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🚨 Protocol Update #10 After an intense sprint over the last few months to deliver what we believe will be the most impactful product on #MultiversX, we are thrilled to announce that USH will go live on the Public Mainnet on March 3rd. A countdown has started on our website to track the time remaining, and we encourage everyone to prepare for this pivotal launch. Before diving into the key aspects of this announcement, we want to clarify the launch timeline. While USH is fully prepared for deployment on the Mainnet, we experienced a slight delay due to the development of Booster V2. To bring Booster V2 to life, an integration with @xExchangeApp was required. This integration involved changes to the @xExchangeApp smart contracts and presented significant complexity, requiring additional time for the @xExchangeApp team to ensure everything functioned correctly. Booster V2 relied on this integration, as without it, users staking LP tokens via external smart contracts (such as Booster V2 in our case) would no longer earn rewards generated through Energy. After working very closely with @xExchangeApp team which was very responsive, we are now pleased to announce that the integration has been successfully completed, and Booster V2 development is now fully finalized. However, while an initial audit of Booster V2 was conducted prior to the final integration, our standard procedure mandates that all code be re-audited before release. A new audit of the updated code, reflecting the recent integration, is currently underway with @arda_org and is expected to conclude by 15 February. Updated Timeline Following the Delay: • 31 January: @xExchangeApp will deploy all updates on Mainnet, requiring peer review and testing by our team. • Audit Phase: The ongoing audit is set to conclude by 15 February. • Review & Fixes: At least one week will be dedicated to reviewing audit findings and implementing any required fixes. • Final Deployment: An additional week will be reserved for deploying all protocols to Mainnet, ensuring full readiness for the 3rd of March, when community participation begins. We appreciate everyone’s understanding and patience! Moving forward, here’s what you should do to ensure you’re ready for the launch: •If you haven’t staked $EGLD through Hatom yet, we recommend planning ahead. Unstaking EGLD requires a 10-day cooldown period, so make sure your EGLD is ready before the Mainnet release. However, you can still earn staking rewards by holding your assets as $sEGLD, even if you initiate the unstaking process early. • For those already using our Liquid Staking Module, no action is required; your $sEGLD can be used directly in the Isolated Pools to mint USH when the protocol launches. • To mint USH with $TAO, bridge your assets to the #MultiversX ecosystem via the TAO Bridge: wtao.com Why Participation Matters? Participation in this launch is critical, as deep liquidity will create a robust ecosystem that drives adoption and solidifies the infrastructure we’ve built. USH will serve as the backbone for existing and upcoming DeFi projects on #MultiversX, paving the way for mass onboarding and aligning with #MultiversX’s foundational vision. The DeFi primitives we’ve developed together over the years will support the ecosystem’s acceleration phase, and it’s up to all of us to engage and help shape the future of our chain. One of the most important steps is to provide liquidity by pairing USH with your preferred assets, whether stablecoins (e.g., $USDT, $USDC) or volatile assets (e.g., $EGLD). You’ll be able to stake your LP tokens in the USH Staking Module to earn higher yields, while simultaneously earning trading fees and DEX farming incentives, all while contributing to USH’s stability. In addition to USH, Booster V2 will also debut on the Mainnet, bringing enhanced capital efficiency, improved yield opportunities, and a stronger role for HTM in driving fairer revenue distribution for all Hatom users. While Booster V1 served as a foundational prototype, V2 will transform the landscape into a competitive battleground for maximizing yields. Here is a quick recap of both products and what you can expect: Hatom USD (USH) USH is the first native and decentralized stablecoin designed to address one of the biggest challenges in the #MultiversX ecosystem: the lack of stablecoin liquidity, which undermines our sovereignty. Currently, liquidity is mainly sourced from wrapped stable assets, with limited on-chain opportunities for users. USH seeks to resolve these issues by introducing a transparent and robust over-collateralized stablecoin. This innovation not only tackles liquidity constraints but also unlocks new yield and arbitrage opportunities for everyone while driving increased on-chain activity. Enhanced activity and demand could also potentially pave the way for the integration of native centralized stablecoins, provided on-chain metrics improve and become more attractive to such entities. USH relies on multiple Facilitators that ensure its minting and burning, each one of them with its distinct features: Lending Protocol USH can be minted directly through the Hatom Lending Protocol using any supported collateral at a fixed rate, with minting rates determined by the discount factor of each asset. More liquid and stable assets offer better rates, providing users with flexibility and cost efficiency. The current minting rates are as follows: • Wrapped USDC: 10% • Wrapped USDT: 10% • Wrapped BTC: 15% • Wrapped ETH: 15% • UTK: 15% • HTM: 15% • MEX: 15% During the initial phase, minting USH through the Lending Protocol will exclude $EGLD, $sEGLD, $wTAO, and $swTAO, as these assets are exclusively supported within the Isolated Pools Facilitator. However, future iterations are planned to expand the Facilitator's capabilities to include $sEGLD and $swTAO. Since Hatom's deployment, the high demand for stablecoin liquidity in the ecosystem has caused lending and borrowing APYs to frequently exceed 25% for both $USDC and $USDT. With the introduction of USH, a significant market shift is anticipated: • Borrowers are expected to transfer their $USDC and $USDT debts into USH to benefit from more favorable rates. • Suppliers may borrow USH and swap it for $USDC or $USDT to take advantage of higher lending APYs in those markets. To ensure a smooth deployment of USH, borrowing APYs will be dynamically managed for both $USDC and $USDT during the initial launch phase to achieve an optimal balance. This approach aims to maximize protocol revenues while maintaining the competitiveness and appeal of USH borrowing. Once this balance is achieved, borrowing interest rates will remain fixed at the specified rates, unless governance decides otherwise based on market dynamics, as seen on other chains. This adjustment period is expected to last only a few days after the Public Mainnet launch. Arbitrage opportunities between the USDC/USDT money markets and USH Facilitators are anticipated to resolve quickly, leading to a natural equilibrium that stabilizes borrowing rates. Isolated Pools Through the Isolated Pools Facilitator, users can now leverage their assets and mint USH without paying any minting fees, regardless of the amount minted. This innovative approach was designed to provide users with increased opportunities and enable more efficient DeFi strategies. This Facilitator supports $EGLD and $wTAO as primary collateral but also allows users to supply their liquid staking derivatives, $sEGLD and $swTAO, directly. When these derivatives are deposited, the protocol automatically converts their value into the corresponding native tokens ( $EGLD or $wTAO) at the prevailing rate at the time of deposit. This conversion ensures users benefit from stable liquidity while the protocol generates rewards on the provided collateral through Liquid Staking and the Lending Protocol. In addition to the two primary facilitators available to all users, we have developed Partners Isolated Pools to enhance USH stability and create more arbitrage opportunities. These pools are exclusively accessible to Hatom’s whitelisted partners. Through this Facilitator, partners can mint USH with the condition that they pair it with their native tokens and provide liquidity on exchanges. This not only deepens on-chain liquidity for USH but also strengthens liquidity for their native tokens, reducing reliance on $EGLD prices and fostering independent markets for their assets. We are excited to announce the first projects leveraging this Facilitator to strengthen their ecosystems: • @xExchangeApp: Creating the USH-MEX LP, with an LP size of $400k • @foxsy_ai: Creating the USH-FOXY LP, with an LP size of $300k • @xMoney_com: Creating the USH-UTK LP, with an LP size of $110k • @ash_swap: Creating the USH-ASH LP, with an LP size of $100k According to our latest estimates, the supply and minting cap for our partners will be as follows: • @xExchangeApp: $200k USH mint cap $1M MEX supply cap • @foxsy_ai: $150k USH mint cap $750k Foxsy supply cap • @xMoney_com: $50k USH mint cap $250k UTK supply cap • @ash_swap: $50k USH mint cap $250k UTK supply cap Partners can mint USH at a 0% minting rate through this Facilitator; however, the minted USH must remain over-collateralized at all times. Accounts that fall below healthy collateralization levels will be subject to liquidation. As outlined above, the supply and minting cap for each partner is fixed and predefined based on their existing liquidity and specific risk parameters, ensuring a highly conservative approach. Any adjustments to these parameters will require governance approval. Another facilitator created exclusively for our partners is the Stablecoin Facilitator, a private mechanism designed specifically for whitelisted partners. It enables them to mint USH by depositing $USDC or $USDT at a 1:1 ratio. The deposited stablecoins are used to provide liquidity on exchanges, helping partners build more robust and efficient stable liquidity pools. This Facilitator ensures smooth and rapid on-chain arbitrage opportunities, enhancing the overall stability of the ecosystem. Currently, this Facilitator is exclusively whitelisted to the @MultiversX Foundation and the @ash_swap team, as they manage the majority of the existing USDC-USDT liquidity pools. This setup facilitates the transition to USH-USDC and USH-USDT liquidity pairs, significantly increasing liquidity from day one and establishing a strong foundation for USH’s adoption. All the facilitators' metrics will be available on the Market page, giving full insights and transparency about every aspect of USH backing. USH Staking Module The USH Staking Module serves as the utility hub of the USH ecosystem. Users can provide liquidity for any $USH trading pair on supported exchanges, and then stake their LP or Farm tokens in this module to earn passive yield on their positions. By incentivizing liquidity provision and staking, this module ensures deep and sustainable liquidity for USH across multiple exchanges, fostering a thriving ecosystem for arbitrage and trading. All rewards are distributed directly in $HTM, with yields sourced organically from the revenue generated by USH’s various Facilitators. These rewards are allocated and subject to the Booster in the USH Staking Module. The USH Staking Module introduces a tiered yield structure designed to accommodate diverse user preferences while incentivizing early participation: • Staking APY: Enables users to earn passive income on their holdings without requiring $HTM staking in the Booster. • Base Booster APY: Achieved by staking $HTM in the Booster, equivalent to a certain percentage of the total dollar value of your LP/Farm tokens. • Extra Booster APY: Unlocked by staking $HTM above the Base Booster threshold. This yield is distributed proportionally based on the size of your HTM stake and the liquidity you have deposited. To drive immediate growth of $HTM at launch while ensuring the smooth adoption of USH LPs, the Staking APY will follow a phased deployment similar to Booster V1 during Hatom’s inception. Initially, a portion of rewards will be distributed without requiring $HTM staking, providing an easy entry point for new participants. However, this phase will transition rapidly, with rewards without $HTM staking being deliberately limited and phased out shortly after launch. This accelerated transition ensures that participants are encouraged to acquire HTM early, driving its adoption and allowing users to quickly experience its full utility and benefits. By the end of this brief introductory phase, all USH Staking rewards will be tied to HTM staking through the Booster, establishing HTM as the cornerstone of the system. For participants who do not yet hold HTM, this early system is designed to also help them accumulate it. The protocol leverages its revenue to purchase HTM directly from the open market before distributing it as rewards in the Staking Module. This mechanism supports HTM’s market value from the outset while enabling new users to build their initial HTM holdings through participation and use it to access more yields. As users rapidly accumulate HTM and realize its yield-generating potential, they will be fully equipped to take advantage of the advanced incentives offered in Booster V2. The Yields Potential The yield generated through the USH Staking Module will primarily depend on three key factors: the amount of USH minted and deposited in the Staking Module, the total collateral in the Isolated Facilitator, and the borrowed amount in the Lending Facilitator. We are expecting strong community participation, and if we consider a scenario focused solely on the Isolated Pools, where the community increases the total $EGLD deposited in the Isolated Pools to 1 million, at the current price of $28.50 per $EGLD, this would generate approximately $1,852,500 in incentives to be distributed. If we consider moderate leverage, with an average of 30% Borrow Limit Utilization, and 50% of the USH minted is staked in the Staking Hub, the projected yields would result in a total APR of ~58% on staked USH and ~29% on the total value of the staked LP tokens. This outcome is based on the total revenue generated relative to the value staked in the Staking Module. The distribution of yields will be allocated across various liquidity pools based on the most critical liquidity to be incentivized. Additionally, the Booster V2 logic will optimize this distribution, resulting in even higher APRs for accounts with the highest booster participation. USH Airdrop We’re excited to announce that a clear plan for the USH Airdrop distribution is in place. Following the USH Public Mainnet launch and once the system has stabilized, we’ll provide all the details on how the distribution will proceed. USH Integrations As USH establishes itself as the cornerstone of stable liquidity within the #MultiversX ecosystem, we are thrilled to announce its integration with @xPortalApp Cards, extending its utility far beyond on-chain DeFi opportunities. With this integration, users can now: • Supply EGLD to keep exposure to its value. • Mint USH and use it for daily expenses through @xPortalApp Cards. • When EGLD increases in price, repay the loan to unlock and access the appreciated value of your EGLD. This seamless integration enables users to top up their @xPortalApp Cards with USH, facilitating transitions to off-chain spending and bridging blockchain with everyday finance. By expanding USH's real-world utility, this feature positions it as a key player in driving mainstream adoption within the MultiversX ecosystem. We are actively developing an on-ramp for USH within our dApp, enabling users to purchase USH with credit cards. This feature simplifies access to the ecosystem, empowering both new and experienced users to generate passive income without prior experience in using decentralized exchanges. These integrations mark the start of USH's journey toward mainstream adoption, as we continue to showcase its versatility and unlock innovative use cases within and beyond the #MultiversX ecosystem. A Glimpse of the Future: The Potential of USH Proxy We are thrilled to introduce an incredible new facilitator, USH Proxy, built on the resilient infrastructure we’ve meticulously developed over the years at Hatom. This groundbreaking module will power even more innovative DeFi primitives and revolutionize the way users interact with DeFi. Initially introduced as Hatom Pulse in a previous update, the concept of USH Proxy has been refined and optimized to deliver a highly efficient and robust strategy. This strategy can enhance the yield generation of all our products, including the Lending Protocol, Liquid Staking, and USH in an unprecedented way, regardless of the TVL. Over the years, we’ve observed numerous lending protocols experimenting with creative approaches to advance DeFi and generate yield. However, despite these efforts, a critical gap remains: capital efficiency. Many protocols leave large portions of assets underutilized, failing to generate meaningful returns for their users. A key flaw in existing systems is the inefficiency of supplied liquidity on lending protocols. The most frequently supplied assets, such as $sEGLD, $stETH, and $WBTC, often go underutilized because borrowing interest-bearing tokens is inherently challenging. These tokens accrue yield not only from borrowing activities but also from their intrinsic properties, making them difficult to integrate into traditional borrowing frameworks. As a result, significant portions of TVLs fail to generate revenue for protocols and are primarily used for stablecoin borrowing or leveraged liquid staking strategies. On many other chains, base lending yields are notably low, often lingering around 0.01% to 0.05% for users supplying popular assets such as $stETH or $WBTC to Money Markets. This inefficiency results in substantial portions of TVL being underutilized, leaving users with minimal returns on their supplied assets. USH Proxy addresses this inefficiency by optimizing yields on behalf of users without touching their liquidity, enabling them to earn significantly higher returns while still accessing their usual borrowing activities. Before explaining this strategy, let’s delve further into @ethena's delta-neutral strategy and what this promising venture has achieved, while also noting its major drawback. Ethena created $USDe, a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar, using a delta-neutral approach that eliminates exposure to $ETH price volatility without requiring over-collateralization. $ETH is deposited as collateral and secured through a trusted custodian, ensuring transparency and protection against misuse. To neutralize price risk, @ethena open a short position on ETH using perpetual futures or other derivatives. This hedges the collateral's value, as gains or losses in the ETH price are offset between the long (collateral) and short (derivative) positions, locking in an instant dollar value. With this balance, the protocol can confidently mint USDe while maintaining a stable value in USD. The system also incorporates yield opportunities such as positive funding rates from derivatives and potential staking yields from collateralized ETH. That being said, we can view @ethena as a decentralized USDC rather than DAI, because users lose exposure to their volatile assets when acquiring it. USH Proxy Facilitator is built on a similar delta-neutral approach. For example, let’s assume a user supplies $1,000 in sEGLD, earning 0.01%, and borrows $300 of USDC at 8%. When the user triggers USH Proxy, the protocol mints $1,000 worth of USH and uses it to purchase EGLD or ETH. The EGLD or ETH is then liquid staked and shorted via a delta-neutral strategy, either through custodians (like @ethena) or via promising on-chain platforms such as @HyperliquidX (once they have proven their reliability and withstood the test of time). The user’s position isn’t affected or linked to that hedge; this is why we call it Proxy. The user simply triggers it and closes it upon repayment and removal of the supplied tokens from the protocol. Because the protocol itself cannot open this position alone, it’s the user who approves the process. The yields coming from staking rewards and funding rates are redistributed back to the user on the supply side, subject eventually to the Booster. If funding rates turn negative, the position can be immediately closed, and the exact same initial USD value from the delta-neutral position is converted back to USH (filling up the LPs on DEXes again). Here’s the beauty of USH Proxy: • The user’s position remains unaffected and independent of the delta-neutral strategy. The protocol cannot open or close the position without the user’s explicit approval. The user triggers and closes the Proxy when they repay their loan and withdraw their supplied tokens. • Any yield generated from staking rewards or positive funding rates is redistributed directly to the user’s supply side. These rewards are also subject to the Booster, significantly amplifying user incentives, which were initially minimal for unborrowable supplied assets. • The USH used to create the hedge is always maintained, and the same amount that was taken from the on-chain liquidity pools is injected back once the user decides to close the strategy. • If the funding rates for the short position ever turn negative (which rarely happens), the position can be immediately closed or switched to other low-risk strategies like farming on-chain T-bond rates. If the governance decides otherwise, the USD value from the delta-neutral position can always be converted back to USH, replenishing liquidity pools on decentralized exchanges and only reducing yields to end users. • Trading fees and adoption around USH can grow at an unprecedented rate, expanding the entire ecosystem exponentially, especially as it evolves cross-chain. In essence, @ethena addresses the creation of a decentralized stablecoin, but USH Proxy takes it a step further by transforming inefficient collateral into a powerful yield-generating tool while preserving user autonomy and asset exposure. This is just the beginning, as Proxy has the potential to optimize yields across a wide range of protocols. While this post is only meant to educate our community about the general concept, the yields generated will be used to incentivize other aspects crucial for the strategy’s continued growth: • Liquidity Providers: A portion of the revenue is allocated to incentivize key liquidity pools (e.g., USH-USDC), fostering deep liquidity and efficient trading. • Arbitrageurs: Another portion rewards arbitrageurs for maintaining price stability and balancing liquidity across pools. • Lending Protocol Suppliers: The remaining revenue boosts the supply APY for depositors who activate the Proxy. The potential of a product like USH Proxy is immense. While its debut will happen on #MultiversX, this product could easily attract participants beyond the ecosystem. For instance, partnerships with @eigencloud could enable vaults where ETH restakers deposit their assets in the Lending Protocol and activate USH Proxy to boost yields, or even integrate with BTC restaking protocols like @Pell_Network or @babylonlabs_io. We have been dedicating a team to R&D for almost three months, conducting multiple studies and engaging in discussions with custodians to design our protocol. If you grasp the overall concept, you’ll see that the next crucial step lies in creating strong incentives for arbitrageurs to continuously close any price gaps while the underlying liquidity farms funding rates for users. This is precisely where our current R&D efforts are focused. 1/2 Continued 👇