ICHI launches ‘Decentralized Monetary Authority’ for stablecoin issuance

Stablecoin issuing platform ICHI has launched a Decentralized Monetary Authority, or DMA, that enables cryptocurrency networks to more easily mint their own stablecoins securely. 

By utilizing ICHI’s DMA, cryptocurrency communities can create and govern their own fully-collateralized stablecoins and set their value at exactly $1. ICHI’s developers say their platform solves the myriad of challenges associated with existing stablecoins, including the need to sell other cryptocurrencies to mint more tokens. This problem is akin to selling a stock, which simultaneously decreases the value of that stock.

ICHI’s platform seeks to provide the benefits of fiat-backed coins like USDC and USDT without such tradeoffs. Stablecoins issuers on ICHI are known as “oneTokens,” and are designed to be pegged to the U.S. dollar and fully collateralized by a combination of fiat coins and the community’s native token. The ICHI network is fully onchain, which means anyone can verify the reserves and collateral pools at any given time.

Projects that launch stablecoins on onToken can create a customized stablecoin contract, develop liquidity mining incentives and operate a community-controlled treasury.

ICHI steward Bryan Gross, who previously served as principal product architect at IBM Blockchain, said the “real promise of DeFi” is much bigger than the current bull market. He said:

“Our vision at ICHI is to help give people complete freedom over how they spend, invest, save and and otherwise use their money. ICHI is built to provide every crypto community with the tools they need to operate all aspects of a sustainable, scalable economy while keeping value locked in their own communities rather than transferring value out.”

Tether remains the de facto stablecoin on the market, having only recently minted its 60 billionth USDT. Earlier this month, Tether finally disclosed its full reserve breakdown for the first time.

The combined value of all stablecoins now exceeds $109 billion, according to industry data. Beyond Tether, USD Coin, Binance USD and DAI have achieved sizable market share.