In the past two years, the decentralized financial mechanism innovation initiated by OlympusDAO has provided a widely sought-after paradigm for DeFi 3.0: based on protocol-owned liquidity (POL), combined with a bond mechanism and Rebase yield distribution, establishing a self-driven high-yield financial closed loop.
This logic was once adopted by many projects and quickly formed a design system with a consensus on the 'single currency model.' However, now that the early dividends have dissipated and the market has calmed down, more and more signs indicate that the structural flaws of the single currency model are gradually emerging, and it can no longer support the stable operation of a long-term financial system.
🧱 Single currency model: high explosion, low pressure resistance yield illusion.
The typical characteristics of the single currency model are:
- The protocol uses a main token as the sole economic hub;
- All pledges, bonds, Rebase incentives, and liquidity revolve around this single asset;
- Community yield distribution directly releases the main token to users.
The benefit of this model is:
- Initial design is simple and has high dissemination efficiency;
- It is easy to form a FOMO atmosphere, quickly driving funds and community participation;
- The market value of the token can experience explosive growth in the early stages.
However, after experiencing several rounds of bull and bear switches, the structural problems of these projects are becoming increasingly clear:
1. All liquidity depends on a single asset, making the system fragile.
- Liquidity, pledges, bonds, and incentives all revolve around one token;
- Once the price of that token fluctuates, the entire system reacts in a chain reaction;
- User runs, pledge decline, and reward shrinkage create a negative loop.
2. Community yields directly release the main token, creating selling pressure.
- Rewards obtained by users through invitations, interactions, or tasks are directly tradable tokens;
- This leads to concentrated selling pressure being released, undermining market confidence;
- The momentum for new users to enter the market is weakening, causing both price and community to decline.
📉 The collective decline of the single currency system is happening.
Since the end of 2023, several single-currency protocols once seen as 'high-yield models in DeFi' have entered a downward cycle. Performance includes:
- The token price has fallen more than 50% from its peak, with some projects nearing a halving.
- Liquidity depletion, bonds with no subscriptions, and DAO treasury unable to sustain operations;
- Community activity has plummeted, and DAO governance is virtually non-existent;
- Bonds and pledge yields struggle to support user retention, as the flow dividend is exhausted.
This is not an isolated incident, but a systemic collapse caused by imbalanced mechanism logic.
🌐 Multi-currency model: Building a new paradigm for sustainable financial collaboration
In contrast, more and more forward-looking projects are beginning to adopt a multi-currency design system. The essence of this architecture is: to decouple and model different roles, behaviors, and scenarios within the ecosystem using independent tokens, and to connect them through clear collaborative relationships.
Key advantages of the multi-currency model:
1. The incentive system is decoupled from the main asset, avoiding direct selling pressure.
- Community rewards use other tokens or rights certificates for distribution;
- The main token does not face supply shocks due to reward releases;
- Enhance market price stability and protect ecological growth expectations.
2. User behavior can be modeled in detail to achieve precise incentives.
- Rebase incentives and community incentives are completely disconnected;
- Behavioral incentives are dynamically adjusted based on time, frequency, quality, and other dimensions;
- Filter out truly loyal and constructive core user groups.
🏆 The multi-currency model is becoming the mainstream direction of DeFi 3.0.
The current market is very clear: short-term explosions have never been the value of the financial system; sustainability and system resilience are the keys to determining the life and death of a project.
In this trend, the single currency model has moved to the margins, and the multi-currency architecture has become the core construction method of the future DeFi ecosystem. It represents an upgrade from price incentives to structural incentives and an awakening from speculation-driven to collaboration-driven mechanisms.
✅ Summary: The single currency model belongs to the past; multi-currency collaboration is the future.
The essence of DeFi has never been 'mining a coin that can rise,' but designing a system that can collaborate.
In the next market cycle, only a multi-currency model that has scientifically designed incentives, clear governance logic, stable user structure, and reasonable yield releases can truly meet the needs of large-scale ecosystems and global collaborative networks.
Protocols that remain stuck in the single currency logic are destined to fade away amid volatility. The multi-currency collaborative system will be the true long-term winner in the DeFi 3.0 world.