Onyxcoin (XCN) is a cryptocurrency that powers the Onyx ecosystem, tailored for the corporate sector. Initially introduced as an altcoin called Chain (CHN), it was rebranded to Onyxcoin in March 2022, coinciding with the launch of a new smart contract.
Founders and Investors of Onyx
Debuting in the U.S. market back in 2014, the brand was the brainchild of the enterprising Harvard Business School graduate, Adam Ludwin. A passionate proponent of transitioning fiat currencies to blockchain, Ludwin's prior endeavors include venture capital pursuits, with notable investments in Slack, Paperless Post, and various other projects.
Four years post its inception, the startup was acquired by Lightyear Corp., a commercial subsidiary of the Stellar Development Foundation. According to Forbes, Ludwin's innovative venture fetched him an impressive half a billion dollars. Stellar Development Foundation is renowned for its focus on financial services, software development, mobile money ventures, payment systems, and more. Additionally, they are the architects behind the cryptocurrency Stellar Lumens (XLM).
From 2021, Chain began to function as an autonomous entity, with the Onyx Protocol now spearheaded by Deepak Thapliyal. Having already established himself in domain name registration and sales, Thapliyal had also delved into arbitrage trading systems. In the realm of Web3, he's widely recognized for his fervent advocacy of NFTs. In the winter of 2022, Tapliyal made waves by acquiring an NFT from the esteemed CryptoPunk collection for 8000 ETH, amounting to nearly $24 million.
Since its establishment in 2014, the Onyx Protocol's leadership has entered several partnership deals and has undertaken multiple investment rounds. One notable endeavor was an ICO that raked in $40 million. The firm attracted capital not just from venture capitals like Khosla Ventures and Pantera Capital, but also from major players such as Nasdaq and Visa.
XCN Price in 2022-2023 Source: CoinMarketCap
The Vision, Mission, and Goals of the Onyx Project
The Onyx Protocol emerges as a decentralized platform designed to streamline the peer-to-peer money market lending protocol. The brains behind the project underscore that many rival lending protocols either fall short in tapping into the full potential of digital assets as collateral or are overshadowed by centralized governance.
“Aave, Compound, and BendDAO are among the most popular lending protocols today, but they only support either Ether and Tokens or NFTs, but not both together,” states Onyx Protocol in their Whitepaper.
Setting itself apart, Onyx:
- Supports all varieties of tokens, NFTs included, as collateral;
- Ensures consolidated and comprehensive access to liquidity provision;
- Stands as a decentralized entity, with the reins held by 11,010 XCN holders, rooted in a trust-less lending framework.
Onyx operates as an open-source initiative hosted on GitHub. This transparency allows both DAO participants and third-party developers to contribute solutions, particularly addressing challenges within the lending domain.
It’s worth noting that Onyx's lending line comes with no monthly payment obligations. Borrowers can maintain these loans indefinitely, provided they uphold the necessary collateral.
As of mid-2023, within the Onyx Protocol ecosystem, there's a staggering $10.6 billion in borrowed assets, underpinned by a collateral pool of $16.16 billion.
XCN Tokenomics
The Onyxcoin (XCN) is Onyx's native digital currency, rooted in the Ethereum blockchain. It serves as both a utility and governance token, giving holders the authority to voice their opinions on potential changes to the protocol and other DAO initiatives. Users can also stake XCN to earn rewards, bolster the protocol, and conduct transactions within the ecosystem.
Originally, Onyxcoin (XCN) was distributed to its community through airdrops with a total supply of 100 billion coins. By the end of July 2023, this number had shrunk to roughly 48.5 billion due to token burns and certain lock-up mechanisms. About 24 billion XCN were actively in circulation during this period.
Approximately 25 billion Onyxcoins are held by Onyx DAO. From this, the DAO's treasury utilizes 10 billion for a variety of purposes such as grants and incentives. An additional 15 billion remains locked in smart contracts. Importantly, there's a planned monthly release of 200 million XCN tokens starting from April 2025.
At the close of July 2023, XCN's market capitalization was valued at $27 million, with the token's price at $0.00111. Its ATH of $0.17 was attained in the summer of 2022.
Market Capitalization of XCN in 2012-2023. Source: CoinMarketCap
