Olympus12: Building a Strong Ecosystem Around a Web3-Native Reserve Currency
A 12-month plan for how Olympus will achieve its goal of becoming Web3’s premiere decentralized reserve currency
The Road So Far
The goal of the Olympus protocol has always been to create a decentralized, censorship resistant reserve currency for the emerging Web3 ecosystem. Developing a reserve currency is important because a fundamental goal of the Web3 financial movement is to foster an alternative economic ecosystem that serves the needs of its various stakeholders, which include:
- Having access to unique purpose-built assets that are widely and uniformly available across L1s and L2s
- Being able to transact/store value in highly decentralized and censorship-resistant assets that are not dependent on the traditional financial ecosystem for validation or survival
Our first step was to utilize strong incentives to bootstrap Olympus’ Treasury, which would give the emerging DAO the economic power and influence required to achieve this objective. What makes OHM valuable as a reserve currency is the presence of the Olympus treasury, which acts as a counterbalance to the market, adding confidence and stability to a volatile system.
Our bootstrapping efforts have been immensely successful. The Olympus DAO currently has a Treasury valued at approximately $600 million, which is owned and operated by the Olympus community.
Olympus’ bonding activity and increasing revenues (driven by fees from Olympus’ liquidity pools, services such as Olympus Pro, “bribes” from governance activities, etc.) will certainly continue to drive Treasury growth and the DAO’s economic power.
However, as Olympus moves into a more intensive execution stage, many are asking important questions, such as:
- What will it mean, practically, for Olympus to become a decentralized reserve currency? How are the DAO’s current and future partnerships, liquidity initiatives, and innovation activity helping it achieve its mission?
- Is Olympus sustainable?: Does Olympus require constant and growing market demand for it to successfully execute its mission?
- How is the Treasury being deployed to add value to the Olympus ecosystem?: How do ecosystem participants, including those staking OHM, benefit from Olympus’ Treasury?
Olympus12: An Action Plan for Olympus’ Next 12 Months
Over the next 12 months our goal is to make significant progress on Olympus’ mission of becoming Web3’s premiere decentralized reserve currency. But, before diving into how we will achieve this objective, it’s worth taking a step back and clearly defining what reserve currencies are designed to do.
- Reserve assets preserve purchasing power: Over the medium- to long-term the asset grows to out-pace inflation, and becomes more stable over time
- Reserve assets have deep liquidity: Reserve currencies are highly liquid and can be easily exchanged for other assets, products and services
- Reserve assets are utilized as units of account: Other assets are denominated in the currency
- Reserve assets serve as trusted backing: The currency is viewed as reliable and relatively low risk, which encourages entities to hold large quantities of it in reserve
Today, we are pleased to present Olympus12, a 12-month action plan for how Olympus will achieve its goal of becoming Web3’s premiere decentralized reserve currency. The DAO has been actively involved in activities designed to strengthen OHM’s reserve currency status, with a special focus on dampening volatility and using the Treasury to significantly benefit and grow the Olympus ecosystem.
The table and image below outline Olympus12 Action Plan activities that are currently in progress and will be conducted between January 2022 and January 2023, along with information about the DAO Working Groups responsible for implementing these efforts.
Activities featured in the table and image are organized according to how they align with the key requirements of a reserve currency.
Note: This action plan does not feature deadlines or time frames for various activities. Many of the DAO’s efforts will take place over an extended period of time (months to years). In the future, we will publish additional information about the action plan that features time frames or deadlines regarding specific high-impact initiatives.
Olympus12 Action Plan: Key January 2022 — January 2023 Objectives and Activities
Summary: Olympus12 Action Plan
Demonstrating Impact and Reporting on Our Progress
The Olympus12 Action Plan will help to strengthen OHM’s role as a reserve currency and:
- Demonstrates how the Treasury is being deployed to add value to the Olympus ecosystem: Showcases how the DAO’s economic power (its Treasury) is being utilized in service of everyone in the Olympus ecosystem; specifically, how ecosystem participants are benefiting from its growing strength, accelerating network effects, support of initiatives that drive utilization of OHM across DeFi, and is used to preserve and enhance OHM’s premium
- Bolsters the sustainability and strength of Olympus: Illustrates how the Treasury, DAO contributors, and our partners help to build a strong foundation for the protocol
- Outlines the specific steps Olympus is taking to become a decentralized reserve currency: How we are working to preserve OHM’s purchasing power, drive liquidity, foster its use as a unit of account and become a trusted backing
Given the scale and scope of Olympus’ activities, it can be difficult for the community to monitor and evaluate the DAO’s performance. In addition to creating new dashboards and metrics outlining and measuring the DAO’s activities, we will publish quarterly reports on the Olympus12 Action Plan beginning in late Q1 2022/early Q2 2022.
Also, progress on the Olympus12 Action Plan will be regularly reported during community calls, our newsletter, Twitter and other channels.
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¹See “What is a Reserve Currency”, The Balance, https://www.thebalance.com/what-is-a-reserve-currency-1978926; “Here’s How Reserve Currencies Have Evolved Over 120 Years”, Visual Capitalist, https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/how-reserve-currencies-evolved-over-120-years/; “Purchasing Power”, Investopedia, https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/purchasingpower.asp
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About OlympusDAO
Olympus is a decentralized financial reserve protocol that provides sustainable compounding interest through its community-owned and protected treasury.
