10 August 2023

Generative Art Platform Fxhash Secures $5M in Seed Funding Round Led by 1kx

The Seed Round Fxhash, the groundbreaking generative art platform and marketplace, has successfully closed an oversubscribed $5 million seed fundraising round. Spearheading this investment initiative was 1kx, an early-stage crypto-focused venture capital firm renowned for its strategic ecosystem growth investments. Founded in 2021, Fxhash has emerged as the...

To WTZ Or To Ctez, That’s The Question

In this piece, Allen Walters explores Ctez and WTZ on Tezos. He looks into their purpose, some of the differences in design, and how they both function in Tezos DeFi.

Disclaimer

Nature of Content: All content published on https://xtz.news, whether written, auditory, or visual, is for informational purposes only. Opinions expressed therein are solely those of the individual authors and do not reflect the views of XTZNews or its management.

Not Financial Advice: No content on this website constitutes investment, financial, legal, or tax advice. Users should not construe any such information as a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any investment or security or to pursue any particular investment strategy.

Accuracy and Completeness: While XTZNews makes every effort to ensure the accuracy and reliability of information, we do not warrant or guarantee the timeliness, completeness, or accuracy of the information presented. The website may contain errors, omissions, or inaccuracies. We disclaim all warranties, both express and implied, regarding the information, including but not limited to, any warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Endorsements: References to specific entities, products, services, processes, or other information does not constitute or imply endorsement, sponsorship, or recommendation by XTZNews. Blockchain technology is in a developmental phase, and the engagement with the technology and its associated entities carries inherent risks.

User’s Responsibility: Users are encouraged to conduct their own research and due diligence and to seek the advice of qualified professionals before making any investment or decisions related to content on this site. Engaging with blockchain technology, cryptocurrencies, and associated applications should be undertaken with caution, understanding the inherent risks involved.

Limitation of Liability: Under no circumstances will XTZNews or its affiliates, partners, officers, directors, employees, shareholders, agents, or licensors be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, including without limitation, loss of profits, data, use, goodwill, or other intangible losses, resulting from (i) your access to or use of or inability to access or use the site; (ii) any content obtained from the site; or (iii) unauthorized access, use, or alteration of your transmissions or content, whether based on warranty, contract, tort (including negligence), or any other legal theory, whether or not we have been informed of the possibility of such damage, and even if a remedy set forth herein is found to have failed its essential purpose.

Seek Independent Advice: Before undertaking any financial investments, potential investors are advised to seek guidance from independent financial, legal, and tax professionals.

Ctez and WTZ

Two wrapped XTZ tokens launched lately: WTZ and Ctez. Both serve the same purpose, but the design is quite different. 

Purpose

Traditionally, everyone that holds XTZ can either bake or delegate their XTZ and earn staking rewards. Around 6% compound interest on your XTZ is not a bad return if you intend to hold XTZ for a longer period of time.

Since Decentralized Finance (DeFi) applications have been introduced on Tezos, other opportunities have entered the stage to earn yield.

You can earn yield in several different ways through DeFi, but buying into DeFi projects means you exchange XTZ for other tokens. This means you’ll miss out on 6% staking rewards.

But what if you could have your cake and eat it too? Enter the world of DeFi while simultaneously earn 6% staking rewards on the XTZ that you invested?

In some applications you don’t have to make a choice between 6% staking rewards on your XTZ, or other yield opportunities.

Several stablecoins like kUSD and uUSD allow you to provide XTZ as collateral and mint kUSD or uUSD.

With this type of collateral the lending applications allow you to continue to earn staking rewards on the XTZ that you have provided.

Wrapped XTZ tokens extend that idea to a broader use-case. By providing XTZ as collateral, you mint wrapped XTZ while your collateralized XTZ continues to earn staking rewards.

The wrapped XTZ can be used to step into the world of DeFi and never lose out on a single cycle.

If you sell your DeFi position again and move back into XTZ, you can burn your wrapped XTZ and redeem the XTZ that you put up as collateral including your additional staking rewards. Yes, you can have your cake and eat it too.

But it’s important to understand how both wrapped tokens work because there are important factors and risks to take into account if you want to interact with them.

WTZ

WTZ is an XTZ wrapper provided by Crunchy Network.  The XTZ – WTZ wrapper contract is a decentralized way to wrap your XTZ and mint WTZ on a 1:1 ratio.

The XTZ that you submit to the wrapper contract is deposited in a common XTZ pool, so this is not a personal vault/ pool and anyone that owns WTZ can burn WTZ and redeem XTZ.

There is no liquidation in the WTZ protocol. The circulating supply of WTZ is always backed for 100% by redeemable XTZ.

The XTZ in the pool is delegated. That way, staking rewards are earned and the amount of XTZ in the pool increases at about 6% per year per WTZ that is minted.

To make sure you will profit from those rewards, the value of WTZ increases at a 6% rate per year too. So the rate at which you burn WTZ and redeem XTZ after a year, is about 1:1.06.

This results in the fact that if you wrap 100 XTZ for WTZ on January 1st 2022, you’ll be able to redeem ~ 106 XTZ on January 1st 2023: your XTZ + 6%. The minting ratio always remains 1:1. (Minus a small fee for the WTZ protocol.)

Simplicity is the strength of WTZ. As a result, anyone that obtains WTZ can redeem XTZ with that WTZ. And the exchange rate is always predictable.

WTZ – XTZ value on Crunchy is always as it should be and not influenced by ask and demand. (This is different if you trade WTZ for XTZ on a DEX, where the price IS influenced by ask and demand and will likely not always be 1:1).

WTZ is mostly used on Spicyswap.  Spicyswap is a DEX which does not support XTZ token pairs, which means that all trades that interact with XTZ values are made in WTZ.

Arbitrage between other DEXes sets the record straight and as a result, the WTZ value on Spicyswap resembles XTZ value almost exactly.

Ctez

Ctez works differently. Ctez is used on PlentyDeFi. The Ctez protocol works with individual vaults. This means that anyone that wants to mint Ctez, needs to open a vault and deposit XTZ as collateral.

XTZ in these vaults can be delegated and earn staking rewards. 

Ctez actively persues a 1:1 XTZ:WTZ value level through an algorithm, that sets a target price to drive Ctez value as close as possible to a 1:1 XTZ ratio. If the target price changes, then so does the collateral utilization ratio.

If the collateral ratio changes, it can cause vaults that have not kept enough margin in their collateral management to open up for liquidation.

To prevent liquidation, users will need to burn Ctez or add more XTZ as collateral to keep their vault’s collateral ratio on a healthy level. 

The Ctez peg is maintained by an economic mechanism called ‘drift’. A full description of drift and how the Ctez peg is maintained is best explained in this Github Repo.

This way supply and demand is influenced and the value is constantly directed towards a 1:1 XTZ value ratio. 

When minting Ctez, it’s extremely important to understand these factors so you can manage your collateral ratio responsibly and manage the risks that are involved with possible liquidation. When liquidated you will lose XTZ. 

Pros and Cons

Both wrappers have pros and cons. 

The simplicity of the WTZ design is its strength. It’s very straightforward, anyone can burn and redeem WTZ for XTZ which guarantees holders the value of WTZ as a token.

The DEX value on the market on the other hand, depends on the market. There are no additional tools to drive the value back to a 1:1 XTZ value if it moves off course.

The fact that anyone can redeem or mint WTZ, allows anyone to take advantage of arbitrage opportunities, which causes a natural peg to XTZ value in the market. WTZ value on Spicyswap has been very stable since launch.

The more complex Ctez design includes algorithmic pressure to peg Ctez value to a 1:1 XTZ value, which is a plus.

When buying Ctez on a DEX it’s important to realize that you can only burn Ctez and redeem XTZ if you have a Ctez vault and minted enough Ctez in the first place.

This means that for many users, you fully depend on the market value and liquidity levels on the DEXes that trade Ctez pairs.

That means that long-term holding can bring a certain amount of risk.

On the other hand, the fact that Ctez value is pushed towards a 1:1 XTZ ratio through its algorithm, lowers the risk of devalued/ overvalued market value of Ctez.

Disclaimer

Nature of Content: All content published on https://xtz.news, whether written, auditory, or visual, is for informational purposes only. Opinions expressed therein are solely those of the individual authors and do not reflect the views of XTZNews or its management.

Not Financial Advice: No content on this website constitutes investment, financial, legal, or tax advice. Users should not construe any such information as a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any investment or security or to pursue any particular investment strategy.

Accuracy and Completeness: While XTZNews makes every effort to ensure the accuracy and reliability of information, we do not warrant or guarantee the timeliness, completeness, or accuracy of the information presented. The website may contain errors, omissions, or inaccuracies. We disclaim all warranties, both express and implied, regarding the information, including but not limited to, any warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Endorsements: References to specific entities, products, services, processes, or other information does not constitute or imply endorsement, sponsorship, or recommendation by XTZNews. Blockchain technology is in a developmental phase, and the engagement with the technology and its associated entities carries inherent risks.

User’s Responsibility: Users are encouraged to conduct their own research and due diligence and to seek the advice of qualified professionals before making any investment or decisions related to content on this site. Engaging with blockchain technology, cryptocurrencies, and associated applications should be undertaken with caution, understanding the inherent risks involved.

Limitation of Liability: Under no circumstances will XTZNews or its affiliates, partners, officers, directors, employees, shareholders, agents, or licensors be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, including without limitation, loss of profits, data, use, goodwill, or other intangible losses, resulting from (i) your access to or use of or inability to access or use the site; (ii) any content obtained from the site; or (iii) unauthorized access, use, or alteration of your transmissions or content, whether based on warranty, contract, tort (including negligence), or any other legal theory, whether or not we have been informed of the possibility of such damage, and even if a remedy set forth herein is found to have failed its essential purpose.

Seek Independent Advice: Before undertaking any financial investments, potential investors are advised to seek guidance from independent financial, legal, and tax professionals.

Upload Article

Complete the submission form, which includes fields for your name, contact information, a short author bio, and the title of your article. Submit your Word document as a word doc file. If you encounter any issues during the submission process, please contact our support team for assistance at [email protected]. We encourage all aspiring contributors to read and understand our submission guidelines and editorial policy before submitting.

Hidden
Hidden
Accepted file types: jpg, jpeg, png, Max. file size: 128 MB.
Banner Image
Accepted file types: jpg, jpeg, png, Max. file size: 128 MB.
Image
Accepted file types: jpg, jpeg, png, Max. file size: 128 MB.
Image
Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, Max. file size: 128 MB.
Submit Article: Suitable Formats = PDF, WORD
By Uploading an article, you are accepting all to all copyright and information that is to the best of your knowledge true and accurate.
Agree(Required)

Other News

View More

Unveiling tzBTC 2.0: A New Era for Wrapped Bitcoin on Tezos

tzBTC 2.0 will be unveiled for the Tezos blockchain by the end of April 2024. Building upon the success of its predecessor, tzBTC 2.0 offers enhanced accessibility and cost-effectiveness ushering in a new era for the intersection of Bitcoin and Tezos.

Read More

TezFin Launches Full Production Version With The Aim To Sustainably Scale Tezos DeFi

TezFin has officially moved from its beta stage to launch its full production version, initiating a new era in the Tezos blockchain’s decentralized finance (DeFi) lending sector. The announcement was made through TezFin’s official Twitter handle, @TezosFinance.

Read More

Fireblocks Extends Full Support for Tezos, Increasing Institutional Access to DeFi and Web3 Ecosystem

Fireblocks has announced the launch of its comprehensive support for Tezos. This development allows Fireblocks customers to securely manage FA1.2 and FA2 token standards on Tezos and utilize Fireblocks’ Web3 Engine to develop new products and services on the Tezos blockchain.

Read More