About UX Chain

UX Chain (formerly Umee) is a cross-chain DeFi protocol designed to allow staked assets from POS blockchains to be used as collateral for cross-chain lending. As a foundational blockchain, UX Chain enables the building of applications and financial primitives on its chain to access cross-chain leverage, liquidity, and debt tools. UX Chain is decentralized, meaning anyone can access the debt markets on UX Chain, regardless of their location or financial history.

Additionally, UX Chain facilitates operations between blockchains, including interoperability between the Cosmos ecosystem, Ethereum, sidechain architectures, Layer 2 scaling solutions, Rollups, and other foundational protocols. UX Chain has also been reviewed by leading industry auditors such as Halborn Security, PeckShield, and Trail of Bits.

Project Background

Team Members

Brent Xu: A graduate of Duke University in the United States, Brent Xu is the founder and CEO of UX Chain. He is an Ethereum ecosystem contributor, one of the first 30 employees at ConsenSys, and has worked at Tendermint, ConsenSys, and as an Ecosystem Contributor. He is currently the Co-Founder and CEO of Duration Labs.

Aleks: The Chief Engineer at UX Chain, Aleks was the Chief Engineer of Cosmos SDK before joining UX. Since 2018, he has been a contributor to the Cosmos ecosystem and a key contributor to the Tendermint Core consensus protocol.

Ming Duan: A graduate of Duke University in the United States, Ming Duan is the co-founder and COO of UX Chain. He is also a partner at Argonautic Ventures and Fenbushi Capital.

Funding Background

UX Chain was established in 2020 and officially rebranded in August 2023. In the third quarter of 2023, it released the meToken and $UX 2.0 token economics.

In June 2021, UX Chain completed a $6.3 million seed round with a valuation of $48 million. It also raised $32 million in a public fundraising round led by Polychain, with participation from top-tier institutions such as Coinbase Ventures, CMS Holdings, and Ethereal Ventures.

Project Advantages

The lending model of UX Chain (Source: www.ux.xyz)

Cross-Chain Lending:

UX Chain’s interoperability, enabled by the Tendermint PoS consensus mechanism, facilitates interaction with the Cosmos ecosystem, Ethereum, sidechain architectures, Layer 2 scaling solutions, Rollups, and other foundational protocols. This interoperability allows users to leverage assets and opportunities across multiple blockchains rather than being confined to a single blockchain ecosystem.

Asset Staking:

UX Chain allows staking assets from Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchains to be used as collateral. This enables users to borrow these assets while retaining potential staking rewards. Users can continue to earn from staking and gain additional liquidity. This flexibility enhances asset utilization efficiency, allowing users to make other investments or manage funds while enjoying staking returns, maximizing asset value in the Cosmos lending market.

Algorithmic Interest Rates:

UX Chain uses algorithms to determine interest rates, which adjust based on market conditions to provide users with fair and flexible lending rates.

Security and Efficiency:

By utilizing bridging solutions such as Gravity Bridge, UX Chain ensures the security and efficiency of cross-chain interactions, which is crucial for trust in the DeFi space.

About $UX Tokenomics

$UX is the native token of UX Chain, with a total supply of 10 billion tokens. The supply is unrestricted and features both inflationary and deflationary mechanisms to align the distribution of $UX tokens with long-term support for UX.

The inflation plan for $UX changes gradually based on the target staking participation rate. The inflation rate remains constant when the network achieves the target staking rate. If the network’s staking rate exceeds the target, the inflation rate will gradually decrease until it reaches a minimum rate of 7%. Conversely, if the network’s staking rate is below the target, the inflation rate will gradually increase until it reaches a maximum rate of 14%.

Specific token allocation ratios:

• 46% for the community, allocated to incentivize technical contributors, community builders, and liquidity providers
• 9% for the ecosystem, incentivizing developers to build new applications on UX Chain
• 5% for public fundraising
• 14% for private placements
• 15% for team development and UX Chain’s growth
• 10% for UX Lab
• 1% for advisors who have significantly contributed to UX’s development and will continue to provide guidance

The token unlock schedule (Source: www.ux.xyz)

Primary Use Cases for $UX Tokens

• Paying network fees on UX Chain.
• Supporting Proof-of-Stake consensus on UX Chain.
• Providing protocol governance: The native $UX token also functions as a governance token. After staking, $UX tokens can be used to vote on protocol parameters and upgrades to enhance blockchain infrastructure. $UX tokens will also manage DeFi parameters, community grants, and future application development at the top layer.

Types of $UX Tokens

There are two forms of $UX tokens: the native Cosmos version (native $UX token) and the Ethereum native ERC-20 token version. The two forms of $UX tokens can be freely converted between each other.

Native $UX Token:

Most Cosmos tokens, including the native $UX token, are designed to be interoperable with other Cosmos blockchains. Cosmos ecosystem users can easily transfer tokens between chains quickly and trustless. The primary purposes of the native $UX token are to participate in the PoS consensus mechanism, help secure the UX blockchain and earn PoS staking rewards, pay gas fees for executing cross-chain DeFi transactions on UX, and participate in protocol governance and decision-making.

ERC-20 $UX Token:

ERC-20 tokens are incompatible with the Cosmos blockchain unless converted to the Cosmos native format. Similarly, native Cosmos tokens are incompatible with the Ethereum blockchain unless converted to ERC-20 format. The main purpose of the ERC-20 $UX token is to provide a user-friendly experience on Ethereum, allowing users to leverage DeFi primitives on Ethereum and seamlessly access $UX tokens as ERC-20 tokens and hold or trade them on centralized exchanges.

Ways to Obtain $UX Tokens

To obtain $UX tokens, you can purchase them through cryptocurrency exchanges. For example, the reputable Gate.io exchange supports purchasing $UX tokens. Simply create a Gate.io account, complete the KYC process, deposit funds into your account, and you will be able to directly buy $UX tokens.

Future Development

UX Chain has launched the UX 2.0 version, which simplifies the user interface, enhances cross-chain functionality, and lays the foundation for the future of DeFi. UX 2.0 successfully delivered the Marina, Hali, and Yara development phases, bringing advanced DeFi features into reality. It has improved security with IBC rate limit enhancements and expanded smart contract compatibility through the CosmWasm interface.

The release of UX 2.0 marks the beginning of a new chapter. UX Chain will continue to innovate financial products and services, expand cross-chain integrations, enhance community-driven governance features, and further improve feasibility and user education. UX is also actively exploring partnership opportunities, with potential collaborations that could reshape the DeFi space by combining complementary strengths to create more powerful financial tools.

Conclusion

In the Cosmos ecosystem, nearly 70% of assets are staked, and UX Chain aims to enhance the utility of staked assets and attract more users, thereby maximizing asset value. UX Chain is pursuing a multi-chain vision, integrating a broader cryptocurrency ecosystem into the IBC network to expand UX’s influence across various chains.

The global debt market is estimated at $200 trillion, and UX Chain is building the foundation for a Web3-native debt market by combining traditional finance’s advantages with blockchain technology’s power. UX Chain is actively expanding its product development to include the global bond market in the DeFi space.