Stablecoins represent a safe haven against crypto’s volatility, allowing participants to remain in the market, without off-ramping to fiat. While the major stablecoins are centrally issued (e.g. USDT, USDC, BUSD), there is a pressing need for an algorithmic variant or a synthetic dollar asset. (DAI is somewhere in between since approximately 50% of its collateral is USDC). After Luna’s collapse, many jumped to point out its design flaws, yet such a concept would be crucial for crypto’s decentralisation and self-sustainability. Arthur Hayes proposed an interesting concept of NAKA synthetic dollar (NUSD), backed by Bitcoin and its inverse perpetual swap short. However, yield generation on $BTC is significantly lower than that of $ETH. A sustainable yield would help balance the cases in which funding rates would be negative (a minority in crypto). We were joined by Guy Young, co-founder of Ethena, to discuss the stablecoin landscape and their synthetic eUSD, backed by staked ETH and its inverse perpetual swap. Topics covered in this episode: Guy’s background and founding EthenaThe history of stablecoinsThe stablecoin trilemma and transparencyeUSD synthetic dollar mechanicsEthena’s insurance fund and hedgingMinimising the impact of depeggingLeveraging centralised liquidity while maintaining self custody through MPCUser experienceRisk factorsCEX vs. DEX: liquidity, infrastructure, UXThe potential of fixed return ratesSupply & rates equilibriumEpisode links: Guy Young on TwitterEthena Labs on TwitterArthur Hayes' article proposing the Naka synthetic dollarThis episode is hosted by Felix Lutsch. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/518

Back in 2017, there was no DeFi as we know it today, yet MakerDAO were already envisioning and building towards what they thought to be a certainty. The backbone of DeFi is represented by stable coins, and MakerDAO quickly understood this: they set out to build a decentralised stable coin, $DAI (and its precursor $SAI). Being collateral-backed, the smart contract needs to know the value of that collateral, but any off-chain price data is not readily available on-chain. This is where oracles come in and provide data feeds on-chain. MakerDAO’s internal oracle has been active since 2017 on Ethereum and has recently branched out, forming Chronicle. By using aggregated Schnorr signatures, Chronicle solves the problem of oracle cost-efficient scaling. We were joined by Niklas Kunkel, founder of Chronicle, to discuss the challenges and tradeoffs that oracles regularly face, and how Chronicle is solving them, continuing the ethos of early MakerDAO. Topics covered in this episode: Niklas’ background and the early days of MakerDAOHow MakerDAO evolved over time and the adoption of DAIMakerDAO’s core principlesWhy Chronicle branched out from MakerDAOOracle challenges & tradeoffsOracle validatorsBusiness model for oraclesProviding oracle services to different blockchainsSchnorr signaturesChronicle’s supported chains and oracle offeringsReal-world assets (RWA) and credit delegationEpisode links: Niklas Kunkel on TwitterChronicle on TwitterMaker DAO on TwitterThis episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Felix Lutsch. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/516