- Origin protocol is backed by a committed community of developers, investors, and content creators with a strong footing in high growth sectors.
- Origin protocol entered into liquid staking in 2023, accruing over $80 million in TVL to its new token, Origin Ether (OETH).
- Origin protocol’s team hails from big tech, with both co-founders successfully building startups before transitioning to crypto in 2012.
While last year’s crypto winter bankrupted many of the industry’s behemoths, well managed blockchain projects are now emerging from the ashes. Novel protocols in Liquid Staking, AI, and gaming are surfacing, showing huge promise for 2024 and beyond.
Origin Protocol, a well-funded crypto ecosystem, heads into 2024 after progressing through its 2nd crypto bear market since its inception in 2017. For many, bear markets are the ideal time to test new products and create tangible use cases before the mainstream enters back into the industry. For Origin, this came to fruition as Origin Ether, the protocol’s liquid staking yield aggregator.
Origin Protocol gained new users with the launch of Origin Ether (OETH) in May 2023. Origin Ether took advantage of the influx of liquid staking deposits post Shapella upgrade, quickly gaining a TVL of $50+ million just two months after its launch.
Key Principles: What It Takes to Bare the Bear
In a recent blog post written by Origin Protocol co-founder Matthew Liu titled “6 Lessons I’ve Learned from 6 Years Building Origin,” it’s evident that the Origin team is seasoned at navigating all types of market conditions. Furthermore, the protocol is committed to directing value creation to its user base through its flagship products including Origin Dollar (OUSD), Origin Ether (OETH), and Origin Token (OGN).
- Solve Real Problems
According to Liu, Origin protocol focuses on servicing existing crypto users, as it is still too early to focus on mainstream adoption. By solving real-world problems that are facing crypto native users, Origin Protocol has managed to define itself amid a complex and competitive web3 industry.
By launching OETH earlier this year, Origin aims to solve the problem of compressing ETH staking yield. As millions of new inflows enter liquid staking, yields have compressed to ~3%. By offering yield aggregation for ETH liquid staking and DeFi, OETH has managed to yield over 6% APY over the trailing 30-days, beating traditional staking yield by nearly 2x.
“Disruptive ideas are built off of enabling technologies. These building blocks serve as the foundation that then opens up the adjacent possible,” Liu noted.
- Military Grade Security for Future Sustainability
In an ecosystem marred with frequent network attacks leading to heavy losses of users funds, Origin protocol has focused on providing the most secure decentralized financial (DeFi) platforms and products. Moreover, the high competition in the web3 industry leaves entrepreneurs no space for complacency as trust broken is very hard to rebuild, especially within DeFi.
“Thanks to rigorous audits and tireless effort, OUSD is one of only six digital assets to claim a AAA rating from InsurAce. Both OUSD and OETH are open-source, decentralized, and non-custodial, offering users maximum transparency into their mechanics,” co-founder Josh Fraser noted.
Aside from audits and open source software, Origin employs a $1 million immunifi bounty program for anyone able to find bugs in its code. The team acknowledges that protocol security is the top priority, as any funds managed by code must be bulletproof.
- A Global Focus
Since its inception, Origin Protocol has been building products with a global community in mind. Notably, Origin did not conduct a traditional ICO, but instead enrolled hundreds of entities and individuals in strategic regions around the world. OGN has grown to a fully diluted valuation of more than $130 million and an average daily traded volume of over $14 million, representing the global base of users and investors at Origin Protocol.
Moreover, the team believes crypto should remain accessible to everyone globally. As such, Origin has a large number of regional communities worldwide, including Vietnam, Mexico, China, Korea, and Turkey.
- Timely Products
Origin Protocol has remained versatile in innovating new products that are timely and ready to be adopted by crypto native users. When Origin Protocol was founded in 2017, the team focused on decentralized marketplaces, but the proper infrastructure including scalable and cheaper transaction fees on Ethereum had not been put in place.
Following the onset of proof-of-stake Ethereum and liquid staking, Origin protocol unveiled Origin Ether (OETH), an ETH liquid staking aggregator that provides investors with better yields than traditional liquid staking. With rising interest in crypto, Origin Ether is now approaching $100 million in total value locked (TVL), while delivering higher yield than the top liquid staking tokens like stETH, rETH, and frxETH.
- Long-Term Gains Perspective
Origin Protocol is well positioned to capture more liquid staking TVL as the team is committed to long-term compounded growth in upcoming cycles. Origin Protocol has managed to minimize the noise and build products that will continue to disrupt the web3 industry in decades to come.
- Young Mentality
According to co-founders Josh Fraser and Matthew Liu, Origin Protocol understands that cryptocurrency adoption is still early with more changes expected along the way. Consequently, they asserted that Origin Protocol is well armed to tackle fresh challenges along the way.
Origin Protocol certainly isn’t the only project that’s gained traction amid the recent crypto recovery. Interestingly, though, Origin has managed to integrate some of the hottest DeFi protocols with OETH, aiding in its quick ascent to a top-3 Ethereum yield aggregator.
When the crypto markets show strength, new projects start popping up everywhere. It’s important to stay grounded during these times, learning from the teams that have been building in the space for years, such as our friends at Origin Protocol.