What is Oxygen? All You Need to Know About OXY

Oxygen (OXY) is a DeFi prime brokerage service that runs on the Solana blockchain, offering various financial services.

In the evolving world of decentralized finance (DeFi), the ability to utilize the same collateral for multiple purposes remains a rarity. Most platforms limit users to singular, specific functions, often leading to underutilization of assets. However, a new breed of services is emerging, where users can deposit their assets and actively decide which ones to lend, creating personalized pools. This approach not only maximizes asset utility but also fosters a more dynamic and user-centric DeFi experience. An example of such innovation is Oxygen (OXY), a platform that is redefining the scope of DeFi possibilities.

What is Oxygen (OXY)?

Launched in late 2020, Oxygen (OXY) embarked on its journey in the DeFi space with an alpha release of its mainnet. Co-founded by the London-based duo Alex Grebnev and Viktor Mangazeev, Oxygen was poised to revolutionize the decentralized finance world. Grebnev brought his extensive 16-year experience from top-tier financial institutions like Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch, combined with his role as CEO of Moonshot Capital. Mangazeev’s background as a serial technology entrepreneur and his studies at Moscow’s National Research University shaped his vision for Oxygen.

Their combined expertise, along with a global team of 15 developers and various financial and software experts, established Oxygen AG in Switzerland, a country known for its crypto-friendly stance. This international team set out to transform the traditional finance model into something more accessible and powerful.

However, a significant challenge emerged in November 2022. Over 95% of Oxygen’s token supply was held on the now-defunct FTX exchange, as revealed in a blog post by the Oxygen team. This situation arose from Oxygen and Maps.me’s heavy backing by Alameda Research, which had invested around $90 million in both projects. The collapse of FTX and its associated entities, including Alameda Research, led to a dramatic decline in OXY’s value, with the token plummeting 99.5% from its all-time high.

The aftermath of FTX’s bankruptcy and the revelation that a substantial portion of OXY and MAPS tokens were locked on the exchange cast a shadow over Oxygen’s future. Legal advisors were retained to explore options to protect users, but the uncertainty surrounding the unlocking of these tokens remains. This situation has sparked speculation about the project’s viability, with many questioning whether Oxygen, deeply entangled in the FTX fiasco, could survive this financial turmoil. As it stands, the future of Oxygen (OXY) remains in limbo, with the fate of its tokens and its overall project trajectory uncertain.

How Does Oxygen Work? Pool-based Infrastructure and Risk Model

Oxygen Protocol revolutionizes decentralized finance by leveraging Solana’s high-speed blockchain and Serum’s on-chain infrastructure. At its core, Oxygen is built around Pools—dynamic baskets of assets that enable collective actions. These Pools form the backbone of Oxygen’s lending and borrowing services, allowing users to deposit assets and set their desired interest rates. Borrowers agreeing to these terms can then access these assets. This innovative system is powered by Serum’s decentralized on-chain order book, which matches lenders with borrowers, ensuring market-based pricing and streamlined interactions.

Oxygen’s pool-based infrastructure marks a significant advancement in DeFi. Users create pools by depositing their assets, choosing which to lend, and setting lending parameters like maturity and yield. This model enables users to earn yield on their portfolios while simultaneously borrowing other assets, maximizing the utility of their investments. The protocol’s design allows for cross-collateralization, meaning the entire portfolio can serve as collateral, reducing liquidation risks significantly.

The platform’s integration with the Serum ecosystem further simplifies the trading process. Users can interact with Serum’s DEX services directly from their Pools, allowing for seamless trading and efficient capital usage. This direct interaction eliminates the need for constant deposits and withdrawals, making the trading process more efficient.

Moreover, Oxygen is designed to support a wide range of products. Its on-chain risk management engine evaluates each user’s pool, facilitating the use of various assets including tokens, synthetic products, and nonlinear assets, all under the same account. This flexibility and the ability to cross-margin enhance the capital efficiency of the platform.

Concluding, Oxygen’s pool-based infrastructure combined with its sophisticated risk model, sets a new standard in the DeFi space. It not only democratizes access to prime brokerage services but also ensures greater capital efficiency, security, and transparency for all users.

Source: oxygen.org/docs

Risk Model

Oxygen’s risk management and liquidation framework is a critical component of its DeFi prime brokerage service, ensuring the solvency and security of loans within its ecosystem. In the Oxygen protocol, users create pools by depositing assets, designating which ones to lend, and setting the terms. When these terms align with a borrower’s needs, the transaction occurs, enabling the lender to earn passive income and the ability to borrow other assets as needed.

The risk model of Oxygen hinges on the fluctuating values of underlying assets. This necessitates a robust liquidation and risk management system to maintain loan solvency. Oxygen protocol adopts several key mechanisms:

• Leverage and Loan-to-Value (LTV) Ratios: Pools can increase leverage as long as their LTV remains below the initial threshold. However, if the Pool LTV exceeds the maintenance LTV, the pool must be rebalanced to the reset LTV within a specified timeframe, either by adding more assets or deleveraging. Failure to do so triggers a default state, opening the possibility for liquidation.
• Immediate Liquidation: If at any point the Pool LTV surpasses the critical LTV, immediate liquidation can be initiated by any user.
• Liquidation Process: Once initiated, the liquidation price for pool assets is fixed. Initially, the liquidation initiator gets a one-minute exclusivity to buy assets at a discount, followed by the opportunity for any liquidator to do the same.

Security is paramount in Oxygen’s design. The protocol’s smart contract code is open source, audited, and continuously reviewed for potential vulnerabilities. Furthermore, Oxygen relies on Serum’s decentralized, on-chain order book for its matching engine, bolstering the safety of asset transactions.

The overall liquidity of Oxygen is market-driven, influenced by broader market conditions at the time of transactions. While the protocol aims to maximize safety and profitability for lenders, it acknowledges inherent risks such as smart contract vulnerabilities and liquidation process uncertainties, highlighting the ongoing nature of security in the DeFi space.

Source: oxygen.org

Oxygen Use Cases

Oxygen Protocol offers a range of use cases, leveraging its sophisticated on-chain risk management engine and integration with the large user base of Maps.me. Here are three key functionalities:

• Lending Cryptocurrency: Users can lend their assets, setting their own loan terms and yield expectations. This enables them to earn passive income through the protocol. Even when assets are lent out, they can still be used as collateral to borrow other cryptocurrencies. This flexibility ensures continuous capital utilization.

• Borrowing Cryptocurrency: Similar to lending, users can borrow cryptocurrencies by using the assets in their pool as collateral. The borrowing limit is determined by the value of their pool, allowing for a seamless borrowing experience. This feature is especially useful for users looking to leverage their holdings for additional investments or financial activities.

• Sophisticated Financial Products: Oxygen supports a variety of financial products, including tokens, synthetic products, and nonlinear assets, all within the same account. This functionality is enabled by Oxygen’s comprehensive on-chain risk evaluation system. This system assesses each user’s individual pool, facilitating cross-margin trading and enabling the creation of intricate financial instruments.

Moreover, Oxygen’s collaboration with Maps.me is poised to significantly expand its user reach, potentially establishing it as one of the most extensive fintech platforms in operation. This influx of users is expected to enhance liquidity and create a vibrant ecosystem for borrowing, lending, trading, and managing financial activities.

What is the OXY Coin?

OXY is a token powering the Oxygen DeFi prime brokerage platform. Its maximum supply is capped at 10 billion units, of which only 40,689,415 (0.41%) are already in (January 2024), a limited amount largely due to the repercussions of the FTX crisis.

The OXY Coin, launched through an Initial Exchange Offering (IEO) on March 11, 2021, is a central element of the Oxygen Protocol. This IEO was a pivotal moment for Oxygen, with 2,000,000 OXY tokens, representing 0.02% of the total supply, sold at a price of $0.100000 per token, aiming to raise $250,000. Accepted payment methods included USDT/FTT.

Oxygen operates on the Solana network, ensuring high transaction speeds exceeding 50,000 per second at a cost-effective rate. OXY is available as both an SPL (native Solana) and an ERC-20 token, promoting full interoperability between the Ethereum and Solana ecosystems.

Use Cases

• Governance: OXY token holders can vote on platform decisions, influencing risk management, asset availability, and protocol economics.
• Revenue Sharing: Token holders earn 100% of net revenues from the protocol, including yield earned by lenders and fees from trading and liquidation.
• Reduced Fees and Higher Yields: Holding OXY leads to lower usage fees and increased yields for lenders.

Tokenomics

1. The token allocation of OXY Coin is strategically divided to support various facets of the Oxygen Protocol:

• Community Fund: A significant 45% of the tokens are allocated to the community fund, emphasizing community involvement and development.
• Product and Tech Growth: 25% is dedicated to the growth of the product and technology, ensuring continuous innovation and improvement.
• Team: 10% of the tokens are reserved for the team, recognizing their efforts and incentivizing long-term commitment.
• Private Sale: Another 10% of the tokens were distributed through a private sale, engaging early investors and stakeholders.
• Partners: 8% is allocated to partners, fostering collaborative relationships and expanding the ecosystem.
• IEO: The Initial Exchange Offering accounts for 2% of the tokens, which were made available to the public during the launch phase.

1. Token Supply Management: OXY’s total supply decreases through a buy and burn mechanism using 100% of protocol fees.

2. Long-Term Commitment: 88% of tokens, including those from private sales, are locked for over six years, ensuring commitment to the protocol’s success.

This comprehensive approach positions OXY as a pivotal token in the DeFi space, driving governance, revenue, and growth within the Oxygen ecosystem.

Oxygen Ecosystem

The Oxygen ecosystem epitomizes the fusion of blockchain technology and strategic partnerships, creating a unique footprint in the DeFi landscape. This ecosystem leverages the strengths of its collaborators to offer enhanced financial services and a more inclusive financial environment.

SOLANA

At the foundation of this ecosystem is Solana, a blockchain platform known for its exceptional efficiency and speed. Solana’s infrastructure supports Oxygen’s need for high transaction throughput and low-cost operations, making it an ideal backbone for the protocol. This integration ensures that Oxygen can provide scalable and fast financial services, crucial for DeFi applications’ success.

SERUM

Oxygen’s collaboration with Serum, a decentralized exchange,could further elevate its capabilities.
Serum declared itself “defunct” following the FTX collapse, due to security risks associated with FTX holding its upgrade authority. This led to a significant security compromise after a $400 million hack at FTX. In response, the Serum community initiated a fork named OpenBook on the Solana blockchain, showing promising activity with over $1 million in daily volume. Meanwhile, Serum’s original platform faced a drastic drop in volume and liquidity. The future of Serum’s native token, SRM, is uncertain amid suggestions to discontinue its use​​​​​​.

MAPS.ME

The partnership with Maps.me introduces a broader user reach, yet it’s a relationship tinged with complexity due to the FTX Group’s significant holding of MAPS/OXY tokens. While this alliance opens doors to a larger audience and potential liquidity, the heavy custodianship by FTX Group over these tokens necessitates cautious optimism regarding this aspect of the ecosystem.

The Oxygen ecosystem is a blend of innovation and strategic collaboration, marked by its integration with Solana’s efficient blockchain, Serum’s trading prowess, and Maps.me’s expansive user base. While promising in its multifaceted approach, the ecosystem navigates a nuanced landscape, balancing its potential with the intricacies of its partnerships, particularly with Maps.me under the FTX Group’s influence.

Is OXY a Good Investment?

Oxygen Protocol’s well-crafted structure, featuring personalized pools and efficient DeFi services, showcases its potential in the blockchain space. However, the shadow cast by the FTX disaster looms large, with the majority of OXY tokens entangled in this crisis. This problem poses significant risks, potentially leading to liquidity issues and affecting the platform’s usability. While the protocol’s infrastructure is commendable, these external factors introduce uncertainty, making the investment landscape for OXY complex and fraught with challenges that prospective investors need to consider carefully.

How to Own OXY?

To own OXY, you can use the services of a centralized crypto exchange. Start by creating a Gate.io account, and get it verified and funded. Then you are ready to go through the steps to buy OXY.

News on Oxygen

In April 2022, Oxygen announced the launch of its OXY Staking Programme, a significant development for OXY token holders, allowing them to earn up to 15% APY through on-chain staking and 10% via AscendEX. This initiative offered flexible commitment periods and various options for earning and withdrawing staking rewards. Despite its potential, the program’s relevance was overshadowed by the subsequent FTX crisis in November 2022, which significantly impacted the OXY ecosystem. Had the FTX debacle not occurred, this staking feature might have marked a pivotal moment in enhancing the utility and appeal of OXY tokens for long-term investors.

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