Built on Ethereum, Alchemix is a decentralized finance protocol that allows users to take out collateral-backed loans that are automatically paid off using the yield generated by the collateral. ALCX is the name and ticker symbol of Alchemix protocol's native ERC-20 governance token.
To take out a loan, users have to deposit collateral in stablecoins or Ethereum-based tokens in exchange for the protocol's native synthetic token, alToken. The collected collateral is deposited in trusted lending markets or yield-generating vaults, such as yearn.finance. Yields harvested from these vaults are used to pay out users' loans automatically.
Alchemix has implemented several security measures to keep your funds safe, such as security audits by Certik. In addition, the protocol deposits your funds in trusted DeFi protocols like yearn.finance. Alchemix vaults also have an emergency shutdown mechanism to withdraw all funds from yearn.finance and pause deposits if something goes wrong.
To maintain the peg of alTokens, Alchemix has set a limit on how many alTokens can be minted from an underlying asset depending on the asset's technical, market and legal risk. Alchemix also uses Chainlink oracle price feeds. If the value of the stablecoin falls below a certain threshold, users cannot mint, liquidate or repay using the base asset until its price bounces back to acceptable levels.
With ALCX, you can vote on the protocol's governance via the Alchemix DAO once it is formed. Additionally, yield farming rewards are distributed in ALCX tokens. 10% of all yields collected by Alchemix vaults will go to the Alchemix DAO treasury. ALCX holders will vote on the allocation of these funds, protocol parameters, feature requests and other matters of the Alchemix DAO.
ALCX does not have a hard-capped supply. ALCX tokens will be released via their emission schedule, reducing the issuance of ALCX tokens over three years and impacting ALCX price charts.
Initially, there will be a pre-mine of 478,612 ALCX tokens considering the estimated circulating supply of ALCX tokens is 2,393,060 after three years.
Alchemix DAO treasury will receive a pre-mine of 15% of the projected supply after three years and an additional 5% for bug bounties. The remaining 80% are kept for staking rewards. 16% of all emissions will go to Alchemix founders, on-board developers and community developers via an exclusive staking pool which will receive 20% of ALCX block rewards. Stakers and liquidity providers will get 80% of ALCX block rewards, equivalent to 64% of all ALCX emissions.
After three years, there will be an estimated annual inflation of 4.5% of the ALCX supply, causing an impact on ALCX price. Alchemix claims that the inflation will decrease over time.
Alchemix has prominent investors such as DCV, Weak Simp Capital, eGirl Capital, Almeda Research, Magic Ventures and Ledger Prime, among others. In addition, the project has strategic partnerships with Protoscale Captial, Spartan, GBV and Delphi Capital.
There are two core components in the Alchemix protocol – Vaults and Transmuter.
Vaults are smart contracts that give you flexible self-repaying loans in alTokens, Alchemix's synthetic asset. Alchemix vaults accept DAI as collateral with plans to support a basket of stablecoins in the future. To take out a loan with DAI as collateral, you have to deposit DAI into the vault in exchange for alTokens, such as alUSD, valued at up to 50% of your deposited collateral. Your deposited collateral is then sent to yearn.finance's yDAI vault to earn yields to pay off your loan automatically.
Transmuter is the primary pegging mechanism that guarantees a 1:1 redemption of alUSD for DAI, for example. 90% of the yields generated by your collateral in yearn.finance vaults are sent to the Transumter pool. The yield collected in the pool counts towards the maturation of your loan. You can stake your alTokens in the Transmuter to convert your synthetic asset into their base asset over time as yields accumulate.
You can buy ALCX from OKX exchange. OKX offers the ALCX/USDT trading pair.
Before you begin trading with OKX, you need to create an account. Then, to trade ALCX/USDT, click "Basic trading" under "Trade" on the top navigation bar.
If you do not have USDT, you may buy USDT with your preferred fiat before swapping it for ALCX in the trading terminal.