Skip to main content

What types of stablecoins are there?

 


Stablecoins are digital currencies that reflect the value of another asset. These are mostly fiat currencies , such as euros or US dollars. A stablecoin can therefore mirror the value of another currency. In principle, a stablecoin can represent any asset. Typically, however, stablecoins represent assets with low volatility. As a result, they are relatively stable in value (just as stable as the value to which they are linked) compared to other cryptocurrencies.


This stability makes stablecoins particularly suitable for trading in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. The advantage: exchanging stablecoins for cryptocurrencies is much easier than going through a bank account. Investors looking to buy or sell cryptocurrencies do not need to conduct transactions through their fiat bank account. This usually saves time and fees.


Stablecoins therefore act as a link between the crypto sector and the classic market. By being tied to “stable” values, they thus facilitate the trading and storage of crypto assets. The USDT from Tether is one of the best-known stablecoins. This would like to map the US dollar in a 1:1 ratio.

The quality of a stablecoin is measured by how reliably it reflects the value of an asset. A stablecoin that represents the euro, for example, should deviate as little as possible from the original in order to function as a solid currency and unit of account. There are currently three different methods to achieve this:


Protection through classic assets

Cryptocurrency hedging

Algorithmic validation

Protection through classic assets

With stablecoins of this type, classic assets are deposited for hedging. For example, if you want to buy a classically secured stablecoin that maps the US dollar at a 1:1 ratio, a physical US dollar must be deposited with the respective provider for each coin purchased. When it is resold, it can be exchanged accordingly. This is to guarantee the value of the coin. However, the collateral does not have to be in the form of fiat money. Hedging through assets such as precious metals, such as gold, is also conceivable.


Advantages of hedging with classic assets :


Compared to the crypto market, classic assets such as precious metals and gold have lower liquidity. Stablecoins based on such an underlying should therefore have a similarly low volatility.

Classic assets come from a regulated market environment.

Disadvantages of hedging with classic assets :


There is no investor protection. In the event of Tether's insolvency, there is therefore no deposit protection.

It cannot be 100 percent guaranteed whether the envisaged exchange ratio to the base asset will last.

Cryptocurrency hedging

In addition to hedging with classic assets, there are also stablecoins that guarantee value stability with cryptocurrencies as collateral. This has the advantage of greater decentralization. After all, the deposited deposit can be managed using a smart contract – a middleman like Tether is therefore not necessary.


However, investors have to hedge the high volatility of cryptocurrencies with disproportionately high collateral. Because of the fluctuation in the value of the security itself, situations are conceivable in which the required deposit falls below the value of one US dollar. Investors have to compensate for this.


Advantages of hedging with cryptocurrencies :


Decentralization comes closer to the idea of ​​peer-to-peer systems.

Smart contracts eliminate the intermediary - no single point of failure.

Strong transparency.

Disadvantages of hedging with cryptocurrencies :


overcollateralization required.

Low acceptance, consequently low liquidity.

Smart contracts are fallible.

Protection by an algorithm

In addition to hedging with assets such as fiat currencies, gold or crypto, there is a third option for creating value parity with the base asset. The approach to algorithmic hedging is not to post collateral. Rather, automated buying and selling algorithms should ensure price stability. In principle, this type of "stable cryptocurrencies" works similar to a central bank - just automatically and decentralized. If the market pushes the price above the targeted base value, around one US dollar, the algorithm throws more coins onto the market and thus artificially increases the supply. As a result, the exchange rate should fall back to one US dollar.


Advantages of an algorithmic validation :


Investors do not have to deposit any collateral.

Transparent System.

No intermediaries.

Disadvantages of algorithmic validation :


Price more volatile than other systems in previous attempts.

Algorithm is fallible.

Low acceptance, low liquidity.

My Top Picks
Honeygain - Passive earner that pays in BTC or PayPal
MandalaExchange -The Best no KYC crypto Exchange! 
Womplay - Mobile dApp gaming platform that rewards in EOS and Bitcoin
Cointiply - The #1 Crypto Earning Site
LiteCoinPay - The #1 FaucetPay earner for Litecoin 
LBRY/Odysee - YouTube Alternative that lets you earn Money by viewing videos!
FaucetPay - The #1 Microwallet Platform
FREEBTC - The #1 FaucetPay earner for Satoshi's
FireFaucet - An earning site that pays better for some than Cointiply

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

From offchain to offchain: Statechains meets Lightning

  Without a doubt, the most significant off-chain Bitcoin solution is the Lightning network. But in its wake, the statechain has emerged as an intriguing replacement. There is currently a proposal to link the two offchain networks. From an ocean, for example, you can see sunbeams glistening in the water, waves rippling, and possibly a jellyfish drifting toward the light. But you only see a small portion of it. The distance from the sea's surface to its bottom is hundreds of meters. It has dozens of different fish species swimming in it, crabs and starfish crawling on the bottom, shells clinging to rocks, and sea plants climbing up. A completely new world starts where your gaze diverges. You can picture a blockchain like Bitcoin, just like the sea. What you see on the outside is only a small portion of what is actually there; the set of UTXOs (coins) and transaction history that full nodes store are just the beginning of a much larger world. It's the plan, at least. With Bitcoin

MSP Recovery and Tokenology aim to optimize healthcare with the help of Polygon

  MSP Recovery LLC, a Miami, US-based healthcare provider with an estimated enterprise value of $32.6 billion, is partnering with Web3 company Tokenology to jointly launch a new blockchain platform called Lifechain. Lifechain wants to leverage the verifiable and transparent nature of blockchain technology to aggregate medical care claims, medical expense reports and patient data and streamline their processing. For this purpose, MSP Recovery launched its own LifeWallet in January, which already has 1 million users. In addition to the wallet and blockchain platform, an associated crypto token called LifeCoin is also used. The press release explains that the primary purpose of the system is to enable secondary healthcare providers to more effectively bill health insurance companies for their costs. “The number of medical claims tokenized going forward will surpass $50 million per day by 2024. For this we need scalability, security and sustainability, which we have only found with Polygon

Phishing attack on popular crypto sites tries to empty wallets

  Several major crypto sites such as Etherscan, CoinGecko, DeFi Pulse, and others report malicious pop-ups scammers use to try to trick users into connecting their MetaMask wallets. The phishing attack came from a domain displaying the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) logo. "We are investigating the root cause of this attack to fix the threat as soon as possible," CoinGecko founder Bobby Ong tweeted. The phishing attack appears to have been triggered by a malicious ad script from Coinzilla, a crypto ad network, according to CoinGecko. Etherscan also advises its users not to confirm any transactions that may appear on the website. The attackers attempted to use the hype around the “bored monkeys” non-fungible tokens (NFT) to gain access to the cryptocurrencies of unsuspecting website visitors. Although the websites affected by the scam attempt have reacted in the last few hours and deactivated the advertising pop-up, it is still recommended not to connect your MetaMask wallet to ne