USDai: Another stablecoin project of Framework. Can it replicate the brilliance?

Author: X, @Eth527

Plasma, invested by Framework Ventures, has allowed everyone to earn a fortune and further verifies @221ALABS' concept of “stablecoins making a big mess.” This article will introduce another stablecoin project, USDai, that Framework has invested in. This project is also born with a golden key, and the TGE is expected next year. Get on board first, then study it, LFG!

Resource Background Inventory

The disclosed financing amount is currently 17M, with the top investment institution being Framework Ventures, which led the A round with 13M. Note that this is the A round, which is generally the best time to make a profit in the crypto space after the A round because a token issuance is coming soon. Framework Ventures represents investments in projects including @Uniswap, @chainlink, and @aave. You see, this is a seasoned player in DeFi. Other participating institutions include @dragonfly_xyz and @arbitrum. But it doesn't end here; on August 26, they received investment from @yzilabs, although the amount has not been disclosed. On September 22, they secured a 4M strategic investment from Bulish, which is an institutional-grade exchange listed on the NYSE.

After taking stock, it's clear why his YT can be bought on Plasma and Arbitrum: one is the favored project of the funding parent, and the other is a strategic partner.

What can I say, the background is very strong. It's not an exaggeration to say that they were born with a golden key.

In-depth Exploration of Reasons for Favor

So, we can't help but ask why USDai is so favored and involves so many powerful stakeholders. Let's analyze it from both the human and business perspectives.

1. Founding Team Overview

The three founders of @USDai_Official, David Choi, Conor Moore, and Ivan Sergeev, jointly founded @MetaStreet in 2021, which is a DeFi protocol focused on NFT lending.

@MetaStreet completed a $14 million seed round financing led by @dragonfly_xyz on February 8, 2022, and received an additional $10 million in financing on October 13, 2022, with investors including well-known institutions such as DCG and OpenSea Ventures. Therefore, @dragonfly_xyz and DCG have become continuing investors in USDai. Expanding @yzilabs forward through these two impressive VCs is not an overstatement. This means that this team is one that has previously been successful, has achieved significant results, and possesses deep industry resources.

2. Project Business Logic Review

As a stablecoin project, there are two core points: having sufficient reserves to cope with redemption risks and having enough revenue to expand the market.

USDai's strategy is quite different from that of other stablecoins; it allocates 38% of its funds to purchase U.S. Treasury bonds as a part of its safe return. The remaining 62% is lent to companies with GPUs to earn interest.

As the era of AI is approaching, the gasoline for AI is computing power, and behind computing power is GPU. Therefore, there has always been a market demand for computing power that can be monetized. Many companies with a lot of computing power equipment mortgage their devices to USDai to borrow money for expansion. USDai and these AI companies agree to repay the interest and principal using GPU leasing and inference, achieving an annual return of 15-25%.

I really learned something new; no wonder this project is called USDai.

Of course, the pledged GPUs are over-collateralized, and can be sold off if something goes wrong. Then it uses the CALIBER system for valuation and discount management of GPUs. I won't go into details here, but in short, there is a systematic GPU price tracking and liquidation system that does not rely on on-chain oracles for liquidation.

Of course, to be honest, the operable space in between might not be that transparent, and we don't understand it, so we don't dare to speak recklessly.

USDai may be aware that compared to pure on-chain DeFi, its settlement mechanism will face acceptance pressure, so it directly designed the QEV queue mechanism. In simple terms, withdrawals cannot be made directly and there is a queuing mechanism.

So, USDai will definitely be wrapped one more layer, with higher market makers providing liquidity on top.

Overall, it's actually a good project, as AI itself still has a long growth trend ahead, and the team is also quite good. We will explain in detail how to participate in this project to make money in our future articles.