Curve Finance launches native algorithmic stablecoin

DeFi protocol Curve Finance has successfully launched its highly anticipated algorithmic stablecoin crvUSD on the Ethereum mainnet. Since its release, the protocol has minted more than $22 million worth of crvUSD.

According to data from Etherscan, around $20 million were minted in five transactions within 5 minutes. A crypto wallet called Curve.Fi Team, identified by blockchain intelligence firm Arkham Intelligence, took out a $1 million loan in crvUSD after minting the first tokens, CoinDesk reports. To secure the loan, the wallet used $1.8 million worth of frxETH, a type of ether (ETH) derivative token issued by the DeFi platform Frax Finance.

Later, Curve Finance’s official Twitter account confirmed the launch, citing the stablecoin isn’t yet available to the general public and is pending integration with the user interface on the Curve website.

Curve governance token CRV reacted to the news in leaps and bounds, trading at a high of $0.98, according to CoinMarketCap. At the time of writing, CRV is trading at $0.94 and has gained 5.07% in the last 24 hours.

Curve, one of the largest DeFi protocols with a total value locked (TVL) of $4.4 billion, announced last year that it started developing its own dollar-pegged stablecoin.

Unlike the now-defunct Terra’s UST stablecoin, Curve’s crvUSD is designed similarly to MakerDAO’s DAI stablecoin. As described in the crvUSD whitepaper, the stablecoin will function as a “collateralized debt position” stablecoin. This means that users will first have to deposit collateral in order to receive a loan in crvUSD. Curve Finance hasn’t yet determined which assets will be used as collateral.

Curve’s stablecoin will compete with numerous rival DeFi protocols whose native stablecoins are either in the development phase or have already been launched. Aave, a major DeFi protocol with over $7 billion of assets locked, has already launched its native stablecoin GHO on the testnet this February. MakerDAO’s DAI stablecoin is another DeFi stablecoin on the market, with a market cap of nearly $5 billion.