YBS Project New Star Resolv: Adopting a Three-Token Model for Delta-Neutral Yield Stablecoin

Recently, a project called Resolv, an on-chain Delta neutral yield stablecoin (YBS), completed a $10 million seed round financing, marking the project's first public financing since its establishment in 2023. Compared to the high-profile stance of similar projects, Resolv appears to be more low-key, but its level of innovation is no less than that of any peer. The main innovations of Resolv include a unique yield model, more on-chain yield sources, and complex Token economics.

The three founders of Resolv have a science background and were educated in Russia. This round of financing is led by Maven11 from the Netherlands, with participation from several American investment institutions. Considering that the YBS project requires a certain amount of liquidity to cope with potential risks, this financing may have already been completed and is only now being publicly announced.

Compared to other YBS projects, Resolv is more inclined to embrace the on-chain ecosystem and seize market share by offering higher yield rates.

Complex Token Economics

Resolv adopts a three-token mechanism, including the stablecoin USR, the insurance fund and LP Token RLP, and the governance token $RESOLV. Among them, USR and RLP form a dual-yield token system. Users can mint USR at a 1:1 ratio by depositing USDC/USDT/ETH, with most assets stored on-chain or on specific platforms to reduce the risk of asset loss caused by centralized exchange hedging.

RLP Token is mainly used to cover the funds hedged in centralized exchanges and provide higher yields. Theoretically, the annual yield of USR is between 7% and 10%, while RLP can reach 20% to 30%, but currently, the actual yield has not met expectations.

More On-Chain Income Sources

Resolv actively embraces the on-chain ecosystem, with its revenue sources including the inherent yield from interest-bearing assets like stETH, as well as the hedging fees from centralized exchange contracts. Although on-chain yields may be higher than hedging on centralized exchanges, liquidity remains a challenge. Currently, the ratio of hedging contracts opened on different platforms is about 7:3.

RLP, as a leveraged yield Token, can maintain a high yield with less capital. Currently, the total locked value of RLP (TVL) is only 63 million USD, less than 20% of USR, making it suitable for high-risk tolerant users to participate. However, influenced by the price trend of ETH, the current yield of RLP is negative.

Unique Revenue Model

Resolv introduces RLP as an insurance mechanism to reduce reliance on centralized exchanges and specific stablecoins. Theoretically, USR will be fully over-issued by on-chain assets (currently at a 120% ratio, with 40% being on-chain assets), and part of the issued collateral will be used for institutional custody and off-chain hedging.

Although the capital efficiency of this model may not be as good as the fully centralized exchange hedging solution, Resolv compensates for this part of the profit gap through RLP.

YBS Future Outlook

As more projects join the YBS track, competition will become increasingly fierce. Latecomers like Resolv may face fewer choices. However, in the era of low-interest financial management, the startup costs for YBS projects may be lower than those of popular projects in the past. As long as the annualized yield of new projects can exceed 5%, it is possible to attract investor participation.

The combination of USR and RLP can be seen as a blend of multiple existing products, attempting to surpass the existing offerings through more complex mechanism designs. However, this also implies an increase in risk, especially under extreme market conditions, and the effectiveness of its insurance mechanism remains to be tested.

For any stablecoin project, experiencing decoupling is an important test. I hope Resolv can smoothly get through this critical moment and establish a foothold in the fiercely competitive YBS market.