree of trust and dependence on Tether
Limited, which is relied upon to circulate funds by creating and destroying asset-backed tokens.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVING TETHER
Disclose Reputable Asset Custodian

Any asset-backed cryptocurrency is only as secure as the ultimate custodian of the underlying assets.
Depositing the underlying funds/assets in a banking institution that is secure, reputable, and trusted
would potentially represent a significant improvement to Tether. In short, the safer the bank, the better.
An ideal candidate would be a true ‘narrow bank’ in which assets are as liquid as its liabilities, meaning
that deposits are invested one-to-one in safe government bonds or held in cash with no fractional
reserve banking. While Tether’s Nov. announcement that it had secured a banking relationship with
Deltec, based in The Bahamas was a step in the right direction, Deltec is not a Tier-1 financial institution
and lacks the balance sheet and reputation custodians used by some of Tether’s competitors.
Enhance Trust in the Issuing Entity

Significant improvements could also be made with regards to the issuing entity as this is where the
majority of the operational risk lies regarding the creation and destroying of asset-backed tokens. The
greater the trust and transparency, the better. In fact, this entity could actually be a deposit-accepting
bank itself.
Add Legal Enforceability

Another perhaps difficult area is determining the legal status of the token itself. Tethers have no
associated legal enforceability. Any coin that gave the owners real legal rights (but also still facilitated
peer-to-peer exchange) would represent a vast improvement over the current offering. Whether such
a coin would be legally deemed ‘money’, a security, or something else is unclear.
CONCLUSION
Despite its weaknesses, Tether continues to remain entrenched in the top-10 cryptocurrencies in terms
of value and second only to bitcoin in terms of daily trading volume. Contrary to its reputation, Tether
has also embraced some regulatory oversight (e.g., registering as a Money Service Business with the
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN)). However, Tether has been shrouded in suspicion
around its collateral reserves, and third-party verification of Tether’s off-chain fiat reserves has not
erased all doubts.
Bottom line: traders have not shied away from using Tether on crypto exchanges, and Tether has built
up trust with leading cryptocurrency exchanges, which is a key factor in its continued dominance.
However, Tether’s shortcomings have created an opportunity for an alternative stablecoin to enter
the market, and its market value share has dropped from over 90% to under 70%. Stablecoins that
minimize trust and counterparty risk by storing collateral on-chain offer a particularly strong contrast
with Tether’s relatively centralized structure.
40
TETHER
Overview Legal/Compliance
TICKER(S) USDT OWNERSHIP iFinex (BitFinex parent)
LAUNCH DATE 2014 LEGAL ENTITY Hong Kong-Based Ltd (Tether

Limited)
LIVE (YES/NO) Yes
LEGAL JURISDICTION British Virgin Islands
(COUNTRY)
KEY N/A
DIFFERENTIATOR(S) REGULATORY STATUS Money Service Business
with the Financial Crimes
Enforcement Network of the
US Dept. of Treasury
Format COUNTRY LOCATION - Distributed
HQ/PRIMARY TEAM
TOP-LEVEL CATEGORY Asset-backed
(ASSET-BACKED VS.
ALGORITHMIC) Technology
SUB-CATEGORY Off-Chain Collateral Backed PLATFORM (EG Omni Protocol, Ethereum
(EG OFF-CHAIN ETHEREUM)
COLLATERAL BACKED)
DECENTRALIZATION Low
COLLATERAL / USD, EUR (Yen pre-
announced) AUTOMATION Low
RESERVES TYPE
UPSIDE No COMPLEXITY - Low

PARTICIPATION: STABILITY MECHANISM
GOVERNANCE TOKEN,
OPEN SOURCE (YES = Hybrid (built on top of Omni
DIVIDEND / INCENTIVE Layer)
FULL / PARTIAL)
SCHEME (EG
SEIGNIORAGE SHARES)
STABILITY USD Investors, Team & Partners
BENCHMARK /
REFERENCE PEG INVESTORS (TIER 1 & Unknown
OTHERS)
TRANSPARENCY Low-Medium FUNDING RAISED TO Unknown
(FUNCTIONAL) DATE
BANKING Deltec Bank, The Bahamas
Adoption RELATIONSHIPS
PARTNERS (BIZ DEV/ BitFinex
MARKET VALUE $2,022,645,702
ECOSYSTEM)
RANK - OVERALL 5 GENERAL INTENDED Synthetic US dollar

MARKET VALUE USE
LIQUIDITY (AVG. 30 $3,747,939,358 OTHER COMMENTS/ Although many have accused
DAILY VOLUME) Tether of being a fraud, this
INTERESTING ASPECTS seems less and less likely
OF COIN for various reasons (eg new
RANK - OVERALL 2 compliance hire, continued
MARKET LIQUIDITY to print USDT after CFTC
subpoena in December 2017,
NUMBER OF FIAT PAIRS 4 hiring reputable PR firm, etc.)
WEBSITE https://tether.to/
NUMBER OF CRYPTO 396
PAIRS MILESTONES / Cyber security experts find
double-spending security
NOTABLE EVENTS flaw (29/06/18) | Chief Strategy
NUMBER OF 65
Officer Resigns (22/06/18)
EXCHANGE LISTINGS law firm verifying their bank
balance (Q2 2018) hiring a
NUMBER OF TIER-1 7 compliance head (Q3 2018)
EXCHANGE LISTINGS
TIER-1 EXCHANGES Binance, OKEx, Huobi, HitBTC,

Poloniex, Kraken, Bittrex
41
HIGHLIGHTS
• Off-chain collateral backed by fiat currency

• Well-funded stablecoin (has raised $20m to date)
• Regulated company with U.S. and international compliance programs
• Most similar to: TrueUSD, Paxos Standard, Gemini Dollar, Tether
OVERVIEW
Circle and Coinbase, both leading cryptocurrency exchanges and platforms with major investors,
launched a new stablecoin in Q4 called USD Coin (USDC). USDC is a US dollar-backed stablecoin
running on the Ethereum blockchain. The design is based on the open source fiat stablecoin framework
developed by CENTRE, an open source initiative established by Circle in late-2017. Initially, only U.S.
dollars will be supported, but CENTRE plans on adding tokens for the euro and pound.
Other notable features:
• A separate web app has been created for customers to purchase and use USDC, with new tokens
minted or burned based on submissions or redemptions
• Primary market and trading pairs for the coin are on Circle Poloniex, Coinbase, and several other
partners’ exchange platforms
• Strong support from banking partners, including a top-10 U.S. bank
• Revenue from this initiative will be generated through interest on deposits and trading spreads
captured on exchange
• Working with banking partners, public auditors, and top-tier insurance underwriters
• Use cases include exchanges, smart contracts, settlement, remittance and lending (CENTRE has
partners focused on each of these opportunities)
• CENTRE is highly transparent with both audit results and financials
• CENTRE governance will be distributed
Complexity
Stability Mechanism
Medium Low Medium No
STRENGTHS
Legally Compliant Stablecoin

Many financial institutions are only interested in and legally able to adopt compliant financial
instruments, and it is with these institutions where USDC may have a significant advantage over other
stablecoins. Both Circle and Coinbase are operating within the regulatory framework of U.S. and
foreign money transmission laws and working with established banks and auditors. CENTRE will audit
its members and also be audited itself by respected firms. Circle and Coinbase are reigstered with
FinCEN as licensed money transmitters and actively seeking appropriate licenses from various state
banking departments and international regulatory authorities. In the U.S., money transmitter licenses
are handled on a state-by-state level, and Circle and Coinbase have already obtained licenses from all
42
the required states.
Open Source
The development of USDC is open source, meaning multiple developers can work on the project and
audit the code. The framework is being developed by CENTRE, providing a degree of independence
between USDC and Circle/Coinbase. Given the inherent centralization associated with fiat-backed
stablecoins, open sourcing USDC helps to re-balance the initiative back towards the principles
associated with blockchain technology. As an ERC20 token, USDC can easily be integrated into other
major exchanges without being a member of CENTRE.
Strategic Partnerships
USD Coin has generated early support from a significant number of platforms in the cryptoassets
ecosystem. Both Circle and Coinbase are large, well-established and trusted cryptoassets company with
proven track records and a focus on mainstream adoption. USD Coin has shown that it can onboard
new and reputable partners quickly, which will aid USDC adoption.
ISSUES/TRADEOFFS
Ecosystem Competition Concerns

Lack of adoption across other exchanges and wallets will reduce access to and the usefulness of
USDC. As major exchanges, both Coinbase and Circle are actively competing with other cryptoasset
exchanges, and it is unclear whether major competing exchanges will choose to adopt USDC (which
may be viewed as aiding Circle and Coinbase). Mitigating this concern is historical precedent – Tether is
also closely associated with another major exchange, Bitfinex.
Centralization
USDC is still heavily reliant on a single entity (Circle), and its focus on compliance means it is not fully
censorship resistant as various parties can deny or limit its use.
Adverse Shift in Regulations

The success of USD Coin may be significantly linked to its ability to continue to leverage its compliant
status. Should an adverse regulatory shift occur, or should Circle fail to gain the necessary approvals, this
could severely limit the use of USDC.
CONCLUSION
As leading cryptocurrency exchanges, Circle and Coinbase are arguably one the best positioned
partnerships to destabilize Tether’s exchange dominance and drive widespread adoption of a
competing stablecoin. Circle’s view is that all fiat currency will become cryptocurrency, and USDC
is one step forward in bringing mainstream financial services to the world of cryptocurrency and
blockchain technology. With its other suite of offerings, including Circle Invest and OTC trading, USDC
can speed up transactions made with dollars and provide a less volatile and compliant alternative
to institutions and users interested in embracing cryptocurrency. Both Coinbase and Circle are
also very familiar with the strict regulations applicable to the still-nascent cryptocurrency space and
knowledgeable about navigating regulatory uncertainty. CENTRE is expected to be highly transparent
with audits and financials. Overall, USDC appears well positioned to provide strong competition for
Tether and other similar fiat-backed stablecoins.
43
USD COIN (USDC)
Overview Technology
TICKER(S) USDC OWNERSHIP Owned by Circle Inc
LAUNCH DATE Q3-2018 LEGAL ENTITY Circle Inc, but not issued out
of their broker dealer license.
LIVE (YES/NO) Yes
LEGAL JURISDICTION Cayman Islands
(COUNTRY)
KEY Multiple issuers (CENTRE
framework), speed of delivery/ REGULATORY STATUS 42 countries - money
DIFFERENTIATOR(S) onboarding transmission laws. NYDFS
COUNTRY LOCATION - US
Format HQ/PRIMARY TEAM

(ASSET-BACKED VS. Technology
ALGORITHMIC)
PLATFORM (EG Ethereum
SUB-CATEGORY Off-Chain Collateral Backed ETHEREUM)
(EG OFF-CHAIN DECENTRALIZATION Low-Medium
COLLATERAL BACKED)
COLLATERAL / USD AUTOMATION Low
RESERVES TYPE
COMPLEXITY - Low
UPSIDE No STABILITY MECHANISM

PARTICIPATION: OPEN SOURCE (YES = Yes
GOVERNANCE TOKEN, FULL / PARTIAL)
DIVIDEND / INCENTIVE
SCHEME (EG
SEIGNIORAGE SHARES) Investors, Team & Partners
STABILITY USD
INVESTORS (TIER 1 & Private
BENCHMARK /
OTHERS)
REFERENCE PEG
FUNDING RAISED TO $20,000,000
TRANSPARENCY Medium DATE
(FUNCTIONAL)
BANKING Silvergate “send” partnership -
instantaneous
RELATIONSHIPS
Adoption PARTNERS (BIZ DEV/ 20+ partners in total. KYC/
AML: Chainalysis, Elliptic, and
ECOSYSTEM) Coinfirm. Crypto apps/
MARKET VALUE $302,737,674 services:
Coinbase, AxiomZen,
CryptoStrikers, MoneyToken,
RANK - OVERALL 20 Centrifuge, Esprezzo, Dharma,
MARKET VALUE Origin, and Melonport.
Wallets: ImToken, Trust Wallet,
LIQUIDITY (AVG. 30 $17,190,901 Toshi, Status, MyCrypto”
DAILY VOLUME)
GENERAL INTENDED Remittance, bank transfers
etc
RANK - OVERALL 30 USE
MARKET LIQUIDITY
OTHER COMMENTS/ USDC is issued through
the CENTRE open source
NUMBER OF FIAT PAIRS 2 INTERESTING ASPECTS framework and membership
OF COIN scheme. Multiple companies
can join as issuers on the
NUMBER OF CRYPTO 109 protocol - as well as other fiat
PAIRS stablecoins - and customers
can access USDC through
exchanges, digital wallets,
NUMBER OF 33
and banks
EXCHANGE LISTINGS
WEBSITE https://www.centre.io/index.
NUMBER OF TIER-1 4 html
EXCHANGE LISTINGS
MILESTONES / Nov. 2018 - Coinbase
joint founding member
TIER-1 EXCHANGES Poloniex, Coinbase, OKex, NOTABLE EVENTS announcement
Binance, Huobi
44
HIGHLIGHTS
• Off-chain, fully collateralized USD-backed ERC20 stablecoin

• Currently the 3rd largest live stablecoin by market value
• Collateral stored in escrow accounts managed by third-party regulated financial institutions
• Early problems with price stability following Binance exchange listing
• Most similar to: USD Coin, Paxos Standard, Gemini Dollar, Tether
OVERVIEW
TrueUSD (TUSD) is an off-chain fiat-collateralized stablecoin that runs on Ethereum. Technically,

TrueUSD does not hold any USD in its reserves. Instead, it has partnered with registered banks and
institutions with fiduciary obligations to keep the funds in an escrow account. Together with this third-
party trusted off-chain escrow account, users must pass a KYC/AML check, wire USD to one of the
TrueUSD third-parties, and provide an Ethereum address to receive TUSD. The transaction, once
validated, initiates the TrueUSD smart contract, which mints an equivalent amount of TUSD that is
delivered to the user’s Ethereum address. If the user wants to redeem the TUSD tokens for fiat, the
user sends the tokens back to the smart contract, which burns the tokens and issues USD to the user
from the escrow account. This burning process effectively secures an exact 1-to-1 match between USD
in the escrow account and TrueUSD. Each time coins are minted or burned, ‘TrustToken’, the company
behind TrueUSD, previously took a 0.1% fee ($75 minimum), but this fee has been dropped to $0.
Complexity
Stability Mechanism
Low-Medium Low Medium Yes
HOW IS IT USED?
TrueUSD uses smart contracts that are fully open source, meaning anyone can view and audit the
code. As well as KYC/AML checks, traditional financial escrow accounts are utilized to enable regular
attestations and traditional legal protections. By partnering with regulated financial institutions, TrueUSD
enables direct banking, which introduces safeguards to prevent it from manipulating reserve holdings.
This feature addresses one bone of contention for many with Tether’s structure.
TrustToken, the entity behind TrueUSD, has received investments from many well-known and respected
venture capitalists including a16 crypto, BlockTower Capital, GGV Capital, Jump Capital, and Danhua
Capital. For its KYC/AML services, TrueUSD uses A10tix, ComplyAdvantage, and Thomson Reuters, a
bank-grade compliance stack.
45
TrueUSD (TUSD) - Exchange Rate and Market Value, 2018-Present
Price
Market Value
Market
Price
Value
Daily
Volume
STRENGTHS
Escrow Protection and Fund Management

TrueUSD is openly taking a hybrid approach to tokenizing US Dollars. Unlike other fiat-backed
stablecoins, the escrow account used by TrueUSD does offer legal protection to token holders. Many
parties are generally familiar with third-party escrow accounts and are happy to rely on them for funds
management and dispute resolution. Any individual or institution that passes a KYC/AML check has the
ability to redeem TrueUSD for USD.
Legal Framework
TrueUSD has retained law firms WilmerHale and White & Case to develop its legal framework for
collateralized cryptocurrencies. This framework exists alongside the team’s network of other fiduciary,
compliance, and banking partners. The team’s legal counsel has provided a memorandum that TrueUSD
tokens are not securities, likening the token to deposit and safekeeping receipts, which the SEC has
previously issued a no enforcement action for their use. It is worth noting that the previous SEC no
action letter does not directly apply to TrueUSD unless the SEC has specified that it applies. However,
this attention to the legal framework and escrow accounts, as well as the transparent demonstration
around its efforts around compliance, contrasts favorably in the eyes of many with the approach taken
to date by Tether.
2nd Most Tier-1 Exchange Listings and Market Value

TrueUSD’s listings on popular exchanges such as HitBTC, Binance, UpBit, and Bittrex (more Tier-1
exchanges than any stablecoin except Tether) gives it a lead on competing stablecoins. TrueUSD and
Tether are also listed on several of the same exchanges, enabling TrueUSD to substitute for (and take
market share from) Tether.
Transparency
Given the speculation around Tether, transparency into a project’s holding structure and operations is
becoming increasingly valued among fiat-collateralized stablecoins. Unlike Tether, TrueUSD ownership
structure has been publicly acknowledged, and the escrow accounts are reviewed (aka an attestation)
by Cohen & Co (a top-50 accounting firm) and published publicly every month here: https://blog.
trusttoken.com/trueusd-attestation-reports-86f693b90a4.
46
ISSUES/TRADEOFFS
Instability
The reliability of TrueUSD’s stability mechanism has been called into question as TUSD rose to $1.39 in
May following the Binance exchange listing announcement.
Minimum Redemption Requests

Per the Terms of Use policy, the company may prohibit wire submissions of USD or redemption
requests of TrueUSD if the total amount submitted or requested is less than $1,000 USD. With such
a high redemption minimum, TrueUSD seems to be targeted at institutions rather than the small user.
However, the $1,000 minimum could conceivably cut both ways; while prohibitive for many people, the
amount was determined by the vetted participants of TrueUSD’s fiduciary network and may create an
opportunity for TrueUSD to differentiate itself.

Also like Tether, TrueUSD is vulnerable to counterparty risk due to its reliance on legacy banking
institutions.
CONCLUSION
TrueUSD was one of the first of the ‘better Tether’ stablecoins to come to market and has had early
success in growing its trading volume and listings on a number of major exchanges. Indeed, TrueUSD
was able to pole vault into the #2 stablecoin market value position even though it launched well
after Dai, although it has since been overtaken by USD Coin. Its off-chain collateral structure will be
seen as an advantage by some (e.g., the use of regulated and compliant institutions), and in certain
circumstances, a disadvantage by those that value decentralization. Whether the use of trusted escrow
audits and traditional third parties hurt or help TrueUSD more will only be known over time.
47
TRUEUSD
TICKER(S) TUSD OWNERSHIP TrueCoin LLC
LAUNCH DATE 2018 LEGAL ENTITY Delaware
LIVE (YES/NO) Yes LEGAL JURISDICTION USA

(COUNTRY)
KEY N/A
DIFFERENTIATOR(S) REGULATORY STATUS TBD

ALGORITHMIC)
(EG OFF-CHAIN
COLLATERAL BACKED) DECENTRALIZATION Low
COLLATERAL / USD AUTOMATION Low-Medium

RESERVES TYPE
COMPLEXITY - Low
UPSIDE Yes (eventually). TrustToken STABILITY MECHANISM
ICO, which is not yet officially
PARTICIPATION: listed.
GOVERNANCE TOKEN, OPEN SOURCE (YES = Yes
DIVIDEND / INCENTIVE FULL / PARTIAL)

SCHEME (EG
SEIGNIORAGE SHARES)
Investors, Team & Partners
STABILITY USD
BENCHMARK / INVESTORS (TIER 1 & a16z crypto, Blocktower
Capital
REFERENCE PEG OTHERS)
TRANSPARENCY Medium
DATE
(FUNCTIONAL)
BANKING Prime Trust
RELATIONSHIPS
Adoption PARTNERS (BIZ DEV/ Blocktower Capital, Cooley,
Stanford-StarX fund, Futurism
ECOSYSTEM)
MARKET VALUE $208,967,745
GENERAL INTENDED Stable cryptoasset +
RANK - OVERALL 25 tokenization of off-chain
USE assets in general
MARKET VALUE
OTHER COMMENTS/ Problems with price stability
LIQUIDITY (AVG. 30 $52,261,460 following exchange listing
INTERESTING ASPECTS (~40% after Binance listing)
DAILY VOLUME)
OF COIN
RANK - OVERALL 20
WEBSITE https://www.trusttoken.com/
MARKET LIQUIDITY trueusd/
NUMBER OF FIAT PAIRS 5 MILESTONES / N/A

NOTABLE EVENTS
NUMBER OF CRYPTO 140
PAIRS
NUMBER OF 43
EXCHANGE LISTINGS
NUMBER OF TIER-1 5
EXCHANGE LISTINGS
TIER-1 EXCHANGES Binance, Bittrex, Upbit,

HitBTC, Okex, Huobi
48
HIGHLIGHTS
• Format: off-chain collateral backed by USD fiat currency

• Size & liquidity: second most actively traded stablecoin and 16th most actively traded cryptoasset
• Redemptions: relatively speedy, free, and no daily limits
• Compliant: regulated status with U.S. and international compliance programs
• Funding: well resourced; parent ItBit has raised $93m to date
• Comparables: most similar to Gemini Dollar, USD Coin, TrueUSD, Tether
OVERVIEW
In late-2018, ItBit, a leading cryptocurrency exchange, launched a new regulated stablecoin called Paxos
Standard (PAX). PAX was quick to attract support from a number of Tier-1 exchanges and has firmly
established itself as the fourth largest stablecoin and a top-40 cryptocurrency in terms of total market
value.
PAX is a US dollar-backed stablecoin running on the Ethereum blockchain and is similar in a number of
ways to some of the other leading USD-backed stablecoins, particularly Gemini USD (GUSD), as well
as USD Coin (USDC), TrueUSD (TUSD) and Tether (USDT).
Other notable features of PAX include:
• Other than one brief spike in Oct. up to $1.10, PAX has remained relatively stable to its 1:1 USD
peg
• PAX has generally traded at a slight premium to USD, with an average daily price of $1.01 since
launch
• The lowest observed prices for PAX were approximately $0.98, a level last observed in early Nov.
• Paxos, the issuer of PAX, is a trust company and regulated by the New York State Department of
Financial Services
• PAX operates as a base currency trading pair on Binance
• Paxos/ItBit will generate revenue from PAX through interest earned on USD deposits
Complexity
Stability Mechanism
Low Low Medium Yes
STRENGTHS
Liquidity and size

According to self-reported trading volume from exchanges, PAX is the second most actively traded
stablecoin (after Tether) and ranks amongst the top-20 most traded cryptoassets (currently number
16). This level of trading activity is in spite of the fact that PAX is only the fourth largest stablecoin by
market value. Overall, PAX ranks among the top-40 cryptocurrencies in terms of total market value.
49
Regulated and Legally Compliant Stablecoin
instruments, and it is with these institutions where PAX may have a significant advantage over other
non-compliant stablecoins. PAX is regulated by the New York State Department of Financial Services,
which is generally regarded as one of the most stringent regulators. Paxos parent, ItBit, was also one
of the first exchanges to obtain a New York BitLicense. PAX also operates within the regulatory
framework of U.S. and foreign money transmission laws, working with established banks and auditors.
Zero Fees and No Minimum Purchases/Redemption Sizes

Relatively unique amongst USD-backed stablecoins, Paxos does not charge any fees, including currency
conversion, transaction, or redemption fees (e.g., bank wire fees). There are also no minimums for
purchases or redemptions. PAX can be redeemed 24/7 to USD within one business day.
Customer Service and Convenience

The Paxos global team provides customer service 24/7, including telephone support. Dedicated
account managers are available for those able to make minimum purchases of $100K.
Audited
The entire supply of PAX is collateralized by USD in dedicated omnibus cash accounts at FDIC-insured
U.S. banks. Auditing firm Withum performs attestations (using standards established by the AICPA) on
these accounts and the PAX tokens on a month-end basis to ensure they are consistent.
ISSUES/TRADEOFFS
Ecosystem Competition Concerns

Like Circle, Gemini, and other exchanges that have launched stablecoins, ItBit is actively competing
with other cryptoasset exchanges and it is unclear whether all major competing exchanges will choose
to adopt PAX (the more revenue generated by PAX, the more competitive firepower possessed by
the ItBit exchange). Mitigating this concern is historical precedent – Tether, the most widely exchange-
supported stablecoin, is also closely associated with another major exchange, Bitfinex – along with the
success to date that PAX (as well as USDC and GUSD) have had gaining listings on major exchanges.
Centralization
PAX is still heavily reliant on a single entity (Paxos/ItBit) and its focus on compliance means it is not
fully censorship resistant. Paxos/ItBit as an administrator can deny or limit the use of PAX. Further, the
PAX smart contract contains a “lawEnforcementRole”, which according to Paxos was “required by
our regulators”. This law enforcement role can “freeze and unfreeze the PAX balance of any address
on chain” and “wipe the balance of an address after it is frozen to allow the appropriate authorities to
seize the backing assets”.1
Adverse Shift in Regulations

Like other regulated and compliant stablecoins, the success of PAX is linked to it remaining in
compliance with prevailing laws and regulations. Should an adverse regulatory shift occur, or should
Paxos fail to maintain or gain necessary approvals, this could severely limit the use of PAX.
CONCLUSION
The fact that PAX (as well as a number of other stablecoins) has tended to trade at a slight premium
to its peg value is evidence of the convenience and utility offered by stablecoins to crypto traders and
other users. While the regulated/compliant USD backed stablecoin space has become much more
50
crowded in recent months, PAX has distinguished itself by taking a clear lead over Gemini USD, which it
launched alongside. Even though TrueUSD and USD Coin were launched and announced, respectively,
well in advance of PAX and have higher market values, PAX has leapt past both in daily trading volume.
Overall, PAX is well positioned to provide strong competition for Tether and other similar fiat-backed
stablecoins. However, PAX like the other “better Tethers” has yet to dethrone USDT from atop the
market value and liquidity leader board.
1
https://github.com/paxosglobal/pax-contracts
51
PAXOS
TICKER(S) PAX OWNERSHIP itBit
LAUNCH DATE 10 Sept. 2018 LEGAL ENTITY Paxos Trust Company LLC

(COUNTRY)
KEY Fast and free with no-limits
on daily redemptions. Similar REGULATORY STATUS Regulated by New York
DIFFERENTIATOR(S) to Gemini dollar and USDC, Department of Financial
PAX is regulated under Services (DFS)
NYDFS and insured under
the FDIC. COUNTRY LOCATION - USA
HQ/PRIMARY TEAM
Format
Technology
(ASSET-BACKED VS. PLATFORM (EG Ethereum
ALGORITHMIC) ETHEREUM)
SUB-CATEGORY Off-Chain Collateral Backed DECENTRALIZATION Low

(EG OFF-CHAIN
COLLATERAL BACKED) AUTOMATION Low
COLLATERAL / USD COMPLEXITY - Low

RESERVES TYPE STABILITY MECHANISM
UPSIDE No OPEN SOURCE (YES = Yes

PARTICIPATION: FULL / PARTIAL)
GOVERNANCE TOKEN,
SCHEME (EG
SEIGNIORAGE SHARES)
INVESTORS (TIER 1 & Liberty City Ventures, RRE
STABILITY USD Ventures, Canaa Partners
OTHERS)
BENCHMARK /
REFERENCE PEG FUNDING RAISED TO itBit raised $93m, but unclear
how much is dedicated to
DATE Paxos
TRANSPARENCY Medium
(FUNCTIONAL) BANKING Silvergate, Bank of Montreal,
Signature, Metropolitan.
RELATIONSHIPS Collateral will be held at a
bank located in the United
Adoption States and eligible for FDIC
“pass-through” deposit
insurance
PARTNERS (BIZ DEV/ Withum will perform monthly
RANK - MARKET VALUE 39 attestation procedures
ECOSYSTEM)
LIQUIDITY (AVG. 30 $61,851,207 GENERAL INTENDED Trading and fiat settlement.

EUR and other currencies
DAILY VOLUME) USE will be supported. Crypto
payments.
RANK - OVERALL 18
MARKET LIQUIDITY OTHER COMMENTS/ “Paxos Smart Contract Audit:
https://medium.com/
INTERESTING ASPECTS nomic-labs-blog/paxos-
NUMBER OF FIAT PAIRS 1 OF COIN standard-pax-audit-report-
ca743c9575dc”
NUMBER OF CRYPTO 76
WEBSITE https://www.paxos.com/
PAIRS standard/
NUMBER OF 34 MILESTONES / https://www.dfs.ny.gov/about/

press/pr1809101.htm
EXCHANGE LISTINGS NOTABLE EVENTS
NUMBER OF TIER-1 6
EXCHANGE LISTINGS
TIER-1 EXCHANGES Binance, Bittrex, Upbit, Okex,

Huobi, Hitbtc
52
DAI
HIGHLIGHTS
• Decentralized, on-chain collateral backed by the ether (ETH) cryptocurrency (and other ERC-20
tokens in the near future)
• As one of the early Ethereum projects, Dai has developed over several years a relatively strong
community
• Currently listed on 20 exchanges (+100% over 2018) with 65 different cryptocurrency pairings
• Most similar to: Reserve, BitShares, Synthetix, Augmint
OVERVIEW
Dai is an on-chain collateral backed stablecoin, backed by the ether (ETH) cryptocurrency. ‘Maker’ is
the entity that created the decentralized technology that runs on top of the Ethereum blockchain that
powers Dai. The Dai stablecoin system employs smart contracts on Ethereum that actively stabilize
Dai’s exchange rate through the use of Collateralized Debt Positions (CDPs) and autonomous
feedback mechanisms. Appropriately incentivised external actors (e.g., market traders) also play a role
in stabilizing Dai.
CDPs are collateralized smart contracts that allow users to generate Dai in proportion to the value of
the deposited assets. A user deposits ETH into the CDP smart contract, where it is held until the debt
(as well as interest) is fully paid.
Complexity
Stability Mechanism
Medium-High High High Yes
HOW DOES IT WORK?
In order to combat the volatility of the underlying collateral, the Dai system can liquidate CDPs by
auctioning off the underlying collateral held by the smart contract whenever the value of the collateral
falls sufficiently.
The Dai system has a governance token called MakerDAO (MKR). Ownership of MKR gives these
token holders governance rights over the Dai system’s risk parameters and types of collateral that
can be held in CDPs. When users close CDPs they must pay a stability/governance fee in the form of
MKR which is then burned by the Dai system. This reduction in the supply of MKR is one of the direct
financial incentives for holding MKR and supporting the Dai ecosystem.
Stability Protections
Dai’s price is stabilized through the following autonomous feedback mechanisms:
• Target Price
• Target Rate Feedback Mechanism
• Sensitivity Parameter
• Global Settlement
53
The Target Price mechanism provides two functions: (1) it allows for the calculation of the collateral to
debt ratios of CDPs and (2) it determines the value of assets deposited into CDPs in the case of global
settlement. The Target Rate Feedback Mechanism (TRFM) is one of the most important mechanisms
because, in the case of market instability, it helps maintains the Dai market price around the Target
Price. This is done by changing the Target Rate and (consequently) the Target Price to balance supply
and demand for Dai by adjusting users’ incentives to generate or hold Dai.
The Sensitivity Parameter determines the magnitude of Target Rate change in response to deviations
of the Dai market price away from the target price. This is one of the means by which Maker token
holders exert their power over the Dai market, as Maker voters can set the Sensitivity Parameter to
stabilize the coin, while TRFM and Target Price are determined by the market. However, the TRFM is not
engaged by default and is only used during periods of market instability.
Another important mechanism, Global Settlement, is an emergency tool that is used to ensure Dai
holders and CDP owners have a claim on the correct value of their holdings in the case of serious
market instability. This is likely to be used in cases of long-term market irrationality, hacking or security
breaches, and system upgrades. Furthermore, the voters are not necessarily people from the Maker
core team, but MKR holders, making the network more decentralized.
Dai - Exchange Rate and Market Value, 2018-Present
Price
Market Value
Market
Price
Value
Daily
Volume
STRENGTHS
First Mover Advantage in its Class

With the concerns surrounding Tether (some of which apply equally to other centralized, fiat-backed
stablecoins), Dai is in an attractive position as the first decentralized, on-chain collateral backed
stablecoin to successfully launch. The code has been open source and auditable for much longer than
many other stablecoin projects.
Decentralized Governance
The Maker team intends for the Dai stablecoin system to be governed in its entirety by MKR token
holders. Whilst most development and governance decision are currently driven by the core Maker
team, the planned future decentralized governance will reduce the reliance on a centralized team. The
Maker team is putting a concerted effort towards more transparency and promoting decentralized
54
governance through the Maker Foundation, which aims to promote greater decentralized governance
of the Dai system through the MKR token. This degree of effort around decentralizing governance is
not found in any other live stablecoin project.
Experienced Developer Team

Maker is generally viewed as having a strong team of highly-skilled smart contract developers and
security specialists (DappHub). The project has the benefit of having been in development for three
years and has, thus far, maintained a relatively stable price and smooth launch.
Framework for Multi-Collateral Dai

The Collateralized Debt Position model for maintaining Dai’s stability means future upgrades could
include other types of collateral, which would allow Dai to leverage and benefit from the stability and
success of other cryptoassets (including other stablecoins).
Third-party Developer Community

The open-source nature of the Dai stablecoin system means that third-parties can build useful
applications on top of the Dai backend. Already there have been third-party applications built which
integrate the Dai system, such as EasyCDP and AutoCDP, which is a testament to the third-party Dai
developer community.
ISSUES/TRADEOFFS
Only One Form of Collateral Available (ETH)

Currently only ETH (Pooled ETH) is available as a collateral type for backing Dai. Reliance on ETH
means that all Dai are susceptible to large drops in a single cryptoasset’s price, creating single point of
failure risk. Moreover, the long-term success of the CDP model depends on the ability to find uncor-
related CDP types, and currently most cryptoassets are strongly correlated.
Similar to other crypto-backed stablecoins, Dai is exposed to the volatility seen in cryptoasset
prices and potential ‘black swan’-type events. Even though Dai has held up relatively well during the
approximately 80% cryptoasset market price decline from the December 2017 high, it is unclear how
the Dai system will maintain its stability during times of rapid increases and decreases.
Over-collateralization required
Under the current Dai structure, excess capital is required to produce $1 of Dai (e.g., a minimum of
$1.50). While over-collateralization helps provide confidence during a downturn, some may view it as
an inefficient deployment of capital.
Difficult to Understand
The Dai system is much more complex than many competing stablecoins. This can be a disadvantage as
everyday users may be more reluctant to use a stablecoin whose operations and dynamics they cannot
easily understand, especially compared to relatively simple fiat-backed stablecoins.
Supply constraint
The total supply of Dai has an upper bound, capped by the amount that collateral users are willing to
put into CDPs. The exact collateral upper limit is unknown, but any such limit may diminish Dai’s ability
to scale as compared to its competitors.
Potential for Smart Contract Vulnerabilities

Dai’s utilization of smart contracts, which are a nascent technology frequently afflicted by software bugs,
55
could leave it more vulnerable than its off-chain collateralized competitors. In addition, the Dai system
has one of the most complex codebases of any current token project on Ethereum, and this greater
attack surface potential opens Dai up to more attack vectors for hackers. The Maker team has carried
out several smart contract audits (Trail of Bits, etc.) in an attempt to mitigate this risk.
CONCLUSION
Dai’s structure, backed by ETH in a smart contract, is inherently decentralized. Users do not rely on
a trusted-third party, as is the case with more centralized stablecoins such as Tether and Digix, where
the stablecoins are essentially IOU coins. Dai is also not subject to the same counterparty risks or
traditional banking risks as Tether. Since Dai’s launch in December 2017, the token has managed to
stay quite stable relative to its USD soft-peg. The forthcoming launch of multi-collateral CDPs will help
expand the reach of the token and allow the circulating supply of Dai to increase further.
There will continue to be ongoing concerns over whether Dai’s economic model is scalable and
whether the collateral used for CDPs will be uncorrelated enough to protect Dai from the risk of
large scale market price crashes. In short, only time will tell whether Dai’s stability mechanism is robust
enough for the topsy turvy world of cryptoassets. Should Dai continue to perform it is well positioned
to see increased usage as a decentralized alternative to Tether and other fiat-backed stablecoins.
56
DAI
TICKER(S) DAI OWNERSHIP Maker (MKR) Token Holders
LAUNCH DATE 2017 LEGAL ENTITY Non-For-Profit Foundation

headquartered in Denmark
LIVE (YES/NO) Yes
LEGAL JURISDICTION Denmark
(COUNTRY)
KEY One of the few on-chain
collateral backed stablecoins REGULATORY STATUS TBD
DIFFERENTIATOR(S) that is being adopted in the
market
COUNTRY LOCATION - Denmark


ALGORITHMIC)
SUB-CATEGORY On-Chain Collateral Backed ETHEREUM)
(EG OFF-CHAIN
DECENTRALIZATION Medium-High
COLLATERAL BACKED)
COLLATERAL / ETH (Future: Digix, Multi- AUTOMATION Medium-High

CDP will allow any ERC20
RESERVES TYPE approved by MKR token COMPLEXITY - High
holders)
STABILITY MECHANISM
UPSIDE Yes. Stability fee paid (MKR
burned) by CDP holder when OPEN SOURCE (YES = Yes
PARTICIPATION: CDP is closed, which reduces FULL / PARTIAL)
GOVERNANCE TOKEN, MKR supply (creating upward
DIVIDEND / INCENTIVE MKR price pressure)
SCHEME (EG
SEIGNIORAGE SHARES)
STABILITY USD INVESTORS (TIER 1 & Andreessen Horowitz,
Polychain Capital, Distributed
BENCHMARK / OTHERS) Capital Partners, Scanate, etc
REFERENCE PEG
TRANSPARENCY High DATE
(FUNCTIONAL) BANKING N/A
RELATIONSHIPS
Adoption PARTNERS (BIZ DEV/ Https://github.com/
makerdao/awesome-
ECOSYSTEM) makerdao/blob/master/
MARKET VALUE $76,956,917 README.md#partnerships
RANK - OVERALL 52 GENERAL INTENDED Trading pairs on decentralized

exchanges. Integration into
MARKET VALUE USE Ethereum dApps (i.e. Augur)
LIQUIDITY (AVG. 30 $7,627,269 OTHER COMMENTS/ The Maker team recently

announced a proposal
DAILY VOLUME) INTERESTING ASPECTS for the Maker Foundation
OF COIN which aims to promote the
RANK - OVERALL 64 decentralized governance of
MARKET LIQUIDITY the Dai system through MKR.
NUMBER OF FIAT PAIRS 3 WEBSITE https://makerdao.com
MILESTONES / Multi-collateral Dai expected

NUMBER OF CRYPTO 67 in the next few months (Q3
NOTABLE EVENTS
PAIRS 2018).
NUMBER OF 20
EXCHANGE LISTINGS
NUMBER OF TIER-1 2
EXCHANGE LISTINGS
TIER-1 EXCHANGES HitBTC, Coinbase pro
57
HIGHLIGHTS
• Weekly off-chain reserve verification by BDO International (BDO Malta)

• Fiat deposits and KYC outsourced to liquidity partner network
• Regulated under Maltese law
• Most similar to: Tether, USD Coin, TrueUSD, Paxos Standard, Monerium, Moneyfold
OVERVIEW
The EURS stablecoin is designed to digitally mirror the euro and is fully convertible to euros on a 1:1
basis. The fiat-to-EURS tokenization process is organized through third party liquidity providers that
constitute the STASIS network of partners. Euros received by STASIS are allocated to a reserve fund
to provide 100% backing for each EURS stablecoin. When liquidity providers sell EURS back to STASIS,
the received EURS stablecoins are eliminated from circulation. The company’s legal structure, regulatory
compliance, and four capital admission streams (IBAN, SEPA, ISIN and ISDA) provide a gateway for
large capital to enter and exit positions in the cryptocurrency market.
Complexity
Stability Mechanism
Medium Low Medium No
STRENGTHS
Euro-based stablecoin
Having euros as collateral opens up a stablecoin market for those whose reporting currency is not the
US dollar, the most common stablecoin peg. EURS meets the arguably under served stablecoin needs
for Eurozone persons and institutions.
Weekly cash reserve verification and reserve ring-fencing

There are three different verification frequency streams available for EURS holders: daily (account
providers), weekly (BDO Malta reserve verifications), and interim quarterly and annual audits (BDO).
A legal ring-fencing mechanism separates off-chain funds from the issuer and secures the reserves for
users.
Native wallet
STASIS has developed a native EURS wallet with exchange options between EURS and BTC, ETH, DAI.
The aim is to make the wallet a marketplace for stablecoins in the future. One of the features offered
in the wallet is a delegated transfer, which allows a user to transfer EURS on-chain without having to
pay the Ethereum gas fee to the network.
Regulatory and legal status

STASIS’s legal framework was assembled in consultation with KPMG, PWC, Ganado Advocates, and the
Maltese government. As a result, EURS was granted VFA status, in contrast with competitor stablecoins
that are seeking e-money or financial institutions licenses.
58
Liquidity provider partnerships
The STASIS model revolves around a system of liquidity provider partners. Partners engage in the
primary sale of EURS tokens and distribute them to their clients in secondary sales, when needed. As a
result, cost reductions and time savings are achieved with onboarding and KYC/AML procedures, which
are basically managed by partners. STASIS uses four capital-admission streams: IBAN, SEPA, ISIN, and in
some cases, ISDA.
ISSUES/TRADEOFFS
Centralized
Off-chain fiat-backed stablecoins are not fully decentralized; they rely on centralized teams.

Also like Tether, Stasis is vulnerable to counterparty risk due to its reliance on legacy banking
institutions.
CONCLUSION
Stasis by focusing on being a euro-oriented stablecoin is attempting to carve out a niche for itself in
the stablecoin space. However, it will soon face significant competition from similar and already live
stablecoins like USD Coin, Paxos Standard, TrueUSD, and others that have indicated they will soon offer
a euro stablecoin. If Stasis can continue to differentiate itself, as it has done with its native web wallet
and regulatory strategy, it may be able to continue to enhance its current position as one of the top-
100 cryptoassets by market value.
59
STASIS
TICKER(S) EURS LEGAL JURISDICTION Regulated by Malta Virtual
Financial Asset Act
(COUNTRY)
LAUNCH DATE 22/6/2018
REGULATORY STATUS Virtual Financial Asset
according to VFAA (neither a
LIVE (YES/NO) Yes security nor e-money)
COUNTRY LOCATION - Malta

KEY N/A
HQ/PRIMARY TEAM
DIFFERENTIATOR(S)
Technology
Format
ETHEREUM)
(ASSET-BACKED VS.
ALGORITHMIC) DECENTRALIZATION Low-Medium
SUB-CATEGORY Off-Chain Collateral Backed

AUTOMATION Medium
(EG OFF-CHAIN
COLLATERAL BACKED) COMPLEXITY - Low
STABILITY MECHANISM
COLLATERAL / EUR
RESERVES TYPE OPEN SOURCE (YES = Yes
FULL / PARTIAL)
UPSIDE No
PARTICIPATION:
GOVERNANCE TOKEN, Investors, Team & Partners
SCHEME (EG INVESTORS (TIER 1 & Self-funded
SEIGNIORAGE SHARES) OTHERS)
STABILITY EUR
FUNDING RAISED TO Self-funded
BENCHMARK / DATE
REFERENCE PEG
BANKING Collateral reserve is being
TRANSPARENCY Medium managed by an unnamed
RELATIONSHIPS “AAA-rated European
(FUNCTIONAL) institution”
PARTNERS (BIZ DEV/ Exante.eu, epayments.com

Adoption ECOSYSTEM)
MARKET VALUE $33,911,736 GENERAL INTENDED STASIS is an institutional-

grade infrastructure for
USE tokenization of any financial
asset. The EURS stable coin
RANK - MARKET VALUE 80
is a cryptocurrency designed
to maintain euro-level
LIQUIDITY (AVG. 30 $633,105 volatility, making it superior
to regular cryptocurrencies in
DAILY VOLUME) terms of payment reliability.
EURS represents the safest
RANK - OVERALL 260 and most transparent type
MARKET LIQUIDITY of stable coin, namely, the
fiat-backed stable coin. The
STASIS network creates two-
NUMBER OF FIAT PAIRS 2 way capital flow channels for
institutional investors. STASIS
ecosystem provides several
NUMBER OF CRYPTO 13 ways to purchase EURS: Fiat,
PAIRS Crypto, Security, ISDA
NUMBER OF 3 OTHER COMMENTS/ Team comes from different

backgrounds, including
EXCHANGE LISTINGS INTERESTING ASPECTS IT & blockchain, asset
OF COIN management & finance,
NUMBER OF TIER-1 1 legal and regulation, and
EXCHANGE LISTINGS government relations. All of
us are bringing our expertise
to develop an outstanding
TIER-1 EXCHANGES HitBTC product and propel adoption
of cryptocurrencies among
institutional capital
WEBSITE https://stasis.net/
Legal/Compliance MILESTONES / Stasis Onboarded First

Institutional Client for EURS
NOTABLE EVENTS Stablecoin
OWNERSHIP STASIS Foundation
STASIS Wallet App Launches
BTC/EURS Exchange
LEGAL ENTITY STSS (Malta) Limited
60
HIGHLIGHTS
• Off-chain, gold-collateralized ERC20 token

• Well funded: one of the early ETH crowdfunding campaigns
• Open source and high transparency
• Most similar to: HelloGold, x8c
OVERVIEW
Digix (DGX) belongs to a growing class of ‘price-stabilized’ cryptocurrencies backed by physical

commodities. The DGX coin is described as “digital gold on a blockchain.”
Each DGX token is an on-chain representation of 1 gram of physical gold in one of the gold cast bars
from London Bullion Market Association-approved refiners. Digix uses the Safe House Singapore as its
custodian vault and has a redemption policy.
Digix uses their proprietary Proof of Provenance (PoP) protocol to ensure the stored gold is maximally
secure and its ownership/custodianship is tracked correctly on the Ethereum blockchain. DGX tokens
are processed through three processes:
1. PoP Cards are uploaded onto the Digix network and the Digix Minter Smart Contract mints DGX
tokens
2. Users can then redeem gold bars with their PoP cards
3. Developers can use their PoP cards and DGX tokens to develop front-end contracts
4. Reduce the circulating supply.
Complexity
Stability Mechanism
Medium Low Medium-High Yes
DGX - Exchange Rate and Market Value, 2018-Present
Price
Market Value
Price
Market
Value
Daily
Volume
61
STRENGTHS
New Form of Gold Trading and Ownership

DGX, through tokenization, offers a new way to trade and own gold. Gold has a strong, lengthy track
record as a store of value. The token and protocol ensure full control of the digital representation of
the underlying assets and offer a convenient way for some users to trade, transfer, and store tokenized
gold.
Digix Resources and Track Record

Digix is one of the oldest projects based on Ethereum and its team is relatively experienced and
well-known within the cryptoassets industry and Ethereum ecosystem. As one of the early ETH
crowdfunding campaigns, the project currently holds significant ETH funds. Given the team’s resources,
experience, and success thus far, Digix is viewed as being in a strong position to provide a platform for
a range of asset-backed tokens.
Industry Partnerships
Digix has secured a number of industry partnerships, including Consensys, Blockchain at Berkeley, Kyber
Network, Maker, and Request Network.
ISSUES/TRADEOFFS
Single Point of Failure (Centralization)

DGX is relatively centralized as the token represents a claim on the gold backing the token. The user
is forced to trust Digix as the issuing party as well as its custodian vault, the Safe House Singapore. This
creates counterparty risk for token holders.
Gold Peg
Commodity-backed cryptocurrencies like DGX occupy something of a middle ground between USD-
pegged stablecoins like Tether (which have proven less volatile than DGX) and cryptocurrencies such
as bitcoin (which are more volatile than DGX). Volatility in the price of gold can significantly impact the
value proposition of DGX. Unlike other stablecoins, which are pegged 1-to-1 with fiat currencies like
USD, DGX’s price is pegged to a historically more volatile precious metal. Many users are interested in
stablecoins due to their parity with various fiat currencies, making them useful for purchasing goods and
in trading. It is unclear if these same use cases will apply as widely for a token pegged to gold.
CONCLUSION
The DGX token, alongside the DigixDAO, presents a novel application of blockchain technology;
firstly, by tokenizing off-chain assets, and secondly by implementing decentralized governance through
DigixDAO. DGX bridges the gap between the physical world and the crypto world by enabling digital
access to a time-tested store of value.
Digix is arguably more of a supply chain management tool for gold rather than a stablecoin. Today,
investors use gold as a volatility hedge and portfolio asset, not as a means of payment. It is unclear why
DGX would be adopted en masse as a means of payment if a more stable digital means of payment
exists. This may leave DGX’s best hope for wider adoption limited to its role as an alternative store of
value to other cryptoassets, like bitcoin.
62
DIGIX
TICKER(S) DGX OWNERSHIP DIGIXGLOBAL PTE LTD
LAUNCH DATE 2018 LEGAL ENTITY Public Company; based in

Singapore
LIVE (YES/NO) Yes
LEGAL JURISDICTION Singapore
(COUNTRY)
KEY N/A
COUNTRY LOCATION - Singapore

ALGORITHMIC)
(EG OFF-CHAIN
COLLATERAL BACKED) DECENTRALIZATION Low-Medium
COLLATERAL / Gold AUTOMATION Medium

RESERVES TYPE
COMPLEXITY - Low
UPSIDE Yes STABILITY MECHANISM
PARTICIPATION:
SCHEME (EG
SEIGNIORAGE SHARES)
STABILITY Price of 1g of 99.99% LMBA
Standard Gold INVESTORS (TIER 1 & Global Brain, Fenbushi Capital
BENCHMARK /
TRANSPARENCY Medium-High
DATE
(FUNCTIONAL)
BANKING N/A
RELATIONSHIPS
Adoption PARTNERS (BIZ DEV/ Consensys, Blockchain at
Berkeley, Kyber Network,
ECOSYSTEM) Maker, Request Network
GENERAL INTENDED N/A

RANK - OVERALL 386
USE
MARKET VALUE
OTHER COMMENTS/ Recently open-sourced code
LIQUIDITY (AVG. 30 $663,327 for DigixDAO 1.0: https://
INTERESTING ASPECTS github.com/DigixGlobal/dao-
DAILY VOLUME)
OF COIN contracts
RANK - OVERALL 209
WEBSITE https://digix.global/
MARKET LIQUIDITY
NUMBER OF FIAT PAIRS 1 MILESTONES / Launch of DGX 2.0 in March
2018.
NOTABLE EVENTS
NUMBER OF CRYPTO 3
PAIRS
NUMBER OF 1
EXCHANGE LISTINGS
NUMBER OF TIER-1 3
EXCHANGE LISTINGS
TIER-1 EXCHANGES Binance,Huobi, Okex
63
HIGHLIGHTS
• One of a handful of ‘fee-backed’ stablecoins

• Began trading in July 2018 on a top-50 exchange (Hong Kong-based Kucoin)
• Relatively decentralized (e.g., on-chain collateral-backed)
• Most similar to: Terra, Dai, Augmint, and BitShares
OVERVIEW
Synthetix (formerly called Havven) is an on-chain collateral-backed stablecoin system that employs two
tokens: (1) Synthetix (sUSD), the stablecoin and (2) Synthetix Network Token (SNX), the collateral-
backed sUSD. The Synthetix project is one of a handful of transaction fee-based stablecoin designs that
have been developed to date.
sUSD users (spenders of the stablecoin) pay an approximate 0.2% transaction fee to SNX holders
who collateralize the network. This fee compensates SNX collateral providers for supporting exchange
rate stability.
Issuance of sUSD requires a greater value of SNX to be escrowed in the system’s smart contract. This
feature is intended to provide confidence that Synthetix can be redeemed at face value even if the
price of SNX coins falls. The collateral ratio varies, but approximately 20% of the value of a SNX coin
will be issued as Synthetix, and the remaining 80% will be staked as a buffer against price changes.
When a user decides to stake their SNX in a smart contract escrow, the sUSD will be generally issued
in line with the ratio mentioned above and automatically put up for sale at a price of approximately
$1 USD, with the proceeds paid back to SNX holders. To release escrowed SNX, the Synthetix smart
contract system buys the sUSD (also at a price of $1 USD) and burns them from the system to reduce
the circulating supply.
Complexity
Stability Mechanism
STRENGTHS
Direct Incentives
As long as demand exists for Synthetix there is a baked-in incentive to maintain a stable sUSD price.
In other words, users who act to stabilize the sUSD price are rewarded for their efforts by being paid
the transaction fees. Of course, being rewarded in transactions fees requires transactions (fundamental
demand).
Direct incentives also motivate users to act quickly to stabilize the price because they will receive a
larger fraction of the total fees generated. These direct incentives may help avoid the potentially circular
incentive structure found in some project designs that have yet to be tested in the market (e.g., Basis).
64
Stability Tied to Economic Activity
Unlike some stablecoin projects, transaction fees offer the possibility of directly linking the stability
mechanism with bona fide economic activity. This feature may help market participants have more
confidence that growth in the use of the token is being driven by actual fundamental economic activity
rather than speculative interests.
Over-Collateralization
Although over-collateralization is somewhat capital-inefficient, the conservative ratio may help create
confidence amongst market participants in Synthetix’s stability system.
ISSUES/TRADEOFFS
Stability
sUSD only commenced trading on a single cryptocurrency exchange in July 2018, but so far it has had
some difficulty maintaining its $1 USD peg. It is worthwhile to note that the trading volume thus far
is still below $200,000 per day and total sUSD in circulation is valued at a little bit more than $1m,
meaning it may be premature to draw long-term conclusions about the stability and performance of
sUSD in the market based on only a few weeks of data. However, average daily trading volume has
been declining since launch.
Fee-Based Adoption Incentivization Model

Since the transaction fee percentage is low, one can argue that the fee-based model does not provide
competitive returns to supporters when compared to other cryptocurrency projects. For example,
even if annual transaction volume reaches $15 billion, a 0.15% transaction fee would yield $22.5 million
in pre-tax fee revenue. In other words, given the current circulating supply of 64 million (or max. 100
million circulation cap), Synthetix may not generate sufficient returns for investors when compared
to other projects seemingly offering more upside. One could argue that another advantage could be
potential price appreciation of the SNX token.
Collateralization Ratio
Transaction fees are distributed in proportion with how effectively each issuer reacts to the changing
collateralization ratio. The Synthetix system monitors the sUSD price and responds by adjusting its
targeted global supply, and individual issuers (Synthetix stakers) are incentivised to adjust their collateral
ratio.
For instance, if the value of sUSD drops below the desired peg, SNX holders in essence need to burn
sUSD to create upward pressure on the sUSD price in return for an increased allocation of transaction
fees. However, during any black swan event, it is unclear whether market participants will have sufficient
confidence to burn their stablecoins/fiat to save the peg if both the value of SNX and sUSD are falling
sharply in the secondary market. Furthermore, unless there is a convenient mechanism for investors to
adjust the collateral ratio constantly a substantial number of SNX holders may not respond to changes
in the target collateralization rate, and this would adversely impact the stability of sUSD.
Possible Reliance on Securing Large Partnerships

The success of the fee-based approach may rely heavily on actual adoption and use cases in the market,
i.e., adding large e-commerce partners to the ecosystem who can create incentives for spending the
stablecoin and driving adoption. Whether large e-commerce platforms will join the Synthetix network
when they can create their own stablecoin – under their own control and brand – is an open question.
Unlike the similar Terra stablecoin, Synthetix lacks strong ties to large e-commerce platforms, raising
65
questions over whether the Synthetix team can win enough partnerships fast enough to achieve the
necessary dominance and network effect.
Over-Collateralization
Although over-collateralization helps to provide confidence during a downturn, it is an inefficient
deployment of capital and may limit its ability to scale when compared to some competitors.
CONCLUSION
Synthetix’s relatively-decentralized and revenue-generating design presents an intriguing stability

mechanism. However, the launch is arguably off to a somewhat rocky start, and Synthetix’s ultimate
success may hinge less on its design than the project team’s business development prowess (e.g.,
success in securing e-commerce relationships), where it appears to be at a disadvantage to other
projects.
Like other crypto collateral-backed stablecoins, the sUSD stablecoin is subject to the volatility of its
backing asset. As such, Synthetix must be over-collateralized to protect against any irregular volatility.
However, such over-collateralization does not protect against black swan events that would cause the
coin to become under-collateralized. No stablecoin design developed to date is without its tradeoffs.
Only time will tell whether the tradeoffs chosen by the fee-based model employed by Synthetix are on
balance the correct ones.
66
SYNTHETIX
TICKER(S) sUSD OWNERSHIP Havven
LAUNCH DATE 2018 LEGAL ENTITY Havven - not-for-profit based

in Singapore
LIVE (YES/NO) Yes
LEGAL JURISDICTION Singapore
(COUNTRY)
KEY N/A
COUNTRY LOCATION - Australia

ALGORITHMIC)
PLATFORM (EG Ethereum, EOS (Q1 2019)
SUB-CATEGORY On-Chain Collateral Backed ETHEREUM)
(EG OFF-CHAIN
COLLATERAL BACKED) DECENTRALIZATION Medium-High
COLLATERAL / Cryptoassets (SNX token) AUTOMATION Medium-High

RESERVES TYPE
COMPLEXITY - High
UPSIDE Yes STABILITY MECHANISM
PARTICIPATION:
SCHEME (EG
SEIGNIORAGE SHARES)
STABILITY USD (+ other fiat currencies)
BENCHMARK / INVESTORS (TIER 1 & Blocktower, Alphablock
Investments, Blockasset
REFERENCE PEG OTHERS) Digital asset management,
GBIC, AlphaCoin Fund
TRANSPARENCY High
FUNDING RAISED TO 30,000,000
(FUNCTIONAL)
DATE
BANKING N/A
MARKET VALUE $2,719,000 PARTNERS (BIZ DEV/ Dether, Market Protocol,

Intimate.io, Groundhog,
ECOSYSTEM) Elysian, ARAW
RANK - OVERALL 486
MARKET VALUE
USE
LIQUIDITY (AVG. 30 $8,000
DAILY VOLUME) OTHER COMMENTS/ N/A
INTERESTING ASPECTS
RANK - OVERALL 742 OF COIN
MARKET LIQUIDITY
WEBSITE https://synthetix.io/
NUMBER OF FIAT PAIRS 0
MILESTONES / N/A
NUMBER OF CRYPTO 8 NOTABLE EVENTS
PAIRS
NUMBER OF 4
EXCHANGE LISTINGS
NUMBER OF TIER-1 0
EXCHANGE LISTINGS
TIER-1 EXCHANGES 0
67
HIGHLIGHTS
• Multi-currency and multi-asset (fixed income) off-chain collateral backed

• Only live stablecoin currently pegged to inflation
• Utilizes fixed income investments to generate a positive return to maintain peg
• Most similar to: Tether, TrueUSD, Saga, Monerium, USD Coin
OVERVIEW
AAA Reserve Currency (AAA) is an off-chain, fiat-collateralized stablecoin. AAA claims to be the most
stable of all live stablecoins and three times less volatile than USD since its launch in January 2018.
AAA is designed to hold multiple fiat currencies, such as the US dollar, sterling and yen, along with fixed
income assets (e.g., British gilts or other AAA-rated credit investments) as collateral backing for the
value of AAA coins. Proceeds raised from the sale of the AAA ERC20 token are invested back into
these asset categories, with the diversified lending and fixed income investments expected to produce
a positive investment return that offsets the loss of purchasing power of the fiat currencies held in
the portfolio. This expected positive investment return is what will enable AAA to maintain its peg to
inflation.
The issuing of AAA coins is overseen by Arc Fiduciary Ltd, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) registered in
Jersey (the Bailiwick of Jersey) that operates as a not-for-profit.
Complexity
Stability Mechanism
Low Low Low-Medium No
AAA Price
$1.01
$1.00
$0.99
$0.98
$0.97
$0.96
$0.95
$0.94
$0.93
$0.92
1/26/18 2/26/18 3/26/18 4/26/18 5/26/18 6/26/18 7/26/18
68
STRENGTHS
Superior Store of Value and Unit of Account

At present, AAA is the only live stablecoin that is pegged to inflation. This makes AAA arguably both
a superior store of value and unit of account versus other stablecoins pegged to the US dollar, which
loses approximately 2% of its purchasing power per year. With its fixed income portfolio, the SPV
holding AAA’s reserve collateral is expected to produce a positive investment return that offsets the
loss of purchasing power of the fiat currencies in the portfolio, enabling AAA to maintain its peg to
inflation (the average inflation for G-10 countries).
Diversified Stability Mechanism

The AAA model seeks stability from multiple fiat currencies as well as fixed income assets like UK gilts
and other high-quality bonds. Given continuous fluctuations across different fiat currencies, a basket of
diverse, real assets may provide additional layers of stability beyond other stablecoins that are backed
by a single fiat currency.

instruments like AAA, and it is with these institutions where AAA may have a significant advantage over
other stablecoins. AAA is operating within the regulatory framework of Jersey and can take advantage
of its financial passporting rights.
Proven Stability Mechanism

Like many other stablecoins, AAA Reserve uses an off-chain collateral model, which in some ways
is much simpler than either on-chain collateral or algorithmic models. It is easy to understand how
exchange rate stability for stablecoins like AAA is achieved.
Non-Profit Structure
The AAA SPV operates as a not-for-profit, which eliminates potential incentives to game/attack
seigniorage share-style stablecoins.
ISSUES/TRADEOFFS
Counterparty Risk
Like Tether and other off-chain stablecoins, AAA is centralized through its reliance on AAA Fiduciary
Ltd., making AAA subject to counterparty risk. For example, if AAA Fiduciary Ltd were to ever fail or
experience fraud the value of the AAA stablecoin would likely drop.
Liquidity and Lack of Exchange Support

The AAA Reserve coin is much less popular than some live competitors, such as Dai, Tether, and
TrueUSD. A central value proposition for stablecoins is their usage for trading and across blockchain-
based applications, making the liquidity and the popularity of a given stablecoin a significant determinant
in its success. AAA is lagging behind its live competitors in these areas.
Limited Income or Profit Upside for AAA holders

While the inflation peg allows AAA holders to potentially outperform holders of other fiat-backed
stablecoins or non-or-low interest-bearing cash deposits, the upside for AAA holders appears lower
than other seigniorage share-style or fee-backed stablecoins. The lack of upside for AAA holders on the
growing use of AAA may reduce adoption interest amongst speculators and network effect dynamics.
69
CONCLUSION
The AAA model offers a potentially superior store of value and unit of account versus other
stablecoins. No other stablecoin at present is pegged to inflation, and many designs would have
difficulty making the transition to an inflation peg without making significant structural changes.
AAA’s structure may therefore give it an edge for certain use cases, such as low risk investments like
savings retirement accounts, as well as for benchmarking and performance measurement over time.
AAA’s multi-currency purchase options could also make it an attractive on-off ramp from fiat to
cryptocurrencies (and vice versa).
AAA’s main challenge is rapidly growing stablecoin competition. While a separate commercialization
vehicle was recently established to drive greater use, AAA will continue to suffer criticism (like Tether
and other similar off-chain collateral models) for its relative lack of decentralization (counterparty risk)
and trivial technical innovation.
70
AAA RESERVE
TICKER(S) AAA OWNERSHIP Collateral is owned by Arc
Fiduciary Ltd, with AFL being
controlled by a special
LAUNCH DATE Dec. 2017 purpose trust, which has no
beneficiaries (so is bankruptcy
remote) and solely exists
LIVE (YES/NO) Yes
to facilitate a stable priced
cryptocurrency
KEY Pegged to inflation, diversified
fiat and fixed income LEGAL ENTITY Non-Profit
DIFFERENTIATOR(S) collateral
LEGAL JURISDICTION Jersey (Bailiwich of Jersey)
(COUNTRY)
Format
REGULATORY STATUS AAA coins are a debt-security
TOP-LEVEL CATEGORY Asset-backed issued in accordance with
Jersey FSC regulations.
(ASSET-BACKED VS.
ALGORITHMIC) COUNTRY LOCATION - UK
HQ/PRIMARY TEAM
(EG OFF-CHAIN
COLLATERAL BACKED) Technology
COLLATERAL / Multi-currency (USD, EUR, PLATFORM (EG Ethereum
GBP, YEN), fixed income
RESERVES TYPE ETHEREUM)
UPSIDE No DECENTRALIZATION Low

PARTICIPATION:
GOVERNANCE TOKEN, AUTOMATION Low
SCHEME (EG COMPLEXITY - Low
SEIGNIORAGE SHARES) STABILITY MECHANISM
STABILITY Real-terms: G10 inflation OPEN SOURCE (YES = Yes

BENCHMARK / FULL / PARTIAL)
REFERENCE PEG
TRANSPARENCY Low-Medium Investors, Team & Partners

(FUNCTIONAL)
INVESTORS (TIER 1 & BondMason
OTHERS)
Adoption FUNDING RAISED TO N/A

DATE
MARKET VALUE $65,000
BANKING N/A
RELATIONSHIPS
RANK - OVERALL N/A
MARKET VALUE PARTNERS (BIZ DEV/ N/A
ECOSYSTEM)
DAILY VOLUME) GENERAL INTENDED Providing loans, borrowing
funds, save money and
USE store value or as alternative
RANK - OVERALL N/A
method of payment
MARKET LIQUIDITY
OTHER COMMENTS/ N/A
INTERESTING ASPECTS
OF COIN
NUMBER OF CRYPTO N/A
PAIRS WEBSITE https://www.aaareserve.com/
NUMBER OF N/A MILESTONES / N/A

EXCHANGE LISTINGS NOTABLE EVENTS
NUMBER OF TIER-1 N/A
EXCHANGE LISTINGS
TIER-1 EXCHANGES N/A
71
HIGHLIGHTS
• Decentralized Seigniorage Shares model

• One of the first cryptocurrencies to build on Hedera Hashgraph
• Will launch as a hybrid (algorithmic/fiat-backed)
• Most similar to: Basis, Ampleforth, and Kowala
OVERVIEW
Carbon is a non-collateralized, seigniorage shares model stablecoin that utilizes two tokens: (1) Carbon
stablecoin and (2) Carbon Credit token (“Carbon Credit”).
When demand is falling for the Carbon stablecoin (i.e., trading below the 1 USD peg) Carbon Credits
are auctioned off via a reverse Dutch auction smart contract to market participants who are willing to
burn their stablecoins. The Carbon Credit holders are later rewarded during the expansion cycle when
the stablecoin demand increases beyond the peg ratio. When the demand for the Carbon stablecoin
increases (i.e., its price is higher than the $1 peg) newly minted stablecoins are distributed to Carbon
Credit holders on a pro-rata basis, creating downward pressure to push the price back to the peg.
Complexity
Stability Mechanism
STRENGTHS
Seigniorage Model
Similar to Basis, the seigniorage model is more decentralized and non-collateralized compared to other
existing IOU/crypto-backed models. That is, Carbon doesn’t need to hold fiat in centralized banks or
hold fluctuating cryptocurrencies as collaterals. Carbon slightly modifies the seigniorage shares model
allowing users to freeze portions of their funds to manage contraction and growth cycles.
Attractive Cryptoeconomics (compared to Basis)

During a price downturn (e.g., stablecoin price declines to $0.85), the upside for Basis bondholders
is capped at 15% if the bonds can be redeemed at par without expiration. Any further upside (when
trading above the peg) goes to Basis shareholders - who directly contributed towards arresting the peg
break - instead of the bondholders.
In contrast, the Carbon system gives 100% of the upside to users who helped the system to contract
through burning their tokens. If the Carbon stablecoin was trading at the same price ($0.85), the
Carbon Credit holders will receive uncapped upside to their investment (i.e., potentially receive
unlimited newly minted coin on a pro-rata basis), and therefore Carbon theoretically yields significantly
higher returns during the expansion cycle. Furthermore, there is a risk and uncertainty that the Basis
bonds may not be redeemed and thus expire after five years. This uncertainty impacts the risk/reward
profile for Basis bonds and could cause its secondary market to become relatively illiquid compared to
the Carbon Credit market.
72
Scalability and First Mover Benefits from Utilizing Hashgraph
Carbon will use Hedera Hashgraph, which can in theory achieve a much faster throughput compared
to a blockchain-based stablecoin (e.g., up to 50-100k+ transactions/second compared to, say, bitcoin’s
approximately 7 transactions/second). Development is taking place on Ethereum as Hedera Hashgraph
will support the ETH virtual machine. Interoperability is central to Carbon’s management strategy
and should help Carbon move value amongst ecosystems. As one of the first cryptocurrencies to
commit to utilizing Hashgraph, Carbon may be well positioned to serve as the preferred stablecoin on
Hashgraph. However, it also leaves Carbon exposed to Hashgraph’s launch roadmap (expected in Q1-
Q2 2019) and the inherent limitations of Hashgraph protocol rules, as noted below.
ISSUES/TRADEOFFS
Funding and Reserve Ratio

When compared to other similar stablecoin projects such as Basis (which raised ~$130 million), the
Carbon team has only raised $2M. The lack of funding may make it difficult for Carbon to challenge
similar but more well-funded projects in areas where funding can play an important role (e.g., initial
market adoption, interest, partnerships).
Although the white paper does not discuss the stability reserve, it appears in one of the online postings
made by the Carbon team that they will have 30% of the market cap as its stability reserve. It is unclear
whether 30% of the relatively small market cap will be sufficient to protect the peg in its early stages of
network life.
Controversial Pricing Oracle Design

Every 24 hours, a Schelling point scheme is initiated where nodes submit bids for what they believe
is the correct exchange rate for Carbon. Anyone who bids outside the 25th and 75th percentiles will
have their balances deducted and given to the bidders whose bids fall within the 25-75th percentile.
This confiscation of collateral may work against Carbon and ultimately deter broader participation. For
example, even if a node reports a price that is a few basis points beyond the 25-75th percentile, the
imposed penalties might be deemed as too severe.
Potential Post-Launch Manipulation

One of the general concerns with algorithmic stablecoins is the risk that actors may attempt to
manipulate the system, particularly while the market cap is relatively small. Any break in a stablecoin’s
peg, regardless of the explanation, may cause a potential crisis in confidence and reduction in demand.
During such a crisis for Carbon, market participants may be less likely to burn their dollars/stablecoins
to save the network and obtain Carbon Credit tokens, which could become worthless should the
entire system collapse.
Centralization (Hedera Hashgraph Protocol)

While the Hashgraph protocol offers potential advantages, particularly around capacity, Hashgraph
is a ‘permissioned’ (more centralized) protocol run by a limited number of nodes (39 are currently
planned). There are also concerns around the relationship between Hashgraph and the Carbon
team, some of whom used to work on the Hashgraph team. More specifically, there is a concern that
Hashgraph team members or close insiders may assume dominant Carbon node roles, which would
allow them to acquire the majority of processing fees and hold significant influence over future decision
making for both protocols.
73
CONCLUSION
Among the different stablecoin projects, Carbon stands out for its innovative approach. However,
Carbon will be challenging to implement successfully in its own right, and the project is also relying on
the new Hashgraph decentralized ledger that has yet to launch and prove its reliability. There are also
concerns around whether Carbon can prevent successful gaming/attacks.
74
CARBON
Overview Technology
TICKER(S) CUSD OWNERSHIP Carbon-12 Labs
LAUNCH DATE 12 Sep 2018 LEGAL ENTITY Delaware Corp.

(COUNTRY)
KEY N/A
HQ/PRIMARY TEAM
Format
TOP-LEVEL CATEGORY Hybrid at launch, ultimately
(ASSET-BACKED VS. Algorithmic Technology
ALGORITHMIC)
PLATFORM (EG Ethereum initially, still
interested in Hedera
SUB-CATEGORY Seigniorage Shares ETHEREUM) Hashgraph, interoperable
(EG OFF-CHAIN longer-term
COLLATERAL BACKED)
COLLATERAL / Fiat at launch
RESERVES TYPE AUTOMATION Medium-High
UPSIDE Yes COMPLEXITY - High

GOVERNANCE TOKEN, OPEN SOURCE (YES = No
SCHEME (EG
SEIGNIORAGE SHARES)
STABILITY
BENCHMARK /
USD
REFERENCE PEG
INVESTORS (TIER 1 & The Fund, FirstMark, General
Catalyst, Digital Currency
OTHERS) Group, Plug and Play
TRANSPARENCY High
(FUNCTIONAL) FUNDING RAISED TO $2,000,000
DATE
Adoption BANKING N/A

RELATIONSHIPS
MARKET VALUE N/A
PARTNERS (BIZ DEV/ Hedera Hashgraph
ECOSYSTEM)
RANK - OVERALL N/A
MARKET VALUE GENERAL INTENDED N/A
USE
LIQUIDITY (AVG. 30 N/A
DAILY VOLUME) OTHER COMMENTS/ Raised $2m seed round in
April 2018.
INTERESTING ASPECTS
RANK - OVERALL N/A
OF COIN
MARKET LIQUIDITY
WEBSITE https://www.carbon.money/
NUMBER OF FIAT PAIRS N/A
MILESTONES / Seed funding – April 2018

NOTABLE EVENTS
PAIRS
NUMBER OF N/A
EXCHANGE LISTINGS

EXCHANGE LISTINGS
75
PRE-LAUNCH
STABLECOINS
HIGHLIGHTS
• One of a handful of ‘fee-backed’ stablecoin designs

• Algorithmic and decentralized multi-currency model; maintains an on-chain stability reserve
• Amongst top-3 funded pre-launch stablecoins, $30 million USD raised to date (tied with Terra)
• Support from major Asian (especially South Korean) e-commerce firms
• Most similar to: Synthetix, AAA Reserve, Monerium, Saga, and CircleUSDC
OVERVIEW
Terra, in the beginning, will mirror the composition of the IMF Special Drawing Rights (SDRs). The
protocol relies on the ‘Luna’ asset for the price stability of Terra (the stablecoin). Luna’s supply, which is
fixed, is determined at genesis. Terra transaction fees are paid out to Luna holders, who deposit Luna to
stake in the Stability Reserve.
When the reserve ratio against circulating supply falls below the minimum (1.2:1) target ratio, the
algorithm triggers transaction fee percentages to increase accordingly. The expected increase in cash
flow, via the increased transaction fee percentage is expected to increase the price of Luna and bring
the stability reserve ratio back to the target.
Luna are essentially a non-dilutive share in future transaction fees accrued by the Terra network and
governance token.
Complexity
Stability Mechanism
STRENGTHS
e-Commerce Use Case Focus

Terra’s adoption roadmap focuses on it being used as a currency at online checkout. Currently, the
Terra project has six members of its Terra Alliance that will facilitate checkout with ‘TerraPay’, and the
project is moving forward with on-boarding partners for real-world use cases to drive demand for
Terra.
Team and Partners

The project is headed by a co-founder of TMON, the 2nd largest e-commerce provider in South Korea.
One of the founding members of Kakao PLC (largest messenger app in South Korea) is part of the
team. The team notes that Terra partners have $25B in transaction volume, making it arguably one of
the most feasible projects in the stablecoin arena.
Relatively Conservative Algorithmic Stability Mechanism

In theory, the system may hold-up relatively well in a black swan market sell-off scenario due to the
non-speculative and revenue-generating nature of Luna.
77
ISSUES/TRADEOFFS
Transaction Fee Competition

The fundamental premise of the Terra model is that it can achieve broad adoption via e-commerce
platforms and that its fee remains competitive. However, Terra may find it difficult to compete should
other zero-fee stablecoins prove more popular, or if larger e-commerce platforms such as Amazon,
WeChat and Facebook enter the stablecoin arena and are willing to offer lower stablecoin transaction
fees (or zero transaction fees), or should payment companies such as Visa reduce their transaction fees.
Business Model Uncertainty and Capitalization

The initial supply of the coin is not yet known, making it difficult to develop a clear forecast. Further, it
appears that the Terra team will not receive any money or profit after the initial ICO. Going forward,
the team may not be sufficiently capitalized, have sufficient ongoing incentives or continued vested
interest in the project’s longer-run success.
Expansion through Fiscal Spending

When the exchange rate of Terra is greater than the price peg, the system mints new Terra and takes
proposals/votes from Luna stakeholders to engage in decentralized fiscal spending for the betterment
of the system. While the project team has stated that these funds will be used “to fuel discounts in
our ecosystem of e-commerce companies”, it is unclear how these grants will be monitored to avoid
misuse of the funds.
CONCLUSION
The Terra stablecoin project is both pragmatic, with its inclusion of e-commerce platforms in the
founding partner group, and ambitious. Over time Terra will include commodities (such as gold, corn,
etc.) with the ultimate goal being to transition the Terra stablecoin to a completely fiat-independent
instrument. Insofar as Terra is a valuable currency that people choose to transact with, Luna will retain
its value by the transaction fees that Terra use generates.
Although the team has impressive backing and experience as well as growing international exposure,
its strengths primarily rely on Asia and especially the South Korean market. At the same time, South
Korea is one of the leading cryptocurrency markets at present. Should other e-commerce/social media
platform providers across the globe with larger user bases enter the stablecoin field, Terra may no
longer be as competitive, particularly outside Korea. For now, however, Terra’s e-commerce adoption
prospects compare favorably to other pre-launch stablecoin projects.
78
TERRA
Overview Technology
TICKER(S) N/A OWNERSHIP TBD - Token Holders (?)
LAUNCH DATE Q4 2018 LEGAL ENTITY Terraform Labs: privately held

company; based in Seoul
LIVE (YES/NO) No
LEGAL JURISDICTION TBD (Most likely: Asia)
(COUNTRY)
KEY N/A
COUNTRY LOCATION - Korea
TOP-LEVEL CATEGORY Algorithmic

ALGORITHMIC)
PLATFORM (EG TBD (Most likely: own
platform)
SUB-CATEGORY Algorithmic (with initial fiat ETHEREUM)
backing)
(EG OFF-CHAIN DECENTRALIZATION Medium-High
COLLATERAL BACKED)
COLLATERAL / Luna token, with initial fiat AUTOMATION Medium-High

backing
RESERVES TYPE
COMPLEXITY - High
UPSIDE Yes, fees paid to Luna holders STABILITY MECHANISM

PARTICIPATION: OPEN SOURCE (YES = N/A
SCHEME (EG
STABILITY “ST: SDR (+ commodity)
LT: fiat independent INVESTORS (TIER 1 & N/A
BENCHMARK / monetary policy” OTHERS)
REFERENCE PEG
(FUNCTIONAL)
BANKING N/A
RELATIONSHIPS
Adoption PARTNERS (BIZ DEV/ TMON (South Korea),
Carousell, Pomelo, Tiki.vn
ECOSYSTEM) (Vietnam), other e-commerce
MARKET VALUE N/A players in Singapore and
Thailand
RANK - OVERALL N/A
MARKET VALUE
USE
OTHER COMMENTS/ Strong Team with immediate
DAILY VOLUME) e-commerce adoption.
INTERESTING ASPECTS Could struggle if other
RANK - OVERALL N/A OF COIN competitors with lower fee
+ larger userbase enter the
MARKET LIQUIDITY market, or Visa etc. cut fees.
WEBSITE https://terra.money/
NUMBER OF CRYPTO N/A MILESTONES / N/A

PAIRS NOTABLE EVENTS
NUMBER OF N/A
EXCHANGE LISTINGS

EXCHANGE LISTINGS
79
HIGHLIGHTS
• Multi-currency, off-chain collateral backed

• Leaves room for price appreciation (balancing stability and growth)
• Top-3 funded pre-launch stablecoins, $30 million USD raised to date (tied with Terra)
• Team and advisors include a former central bank governor and the chairman of JPM international,
as well as a Nobel prize winning economist. The project’s Chief Economist is a former central
banker.
• Most similar to: AAA Reserve, Monerium, and CircleUSDC
OVERVIEW
Saga (SGA) is an Ethereum-based “stabilized currency”, meaning it is not a single peg currency. It is
backed by a reserve that utilizes the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) special drawing rights (SDRs)
as its unit of account. The reserve is held in a regulated financial institution where it accrues interest,
which will be paid out to the benefit of SGA token holders. The reserve backing model is variable,
starting with 100% backing in SDR and decreasing gradually as its economy grows and market trust is
demonstrated. The reduced backing is manifested in price appreciation.
Saga’s early investors hold a different token called Saga Genesis (SGN) which is a voucher token
convertible to SGA. The amount of SGA received per SGN token (the conversion ratio) depends on
the strength (demand) of SGA, but it is capped at no more than 15 SGA per SGN.
Complexity
Stability Mechanism
Medium High Medium Yes
STRENGTHS
Price Appreciation Mechanism

The variable reserve backing allows the currency to develop its intrinsic value while taming volatility.
Full Regulatory Compliance

Saga is working under the authority of FINMA and complies with KYC and AML regulations. Holders of
the currency must identify online.
Interest Payments to SGA Token Holders

The Saga reserve is held in major banks where it accrues interests that will benefit SGA token holders.
It is a competitive advantage compared to other digital currencies which pay no interest rates.
Funding and Investors

Saga has raised $30 million from reputable investors, making it one of the top-3 funded pre-launch
stablecoins.
80
Team and Advisors
The team includes Barry Topf, a former senior economist of the Bank of Israel and a monetary
committee member. The board of advisors includes three noteworthy individuals: Prof. Myron Scholes
(father of Black & Scholes pricing model), Dr. Jacob Frenkel (Chairman of JPM International, previously
the governor of the Bank of Israel), and Prof. Dan Galai, co-inventor of Vix (the Volatility Index).
ISSUES/TRADEOFFS
Reserve Ratio
It is unclear how best to manage the reserve ratio. The team defines three successive stages (Small /
Fragile Economy, Growing Economy, Standalone Economy) and suggests a gradual decrease (modeled
mathematically) of the reserve ratio as confidence increases in the Saga economy. The reserve ratio
starts at 1:1, when the economy is weak.
The reserve ratio is a function of the number of outstanding SGA tokens, and the price of the SGA
token is a function of the number of outstanding tokens. Order requests from the market cause the
smart contract to issue or liquidate tokens and these supply adjustments will impact the price.
Adoption Friction
Saga requires that all people interested in purchasing SGA be first approved through a Know Your
Customer (KYC) process, which causes additional onboarding friction and may deter some users.
However, the KYC process will also attract users seeking a compliant cryptocurrency.

Like Tether, Saga is vulnerable to counterparty risk due to its reliance on legacy banking institutions.
Centralization
In the short-run, the Saga foundation plays a governing role over some aspects of the smart contract.
In the long-term, however, the Saga Foundation does not have any decision-making authority, even
though it will exist in perpetuity.
CONCLUSION
The Saga team is comprised of several experts in different areas of study, including economics,
mathematics, and other social sciences, illustrating the view that developing an innovative, new
monetary system requires an interdisciplinary approach. Saga’s diverse team and funding ensure it
will be a player in the stablecoin space. Saga does not consider itself a stablecoin though, but rather a
currency with volatility-taming mechanisms – this is due to it being a model built to depart gradually
from fiat reserves towards intrinsic, un-pegged value.
Saga states that it is more of a monetary startup than a technology one, in the sense that the core
focus is creating a global monetary model independent of the considerations of any single nation state.
As a currency-first project Saga risks compromising decentralization and trust minimization for other
priorities. However, Saga’s utilization of decentralized technology aligns with its expressed wish to
submit control over the money supply algorithm to a broader consensus mechanism.
81
SAGA
Overview Adoption
TICKER(S) SGA NUMBER OF N/A
EXCHANGE LISTINGS
LAUNCH DATE Q1 2019
LIVE (YES/NO) No EXCHANGE LISTINGS

KEY *Taming Volatility - Saga’s
model is inspired by
DIFFERENTIATOR(S) monetary instruments
used by central banks to
build the currencies we all
use today; *Acceptability
Legal / Compliance
within the traditional
financial system - Working OWNERSHIP Non-profit foundation
under the Swiss regulatory headquartered in Switzerland
framework, Saga performs a
friendly, online onboarding LEGAL ENTITY Non-profit foundation
process, which complies headquartered in Switzerland
with Swiss AML act policies
and practices; *Governed by LEGAL JURISDICTION Switzerland
its Participants - Saga will
implement a governance (COUNTRY)
model that allows both
direct representation and REGULATORY STATUS Supervised by ESA and
efficient decision making by member of VQF, an SRO
delegation according to the supervised by FINMA for all
various use cases. AML related issues.
COUNTRY LOCATION - Israel


(ASSET-BACKED VS.
Technology
ALGORITHMIC)
(EG OFF-CHAIN DECENTRALIZATION Medium
COLLATERAL BACKED)
AUTOMATION Medium
COLLATERAL / Fiat, decreasing reserve ratio
RESERVES TYPE
COMPLEXITY - High
STABILITY MECHANISM
UPSIDE Yes, interest paid as price
appreciation
SCHEME (EG
STABILITY SDR, but with variable
INVESTORS (TIER 1 & Lightspeed, Mangrove Capital
backing
BENCHMARK / OTHERS) Partners, Vertex Ventures,
REFERENCE PEG Lool Ventures, Disruptive,
Singulariteam, iCapital, Juno,
Initial Capital, Spice Venture
TRANSPARENCY Medium Capital, MizMaa Ventures
(FUNCTIONAL)
DATE
Adoption BANKING Yes, confidential for now. Will

be revealed before launch.
RELATIONSHIPS Banks will supply daily
MARKET VALUE N/A attestation of the reserve they
hold.
RANK - OVERALL N/A
PARTNERS (BIZ DEV/ FIS (Treasury management);
MARKET VALUE ECOSYSTEM) Reuters; Deloitte

GENERAL INTENDED New money - MoE, UoA, SoV
DAILY VOLUME) USE and reserve currency
RANK - OVERALL N/A

OTHER COMMENTS/ N/A
MARKET LIQUIDITY INTERESTING ASPECTS
NUMBER OF FIAT PAIRS N/A OF COIN
WEBSITE https://www.saga.org/
PAIRS MILESTONES / 03/18 - Announcement; Q1
2019 - Publish Govenenca
NOTABLE EVENTS policy + Currency launch
82
Ampleforth
HIGHLIGHTS
• Decentralized, Seigniorage Shares / algorithmic model

• Untested monetary policy
• Most similar to: Basis, Kowala, and Carbon
OVERVIEW
According to its website at press time, Ampleforth proposes a seigniorage shares-based stablecoin
that utilizes three different assets: reserves, bonds, and USD Ampleforth. Similar to how some
stablecoins have been referred to as a “Better Tether”, Ampleforth has been referred to by some as a
“Better Basis”. However, it should be noted that Ampleforth reports that they will soon be releasing
a whitepaper for their protocol detailing a new approach to stability that will vary significantly from
current projects and the version of their protocol examined here.
The algorithmic Ampleforth protocol enables both long-term and short-term use cases (e.g., store of
value and medium of exchange) based on the protocol’s ability to automatically expand and contract
its currency supply as needed. For short-term use, Ampleforth is pegged at $1 USD. Ampleforth plans
to move from the USD reference peg in the future to a CPI-based basket, the constituents of which
will likely be voted on by token holders.
The protocol, which is built on the Ethereum blockchain, operates on a concept called rebasing, which
is a way of expanding and contracting supply based on demand. When the platform needs to grow
supply, it mints and distributes coins and when the platform needs to decrease supply, it motivates
participants to remove supply by issuing bonds.
Token holders act as market makers, buying Ampleforth in times of price drops below the $1 peg and
selling Ampleforth when the price rises above the $1 threshold. The algorithm activates when market
makers are not able to maintain this equilibrium in price. During times of inflation, Ampleforth holders
receive newly minted Ampleforth, which they can then sell. Conversely, in times of deflation holders are
rewarded for burning Ampleforth into bonds to decrease supply and push the price back up to $1.
Autonomy is an important characteristic in the Ampleforth design, with the aim of enabling quick
adaptability and action in the system.
Complexity
Stability Mechanism
High-Medium High High Yes
STRENGTHS
Addressing Concerns with Basis

The potential strength of Ampleforth can be examined vis-à-vis Basis, a similar stablecoin design.
The decentralized Basis protocol is designed to self-stabilize. However, if there is a crisis of confidence
in the Basis ecosystem, Basis holders might want to exit their positions instead of swapping their coins
83
for bonds, which are options on the coins. In other words, the Basis protocol may need a buyer of last
resort.
In the opposite direction, if there is very positive news, nothing forces the Basis holders to sell the
additional coins that they are receiving. Thus, they might want to keep their coins and accrue even
more coins because they anticipate more positive news. For these and other reasons, there is some
reasonable skepticism over whether Basis will trade at its peg.
The Ampleforth design attempts to address this issue by introducing a capital reserve buffer which will
act as something akin to a ‘moral authority’. In this instance, programmatic bidding will remove bonds
from supply when needed and when supply increases.
ISSUES/TRADEOFFS
Untested and Complex Monetary Policy

The monetary policy behind Ampleforth is untested, and the Fragment asset classes (USD Ampleforth,
USD Fragment Bonds, and Reserve Collateral Assets) and structure are complicated. Similar to
other seigniorage share models, how the coin will perform under severe downward price pressure
remains to be seen. Accordingly, the project does not call itself a stablecoin, but rather, a “low volatility
cryptocurrency.”
CONCLUSION
Ampleforth is one of a growing number of algorithmically adjusted stablecoins. Like Basis, the project
offers a new, untested design. At this stage there are more questions than answers about how these
stability mechanisms will perform over time in the marketplace.
Another open question is who represents the target market for Ampleforth? Previous stablecoins
largely target traders and exchanges, while Ampleforth seems to target everyone. Given the current
proliferation of stablecoins, the Ampleforth community may want to focus on targeted use cases (e.g.,
use cases that require an algorithmic, trust-minimized solution) and organic growth.
84
AMPLEFORTH
Overview Technology
TICKER(S) N/A OWNERSHIP N/A
LAUNCH DATE TBD LEGAL ENTITY Privately held company,

based in San Francisco
LIVE (YES/NO) No
LEGAL JURISDICTION USA
(COUNTRY)
KEY Algorithmic with a single-coin
system REGULATORY STATUS TBD
DIFFERENTIATOR(S)
TOP-LEVEL CATEGORY Algorithmic Technology

(ASSET-BACKED VS.
ALGORITHMIC) PLATFORM (EG Ethereum
ETHEREUM)
SUB-CATEGORY Algorithmic (single coin
system) DECENTRALIZATION Medium
(EG OFF-CHAIN
COLLATERAL BACKED)
AUTOMATION High-Medium
COLLATERAL / N/A
RESERVES TYPE COMPLEXITY - High
STABILITY MECHANISM
UPSIDE Yes
PARTICIPATION: OPEN SOURCE (YES = Yes. Release date pending.
SCHEME (EG
STABILITY USD INVESTORS (TIER 1 & Joey Krug (Pantera Capital),
BENCHMARK / Paul Veradittakit (Pantera
OTHERS) Capital), Noah Jessop
REFERENCE PEG (Founder Collective), Michael
Karnjanaprakorn (Turing
Capital), True Ventures, Slow
TRANSPARENCY High Ventures, FBG Capital
(FUNCTIONAL)
DATE
RELATIONSHIPS
MARKET VALUE N/A
PARTNERS (BIZ DEV/ N/A
RANK - OVERALL N/A ECOSYSTEM)
MARKET VALUE
GENERAL INTENDED Alternative unit of account
that reduces volatility in fiat
LIQUIDITY (AVG. 30 N/A USE currency through shifting
DAILY VOLUME) from unit price to unit count
and functions as a store of
RANK - OVERALL N/A value for both the near term
and long term
MARKET LIQUIDITY
OTHER COMMENTS/ Ampleforth defers from being
NUMBER OF FIAT PAIRS N/A called a stablecoin and is
INTERESTING ASPECTS referred to as a low volatility
OF COIN cryptocurrency instead. The
NUMBER OF CRYPTO N/A Ampleforth protocol hasn’t
PAIRS launched yet so there are
still a number of unanswered
questions surrounding the
NUMBER OF N/A implementation of the
EXCHANGE LISTINGS protocol.
NUMBER OF TIER-1 N/A WEBSITE https://www.ampleforth.org

EXCHANGE LISTINGS
MILESTONES / Changed name from
TIER-1 EXCHANGES N/A Fragments to Ampleforth in
NOTABLE EVENTS Dec. 2018
85
Reserve
HIGHLIGHTS
• Multi-layer stability design: full on-chain collateralisation via ”real” cryptoassets (e.g., tokenized gold
and tokenized debt) with decentralized management of the stablecoin supply using smart contracts
• Large number of noteworthy backers such as Coinbase, Peter Thiel, Sam Altman and approximately
40 others
• Most similar to: Dai, Terra
OVERVIEW
Reserve is a stablecoin backed by on-chain collateral which utilizes three main components: (1) the
Reserve stablecoin, (2) the Vault which holds tokenised real assets via smart contracts (3) the Reserve
Share (RSH) which entitles holders to the revenue from Vault asset appreciation and seigniorage in
exchange for financial support of the project.
When demand for the Reserve stablecoin increases, the smart contract mints and sells new stablecoins.
All proceeds from the sale are put in the Vault, maintaining 100% collateralisation of each minted
stablecoin. When demand decreases and the price falls below the $1 peg, assets from the Vault are
used to repurchase and burn the Reserve stablecoin, returning the price to the target price.
Complexity
Stability Mechanism
Medium High High Yes
STRENGTHS
Multi-layer Stability Design

In addition to full collateralisation, the team has added an extra buffer via the Reserve Share, the equity
token. This allows the stabilization protocol to take loans from Share holders if the protocol needs
short-run capital, providing additional stability and confidence.
Investors and Advisors

The team has received funding from top-tier investors including Peter Thiel, Sam Altman, Coinbase,
and another 40 notables. Furthermore, the advisors include a former SEC Commissioner, early Paypal
members and many more. The investor group represents a strong vote of confidence in the project’s
potential and suggests support will be available to the team going forward.
On-chain 100% Collateralisation

The Reserve protocol maintains at least 100% collateralisation of all minted stablecoins using a pool
of on-chain assets, diversifying across financial correlation, jurisdiction, and issuing company. The team
intends for this to be primarily built from tokenized real-world assets, as opposed to leveraging unstable
crypto assets like Ether. Though perhaps at the expense of scalability, this approach provides robust
transparency and stability. That Reserve is collateralised entirely on-chain renders it significantly different
from most other collateralised stablecoins.
86
Thought Leadership
In a space as noisy as stablecoins, Reserve has successfully established itself as one of the important
thought leaders in the space through their blog. Most notably, their analysis of the MakerDAO system
is perhaps the best analysis publicly available. While Reserve is yet to publicly release their whitepaper,
their team’s rigorous thought process.
ISSUES/TRADEOFFS
Centralized Elements of Vault Portfolio

As noted by the team, the selection of assets held in the Vault will be centralized in the early stages.
Although the goal is to decentralize asset selection in the future, it is not clear how this decentralisation
will be implemented. It is also unclear whether centralized or decentralized selection will lead to
effective portfolio asset selection, and relying on tokenized assets like debt and gold introduces
counterparty risk to Reserve.
Asset Valuation Manipulation

Until tokenised trading platforms mature, price manipulation of Vault assets may occur with the aim or
purchasing the Reserve stablecoin at an advantageous exchange rate. Nonetheless, the team is aware
of this issue and is considering limiting the rate at which the protocol purchases and sells Reserves.
Scalability
Furthermore, there is a lack of liquidity for tokenised real assets at present, and therefore the project
may struggle to scale until adequate liquidity is secured.
Centralized Oracles
Until a fully decentralized oracle solution reaches the mainstream, the team will use a centralized oracle
which may result in price manipulations and protocol attacks.
CONCLUSION
Reserve has written extensive criticisms of other stablecoins but has still not published its own
whitepaper, and a number of questions remain about the exact nature of its final design and
implementation. Reserve’s relatively decentralised design featuring tokenised real asset collateralisation
distinguishes it from other stablecoins. However, we believe the actual implementation of Reserve’s fully
decentralised concept to be far more difficult in reality. Even with these questions we expect Reserve’s
project strengths and backers will help ensure it remains an important player in the stablecoin arena for
the foreseeable future.
87
RESERVE
TICKER(S) RES, RSH LEGAL JURISDICTION USA
(COUNTRY)
LAUNCH DATE TBD
REGULATORY STATUS TBA
LIVE (YES/NO) Aug 2017
HQ/PRIMARY TEAM
KEY N/A
DIFFERENTIATOR(S)
Technology
Format PLATFORM (EG Multi-platform, based on
Ethereum
ETHEREUM)
(ASSET-BACKED VS. DECENTRALIZATION Medium
ALGORITHMIC)
AUTOMATION Medium
SUB-CATEGORY On-Chain Collateral Backed
(EG OFF-CHAIN COMPLEXITY - High
COLLATERAL BACKED) STABILITY MECHANISM
COLLATERAL / Tokenized “real” assets (eg OPEN SOURCE (YES = Yes. Release data pending.
gold, debt)
RESERVES TYPE FULL / PARTIAL)
UPSIDE Yes
PARTICIPATION: Investors, Team & Partners
GOVERNANCE TOKEN,
DIVIDEND / INCENTIVE INVESTORS (TIER 1 & Peter Thiel, Coinbase, Sam
SCHEME (EG Altman, GSR.io, Distributed
OTHERS) Global, Blocktower Capital,
SEIGNIORAGE SHARES) Digital Currency Group, NEO
Global Capital, Fenbushi,
STABILITY USD (but can be pegged to PreAngel, Velorum Capital,
any liquid asset) Rocket Fuel, CryptoLotus,
BENCHMARK /
Arrington XRP Capital, and
REFERENCE PEG about 40 others
TRANSPARENCY High FUNDING RAISED TO $5,000,000

(FUNCTIONAL) DATE
BANKING N/A
PARTNERS (BIZ DEV/ Patomak Global Partners, a
MARKET VALUE N/A financial services consultancy
ECOSYSTEM) led by former SEC
Commissioner Paul Atkins
RANK - MARKET VALUE N/A
that includes former officials
from the SEC, CFTC, Federal
LIQUIDITY (AVG. 30 N/A Reserve, OCC, and Treasury
Department.
DAILY VOLUME)
USE
NUMBER OF CRYPTO N/A OTHER COMMENTS/ Recently announced. White

paper not yet out.
PAIRS INTERESTING ASPECTS
OF COIN
NUMBER OF N/A
EXCHANGE LISTINGS WEBSITE https://www.reserve.org/
NUMBER OF TIER-1 N/A MILESTONES / Private testnet recently

EXCHANGE LISTINGS launched on Ropsten
NOTABLE EVENTS
Legal/Compliance
OWNERSHIP Unknown
LEGAL ENTITY Delaware C-corp
88
HIGHLIGHTS
• Decentralized, Two-token, Algorithmic/Mint & Burn

• Incentivizes traders to help stabilize price
• Most similar to: Basis, Ampleforth, and Carbon
OVERVIEW
Kowala is a dual-token system that consists of a mining token (mUSD) and a stablecoin (kUSD). The
value of 1 kUSD is targeted to equal 1 USD, and the supply of kUSD is automatically adjusted based on
market demand. New kUSD are distributed to miners. The protocol is designed to maintain the value
of the kUSD stablecoin on exchanges.
kUSD is a protocol coin with its own blockchain. This blockchain utilizes modified versions of both the
Ethereum codebase and a unique PoS mechanism derived from Tendermint. This consensus mechanism
was developed to deliver faster transaction times and drastically lower transaction fees. Kowala’s
blockchain automatically adjusts stablecoin money supply based on demand as measured by exchange
prices. These prices are reported into the blockchain via a decentralized oracle. Rather than keeping a
fiat reserve, Kowala uses three primary stability mechanisms to maintain kUSD value stability:
1. Minting (algorithm)
2. Stability Fee (algorithmic)
3. Trading Activity (market)
The minting algorithm pushes the price down in times of inflation by minting new kUSD, while a ‘burn
wallet’ is used to decrease supply and manage the price back towards $1 peg. The mechanism, Trading
Activity, involves traders who engage in activities that help stabilize the price as well.
Complexity
Stability Mechanism
STRENGTHS
Active, Pioneering Development

The Kowala GitHub is regularly updated and the code has been on testnet with a mainnet launch
slated for Q3 2018. Kowala is one of the early projects to utilize Tendermint, which should offer
comparatively greater throughput than other systems.
Agent-based Modeling
Kowala uses agent-based software to model variations in order to test the stability mechanisms. As
mentioned with other stablecoins, death spirals and black swan events are significant concerns. While
models do not always capture real world scenarios, the team is actively refining its protocol in an
effort to identify potentially destabilizing activity and uncover unforeseen vulnerabilities itself as the
89
ultimate legally liable and responsible entity. Some members of the team have experience working in
supervisory institutions (e.g., central banking) and in the legal establishment.
ISSUES/TRADEOFFS
Community
The Kowala community is small and faces strong competition from similarly positioned projects like
DAI. As the project evolves, kUSD stability will in part rely on the efforts of traders, who can be rather
fickle.
Funding and Partnerships

While the team is composed of individuals with relatively strong professional pedigrees, primarily in
software, Kowala has not had an ICO, nor has it raised any notable VC funding. This is in contrast with
many of its competitors. Further, Kowala has yet to specify its existing partnerships, although it claims to
have partnered with several investment entities.
CONCLUSION
Overall, Kowala is both one of the more ambitious stablecoin designs, but also one with corresponding
higher-risk (in terms of the likely success of its stability mechanism). In the absence of reserves, its
stability relies on various unproven assumptions that may be vulnerable following launch. The lack of
disclosure of financial resources and partners makes it difficult to assess Kowala’s prospects at present.
90
KOWALA
TICKER(S) KUSD LEGAL ENTITY Kowala SEZC
C/o Cayman Enterprise City
P.O. Box 10315
LAUNCH DATE TBD Grand Cayman KY1-1003
CAYMAN ISLANDS
LIVE (YES/NO) No
(COUNTRY)
KEY N/A

Technology
(ASSET-BACKED VS.
ALGORITHMIC) PLATFORM (EG Ethereum. Separate
blockchain, a fork of the
ETHEREUM) Ethereum codebase
SUB-CATEGORY Seigniorage Shares (Mint and
burn) with modified version of
(EG OFF-CHAIN Tendermint POS consensus
COLLATERAL BACKED) protocol.
COLLATERAL / Algorithmic DECENTRALIZATION Medium-High

RESERVES TYPE
AUTOMATION Medium-High
UPSIDE Yes. Though mUSD does not
technically allocate dividends, COMPLEXITY - High
PARTICIPATION: mUSD mining tokens can
GOVERNANCE TOKEN, be used to stake a node and STABILITY MECHANISM
DIVIDEND / INCENTIVE earn block rewards, allowing
owners to create a revenue OPEN SOURCE (YES = Partial
SCHEME (EG stream. FULL / PARTIAL)
SEIGNIORAGE SHARES)
STABILITY USD
BENCHMARK / Investors, Team & Partners
REFERENCE PEG
INVESTORS (TIER 1 & Self-funded by its founders
and other private investors.
OTHERS)
TRANSPARENCY High No further information about
the names of these investors
(FUNCTIONAL) and how they raised money.
They apparently raised via an
ICO but it does not appear on
Adoption their website. Source

MARKET VALUE N/A DATE
RANK - OVERALL N/A BANKING N/A
MARKET VALUE RELATIONSHIPS
LIQUIDITY (AVG. 30 N/A PARTNERS (BIZ DEV/ https://canya.io/
DAILY VOLUME) ECOSYSTEM)
RANK - OVERALL N/A GENERAL INTENDED Alternative unit of account

and medium of exchange to
MARKET LIQUIDITY USE replace the US dollar
NUMBER OF FIAT PAIRS 1 OTHER COMMENTS/ Kowala has two distinctive

tokens: 1) kUSD: stable
INTERESTING ASPECTS coin used as store of value,
NUMBER OF CRYPTO 2 OF COIN medium of exchange and
unit of account in the Kowala
PAIRS protocol 2) mTokens (such as
mUSD, mEUR, mGDP, etc.):
NUMBER OF 1 (Exrates) mining token pegged to
EXCHANGE LISTINGS fiat. Anyone who holds this
token and contribute to the
network to find block hashes
NUMBER OF TIER-1 N/A is eligible to participate in
EXCHANGE LISTINGS mining activities, the Kowala
protocol uses a proof-of-
control algorithm to reward
the winning miner. Others:
They plan on making the
main Kcoin repository open
source on Github
Legal/Compliance
WEBSITE https://www.kowala.tech/
OWNERSHIP Kowala SEZC
MILESTONES / N/A
NOTABLE EVENTS
91
HIGHLIGHTS
• Multi-currency, off-chain collateral backed

• Licensed EU e-money institution subject to audits and regulatory supervision
• Most similar to: AAA Reserve, Tether, TrueUSD, USDC
OVERVIEW
Monerium is a multicurrency-backed stablecoin that utilizes USD, euros, and other currencies as
collateral to achieve price stability. Each Monerium coin corresponds with one fiat currency unit (e.g.,
one US dollar). The fiat currency backing Monerium is held in reserve at a traditional regulated financial
institution.
Based in the EU, Monerium is in the process of becoming an EU regulated e-money service provider
and it will issue e-money tokens in major currencies. Monerium is a funded project and has secured
certain undisclosed partnerships that may help the project achieve adoption by providing a bridge
between the existing regulatory environment and blockchain ecosystems. Monerium will be an ERC20
token and will run on Ethereum.
Complexity
Stability Mechanism
Medium Low Low-Medium No
STRENGTHS
Multi-Fiat Backing Options

In contrast with some stablecoins that only offer pegging/backing to a single fiat currency (e.g., US
dollars), Monerium is being built to be backed with any fiat currency.

instruments and it is with these institutions where Monerium may have a significant advantage over
other stablecoins. Monerium is operating within the regulatory framework of European Union and its
money transmission laws.
Accountability and Team Experience

In contrast with the structure for other off-chain stablecoins (e.g., TrueUSD), Monerium has positioned
itself as the ultimate legally liable and responsible entity. Some members of the team have experience
working in supervisory institutions (e.g., central banking) and in the legal establishment.
Transparency
The Monerium codebase is partially viewable to the public. As the project is built on Ethereum it could
benefit from Ethereum’s vast developer community through contributions to the code and sharing the
project’s goals.
92
ISSUES/TRADEOFFS
Centralized
Off-chain fiat-backed stablecoins are not fully decentralized; they rely on banks or other traditional
financial institutions, resulting in counterparty risk.
Lack of Buzz and Online Activity

The Monerium Twitter page has not had a post since its announcement of three new board members
in October 2017. Searches on Etherscan and Amberdata.io for an Ethereum address did not result in
any matches. On Monerium’s public GitHub, the Monerium repository only has 22 commits.
Overall, Monerium’s online presence is not as strong as other stablecoins. With so many stablecoin
competitors, interacting with and updating the public may be essential to generating the necessary
awareness and buzz to drive interest and adoption. However, the team may be somewhat limited in
this area due to the ongoing e-money application before regulators, and the Monerium team could be
working within a private repository until it is ready to emerge from stealth mode.
CONCLUSION
Monerium faces significant competition from similar and already live stablecoins like Tether, TrueUSD,
AAA Reserve, and from others soon to launch, like Circle USDC. The lack of news and active
community around Monerium is a concern. However, Monerium’s focus on compliance may give it a
regulatory edge once it does launch.
93
MONERIUM
Overview Technology
TICKER(S) N/A OWNERSHIP Private
LAUNCH DATE TBD LEGAL ENTITY Limited company, based in

Reykjavik, Iceland
LIVE (YES/NO) No
LEGAL JURISDICTION Brussels
(COUNTRY)
KEY N/A
DIFFERENTIATOR(S) REGULATORY STATUS EU regulated e-money
institution
COUNTRY LOCATION - Iceland


ALGORITHMIC)
PLATFORM (EG Ethereum but blockchain
agnostic
(EG OFF-CHAIN DECENTRALIZATION Low-Medium
COLLATERAL BACKED)
COLLATERAL / High quality, liquid fixed AUTOMATION Medium

income assets as prescribed
RESERVES TYPE by EU e-money regulations COMPLEXITY - Low
UPSIDE None STABILITY MECHANISM

PARTICIPATION: OPEN SOURCE (YES = Partially
SCHEME (EG
STABILITY USD, EUR and other
currencies INVESTORS (TIER 1 & ConsenSys, Crowberry Capital,
BENCHMARK / Hof Holdings
OTHERS)
REFERENCE PEG
TRANSPARENCY Low-Medium DATE
(FUNCTIONAL)
BANKING Partnership in place
RELATIONSHIPS
Adoption PARTNERS (BIZ DEV/ Undisclosed
ECOSYSTEM)
MARKET VALUE N/A
GENERAL INTENDED Undisclosed
RANK - OVERALL N/A USE
MARKET VALUE
OTHER COMMENTS/ Bridges existing regulatory
frameworks with blockchain
LIQUIDITY (AVG. 30 N/A INTERESTING ASPECTS fiat issuance
DAILY VOLUME) OF COIN
RANK - OVERALL N/A WEBSITE www.monerium.com

MARKET LIQUIDITY
MILESTONES / Blockchain report completed
NUMBER OF FIAT PAIRS N/A 2016; advised central bank
NOTABLE EVENTS and published smart contract
2017; e-money application
NUMBER OF CRYPTO N/A filed 2018
PAIRS
NUMBER OF N/A
EXCHANGE LISTINGS

EXCHANGE LISTINGS
94
HIGHLIGHTS
• Decentralized curation, unification, risk protection of stablecoins, protocol governance, and

monetary policy
• Automated market maker to unify the liquidity of stablecoins and simplify their exchange
• Community-insured basket of stablecoins, protecting users from the risk of any particular stablecoin
losing value
• Seeks to unify the stablecoin ecosystem and protect users from risk and ensure the stablecoin
ecosystem remains both decentralized and reliable
• Most similar to: Messari, Bancor
OVERVIEW
CementDao was founded in 2018 in response to the proliferation of stablecoins creating market
fragmentation and making it difficult for users to assess risks. CementDao creates a decentralized
ecosystem of stablecoin rating agents. The community of ONE token holders vote to whitelist the best
stablecoins, allowing them to be added to a diversified basket.
This basket of stablecoins serves three functions:
1. Pools liquidity and exchange between stablecoins

2. Diversifies risk across multiple stablecoins
3. Creates a market mechanism for protecting users against the risk of stablecoins losing value.
The ONE token is used for governance, whitelisting, and selection of collateral stablecoins through
staking. In return, system fees are collected and distributed to ONE holders who participate in
governance. Token holders can stake votes to elect the Rating Agents that decide which stablecoins
to whitelist by staking their reputations. ONE must be staked to support the addition of stablecoins
into the diversified basket. When users buy a CementDao meta-stablecoin, they are given the option
between a Standard coin or a Risk coin.
The Standard coin is a “meta-stablecoin” that can be redeemed at any time. Its value is insured from
risk by the holders of the Risk coin. Risk coins are redeemable, but redemption is not immediate as
holders will take the first losses if one or more of the stablecoins in the basket fail. In return for holding
this risk they are compensated over time by holders of Standard coin.
Standard coin and Risk coin may be redeemed for any and all of the underlying stablecoins in the
basket. They can also be transferred, stored, etc. just like bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency.
Complexity
Stability Mechanism
Medium High High No
95
STRENGTHS
Unified Ecosystem
Instead of creating a new stablecoin, CementDao seeks to build the tools needed to foster a strong
stablecoin ecosystem to the benefit of stablecoin users and projects. This helps avoid a situation where
liquidity and attention in the space becomes ever more fragmented.
Transparency
CementDao is a decentralized and cross-blockchain protocol, with the ONE token used for
governance. Stablecoins included in CementDao baskets will benefit from community validation and
efficient pricing.
Expert Insight
CementDao users may choose how to engage with the CementDao ecosystem. Industry experts
may decide to evaluate individual stablecoins and nominate the best of stablecoins for inclusion in the
CementDao baskets.
Risk Management
CementDao creates a marketplace for the risk associated with stablecoins. Users who want the
lowest degree of risk can acquire protection from users who have an appetite for it. Members of the
CementDao community may choose to take on risk in compensation for a premium, or reduce risk by
paying a premium.
ISSUES/TRADEOFFS
Governance Risk
Rating Agents in the CementDao system are attempting to provide in-depth research and audit
projects in a new and often opaque space. It may be difficult for them to make accurate assessments in
a rapidly changing space where best practices have yet to be established. Deep-pocketed speculators
or stablecoin projects might also attempt to sway the whitelisting process in their favor.
Bug/Hack Risk
By creating a decentralized basket of stablecoins, CementDao has the risk of bugs or hacks. In the event
that a critical flaw with the contract is discovered, it could lead to funds becoming trapped or stolen.
Regulatory
A decentralized basket of currencies is not anticipated by existing regulation. It is not yet clear what
regulations will govern users or how the meta-token will be treated.
Systemic or Correlated Failures

The CementDao system cannot mitigate against large-scale, systemic, or correlated failures across
the stablecoin space. If failures of one token create contagion across multiple stablecoins, this could
overwhelm the ‘insurance buffer’ built into CementDao.
CONCLUSION
CementDao is a decentralized organization that aims to assess and reduce risk in the stablecoin
ecosystem. Holders of the ‘Standard’ coin gain insured and diversified access to an interoperable set
of the top stablecoins. CementDao can promote the entire stablecoin ecosystem by curating the best
projects and creating incentives for standardization.
96
CementDao can help the ecosystem avoid some of the pitfalls and problems that have plagued the
wider cryptocurrency world. Stablecoins are designed to preserve wealth, rather than act as speculative
assets. Therefore, losses from low-quality projects could adversely impact the reputation of the sector
as a whole. CementDao will help avoid catastrophic failures that could reduce faith in the entire sector.
97
CEMENTDAO
Overview Technology
TICKER(S) TBD OWNERSHIP 1A1Z Ltd
LAUNCH DATE TBD LEGAL ENTITY CementDao: Public company

based in London, UK.
LIVE (YES/NO) No
LEGAL JURISDICTION UK
(COUNTRY)
KEY N/A
DIFFERENTIATOR(S) REGULATORY STATUS Unregulated
COUNTRY LOCATION - UK

ALGORITHMIC)
PLATFORM (EG Cross-chain
SUB-CATEGORY Meta-Stablecoin ETHEREUM)
COLLATERAL BACKED)
COLLATERAL / Stablecoin TCR AUTOMATION Medium
RESERVES TYPE
COMPLEXITY - High

SCHEME (EG
STABILITY USD, any fiat currency
INVESTORS (TIER 1 & N/A
BENCHMARK /
OTHERS)
REFERENCE PEG
FUNDING RAISED TO Unannounced
(FUNCTIONAL)
BANKING Yes
RELATIONSHIPS
Adoption PARTNERS (BIZ DEV/ N/A
ECOSYSTEM)
MARKET VALUE N/A
RANK - OVERALL N/A USE
MARKET VALUE
OTHER COMMENTS/ N/A
LIQUIDITY (AVG. 30 N/A INTERESTING ASPECTS
DAILY VOLUME) OF COIN
RANK - OVERALL N/A WEBSITE https://www.cementdao.

com/
MARKET LIQUIDITY
MILESTONES / N/A
NOTABLE EVENTS

PAIRS
NUMBER OF N/A
EXCHANGE LISTINGS

EXCHANGE LISTINGS
98
DATA
PROFILES
LIVE
STABLECOINS
GEMINI DOLLAR
Overview Legal / Compliance

TICKER(S) GUSD OWNERSHIP N/A
LAUNCH DATE 10 Sept. 2018 LEGAL ENTITY Gemini Trust Company LLC
LIVE (YES/NO) Yes

(COUNTRY)
KEY Regulated and no built-in
freeze address function, ease
DIFFERENTIATOR(S) of redemption compared to REGULATORY STATUS Regulated by New York
competitors, issued by trust Department of Financial
company entity, and discloses Services (DFS)
banking partner (State Street)
COUNTRY LOCATION - USA
HQ/PRIMARY TEAM
Format
TOP-LEVEL CATEGORY Asset-backed Technology
(ASSET-BACKED VS.
ALGORITHMIC) PLATFORM (EG Ethereum
ETHEREUM)
DECENTRALIZATION Low
(EG OFF-CHAIN
COLLATERAL BACKED)
AUTOMATION Low
COLLATERAL / USD
COMPLEXITY - Low
RESERVES TYPE
STABILITY MECHANISM
UPSIDE No
OPEN SOURCE (YES = Yes
PARTICIPATION:
FULL / PARTIAL)
GOVERNANCE TOKEN,
SCHEME (EG Investors, Team & Partners
SEIGNIORAGE SHARES)
STABILITY USD INVESTORS (TIER 1 & N/A
BENCHMARK / OTHERS)
REFERENCE PEG FUNDS RAISED TO N/A
DATE
TRANSPARENCY Medium
(FUNCTIONAL) BANKING State Street Bank holding
deposits. Collateral “will be
RELATIONSHIPS held at a bank located in the
United States and eligible for
Adoption FDIC “pass-through” deposit
insurance
MARKET VALUE $87,846,528 PARTNERS (BIZ DEV/ N/A
ECOSYSTEM)
USE
LIQUIDITY (AVG. 30 $5,992,996
DAILY VOLUME) OTHER COMMENTS/ Audit reports (escrow and
tech) online: https://gemini.
INTERESTING ASPECTS com/dollar/#reports . https://
RANK - OVERALL 17
OF COIN gemini.com/dollar/trailofbits
MARKET LIQUIDITY
NUMBER OF FIAT PAIRS 3 WEBSITE https://gemini.com/dollar/
MILESTONES / https://www.dfs.ny.gov/about/
NUMBER OF CRYPTO 58 press/pr1809101.htm
NOTABLE EVENTS
PAIRS
NUMBER OF 32
EXCHANGE LISTINGS
NUMBER OF TIER-1 3
EXCHANGE LISTINGS
TIER-1 EXCHANGES Gemini, Hitbtc, Okex, Huobi
101
BRIDGECOIN (SWEETBRIDGE)

TICKER(S) BRC OWNERSHIP Sweetbridge
LAUNCH DATE Q4 2018 LEGAL ENTITY Sweetbridge, Inc: Privately

held company, based
LIVE (YES/NO) Yes in Phoenix, AZ - USA is
developing protocols
but is intended to wind
KEY N/A down within 7 years, and a
DIFFERENTIATOR(S) decentralized network of
“local operating units” will
run licensed activities, several
already exist (Sweetbridge
Format has more than 10 global non-
profit entities), more can join
by signing a common charter
(ASSET-BACKED VS. LEGAL JURISDICTION Switzerland
ALGORITHMIC) (COUNTRY)
SUB-CATEGORY Off-Chain Collateral Backed REGULATORY STATUS Seeking licensed partners as

LOUs in many jurisdictions for
(EG OFF-CHAIN money transmission activities,
COLLATERAL BACKED) and Sweetbridge entities are
working towards licensed
activities in Arizona and the
COLLATERAL / Fiat, Crypto, Physical assets, UK/EEA in Q4 2018
Future cash flows, IPs etc.
RESERVES TYPE
COUNTRY LOCATION - Two centers--UK and Arizona
UPSIDE Yes. Part of the Sweetbridge HQ/PRIMARY TEAM
Ecosystem offering Sweetcoin
PARTICIPATION: (SWC) rewards and discounts
GOVERNANCE TOKEN,
Technology
SCHEME (EG
PLATFORM (EG Ethereum--but polychain
SEIGNIORAGE SHARES) compatible
ETHEREUM)
STABILITY USD for now
DECENTRALIZATION Low-Medium
BENCHMARK /
REFERENCE PEG
AUTOMATION Medium
TRANSPARENCY Low-Medium
COMPLEXITY - Medium
(FUNCTIONAL)
STABILITY MECHANISM
OPEN SOURCE (YES = Yes

Adoption FULL / PARTIAL)

INVESTORS (TIER 1 & Crowd sale outside U.S. to
users
OTHERS)
DAILY VOLUME) FUNDS RAISED TO $17,000,000
DATE
RANK - OVERALL N/A
MARKET LIQUIDITY BANKING In place in multiple
jurisdictions
RELATIONSHIPS
PARTNERS (BIZ DEV/ Sweetbridge Alliance
includes Mattereum, and
NUMBER OF CRYPTO 8 ECOSYSTEM) Sweetbridge is part of Accord
PAIRS Network
NUMBER OF 1 GENERAL INTENDED Commerce, Asset-Backed

Lending, Retail Payments
EXCHANGE LISTINGS USE
NUMBER OF TIER-1 N/A OTHER COMMENTS/ Two coin model--BRC is coin

for payments, SWC is a loyalty/
EXCHANGE LISTINGS INTERESTING ASPECTS rewards token
OF COIN
WEBSITE https://sweetbridge.com/
MILESTONES / Advised by Don Tapscott,

Vinay Gupta, and a stable of
NOTABLE EVENTS serious economists
102
STEEMDOLLARS (STEEM.IT)

TICKER(S) SBD OWNERSHIP N/A
LAUNCH DATE 2016 LEGAL ENTITY N/A
LIVE (YES/NO) Yes

LEGAL JURISDICTION N/A
(COUNTRY)
KEY N/A
DIFFERENTIATOR(S) REGULATORY STATUS N/A
COUNTRY LOCATION - N/A

Technology
(ASSET-BACKED VS.
ALGORITHMIC) PLATFORM (EG N/A
ETHEREUM)
SUB-CATEGORY Algorithmic
COLLATERAL BACKED)
AUTOMATION Medium
COLLATERAL / N/A
STABILITY MECHANISM
UPSIDE N/A
SCHEME (EG
STABILITY USD
BENCHMARK / OTHERS)
REFERENCE PEG
PROJECT FUNDS N/A
TRANSPARENCY High RAISED (ORIGINAL
(FUNCTIONAL) VALUE)
FUNDING (PRESENT N/A
Adoption VALUE)
VALUE)
RANK - MARKET VALUE 236 PARTNERS (BIZ DEV/ Steem.it

ECOSYSTEM)
LIQUIDITY (AVG. 30 $100,230 GENERAL INTENDED N/A
DAILY VOLUME) USE
RANK - OVERALL 518 OTHER COMMENTS/ N/A
NUMBER OF FIAT PAIRS 2 OF COIN
WEBSITE N/A
NUMBER OF CRYPTO 7
PAIRS MILESTONES / N/A
NOTABLE EVENTS
NUMBER OF 6
EXCHANGE LISTINGS
NUMBER OF TIER-1 4
EXCHANGE LISTINGS
TIER-1 EXCHANGES Bittrex, HitBTC, Poloniex,UpBit
103
JIBREL

TICKER(S) JUSD, JGBP, JEUR, JKRW, OWNERSHIP Public limited company (AG)
JJOD
LAUNCH DATE 16 August, 2018 LEGAL ENTITY Jibrel AG
LIVE (YES/NO) Yes LEGAL JURISDICTION Switzerland

(COUNTRY)
KEY Enterprise adoption (Al Hilal
Bank) REGULATORY STATUS Licensed Financial
DIFFERENTIATOR(S)
Intermediary (FINMA -
Switzerland, Germany, UK)
Innovation Testing License
Format Cohort (Dubai Financial
Services Authority)
Sandbox License (Central
TOP-LEVEL CATEGORY Asset-backed Bank of Jordan)
(ASSET-BACKED VS.
COUNTRY LOCATION - Zug, Switzerland
ALGORITHMIC)
HQ/PRIMARY TEAM
SUB-CATEGORY Hybrid
(EG OFF-CHAIN Technology
COLLATERAL BACKED)
COLLATERAL / On-chain: Jibrel Network
ETHEREUM)
Token (JNT), Off-chain: Fiat
RESERVES TYPE currencies
DECENTRALIZATION Medium
UPSIDE No
PARTICIPATION: AUTOMATION Medium
GOVERNANCE TOKEN,
DIVIDEND / INCENTIVE COMPLEXITY - Medium
SCHEME (EG STABILITY MECHANISM
SEIGNIORAGE SHARES)
OPEN SOURCE (YES = Partial
STABILITY USD, GBP, EUR, KRW, JOD FULL / PARTIAL)
BENCHMARK /
REFERENCE PEG
TRANSPARENCY Medium
(FUNCTIONAL) INVESTORS (TIER 1 & Predominantly MENA and
Crypto funds, e.g. Aurora
OTHERS) Capital Partners, TaaS Fund,
Kolaghassi Capital
Adoption
FUNDS RAISED TO $32,000,000
MARKET VALUE $5,418,000 DATE
BANKING 6 Private Banking
RANK - MARKET VALUE 341 Relationships
RELATIONSHIPS 4 Technical Pilot Banking
Relationships
DAILY VOLUME) PARTNERS (BIZ DEV/ Al Hilal Bank, Abu Dhabi
Global Market, Central Bank
ECOSYSTEM) of Jordan, Dubai Financial
RANK - OVERALL 690 Services Authority, Dubai
MARKET LIQUIDITY Multi Commodities Centre,etc
NUMBER OF FIAT PAIRS 0 GENERAL INTENDED Government issued crypto-

fiat
USE
NUMBER OF CRYPTO 10
OTHER COMMENTS/ Proof of solvency mechanism
PAIRS implies the Jibrel DAO will
INTERESTING ASPECTS hold Jibrel Network Token
NUMBER OF 6 OF COIN (JNT) of the same value as
the Jcash in circulation at
EXCHANGE LISTINGS that point in time. Ensuring
that users can transparently
NUMBER OF TIER-1 1 check that the value backing
EXCHANGE LISTINGS the assets is held on-chain as
well, for instant liquidity.
TIER-1 EXCHANGES HitBTC
WEBSITE https://jibrel.network/
MILESTONES / N/A
NOTABLE EVENTS
104
BITUSD

TICKER(S) BITUSD OWNERSHIP N/A
LIVE (YES/NO) Yes

(COUNTRY)
KEY N/A

Technology
(ASSET-BACKED VS.
ETHEREUM)
COLLATERAL BACKED)
AUTOMATION Medium
COLLATERAL / BitShares core token (BTS).
Every bitUSD is backed by at
RESERVES TYPE least $2 worth of BTS COMPLEXITY - High
STABILITY MECHANISM
UPSIDE No
SCHEME (EG
STABILITY USD INVESTORS (TIER 1 & N/A
BENCHMARK / OTHERS)
REFERENCE PEG
PROJECT FUNDS N/A
TRANSPARENCY Low-Medium RAISED (ORIGINAL
(FUNCTIONAL) VALUE)
Adoption VALUE)
MARKET VALUE $5,186,297 VALUE)
RANK - MARKET VALUE 404 PARTNERS (BIZ DEV/ BitShares

ECOSYSTEM)
DAILY VOLUME) USE
RANK - OVERALL 851 OTHER COMMENTS/ N/A
OF COIN
WEBSITE https://bitshares.org/
NUMBER OF CRYPTO 24 technology/price-stable-
cryptocurrencies/
PAIRS
MILESTONES / N/A
NUMBER OF 2
NOTABLE EVENTS
EXCHANGE LISTINGS

EXCHANGE LISTINGS
TIER-1 EXCHANGES 0
105
MINEXCOIN

TICKER(S) MNX OWNERSHIP N/A
LAUNCH DATE 2017 LEGAL ENTITY MinexSystems: Privately held

company based in Hong
LIVE (YES/NO) Yes Kong, China
LEGAL JURISDICTION Hong Kong

KEY N/A
(COUNTRY)
DIFFERENTIATOR(S)
REGULATORY STATUS TBD
Format COUNTRY LOCATION - Ukraine

HQ/PRIMARY TEAM
(ASSET-BACKED VS.
PLATFORM (EG N/A
COLLATERAL BACKED)
COLLATERAL / USD
RESERVES TYPE AUTOMATION Low-Medium
UPSIDE Yes
COMPLEXITY - Low-Medium
GOVERNANCE TOKEN,
DIVIDEND / INCENTIVE OPEN SOURCE (YES = Yes
SCHEME (EG FULL / PARTIAL)
SEIGNIORAGE SHARES)
STABILITY Unknown Investors, Team & Partners
BENCHMARK /
REFERENCE PEG INVESTORS (TIER 1 & N/A
OTHERS)
TRANSPARENCY Medium
(FUNCTIONAL) FUNDS RAISED TO Unknown
DATE
Adoption BANKING
RELATIONSHIPS
N/A

ECOSYSTEM)
USE
DAILY VOLUME) OTHER COMMENTS/ MNX/BTC atomic swaps
INTERESTING ASPECTS
RANK - OVERALL 884
OF COIN
MARKET LIQUIDITY
WEBSITE https://minexcoin.com/
MILESTONES / N/A
NUMBER OF CRYPTO 9
NOTABLE EVENTS
PAIRS
NUMBER OF 4
EXCHANGE LISTINGS
NUMBER OF TIER-1 1
EXCHANGE LISTINGS
TIER-1 EXCHANGES HitBTC
106
STABLY - STABLEUSD

TICKER(S) USDS OWNERSHIP Stably Blockchain Labs
LAUNCH DATE 6 Dec. 2018 LEGAL ENTITY Stably Blockchain Labs; Based
in North Vancouver, Canada
LIVE (YES/NO) Yes
LEGAL JURISDICTION Canada
KEY Real-time collateral view via (COUNTRY)
live feed from Prime Trust’s
DIFFERENTIATOR(S) API REGULATORY STATUS TBD
COUNTRY LOCATION - Canada

ALGORITHMIC)
(EG OFF-CHAIN
COLLATERAL BACKED) DECENTRALIZATION Medium
COLLATERAL / USD AUTOMATION Low-Medium

RESERVES TYPE
COMPLEXITY - Low
PARTICIPATION:
SCHEME (EG
SEIGNIORAGE SHARES)
STABILITY USD
BENCHMARK / INVESTORS (TIER 1 & 500 Startups, Beenext
FUNDS RAISED TO $500,000
DATE
(FUNCTIONAL)
BANKING Prime Trust
RELATIONSHIPS
Adoption
PARTNERS (BIZ DEV/ Cohen & Co. will also “conduct
weekly attestations for our fiat
MARKET VALUE $1,500,000 ECOSYSTEM) reserve”
RANK - MARKET VALUE N/A GENERAL INTENDED N/A

USE
LIQUIDITY (AVG. 30 N/A OTHER COMMENTS/ N/A
DAILY VOLUME) INTERESTING ASPECTS
OF COIN
RANK - OVERALL N/A
MARKET LIQUIDITY WEBSITE https://www.stably.io/
NUMBER OF FIAT PAIRS N/A MILESTONES / N/A

NOTABLE EVENTS
NUMBER OF CRYPTO 1
PAIRS
NUMBER OF 1
EXCHANGE LISTINGS
NUMBER OF TIER-1 2
EXCHANGE LISTINGS
TIER-1 EXCHANGES Bittrex, Binance
107
WHITE STANDARD

TICKER(S) WSD OWNERSHIP US persons, Elizabeth White
majority owner
LAUNCH DATE 6 June 2018
LEGAL ENTITY The White Company US, LLC
based in West Palm Beach,
LIVE (YES/NO) Yes FL, US
KEY No fee tx within WW platform LEGAL JURISDICTION USA

DIFFERENTIATOR(S) (between consumers and as (COUNTRY)
payments to merchants), 3
second tx time, 100% USD REGULATORY STATUS FINCEN registered Money
backed, FDIC insured and Service Business
monthly audited
COUNTRY LOCATION - USA
HQ/PRIMARY TEAM
Format
TOP-LEVEL CATEGORY Asset-backed Technology
(ASSET-BACKED VS.
ALGORITHMIC) PLATFORM (EG Stellar
ETHEREUM)
COLLATERAL BACKED)
AUTOMATION Medium
COLLATERAL / Fiat
RESERVES TYPE COMPLEXITY - Medium
STABILITY MECHANISM
UPSIDE No
SCHEME (EG
STABILITY USD INVESTORS (TIER 1 & Apis Capital Management
BENCHMARK / OTHERS)
REFERENCE PEG
TRANSPARENCY Medium DATE
(FUNCTIONAL) BANKING Capital One, Signature, HSBC
RELATIONSHIPS
Adoption PARTNERS (BIZ DEV/ Stellar Development
Foundation, Interstellar, REM
ECOSYSTEM) loyalty, Spl.yt, Debitum, REEL,
MARKET VALUE $976,000 Codex, Roger.ai
GENERAL INTENDED Unlimited fiat on/off ramp

RANK - MARKET VALUE 1278 and liquidity to Worldwide
USE C2C micropayments and C2B
payments for goods/services
DAILY VOLUME) OTHER COMMENTS/ Regularly audited and fully
transparent $50,000,000
INTERESTING ASPECTS current post money valuation
RANK - OVERALL 1118
OF COIN
MARKET LIQUIDITY
WEBSITE https://thewhitecompanyus.
NUMBER OF FIAT PAIRS 0 com/white-paper/#white-
standard
NUMBER OF CRYPTO 1
MILESTONES / $100 million USD in crypto
PAIRS NOTABLE EVENTS conversion by The White
Company, Aug.1,2018 $1.5
NUMBER OF 1 million in payments plus
trades of WSD
EXCHANGE LISTINGS

EXCHANGE LISTINGS
108
GOLDMINT

TICKER(S) MNTP OWNERSHIP N/A
LAUNCH DATE 2018 LEGAL ENTITY GoldMint PTE ltd
LIVE (YES/NO) Yes

LEGAL JURISDICTION Russia
(COUNTRY)
KEY N/A
COUNTRY LOCATION - Russia


(ASSET-BACKED VS.
ALGORITHMIC)
Technology
(EG OFF-CHAIN PLATFORM (EG Ethereum
COLLATERAL BACKED) ETHEREUM)
COLLATERAL / Asset
RESERVES TYPE
AUTOMATION Low-Medium
UPSIDE Yes
PARTICIPATION: COMPLEXITY - Low-Medium
GOVERNANCE TOKEN, STABILITY MECHANISM

DIVIDEND / INCENTIVE OPEN SOURCE (YES = N/A
SEIGNIORAGE SHARES)
STABILITY Gold
BENCHMARK /
REFERENCE PEG
OTHERS)
(FUNCTIONAL) FUNDS RAISED TO Unknown
DATE

RELATIONSHIPS
ECOSYSTEM)
LIQUIDITY (AVG. 30 $1,601 USE
DAILY VOLUME)
OTHER COMMENTS/ N/A
RANK - OVERALL 1,359 INTERESTING ASPECTS
MARKET LIQUIDITY OF COIN
NUMBER OF FIAT PAIRS 1 WEBSITE https://www.goldmint.io/
NUMBER OF CRYPTO 5 MILESTONES / N/A

NUMBER OF 4
EXCHANGE LISTINGS

EXCHANGE LISTINGS
109
HELLOGOLD

TICKER(S) HGT OWNERSHIP HelloGold Sdn Bhd
LAUNCH DATE 2017 LEGAL ENTITY HelloGold Sdn Bhd
LIVE (YES/NO) Yes

LEGAL JURISDICTION Malaysia
(COUNTRY)
KEY Gold backed
DIFFERENTIATOR(S) REGULATORY STATUS Investment-grade gold
is not regulated in most
jurisdictions including
Malaysia
Format
COUNTRY LOCATION - Malaysia
TOP-LEVEL CATEGORY Asset-backed HQ/PRIMARY TEAM
(ASSET-BACKED VS.
ALGORITHMIC)
Technology
(EG OFF-CHAIN PLATFORM (EG Ethereum
COLLATERAL BACKED) ETHEREUM)
COLLATERAL / Gold
RESERVES TYPE
AUTOMATION Medium
UPSIDE No
PARTICIPATION: COMPLEXITY - Medium
GOVERNANCE TOKEN, STABILITY MECHANISM

SEIGNIORAGE SHARES)
STABILITY 1g of gold
BENCHMARK /
REFERENCE PEG
INVESTORS (TIER 1 & Equity fundraise (500
Startups, The Finlab) & Token
OTHERS)
TRANSPARENCY Medium Sale (Fenbushi Capital)
(FUNCTIONAL)
DATE
RELATIONSHIPS
PARTNERS (BIZ DEV/ Brinks, BullionStar (vaulting
provider)
RANK - MARKET VALUE 1286 ECOSYSTEM) AEON Credit Services
Axiata Digital
LIQUIDITY (AVG. 30 $100 GENERAL INTENDED As a diversification or hedging
DAILY VOLUME) option for investors in the
USE cryptocurrency market
RANK - OVERALL 1589
OTHER COMMENTS/ The gold backing GOLDX
MARKET LIQUIDITY is held in a vault that is
INTERESTING ASPECTS audited by Bureau Veritas
NUMBER OF FIAT PAIRS 0 OF COIN and insured by XL Insurance.
Token holders can receive
physical delivery of the gold
NUMBER OF CRYPTO 3 backing GOLDX with a
PAIRS minimum redemption size of
1 gram. GOLDX is charged a
demurrage fee automatically
NUMBER OF 0
by the smart contract once
EXCHANGE LISTINGS every 24 hours.
Each person trading GOLDX
NUMBER OF TIER-1 1 with HelloGold will need to
KYC register beforehand
EXCHANGE LISTINGS
WEBSITE https://www.goldx.io/
MILESTONES / GOLDX being the first crypto
token to be fully backed by
NOTABLE EVENTS gold and certified as shariah
compliant
110
NUBITS

TICKER(S) USNBT OWNERSHIP N/A
LIVE (YES/NO) Yes

(COUNTRY)
KEY N/A
COUNTRY LOCATION - Sweden

Technology
(ASSET-BACKED VS.
ETHEREUM)
SUB-CATEGORY Seigniorage Shares
COLLATERAL BACKED)
AUTOMATION Low
COLLATERAL / Bitcoin
STABILITY MECHANISM
UPSIDE N/A
SCHEME (EG
STABILITY USD
BENCHMARK / OTHERS)
REFERENCE PEG
PROJECT FUNDS N/A
TRANSPARENCY Low RAISED (ORIGINAL
(FUNCTIONAL) VALUE)
FUNDS RAISED TO N/A
Adoption DATE
BANKING N/A
RELATIONSHIPS
RANK - MARKET VALUE 895 PARTNERS (BIZ DEV/ N/A

ECOSYSTEM)
DAILY VOLUME) USE
RANK - OVERALL 925 OTHER COMMENTS/ Peg has broken twice: first
MARKET LIQUIDITY in 2016 and then again
INTERESTING ASPECTS in 2018, leaving some to
OF COIN argue it is now a zombie/
dead https://medium.com/
reserve-currency/the-end-
NUMBER OF CRYPTO 6 of-a-stablecoin-the-case-of-
nubits-dd1f0fb427a9
PAIRS
WEBSITE https://nubits.com/
NUMBER OF 3
EXCHANGE LISTINGS
MILESTONES / N/A
NUMBER OF TIER-1 2 NOTABLE EVENTS
EXCHANGE LISTINGS
TIER-1 EXCHANGES Bittrex, UpBit
111
COIN PAYMENT PROCESSOR

TICKER(S) N/A OWNERSHIP Open Source
LAUNCH DATE 4 April 2018 LEGAL ENTITY Association
LIVE (YES/NO) Yes

(COUNTRY)
KEY N/A
DIFFERENTIATOR(S) REGULATORY STATUS Open Consortium
COUNTRY LOCATION - Serbia
TOP-LEVEL CATEGORY Hybrid: Asset-

Backed+Algorithmic Technology
(ASSET-BACKED VS. (Crypto-collateralized+Non-
ALGORITHMIC) collateralized) PLATFORM (EG Ethereum
ETHEREUM)
SUB-CATEGORY Hybrid
COLLATERAL BACKED)
AUTOMATION High
COLLATERAL / ETH, cPRO + ERC20 any
tokens
RESERVES TYPE COMPLEXITY - Medium
STABILITY MECHANISM
UPSIDE Yes
SCHEME (EG
STABILITY N/A
INVESTORS (TIER 1 & No
BENCHMARK / OTHERS)
REFERENCE PEG
PROJECT FUNDS 0
(FUNCTIONAL) VALUE)
FUNDS RAISED TO 0
Adoption DATE
BANKING No
MARKET VALUE N/A RELATIONSHIPS
RANK - MARKET VALUE N/A PARTNERS (BIZ DEV/ Open Consortium Gold
Partners x3 company, Bronze
ECOSYSTEM) Partners x1 company.
GENERAL INTENDED Fixed price tokens pegged to
DAILY VOLUME) fiat currency exchange rate of
USE ETH and ERC20
RANK - OVERALL N/A
MARKET LIQUIDITY OTHER COMMENTS/ https://
coinpaymentprocessor.
INTERESTING ASPECTS org/widgets/?page_id=1207
NUMBER OF FIAT PAIRS 5 OF COIN https://medium.com/cp-
processor
NUMBER OF CRYPTO 5
WEBSITE https://www.
PAIRS coinpaymentprocessor.org/
NUMBER OF 0 MILESTONES / Public distribution of Price

EXCHANGE LISTINGS Indexes, First cPRO token
NOTABLE EVENTS distribution
EXCHANGE LISTINGS
112
PEG

TICKER(S) GBPP OWNERSHIP N/A
LAUNCH DATE Nov-18 LEGAL ENTITY LBX Peg Ltd
LIVE (YES/NO) Yes

LEGAL JURISDICTION Private company limited by
shares
(COUNTRY)
KEY Backed by GBP reserves
DIFFERENTIATOR(S) REGULATORY STATUS England
COUNTRY LOCATION - If a client is a resident of one

Format HQ/PRIMARY TEAM of the following countries,
there may be some form of
restriction on using our
services (i.e. Peg minting/
redemption): Afghanistan,
(ASSET-BACKED VS. Bosnia & Herzegovina,
ALGORITHMIC) Burma, Burundi, Central
African Republic, Congo,
Cote D’Ivoire, Cuba, Eritrea,
SUB-CATEGORY Fiat Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Liberia,
(EG OFF-CHAIN Montenegro, Nigeria, North
Korea, Republic of Guinea,
COLLATERAL BACKED) Serbia, Somalia, South Sudan,
Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen,
COLLATERAL / Fiat (GBP) Zimbabwe
RESERVES TYPE
UPSIDE N/A Technology

PARTICIPATION:
GOVERNANCE TOKEN, PLATFORM (EG Elliptic Enterprises Ltd
DIVIDEND / INCENTIVE ETHEREUM)
SCHEME (EG DECENTRALIZATION Medium
SEIGNIORAGE SHARES)
STABILITY GBP AUTOMATION Medium-low
BENCHMARK /
REFERENCE PEG COMPLEXITY - Medium
STABILITY MECHANISM
OPEN SOURCE (YES = Partial
(FUNCTIONAL)
FULL / PARTIAL)
Adoption Investors, Team & Partners

MARKET VALUE N/A
INVESTORS (TIER 1 & London Block Exchange Ltd
OTHERS)
FUNDS RAISED TO £3m
DATE
DAILY VOLUME) BANKING Private
RELATIONSHIPS
RANK - OVERALL N/A
MARKET LIQUIDITY PARTNERS (BIZ DEV/ AlphaPoint
ECOSYSTEM)
GENERAL INTENDED 1. Global GBP liquidity
NUMBER OF CRYPTO N/A USE 2. Use in dApps
PAIRS
3. Merchant services and
NUMBER OF N/A payment
EXCHANGE LISTINGS
OTHER COMMENTS/ Unique position as
GBPbacked and ERC-621.
NUMBER OF TIER-1 N/A INTERESTING ASPECTS Different versions of Peg may
EXCHANGE LISTINGS OF COIN be released, backed by other
fiat currencies.
WEBSITE https://lbxpeg.com/
MILESTONES / First token minted 12 Nov

2018
NOTABLE EVENTS
113
MILE

TICKER(S) MILE OWNERSHIP There was no distributions,
there are 100+ anonymous
investors
LAUNCH DATE January, 2018
LEGAL ENTITY Mile Unity Korea
LIVE (YES/NO) Yes
LEGAL JURISDICTION South Korea
KEY MILE is an index of demand
on XDR. XDR value is tied to (COUNTRY)
DIFFERENTIATOR(S) SDR, IMF reserve currency
REGULATORY STATUS Non-profit organisation
Format COUNTRY LOCATION - South Korea

HQ/PRIMARY TEAM
(ASSET-BACKED VS.
SUB-CATEGORY Algorithmic PLATFORM (EG Own MILE blockchain
COLLATERAL BACKED)
COLLATERAL / XDR is tied to SDR, IMF

RESERVES TYPE reserve currency AUTOMATION High

GOVERNANCE TOKEN,

SEIGNIORAGE SHARES)
STABILITY SDR Investors, Team & Partners
BENCHMARK /
REFERENCE PEG INVESTORS (TIER 1 & There are 100+ investors, all
anonymous
OTHERS)
TRANSPARENCY High
FUNDS RAISED TO There was no ICO and pre-
(FUNCTIONAL) DATE ICO
BANKING N/A
MARKET VALUE N/A PARTNERS (BIZ DEV/ Partnership agreements

with several international
ECOSYSTEM) organizations, including
BRICS, G-Global, Global Silk
RANK - MARKET VALUE N/A Road Association etc.
LIQUIDITY (AVG. 30 N/A GENERAL INTENDED XDR is already used as money

remittance tool, its daily
DAILY VOLUME) USE turnover exeeds 40 million
USD
RANK - OVERALL N/A
OTHER COMMENTS/ Growth plan in next 6 month:
MARKET LIQUIDITY 1. Increasing of cross-border
INTERESTING ASPECTS MILE trade transaction
NUMBER OF FIAT PAIRS 0 OF COIN 2. Release of beta-version of
iOS App wallet for MILE &
XDR transactions
NUMBER OF CRYPTO 0 3. Implementing MILE/XDR
PAIRS as a tool for global trading
and money remittance in real
NUMBER OF 2 economy
EXCHANGE LISTINGS WEBSITE N/A
NUMBER OF TIER-1 0
MILESTONES / N/A
EXCHANGE LISTINGS
NOTABLE EVENTS
114
MONEYFOLD

TICKER(S) N/A OWNERSHIP Owned by Oraclize Limited
and Nikola Tchouparov
LAUNCH DATE Mar. 2018
LEGAL ENTITY Moneyfold
LIVE (YES/NO) Yes

LEGAL JURISDICTION United Kingdom
KEY N/A (COUNTRY)
DIFFERENTIATOR(S) REGULATORY STATUS Regulated by the FCA
COUNTRY LOCATION - United Kingdom


ALGORITHMIC)
SUB-CATEGORY Fiat-Backed ETHEREUM)
(EG OFF-CHAIN
COLLATERAL / Fiat in segregated client AUTOMATION Low

account
RESERVES TYPE
COMPLEXITY - Low
UPSIDE N/A STABILITY MECHANISM
PARTICIPATION:
GOVERNANCE TOKEN, OPEN SOURCE (YES = Full
SCHEME (EG
SEIGNIORAGE SHARES)
STABILITY 1-to-1 peg to fiat as required
by regulation for GBP, EUR, INVESTORS (TIER 1 & Oraclize Limited
BENCHMARK / JPY, HKD, BGN, CAD, RUB,
REFERENCE PEG PLN, SKK OTHERS)
FUNDS RAISED TO N/A
TRANSPARENCY Medium
DATE
(FUNCTIONAL)
BANKING Undisclosed “commercial
banks & central banks in
RELATIONSHIPS
Adoption Europe”. Undisclosed bank
provides digitally signed
statements to prove collateral
MARKET VALUE N/A - daily, hourly, on-demand
PARTNERS (BIZ DEV/ “A dozen POC’s in the works”

ECOSYSTEM)
LIQUIDITY (AVG. 30 N/A GENERAL INTENDED Dapp payments, atomic

swaps
DAILY VOLUME) USE
RANK - OVERALL N/A OTHER COMMENTS/ First regulated multi-currency

European project
OF COIN
WEBSITE www.moneyfold.co.uk
PAIRS MILESTONES / FCA Sandbox, Bank of Englad
RTGS Renewal Programme
NOTABLE EVENTS
NUMBER OF N/A
EXCHANGE LISTINGS

EXCHANGE LISTINGS
115
HKDT

TICKER(S) HKDT OWNERSHIP N/A
LAUNCH DATE July 2018 LEGAL ENTITY Anchor Financial Technology

Development Limited
LIVE (YES/NO) Yes
KEY First in Asia (COUNTRY)
DIFFERENTIATOR(S)
REGULATORY STATUS N/A
COUNTRY LOCATION - Hong Kong

ALGORITHMIC)
(EG OFF-CHAIN
COLLATERAL / Hong Kong Dollar AUTOMATION Low-Medium

RESERVES TYPE
COMPLEXITY - Low
PARTICIPATION:
SCHEME (EG
SEIGNIORAGE SHARES)
STABILITY Hong Kong Dollar
BENCHMARK / INVESTORS (TIER 1 & Chunda Group
TRANSPARENCY N/A
DATE
(FUNCTIONAL)
BANKING N/A
RELATIONSHIPS
Adoption
MARKET VALUE $127,388,535 ECOSYSTEM)
GENERAL INTENDED Payments

USE
LIQUIDITY (AVG. 30 N/A OTHER COMMENTS/ HKDT may be converted to

RMB on OTC desks by users’
DAILY VOLUME) INTERESTING ASPECTS requests. Original HKDT
OF COIN wallet supports special
RANK - OVERALL N/A Chinese features, such as red
MARKET LIQUIDITY envelope (gift transactions),
red envelope lottery (group
of receivers can get a random
NUMBER OF FIAT PAIRS 2 (HKD, RMB)
amount of money)
NUMBER OF CRYPTO 5 WEBSITE www.hkdt.org

PAIRS
MILESTONES / N/A
NUMBER OF 10 NOTABLE EVENTS
EXCHANGE LISTINGS

EXCHANGE LISTINGS
116
PRE-LAUNCH
STABLECOINS
TOKEN

TICKER(S) N/A OWNERSHIP Corporations based in US
LAUNCH DATE Sept. 2018 LEGAL ENTITY Regulated financial

institutions are the issuer
LIVE (YES/NO) No
KEY N/A (COUNTRY)
DIFFERENTIATOR(S)
REGULATORY STATUS Regulated financial
institutions are the issuer
Format COUNTRY LOCATION - USA

HQ/PRIMARY TEAM
(ASSET-BACKED VS.
ALGORITHMIC)
Technology
SUB-CATEGORY Off-Chain Collateral Backed PLATFORM (EG Ethereum
COLLATERAL / 1:1 backed by deposits in

commercial banks AUTOMATION Low-Medium
RESERVES TYPE

SCHEME (EG
SEIGNIORAGE SHARES)
STABILITY USD
BENCHMARK /
INVESTORS (TIER 1 & Tier 1: Octopus Ventures,
REFERENCE PEG EQT Ventures, Op bank, Plug
OTHERS) and Play Ventures, Digital
Currency Group
TRANSPARENCY Medium
(FUNCTIONAL) FUNDS RAISED TO $8,000,000
DATE
Adoption BANKING Not disclosed

RELATIONSHIPS
MARKET VALUE N/A
PARTNERS (BIZ DEV/ Not disclosed
ECOSYSTEM)
LIQUIDITY (AVG. 30 N/A USE
DAILY VOLUME)
OTHER COMMENTS/ N/A
RANK - OVERALL N/A INTERESTING ASPECTS
NUMBER OF FIAT PAIRS N/A WEBSITE www.token.io
NUMBER OF CRYPTO N/A MILESTONES / Launch Sept 2018

NUMBER OF N/A
EXCHANGE LISTINGS

EXCHANGE LISTINGS
118
SUPER DOLLAR (CP PROCESSOR)

TICKER(S) SSDO OWNERSHIP Open consortium
LAUNCH DATE January 2019 LEGAL ENTITY Coin Payment Processor -

open consortium
LIVE (YES/NO) No
LEGAL JURISDICTION Serbia
KEY Stablecoin Aggregaror (ETF) (COUNTRY)
DApp
DIFFERENTIATOR(S)
REGULATORY STATUS None

(ASSET-BACKED VS.
ALGORITHMIC)
Technology
SUB-CATEGORY On-Chain Collateral Backed PLATFORM (EG Ethereum
COLLATERAL BACKED) DECENTRALIZATION Medium-High
COLLATERAL / Stablecoins (on chain backed)

AUTOMATION High
RESERVES TYPE
UPSIDE None COMPLEXITY - High

SCHEME (EG
SEIGNIORAGE SHARES)
STABILITY USD fiat
BENCHMARK /
INVESTORS (TIER 1 & Unknown
REFERENCE PEG
OTHERS)
TRANSPARENCY High FUNDS RAISED TO None
(FUNCTIONAL) DATE
BANKING None
PARTNERS (BIZ DEV/ Gvisp1, PS Invest, GcapMark,
MARKET VALUE N/A
ECOSYSTEM) Tokens Marketplace, Joksovic,
Stojanovic & partners
(Attorneys at law)
GENERAL INTENDED Stable coin payment
processing
DAILY VOLUME) OTHER COMMENTS/ Super Dollar will always
maintain its 1:1 peg to US
RANK - OVERALL N/A INTERESTING ASPECTS Dollar. It is a decentralized
MARKET LIQUIDITY OF COIN Stable Coin Aggregator
(Stable Coin ETF) with only
regulated fiat collateral
NUMBER OF FIAT PAIRS N/A stablecoins as underline
assets.
PAIRS WEBSITE https://www.
coinpaymentprocessor.org/
NUMBER OF N/A MILESTONES / Dapp launching in January
EXCHANGE LISTINGS 2019
NOTABLE EVENTS
EXCHANGE LISTINGS
119
CELO

TICKER(S) N/A OWNERSHIP Celo
LAUNCH DATE TBD LEGAL ENTITY Privately held company,

based in San Francisco
LIVE (YES/NO) No
KEY N/A (COUNTRY)
DIFFERENTIATOR(S)
(ASSET-BACKED VS.
ALGORITHMIC)
Technology
SUB-CATEGORY On-Chain Collateral Backed PLATFORM (EG Proprietary
COLLATERAL BACKED) DECENTRALIZATION N/A
COLLATERAL / Cryptoassets
AUTOMATION N/A
RESERVES TYPE
UPSIDE N/A COMPLEXITY - N/A

GOVERNANCE TOKEN, OPEN SOURCE (YES = N/A
SCHEME (EG
SEIGNIORAGE SHARES)
STABILITY USD (potentially other fiat
currencies)
BENCHMARK /
INVESTORS (TIER 1 & Polychain Capital, Andressen
REFERENCE PEG Horowitz, General Catalyst,
OTHERS) Coinbase, Social Capital
TRANSPARENCY High
FUNDS RAISED TO Unknown
(FUNCTIONAL)
DATE
BANKING N/A
MARKET VALUE N/A PARTNERS (BIZ DEV/ Cash transfer programs, social
payments, paid participation
ECOSYSTEM) schemes.
USE
DAILY VOLUME) OTHER COMMENTS/ Little information about Celo
currently, white paper is not
INTERESTING ASPECTS public
RANK - OVERALL N/A
OF COIN
MARKET LIQUIDITY
WEBSITE https://celo.org/
MILESTONES / Public announcement in
NOTABLE EVENTS June 2018
PAIRS
NUMBER OF N/A
EXCHANGE LISTINGS

EXCHANGE LISTINGS
120
X8C

TICKER(S) N/A OWNERSHIP X8 Currency
LAUNCH DATE 2018 LEGAL ENTITY Privately held company,

based in Zug; Switzerland
LIVE (YES/NO) No
KEY N/A (COUNTRY)
DIFFERENTIATOR(S)
COUNTRY LOCATION - Switzerland

(ASSET-BACKED VS.
ALGORITHMIC)
Technology
COLLATERAL / Fiat & Gold

AUTOMATION Low-Medium
RESERVES TYPE
UPSIDE N/A COMPLEXITY - Medium

SCHEME (EG
SEIGNIORAGE SHARES)
STABILITY None
BENCHMARK /
INVESTORS (TIER 1 & Unknown
REFERENCE PEG
OTHERS)
TRANSPARENCY Low-Medium FUNDS RAISED TO Unknown
(FUNCTIONAL) DATE
BANKING N/A
MARKET VALUE N/A
ECOSYSTEM)
RANK - MARKET VALUE N/A GENERAL INTENDED Saving

USE
OTHER COMMENTS/ N/A
DAILY VOLUME) INTERESTING ASPECTS
RANK - OVERALL N/A OF COIN
MARKET LIQUIDITY WEBSITE https://x8currency.com/

MILESTONES / N/A
NOTABLE EVENTS
NUMBER OF CRYPTO 4
PAIRS
NUMBER OF 4
EXCHANGE LISTINGS

EXCHANGE LISTINGS
121
STRONGHOLD USD

TICKER(S) N/A OWNERSHIP Stronghold https://
stronghold.co
LAUNCH DATE 2018
LEGAL ENTITY Stronghold: Privately held
company, based in San
LIVE (YES/NO) No Francisco, CA, USA
KEY N/A LEGAL JURISDICTION N/A

DIFFERENTIATOR(S) (COUNTRY)

HQ/PRIMARY TEAM
(ASSET-BACKED VS.
SUB-CATEGORY Off-Chain Collateral Backed PLATFORM (EG Stellar
COLLATERAL BACKED)
DECENTRALIZATION N/A
COLLATERAL / USD
RESERVES TYPE AUTOMATION N/A

GOVERNANCE TOKEN,
SEIGNIORAGE SHARES)
BENCHMARK /
OTHERS)
(FUNCTIONAL)
DATE
BANKING Prime Trust, FDIC insurance
MARKET VALUE N/A PARTNERS (BIZ DEV/ IBM

ECOSYSTEM)
USE
INTERESTING ASPECTS
MARKET LIQUIDITY
WEBSITE https://medium.com/
NUMBER OF FIAT PAIRS 1 strongholdxchg/stronghold-
stellars-first-venture-backed-
usd-anchor-30cf88fc3eb4
NUMBER OF CRYPTO 1
NOTABLE EVENTS
NUMBER OF 1
EXCHANGE LISTINGS

EXCHANGE LISTINGS
122
SWISSREALCOIN

LAUNCH DATE 2018 LEGAL ENTITY Crypto Real Estate ltd.
LIVE (YES/NO) No
LEGAL JURISDICTION Switzerland
(COUNTRY)
KEY N/A
COUNTRY LOCATION - Switzerland


(ASSET-BACKED VS.
COLLATERAL BACKED)
COLLATERAL / Assets
UPSIDE Yes COMPLEXITY - N/A

GOVERNANCE TOKEN,
SEIGNIORAGE SHARES)
STABILITY Commercial real estate Investors, Team & Partners
BENCHMARK /
OTHERS)
(FUNCTIONAL)
DATE
BANKING N/A
MARKET VALUE N/A PARTNERS (BIZ DEV/ N/A

ECOSYSTEM)
USE
INTERESTING ASPECTS
MARKET LIQUIDITY
WEBSITE https://www.swissrealcoin.io/
MILESTONES / N/A
NUMBER OF CRYPTO N/A NOTABLE EVENTS
PAIRS
NUMBER OF N/A
EXCHANGE LISTINGS

EXCHANGE LISTINGS
123
AUGMINT

TICKER(S) N/A OWNERSHIP Decent
LAUNCH DATE 2019 LEGAL ENTITY Public company based in

London, UK
LIVE (YES/NO) No
KEY N/A (COUNTRY)
DIFFERENTIATOR(S)
COUNTRY LOCATION - UK
(ASSET-BACKED VS.
COLLATERAL BACKED)
COLLATERAL / ETH (BTC later on)
RESERVES TYPE AUTOMATION Medium-High
UPSIDE N/A COMPLEXITY - Medium

GOVERNANCE TOKEN,
SEIGNIORAGE SHARES)
STABILITY USD, EUR Investors, Team & Partners
BENCHMARK /
OTHERS)
(FUNCTIONAL)
DATE
BANKING N/A

ECOSYSTEM)
USE
INTERESTING ASPECTS
MARKET LIQUIDITY
WEBSITE https://www.augmint.cc/
MILESTONES / N/A
PAIRS
NUMBER OF N/A
EXCHANGE LISTINGS

EXCHANGE LISTINGS
124
NOS

TICKER(S) Planned (NEURO, NOLLAR, OWNERSHIP NOS
etc.)
LAUNCH DATE TBD

LEGAL ENTITY NOS Stablecoin Limited (C
87617)
LIVE (YES/NO) No 78, Mill Street
QRM3101 Qormi
KEY N/A Malta”
DIFFERENTIATOR(S)
LEGAL JURISDICTION Malta, EU
(COUNTRY)
Format REGULATORY STATUS Claims to be e-Money
regulated
COUNTRY LOCATION - Malta, Germany
(ASSET-BACKED VS. HQ/PRIMARY TEAM
ALGORITHMIC)
SUB-CATEGORY Off-Chain Collateral Backed Technology

(EG OFF-CHAIN
COLLATERAL BACKED) PLATFORM (EG Nano-Fork
ETHEREUM)
COLLATERAL / EUR
RESERVES TYPE DECENTRALIZATION Low-Medium
UPSIDE Yes. Quarterly burn of 20% AUTOMATION Low

NOS token utilized to pay
PARTICIPATION: for cash-out & other fees at
GOVERNANCE TOKEN, 50% at market rate (similar COMPLEXITY - Medium
DIVIDEND / INCENTIVE to BNB) STABILITY MECHANISM
SCHEME (EG
SEIGNIORAGE SHARES) OPEN SOURCE (YES = TBA
FULL / PARTIAL)
STABILITY USD, other fiat
BENCHMARK /
REFERENCE PEG Investors, Team & Partners
TRANSPARENCY Medium INVESTORS (TIER 1 & ICO
(FUNCTIONAL) OTHERS)
FUNDS RAISED TO TBA
Adoption DATE
BANKING Top 30 global bank + several
MARKET VALUE N/A smaller banks
RELATIONSHIPS
RANK - MARKET VALUE N/A PARTNERS (BIZ DEV/ Paymentworld, E&S, Youcal,
Arweave, TNG, InsurLab, 10x
ECOSYSTEM) Value Partner
GENERAL INTENDED Remittance, cross-border
DAILY VOLUME) USE trade

OTHER COMMENTS/ Built on DAG/Blocklattice
tech (Nano fork)
INTERESTING ASPECTS
OF COIN
PAIRS
WEBSITE http://nos.cash/
NUMBER OF N/A
EXCHANGE LISTINGS MILESTONES / EMI / Regulator backing,
Friends&Family Beta live, First
NOTABLE EVENTS
NUMBER OF TIER-1 N/A ICO investment via stablecoin
EXCHANGE LISTINGS
125
PHI

TICKER(S) N/A OWNERSHIP DFINITY Stiftung
LAUNCH DATE TBD LEGAL ENTITY DFINITY Stiftung: based

in Zug, Canton of Zug -
LIVE (YES/NO) No Switzerland.

KEY N/A
(COUNTRY)
DIFFERENTIATOR(S)
Format COUNTRY LOCATION - Switzerland

HQ/PRIMARY TEAM
(ASSET-BACKED VS.
SUB-CATEGORY On-Chain Collateral Backed PLATFORM (EG Dfinity
COLLATERAL BACKED)
COLLATERAL / Real world assets

GOVERNANCE TOKEN,
DIVIDEND / INCENTIVE OPEN SOURCE (YES = TBD
SEIGNIORAGE SHARES)
STABILITY TBD Investors, Team & Partners
BENCHMARK /
OTHERS)
(FUNCTIONAL)
DATE
BANKING N/A

ECOSYSTEM)
USE
DAILY VOLUME) OTHER COMMENTS/ Seems to be in the ideation
stage. Don’t think many/if
INTERESTING ASPECTS any of Dfinity’s resources have
RANK - OVERALL N/A OF COIN been dedicated to this.
MARKET LIQUIDITY
WEBSITE https://dfinity.org/pdf-viewer/
NUMBER OF FIAT PAIRS N/A pdfs/viewer?file=../library/phi-
dfinity-extended-v2.pdf
MILESTONES / N/A
NUMBER OF N/A
EXCHANGE LISTINGS

EXCHANGE LISTINGS
126
STABLEUNIT

TICKER(S) N/A OWNERSHIP DAO
LAUNCH DATE TBD LEGAL ENTITY Distributed into several

jurisdictions, TBD
LIVE (YES/NO) No
KEY N/A (COUNTRY)
DIFFERENTIATOR(S)
COUNTRY LOCATION - Distributed team, founder in

Format HQ/PRIMARY TEAM Canada

(ASSET-BACKED VS.
SUB-CATEGORY On-Chain Collateral Backed PLATFORM (EG Partly based on Ethereum
(EG OFF-CHAIN source code
ETHEREUM)
COLLATERAL BACKED)
COLLATERAL / ETH (+ possiblt BTC)
RESERVES TYPE AUTOMATION High
UPSIDE Yes COMPLEXITY - High

GOVERNANCE TOKEN,
SEIGNIORAGE SHARES)
STABILITY USD value on Jan 2019 + 1% Investors, Team & Partners
inflation
BENCHMARK /
REFERENCE PEG INVESTORS (TIER 1 & None
OTHERS)
TRANSPARENCY High
FUNDS RAISED TO Self-funded
(FUNCTIONAL)
DATE
BANKING N/A

ECOSYSTEM)
USE
INTERESTING ASPECTS
MARKET LIQUIDITY
WEBSITE https://stableunit.org/
MILESTONES / Q1 2019 launch
PAIRS
NUMBER OF N/A
EXCHANGE LISTINGS

EXCHANGE LISTINGS
127
BOREAL (AURORA)

LAUNCH DATE TBD LEGAL ENTITY Aurora: Privately held

company, based in San
LIVE (YES/NO) No Francisco, Panama.

KEY N/A
(COUNTRY)
DIFFERENTIATOR(S)
REGULATORY STATUS Unknown
Format COUNTRY LOCATION - Panama

HQ/PRIMARY TEAM
(ASSET-BACKED VS.
SUB-CATEGORY On-Chain Collateral Backed PLATFORM (EG Unknown
COLLATERAL BACKED)
COLLATERAL / Ethereum & Various
Cryptocurrencies AUTOMATION N/A
RESERVES TYPE

GOVERNANCE TOKEN,
DIVIDEND / INCENTIVE OPEN SOURCE (YES = Unknown
SEIGNIORAGE SHARES)
STABILITY N/A Investors, Team & Partners
BENCHMARK /
OTHERS)
(FUNCTIONAL)
DATE
BANKING N/A

ECOSYSTEM)
USE
INTERESTING ASPECTS
MARKET LIQUIDITY
WEBSITE https://auroradao.com/
NUMBER OF FIAT PAIRS N/A platform/boreal/
MILESTONES / N/A
NOTABLE EVENTS
PAIRS
NUMBER OF N/A
EXCHANGE LISTINGS

EXCHANGE LISTINGS
128
GLOBCOIN

TICKER(S) GLX OWNERSHIP RCS
LAUNCH DATE TBD LEGAL ENTITY Reserve Currency Solutions

SA, AG based in Zug -
LIVE (YES/NO) No Switzerland.

KEY N/A
(COUNTRY)
DIFFERENTIATOR(S)
Format COUNTRY LOCATION - Switzerland

HQ/PRIMARY TEAM
(ASSET-BACKED VS.
COLLATERAL BACKED)
COLLATERAL / 15 Fiat Pairs + Gold
RESERVES TYPE AUTOMATION Low

GOVERNANCE TOKEN,
SEIGNIORAGE SHARES)
STABILITY USD. 15 Fiat Pairs + Gold Investors, Team & Partners
BENCHMARK /
REFERENCE PEG INVESTORS (TIER 1 & Private Information
OTHERS)
(FUNCTIONAL) FUNDS RAISED TO Private Information
DATE
BANKING Private Information
MARKET VALUE N/A PARTNERS (BIZ DEV/ Private Information

ECOSYSTEM)
USE
INTERESTING ASPECTS
MARKET LIQUIDITY
WEBSITE https://globcoin.io/
NUMBER OF FIAT PAIRS 15 Fiat Pairs + Gold
MILESTONES / N/A
NUMBER OF CRYPTO None NOTABLE EVENTS
PAIRS
NUMBER OF TBD
EXCHANGE LISTINGS

EXCHANGE LISTINGS
TIER-1 EXCHANGES TBD
129
XANK

TICKER(S) XANK (TBD) OWNERSHIP Private
LAUNCH DATE TBD LEGAL ENTITY TBD
LIVE (YES/NO) No
(COUNTRY)
KEY N/A
DIFFERENTIATOR(S) REGULATORY STATUS None
COUNTRY LOCATION - South Korea


(ASSET-BACKED VS.
SUB-CATEGORY On-Chain self-funding PLATFORM (EG Fork from Dash
Treasury Backed
COLLATERAL BACKED)
DECENTRALIZATION High
COLLATERAL / Reserve (15% of circulating
supply of Xank at all times) AUTOMATION Medium
RESERVES TYPE
UPSIDE Yes. 35% of block reward goes COMPLEXITY - Medium

to Voters (master nodes) and
PARTICIPATION: another 35% of block reward STABILITY MECHANISM
GOVERNANCE TOKEN, to Stakers (PoS)
SEIGNIORAGE SHARES)
STABILITY IMF SDR Investors, Team & Partners
BENCHMARK /
REFERENCE PEG INVESTORS (TIER 1 & Angel Round
OTHERS)
(FUNCTIONAL)
DATE
BANKING Wooribank
MARKET VALUE N/A PARTNERS (BIZ DEV/ Amadeus Next

ECOSYSTEM)
GENERAL INTENDED Regular commerce and
borderless remittances
USE
INTERESTING ASPECTS
MARKET LIQUIDITY
WEBSITE https://xank.io/
MILESTONES / WeWork Labs
PAIRS
NUMBER OF N/A
EXCHANGE LISTINGS

EXCHANGE LISTINGS
130
CRYPTOPEG

TICKER(S) N/A OWNERSHIP None
LAUNCH DATE TBD LEGAL ENTITY Decentralized open-source

project (like Bitcoin, no
LIVE (YES/NO) No centralized entity behind it)

KEY N/A
(COUNTRY)
DIFFERENTIATOR(S)
Format COUNTRY LOCATION - Unknown

HQ/PRIMARY TEAM
(ASSET-BACKED VS.
SUB-CATEGORY On-Chain Collateral Backed PLATFORM (EG Bitcoin – Rootstock/RSK,
(EG OFF-CHAIN possibly eth
ETHEREUM)
COLLATERAL BACKED)
DECENTRALIZATION High
COLLATERAL / BTC (via rsk/SBTC), possibly
ETH AUTOMATION N/A
RESERVES TYPE
UPSIDE No COMPLEXITY - N/A

GOVERNANCE TOKEN,
SEIGNIORAGE SHARES)
STABILITY USD. Other Fiat Investors, Team & Partners
BENCHMARK /
REFERENCE PEG INVESTORS (TIER 1 & None
OTHERS)
FUNDS RAISED TO 0 - do not plan to raise funds
(FUNCTIONAL)
DATE
BANKING N/A

ECOSYSTEM)
GENERAL INTENDED Stablecoin pegged to fiat,
crypto-backed loans, bitcoin
USE exposure extension
DAILY VOLUME) OTHER COMMENTS/ Truly decentralized, not even
a DAO, purely open-source
INTERESTING ASPECTS like Bitcoin
RANK - OVERALL N/A
OF COIN
MARKET LIQUIDITY
WEBSITE http://www.cryptopeg.org/
MILESTONES / N/A
PAIRS
NUMBER OF N/A
EXCHANGE LISTINGS

EXCHANGE LISTINGS
131
ONRAMP

TICKER(S) N/A OWNERSHIP None
LAUNCH DATE TBD LEGAL ENTITY OnRamp Technologies Pty

Ltd based in Sydney, Australia
LIVE (YES/NO) No
LEGAL JURISDICTION Australia
KEY N/A (COUNTRY)
DIFFERENTIATOR(S)
COUNTRY LOCATION - Australia

(ASSET-BACKED VS.
SUB-CATEGORY On-Chain Collateral Backed PLATFORM (EG N/A
COLLATERAL BACKED)
COLLATERAL / Fiat
UPSIDE No COMPLEXITY - N/A

GOVERNANCE TOKEN,
SEIGNIORAGE SHARES)
BENCHMARK /
OTHERS)
(FUNCTIONAL)
DATE
BANKING N/A

ECOSYSTEM)
USE
INTERESTING ASPECTS
MARKET LIQUIDITY
WEBSITE https://onramp.tech/
MILESTONES / N/A
PAIRS
NUMBER OF N/A
EXCHANGE LISTINGS

EXCHANGE LISTINGS
132
PEBLIK

LAUNCH DATE TBD LEGAL ENTITY Peblik Limited
LIVE (YES/NO) No
LEGAL JURISDICTION Barbados
(COUNTRY)
KEY N/A
COUNTRY LOCATION - Canada


(ASSET-BACKED VS.
COLLATERAL BACKED)
COLLATERAL / Asset
UPSIDE Yes COMPLEXITY - N/A

GOVERNANCE TOKEN,
SEIGNIORAGE SHARES)
STABILITY Mineral commodities Investors, Team & Partners
BENCHMARK /
OTHERS)
(FUNCTIONAL)
DATE
BANKING N/A

ECOSYSTEM)
USE
DAILY VOLUME) OTHER COMMENTS/ Security token offering
INTERESTING ASPECTS
MARKET LIQUIDITY
WEBSITE https://peblik.com/
MILESTONES / N/A
PAIRS
NUMBER OF N/A
EXCHANGE LISTINGS

EXCHANGE LISTINGS
133
LIBRECASH

LAUNCH DATE TBD LEGAL ENTITY LibreBank Foundation
LIVE (YES/NO) No
(COUNTRY)
KEY N/A
COUNTRY LOCATION - Unknown


(ASSET-BACKED VS.
COLLATERAL BACKED)
COLLATERAL / Cryptoassets

GOVERNANCE TOKEN,
SEIGNIORAGE SHARES)
STABILITY USD; after 2020, rate Investors, Team & Partners
calculation will be conducted
BENCHMARK / based on the global
REFERENCE PEG purchasing power unit INVESTORS (TIER 1 & N/A
OTHERS)
(FUNCTIONAL)
DATE
BANKING N/A

ECOSYSTEM)
USE
INTERESTING ASPECTS
MARKET LIQUIDITY
WEBSITE https://librebank.com/
NUMBER OF FIAT PAIRS N/A litepaper.pdf
MILESTONES / N/A
NOTABLE EVENTS
PAIRS
NUMBER OF N/A
EXCHANGE LISTINGS

EXCHANGE LISTINGS
134
FREEDIUM

LAUNCH DATE TBD LEGAL ENTITY Freedium: established

company based in Dubai
LIVE (YES/NO) No
KEY N/A (COUNTRY)
DIFFERENTIATOR(S)
COUNTRY LOCATION - The United Arab Emirates

TOP-LEVEL CATEGORY N/A
(ASSET-BACKED VS.
SUB-CATEGORY N/A PLATFORM (EG N/A
COLLATERAL BACKED)
COLLATERAL / N/A

GOVERNANCE TOKEN,
SEIGNIORAGE SHARES)
STABILITY N/A Investors, Team & Partners
BENCHMARK /
OTHERS)
(FUNCTIONAL)
DATE
BANKING N/A

ECOSYSTEM)
USE
INTERESTING ASPECTS
MARKET LIQUIDITY
WEBSITE https://www.freedium.io/
MILESTONES / N/A
PAIRS
NUMBER OF N/A
EXCHANGE LISTINGS

EXCHANGE LISTINGS
135
NDAU

TICKER(S) NDAU OWNERSHIP Decentralized Autonomous
Governance: Blockchain
Policy Council
LAUNCH DATE TBD
LEGAL ENTITY Many participating legal
LIVE (YES/NO) No entities within ecosystem
KEY Endowment of Assets plus LEGAL JURISDICTION US, Isle of Man, Malta, others
DIFFERENTIATOR(S) Algorithmic Stability (New (COUNTRY)
Buoyant Category)

HQ/PRIMARY TEAM
(ASSET-BACKED VS.
SUB-CATEGORY Hybrid PLATFORM (EG Ndau Native Blockchain,
(EG OFF-CHAIN Proof of Stake consensus
ETHEREUM)
COLLATERAL BACKED)
COLLATERAL / Endowment of traditional
plus some crypto assets AUTOMATION Medium
RESERVES TYPE
UPSIDE Yes COMPLEXITY - Medium

GOVERNANCE TOKEN,
SEIGNIORAGE SHARES)
STABILITY None. “Increasing Target Price Investors, Team & Partners
Curve / High Water Mark”
BENCHMARK /
REFERENCE PEG INVESTORS (TIER 1 & Cosimo Ventures et al
OTHERS)
TRANSPARENCY Medium-Low
(FUNCTIONAL)
DATE
BANKING N/A

ECOSYSTEM)
GENERAL INTENDED Long-term Store of Value /
Collateral, Staking
USE
INTERESTING ASPECTS
MARKET LIQUIDITY
WEBSITE ndau.io
MILESTONES / N/A
PAIRS
NUMBER OF N/A
EXCHANGE LISTINGS

EXCHANGE LISTINGS
136
PARCOIN

TICKER(S) PUSD OWNERSHIP Private
LAUNCH DATE 2Q19 LEGAL ENTITY Parity Financial Ltd.
LIVE (YES/NO) No
LEGAL JURISDICTION United Kingdom
(COUNTRY)
KEY EU/UK regulated, and
institutional standard
DIFFERENTIATOR(S) governance and investment REGULATORY STATUS FCA regulated institution
process
COUNTRY LOCATION - United Kingdom
HQ/PRIMARY TEAM
Format
ALGORITHMIC)
(EG OFF-CHAIN
COLLATERAL / Sovereign risk fixed income AUTOMATION Medium

assets
RESERVES TYPE
COMPLEXITY - N/A
UPSIDE None STABILITY MECHANISM
PARTICIPATION:
GOVERNANCE TOKEN, OPEN SOURCE (YES = Partial - Smart Contracts
open source, but collateral
DIVIDEND / INCENTIVE FULL / PARTIAL) safeguarding is proprietary
SCHEME (EG
SEIGNIORAGE SHARES)
STABILITY USD, GBP, etc.
BENCHMARK / INVESTORS (TIER 1 & Pre-seed stage - private
investors
TRANSPARENCY High
DATE
(FUNCTIONAL)
BANKING TBD
RELATIONSHIPS
Adoption
PARTNERS (BIZ DEV/ “Technology: Applied
Blockchain
MARKET VALUE $17,000,000 ECOSYSTEM) Legal: DLA Piper
Crypto Industry: Crypto
Compare “
GENERAL INTENDED Medium of exchange, unit of
account, and store of value
DAILY VOLUME)
OTHER COMMENTS/ Experienced team with world
class service providers.
RANK - OVERALL N/A INTERESTING ASPECTS
NUMBER OF FIAT PAIRS All major fiat currencies WEBSITE https://www.parityfinancial.io/
NUMBER OF CRYPTO TBD MILESTONES / Regulatory approval by 2Q19

NUMBER OF TBD
EXCHANGE LISTINGS

EXCHANGE LISTINGS
TIER-1 EXCHANGES TBD
137
UNUM

LAUNCH DATE TBD LEGAL ENTITY N/A
LIVE (YES/NO) No
(COUNTRY)
KEY N/A


(ASSET-BACKED VS.
COLLATERAL BACKED)
COLLATERAL / N/A

GOVERNANCE TOKEN,
SEIGNIORAGE SHARES)
BENCHMARK /
OTHERS)
TRANSPARENCY Medium-Low
(FUNCTIONAL)
DATE
BANKING N/A

ECOSYSTEM)
USE
INTERESTING ASPECTS
MARKET LIQUIDITY
WEBSITE https://unum.one/#!/main
MILESTONES / N/A
PAIRS
NUMBER OF N/A
EXCHANGE LISTINGS

EXCHANGE LISTINGS
138
BITBAY

LAUNCH DATE N/A LEGAL ENTITY N/A
LIVE (YES/NO) No
(COUNTRY)
KEY N/A

Technology
(ASSET-BACKED VS.
ETHEREUM)
SUB-CATEGORY Algorithmic
COLLATERAL BACKED)
AUTOMATION Medium
COLLATERAL / N/A
STABILITY MECHANISM
UPSIDE N/A
SCHEME (EG
STABILITY N/A
BENCHMARK / OTHERS)
REFERENCE PEG
PROJECT FUNDS N/A
(FUNCTIONAL) VALUE)
Adoption VALUE)
MARKET VALUE N/A
VALUE)
RANK - MARKET VALUE N/A PARTNERS (BIZ DEV/ N/A

ECOSYSTEM)
DAILY VOLUME) USE
RANK - OVERALL N/A
OTHER COMMENTS/ N/A
NUMBER OF FIAT PAIRS N/A OF COIN
WEBSITE https://bitbay.market/
NOTABLE EVENTS
NUMBER OF N/A
EXCHANGE LISTINGS

EXCHANGE LISTINGS
139

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2019 STATE OF

What’s new in the 2019 report?

The Blockchain Team

• Format: asset-backed vs. algorithmic, backing collateral type, etc.

• Surveying stablecoin project teams

Stablecoin ratings methodology

High High Medium Yes

Technology and Licensing

Funding, Legal, and Team

Gaining investment exposure to growing stablecoin use and adoption

Indirect investment exposure

Some follow-up points on two indirect investment areas:

Technology platforms on which stablecoins run and function

Figure 1: Volatility - Bitcoin vs Gold vs Fiat

60-Day BTC/USD Volatility 60-Day USD/EUR Volatility 60-Day USD/EUR Volatility

Why use a stablecoin?

Figure 3: Stablecoin Launch Timeline

2014 2015 & 2016 2017 2018 2019-20 E

The Search for the Perfect Stablecoin

An asset-backed stablecoin design is one where some

In contrast with asset-backed designs, algorithmic

Figure 5: Taxonomy of Main Stablecoin Design Types

Traditional Collateral: 31% Crypto Collateral: 52% Algorithmic: 17%

• Intended use (e.g., short-term trading store of value)

Type 1a: Traditional-Collateral (‘Off-Chain’) Backed

• Centralized: requires trust in the issuer or escrow agents

Type 1b: E-Money

Several additional advantages over traditional asset-backed designs include:

Type 2: Crypto-Collateral (‘On-Chain’) Backed

Several additional advantages over traditional asset-backed designs include:

Stablecoin upside participation

Figure 6: Market Value of Live Stablecoins

Figure 7: Number of Cryptoasset Exchange Listings for Live Stablecoins

Figure 8: Stablecoins Listed on Major Cryptoasset Exchanges

Figure 9: Stablecoin Exchange Trading Volumes - April 2018-Jan 2019

Tether Other Stablecoins

Table 1: Number of Cryptocurrency and Fiat Trading Pairs for Stablecoins

Number 396 140 109 76 58 67 24 13 3 0

Figure 10: Primary Physical Location of Stablecoin Project Teams

“Stop trying to create money”

Figure 12: Stablecoin Project Funding

Figure 13: Many Investment Funds have Backed Multiple Stablecoins

A16z Crypto Polychain Celo Carbon

Today, interest In contrast, the revenue model for fiat-backed cryptocurrencies

Table 2: Overview of Paxos Standard, USD Coin and Gemini Dollar

MEASURE PAXOS USD CENTER GEMINI DOLLAR

Avg daily volume $73m $22m $53m

Price daily standard 0.4% 0.6% 2%

Issuers Paxos Trust Circle and Coinbase Gemini Trust

Regulated under NYDFS MSB under FinCEN & NYDFS

Fees / min size None / $100 None / $100 None / $0

Key differentiator Strong relationships in Onboarding, multiple Wire processing, issuance

Structure and issuance process

Table 3: Rating Paxos Standard vs USD Coin vs Gemini Dollar

BRAND Strong Strong Strong

GENERAL INDUSTRY Medium Medium Low

HISTORICAL STABILITY Average Average Average

CREDIBILITY OF BANKS Average Average High

TIME IN USE - LINDY EFFECT Recent Recent Recent

REGULATED Pre-issuance approval by Registered Pre-issuance approval by