What Is Frax (FRAX)?

Frax (FRAX) is a new standard of stablecoins. The name FRAX is derived from the "fractional-algorithmic" stability mechanism. The Frax protocol has introduced a cryptocurrency that is partially backed by collateral and stabilized algorithmically in the fractional algorithmic protocol. The Frax stablecoin is an open-source, permissionless, and completely on-chain. It is implemented on Ethereum and other blockchains. Here, on-chain transactions refer to the transactions that occur on the blockchains. Frax protocol aims to provide scalable and decentralized funds in place of a fixed supply of digital assets.  

According to the whitepaper, many stablecoin protocols embrace entirely one spectrum of design, either collateralized or algorithmic, with no backing. However, two problems are associated with the entirely collateralized stablecoins: drisk loss because of poor performance or on-chain over-collateralization. On the other hand, algorithmic design stablecoin protocols are difficult to bootstrap, slow to grow, and exhibit an extreme period of volatility. 

Frax protocol implements design principles of both the spectrums mentioned above to create a highly scalable, trustless, stable, and on-chain fund. The protocol is a two-token system encompassing Frax (FRAX), a stablecoin, and Frax Shares (FXS), which is a governance token. 

The liquidity pool (LP) token is the FRAX stablecoin, which users can redeem any time. Liquidity is the easy conversion of an asset into traditional currency without impacting the market price. The FRAX stablecoin is completely collateralized. Users can also mint the FRAX by placing collateral into the minting contract. Minting is a process of producing new tokens through the proof-of-stake (PoS) protocol. The protocol accepts all types of cryptocurrencies as collateral and mainly accepts on-chain stablecoins as collateral to smoothen out volatility in the collateral.

Coming to its tokenomics, FXS is the native utility token of the FRAX protocol. The token is volatile and takes a decentralized approach to design its digital money in the same ethos as Bitcoin. Initially, there was a supply of 100 million tokens at genesis. However, as the token gets minted at higher algorithmic ratios, the amount of token in circulation results in deflationary supply. The FRAX protocol now enables its token holders to lock up their owned tokens in veFXS and earn special rewards and AMO benefits. veFXS is a yield generating system by which users can lock up their tokens for up to four years to get four times the amount of locked-up tokens.