Radix, a layer-one protocol for decentralized finance (DeFi), has reportedly secured $12.7 million in funding to support the growth, “decentralization,” and ongoing development of its platform.
As mentioned in a release shared with CI, Radix allows software engineers to build and deploy various DeFi applications.
The announcement noted:
“The Radix (eXRD) public token sale began on October 8, 2020 at 18:00 UTC and generated contributions from 652 participants in 67 countries before closing on October 22, 2020. The purchase of Radix tokens was subject to a $5,000 minimum purchase and the successful completion of strict KYC/AML, and excluded certain jurisdictions, such as the United States.”
Piers Ridyard, CEO of Radix, said that distributing Radix tokens widely helps the organization achieve its goal to reward or incentivize participants while ensuring “sufficient” decentralization of the public network. Ridyard also mentioned that his team is pleased by the support they’ve received from many contributors who share Radix’s vision of “realizing DeFi’s transformative potential.”
The Radix team claims that DeFi is a “world-changing” innovation. However, they pointed out that its future may be in “jeopardy.” They explained that the Ethereum (ETH) network has become too congested and has also become a “whales only” playground because of a dramatic increase in transaction (or gas) fees.
Radix states that Ethereum 2.0 is “years away from delivering any meaningful improvements for DeFi and breaks core functionality such as atomic composability.”
The Radix team also claims:
“The Radix Public Network is designed to solve [blockchain scalability and other technical] issues by enabling fast, low-cost, secure transactions; a development environment focused on enabling safe and flexible management of user assets; and a smart contract marketplace designed to create a vibrant developer ecosystem.”
As confirmed in the release, the first eXRD tokens “will be distributed on November 17, 2020. 200 million additional eXRD tokens are planned to be distributed as community liquidity rewards over 6 months to eXRD token holders who add liquidity to the eXRD/USDC pool on Uniswap.”
As previously reported, Radix DLT Ltd had revealed in (August 2020) that it had implemented four new technology solutions that could help DeFi achieve mainstream adoption.
The Radix team had noted that they’ve created Cerberus, a high-speed blockchain network consensus algorithm; Radix Engine, which may be used to implement various DeFi apps; Component Catalog, a library to help develop DeFi platforms; and Developer Royalties, a “decentralized” incentive or rewards program.
They added:
“[Mainstream decentralized finance adoption can take place] when developers are finally given the tools they need to build apps that can surpass the services offered by the traditional financial industry. It happens when users of those apps wonder why they ever put up with the old way. Mainstream DeFi will move far beyond $4 billion and [will] begin to absorb the $111 trillion waiting to be deployed onto the public ledger. Mainstream DeFi is the future we built Radix for.”
Radix said that its Engine has been developed specifically for “the creation of logic that defines predictable, correct results on-ledger in response to requests.” The engine is based on Finite State Machines. Meanwhile, the Component Catalog builds on top of the Radix Engine and provides an on-ledger (or blockchain based) hub for software engineers to create dApps.
Cerberus is Radix’s consensus mechanism that has been developed based on “a unique pre-sharded ledger and uses a new consensus process called braiding.” Its incentive program, called Developer Royalties, offers special rewards at the protocol-level.
According to Radix, developing a platform that’s fit or ideal for mainstream DeFi isn’t “a matter of solving one problem; it’s a matter of solving multiple problems that exist at every layer of today’s DLT platforms.”
The Radix team recommends that DeFi platforms must be able to support interoperability, have properly aligned incentives, must be scalable, and be able to avoid hacks, exploits, or other types of technical failures.