May 7, 2021
Introducing Wry: A DeFi Token With Ycash Roots
In addition to representing wrapped Ycash, Wry will power a lending platform for using ERC-20 tokens as collateral for stablecoin loans
By Howard Loo, Ycash Foundation
Introduction
I am excited to announce the official launch of the Wry token on Binance Smart Chain (BSC).
Since the open beta of Wry on BSC began at the end of February, Ycash users have moved nearly 100,000 Ycash coins (aka YEC) over to WRY. It is already easy to buy or sell Wry on PancakeSwap, where Wry liquidity continues to grow.
In this article, I will explain what Wry is, how Wry will be useful, and how you can get Wry right now.
Wry is Wrapped Ycash, and More
What is Wry? The name Wry derives from the term Wrapped Ycash. In the parlance of Decentralized Finance, a wrapped token is a token on a blockchain that represents a coin that resides on a different blockchain. For example, 1 WBTC (Wrapped Bitcoin) token on the Ethereum blockchain represents 1 BTC on the Bitcoin blockchain. Likewise, 1 WRY on the BSC blockchain represents 1 YEC on the Ycash blockchain.
Wry is deployed on BSC at this contract address:
For each 1 WRY in circulation on the BSC blockchain, 1 YEC on the Ycash blockchain has been taken out of circulation by the Ycash Foundation. As such, the value of 1 WRY is meant to equal the value of 1 YEC. Regardless of whether the free market values WRY and YEC equally, the Ycash Foundation will always treat their values as being equal.
But Wry is not just wrapped Ycash. Wry will power all future DeFi applications developed by the Ycash Foundation or the yec.dev development team. To illustrate, I will focus on one specific use case: using Wry as collateral to obtain stablecoin loans.
Yes.io: Simple Peer-to-Peer Stablecoin Loans, Backed by Any ERC-20 Token
Today I am also excited to announce that I am in the early stages of developing yes.io, a peer-to-peer lending platform powered by Wry. The yes.io platform will be deployed on both Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain. (In this article, when I refer to Ethereum’s ERC-20 token standard, I am also referring to the BSC’s analogue, BEP-20.)
The motivation is simple: I want to enable Wry holders to use their Wry as collateral for stablecoin loans. Imagine being able to put up $2,000 worth of WRY as collateral in exchange for a loan of $1,000 USDC ,with a term of 1 year and an interest rate of 10%. (I know of individuals interested in offering loans like this to Wry holders.)
In order to propose loan terms or accept loan terms on the yes.io platform, you will need to spend a nominal amount of Wry. This makes Wry useful, since it will be the exclusive token for interacting with the platform. For example, if a borrower want to propose the loan terms mentioned above, the borrower will have to spend a small amount of Wry to create the proposal. Similarly, a lender interested in providing the $1,000 loan to the borrower will have to spend a small amount of Wry to accept the loan proposal.
We can go further: Rather than just support stablecoin loans backed by WRY collateral, yes.io will support loans of any ERC-20 token backed by collateral of any ERC-20 token. For example, a lender and borrower can agree to a wBTC loan backed by UNI.
There already exists DeFi lending platform, notably Aave. But these platforms seem to focus primarily on so-called “flash loans” (loans that are borrowed and paid back within a single transaction). Furthermore, these platforms usually have dynamic collateral requirements that change in response to changes in the underlying market value of the collateral (thus exposing the borrower to liquidation risks, especially if the price of the underlying collateral is volatile due to low liquidity). Yes.io will focus on providing a platform for longer-term loans with static collateral requirements.
How to Get WRY on BSC
There are many ways to obtain WRY on BSC:
- Buy it on PancakeSwap with BNB or any BEP-20 token.
- Move YEC to WRY via the Ycash Foundation’s Wry Pipe.
- Mine WRY with a GPU at daPool mining pool.
The Next Steps For Wry: WRY on ETH
The Wry on ETH contract has already been deployed on Ethereum, but the current high transaction fees on Ethereum make deploying infrastructure like the Wry Pipe impractical. But there is hope on the horizon: Ethereum Layer 2 solutions are gaining traction. Notably, Uniswap plans to launch Uniswap 3 on Optimism (a layer 2 platform) once the Optimism mainnet launches this summer. My goal is to have WRY on ETH ready in time for the launch of Uniswap 3 on Optimism.
Learn More
To learn more about Wry, check out the Wry page on the Ycash website and then visit the Ycash Forums. You can also watch Wry in action on BscScan.
