The waters may seem calm, but we’re about to make waves. 2022 is going to be a big year for the Icewater protocol, so it’s a good time to stop and take a look at where we have been, where we we are, and where we are going. Here’s the basic breakdown:
Summer 2021: The Prototype
The basic idea underlying Icewater is that you can maintain the stability of a cryptocurrency without pegging to the dollar, or any other external price. The key is to measure the price of a “bond” token (ICE) that pays out a stable token (H2O) in the future. Then, stabilize the price using an “equity” token (STM). We built a proof of concept in solidity, and launched it on an EVM testnet. The main features of the prototype were as follows.
Prototype Features:
- Three tokens: H2O, ICE, STM
- H2O/ICE market for measuring stability
- H2O/STM market for achieving stability
- Bid/Ask model for setting prices
Around the same time, we started to solidify our team by bringing on a handful of additional core contributors.
Fall 2021: Water Games
By the fall of 2021, we were experimenting with some new techniques to make the Icewater protocol more robust. We decided that the best way to test our new features would be to implement a competition. The Water Games were born. During the next few months we implemented some important changes that we launched on the testnet to experiment on members of the Icewater community.
Water Games Features:
- “Virtual Pool” for setting prices
- PID controller model for achieving stability
- Unified model for paying ICE and STM dividends
At the same time, we created a pre-launch token (MIST) for distributing rewards for both core team members and participating members of the community (including the winners of the Water Games). Additionally, we built an economic simulator to stress test the new features we developed for the Water Games.
Spring 2022: Feature Lock
Thanks to what we learned from the Water Games (and the simulator), we recently decided to lock in a set of features and prepare for launch. Here are some of the features we settled on.
Launch Features:
- P/I controller for achieving stability (i.e., separate “levers” controlled by “P” and “I” for short and long term stabilization, respectively)
- “Spring” contract for distributing H2O
- “Vent” contract to distribute STM
At the same time, we built some additional tools such as a community explorer integrated with Coordinape. We also launched a few experimental NFT campaigns on Galaxy.
Summer 2022: Launch!
Get ready! Icewater is about to launch our first token this summer (aside from the many testnet versions we have tried). Look for our official announcement of the date coming soon. In the meantime we are reviewing and cleaning up the code.
We also have a number of new features and NFT campaigns that we will be launching along with the new protocol. We plan to start small since too much hype without actual user demand can doom a stablecoin. But come join us on discord if you are interested in learning how to participate in the launch!
Fall 2022: Apps
After launch the main focus for the Icewater team will shift toward developing apps that will enable people to actually use H2O. These include DeFi Apps and integrations, Games, NFT campaigns, and more. Let us know if you have an idea for how to use a self-stabilizing cryptocurrency! We would love to work with you.
Summer 2023: Next Launch
We believe that the future is multichain, so the next version of the Icewater protocol will likely be launched on one or more chains other than the one we choose to launch v1. Additionally, we are strong believers in decentralization and immutability, so the next version of Icewater will focus on working toward these ideals.
Future Features:
- Multichain
- Decentralized distribution of tokens
- No-Governance model (i.e., immutable contracts)
