coindesk.com
Former Babel Finance CEO Flex Yang has released the HOPE stablecoin and a decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem linked to it, a representative told CoinDesk.
The Hope ecosystem will focus on bridging the gap between centralized finance (CeFi), traditional finance and DeFi applications. DeFi protocols rely on smart contracts instead of middlemen to provide financial service, such as trading, lending, or borrowing, to users.
Yang stepped down from Babel Finance in October 2021 and announced a leadership transition in December 2021 to pursue personal projects in the crypto industry, one of which came to become Hope.
The initial capital investment in the dollar-pegged HOPE stablecoin will be used to build up its bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) reserves, while using these reserves to find a pricing peg. Later users will be able to buy the HOPE coin to engage with ecosystem's DeFi applications.
On launch, HOPE will be supported by prominent investors as well as with investment from Yang. Later the stablecoin’s governance will be handed over to a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO).
The Hope Ecosystem of DeFi apps will kick off with the launch of HopeSwap. HopeSwap will serve as an onramp, and users will be able to buy HOPE on the platform. This swap protocol built on Ethereum will use an Automated Market Making (AMM) system, and aid in deepening liquidity for the ecosystem.
Later, HopeConnect will launch and offer derivatives trading on CeFi platforms, while providing the security of self custody via DeFi smart contracts.
Other upcoming applications include HopeLend, a non-custodial lending platform with multiple liquidity pools; HopeEcho, which creates synthetic assets that track the prices of real-world assets; as well as third-party DeFi applications developed on the HOPE ecosystem.