Over at Lybra Finance, their primary objective is to establish eUSD as an interest-bearing, secure, and fully decentralized stablecoin that functions as a crypto bank account for its holders, independent of any government or authority. As a preceding step to launch, they’ve started an audit with us over at Code4rena. From June 23rd — July 3rd, Wardens have the chance to win a slice of their $60,500 USDC prize pool.
We sat down to talk with their Head of Commercial & Marketing, about what Lybra’s building, their approach to security, and more. Let’s get into it 🤝
What are you building, and what sets it apart from similar offerings in the space?
Lybra Finance is revolutionizing the decentralized finance space by delivering stability amidst cryptocurrency volatility. We’ve differentiated ourselves with our novel use of LSTs (Liquid Staking Tokens), leveraging them alongside ETH as collateral to mint eUSD, the first interest-bearing stablecoin.
With the roll-out of V2, we’re excited to introduce peUSD, the DeFi Utility Version of eUSD. This is facilitated by LayerZero’s OFT model, which significantly enhances peUSD’s liquidity and usability. This introduction not only offers users more flexibility with their assets, but also considerably broadens peUSD’s scope of application within the DeFi landscape.
What’s your vision for your project? What are you building towards in the longer view?
Our aspiration for Lybra is to shape a safer and more effective DeFi landscape. We aim to position eUSD as #1 interest-bearing, omnichain decentralized stablecoin, where holders can maintain their eUSD assets while freely trading in peUSD. This vision allows our users to confidently navigate within the DeFi environment, hedge against inflation, and optimize yield in a myriad of growing new ways.
What’s the most innovative idea in your project/protocol?
In Lybra V1, our primary innovation lay in leveraging LSTs as collateral to construct the leading interest-bearing stablecoin.
As we transition to V2, we’re taking innovation a step further with the introduction of peUSD, the DeFi utility counterpart of eUSD. The deployment of peUSD enhances the yield for eUSD minters, amplifies our protocol’s competitiveness, extends its reach across chains, and into DeFi applications. This not only optimizes user benefits but also boosts Lybra’s capacity to capture value.
It takes courage to undergo a public audit by a swarm of anonymous security researchers. It also says a lot about how much you prioritize security. What advice would you give to those on the fence?
Our advice would be: Embrace transparency. In the crypto space, security is paramount, and a public audit is an excellent way to demonstrate commitment to transparency and accountability. It may seem daunting, but the insights and improvements that come from it are invaluable.
Security has become an increasingly important topic in Web3 and DeFi. How do you think the ecosystem needs to evolve in order to rise to the challenge?
Security in Web3 and DeFi needs to evolve in two main ways: tighter protocols and increased education. The ecosystem needs to constantly adapt and upgrade its security protocols to counter new threats. Simultaneously, there must be efforts to educate users about the importance of security and ways to protect their assets.
What gets you most excited about Web3?
The opportunity for new and sustainable economic models and products to emerge, along with the accessibility that decentralization allows.
Centralized systems have many good points, but inflation and censorship create challenges, so it’s exciting to see the evolution of decentralized and censorship resistant mediums of exchange. These too can be compliant and blend the best of what we’ve learned from economic history and policy, with the flexibility and innovation of DeFi.
These novel solutions open a diverse array of opportunities for the average person to maintain custody of their assets and optimize their capital, in ways previously unavailable to the average person in the world of Web2.
Complete the following sentence: “We wish more Web3 projects would…”
“We wish more Web3 projects would prioritize user education, security and decentralization, which we believe are the core principles of the Web3 paradigm. With the rise of DeFi and Web3, it’s crucial to ensure users understand how to navigate these platforms safely.”
Learn more about Lybra Finance
Website: https://lybra.finance/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LybraFinanceLSD
Discord: https://discord.gg/mgyq3PhdJg
Lybra Finance’s $60,500 USDC audit with Code4rena began on June 23rd, 2023, and will be open until July 3rd. More details here.
The Ones in the Arena spotlights emerging and established DeFi projects and their founders, with an eye to celebrating and learning from them. The series’ name is inspired in part by Teddy Roosevelt’s famous quote, which has a central place in Code4rena’s philosophy.
