You are most likely familiar with the concept of Universal Basic Income. A policy-driven initiative to provide people with a secure and reliable source of income. We believe such an initiative is years away from becoming a reality on a mass scale. Decentralized Basic Income, on the other hand, is possible today and at Harmony, we are beginning to put together the building blocks for a sustainable and stable source of income for millions of people.
Users staking their tokens on Harmony can already take advantage of up to 12% interest in rewards. But as a first phase to achieve a stable 20% yield, we have partnered with Terra to seamlessly bridge UST tokens to and from Anchor Protocol.
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Stablecoins are important for our purposes; for the stable interest rates to be meaningful to the typical household saver, both the savings and the interest have to be in terms of everyday currencies. As well as working with Terra, we have partnered with FRAX with the goal of utilizing the first crypto-native Price Consumer Index which is more inflation-resistant than the dollar.
We are welcoming more stablecoin projects such as OIN to the ecosystem as an effort to bring more confidence to mass consumers.
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We have also launched several key partnerships with DeFi protocols such as Sushi, Curve, Viper, Tranquil, and many more with over $500M in Total Value Locked. These protocols will provide the initial building blocks of a broader ecosystem for enabling Basic Income.
Harmony TVL - DefiLlama
We just launched a cross-chain NFT dashboard. Check it out here!
defillama.com
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The common household saver has typically turned to government bonds and fixed-term savings with an average annual yield of 0.06% for the steady accumulation of wealth. To the average saver, the stock market may seem like a rather complex and risky place. Real estate is of course considered relatively stable but the barrier to entry is much higher. Above all, cryptocurrency remains very far from a mainstream investment option due to the high volatility of the market and other perceived risks.
We can use several blockchain protocols to achieve a steady 20% annual yield without exposing consumers to the volatility and risks of cryptocurrency markets.
Savings can be channeled into the staking deposits in Proof-of-Stake protocols. For Proof-of-Stake blockchains like Harmony, staking is an essential part of maintaining the integrity of the network. Token-holders can already receive staking rewards in the order of 12% annual rate and these rewards are relatively stable.
For the other 10%, we can tap into fixed-rate lending protocols such as Aave and securitization and risk tranches.
These sources of income are not available in traditional financial systems.
🪴 Decentralized Basic Income: On-Chain Staking & Fixed-Rate Protocols
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We are not stopping there. We have implemented a radical pay structure to onboard thousands of builders and creatives in the coming months. Through the "Basic Income" DAO, Harmony's bottom-up approach is to offer generous pay to onboard anyone who is qualified and aligned with our mission and our cultural values — anywhere in the world.
Additionally, we are investing heavily in DAOs as the future of work for individuals who prefer fluid commitment, exploring multiple opportunities, and producing work aligned with their own passion and values.