The appeal of yield-generating stablecoins like OUSD is that they offer investors an option to earn passive income while maintaining their asset's stability and avoiding the volatile nature of most crypto investments.
For non-custodial advocates who want to reap the rewards of yield farming while enjoying the enormous security benefits of cold storage in a hardware wallet, the new Tangem and Origin collaboration is a golden opportunity.
This article explores the Origin protocol and its yield-generating tokens and how the Tangem hardware wallet supports the protocol’s OGN, OUSD, and OETH.
What is the Origin protocol?
The Origin Protocol is an Ethereum-powered platform that aims to make Decentralized Finance (DeFi) and NFTs more accessible to the general public.
Origin created the NFT Launchpad marketplace to simplify NFT issuance and give creators more control. The protocol has also hosted record-breaking NFT drops, like 3LAU's album.
The Origin Dollar (OUSD) assists users in passively earning yield on OUSD held in wallets rather than being staked or locked up in a protocol.
The OGV token governs Origin's NFT and DeFi ecosystem, allowing holders to ensure transparent oversight and development of the Origin platform.
Origin Dollar (OUSD)
Users of Origin Dollar (OUSD) can earn outsized stablecoin yields while enjoying unparalleled flexibility. This token is fully collateralized by crypto's most widely used stablecoins — USDT, USDC, and DAI.
The appeal of OUSD is its seamless usability. Earning yield in DeFi typically requires lock-ups — users manually stake and un-stake their holdings to earn rewards.
However, with OUSD, you don't need to surrender your capital or pay gas fees to compound your yield. Users can generate OUSD by depositing USDT, USDC, or DAI through the native Dapp.
Origin Ether (OETH)
Origin Ether is a robust Ethereum yield aggregator. OETH earns yield by optimizing between ether liquidity provision strategies and liquid staking tokens and is fully backed by Ether and ETH liquid staking tokens (LSTs). Boosted yield is sent directly to holders' wallets using Origin Protocol's unique rebasing function, with no gas fees required — similar to how stablecoin rewards work for Origin Dollar (OUSD).
OETH and OUSD
OUSD helps its holders accumulate more dollar-pegged stablecoins, while OETH does the same for Ether. OETH functions similarly to ETH but tracks the price of ETH rather than US dollars. Both assets are completely permissionless and are always redeemable for their underlying collateral.
The only primary distinction is that OETH uses ETH and LSTs as backing collateral rather than dollar-backed stablecoins.
OETH also standardizes the accounting across the various supported LSTs, so you don't have to do any math to determine how much underlying ETH you have. 1 OETH is always equal to 1 ETH.
OGV
Origin DeFi Governance (OGV) stakeholders earn a portion of the fees generated and a share of the protocol-owned value.
What is Tangem?
Tangem is at the forefront of the non-custodial crypto storage revolution, emphasizing simplicity in security over technological quirkiness.
Most hardware wallets on the market are cumbersome, overbuilt, and overpriced devices with multiple points of failure, like batteries, Bluetooth, and touchscreen displays. They're difficult to use because you need a laptop or something with a USB port. You can't use them in the rain or dry, windy environments.
The Tangem Wallet is a simple plastic smartcard shaped like your typical credit card. It contains an EAL6+ certified chip protecting against invasive and non-invasive attacks and an NFC antenna connecting to the Tangem app.
Tangem raises the security ante by being the first seedless wallet with an innovative backup system — it generates and stores your private key inside the cards' chips.
While offering numerous features, the Tangem app is open-source — available on GitHub — and allows users to sell, buy, and swap over 1000 cryptocurrencies.
Perhaps Tangem's most appealing feature is its user autonomy. In an apocalyptic event that wipes the earth clean, Tangem users who survived can still access and manage their assets with their Tangem card, the app, and the blockchain.
Tangem and Origin
Origin DeFi's tokens are available on decentralized exchanges like Uniswap and centralized exchanges like KuCoin, Huobi, and Bitmart.
However, security issues surrounding DEX's and CEX's hot wallet systems make these platforms unpopular. In September 2023 alone, hackers pocketed over $300 million in customer funds across different DeFi protocols.
On July 30, 2023, Curve Finance was attacked and lost over $50 million to hackers who exploited a vulnerability in Vyper — a third-party Pythonic programming language for Ethereum smart contracts used by Curve.
In general, the crypto space has its fair share of vulnerabilities and malicious actors, leaving self-custodial cold wallets like Tangem as the only viable option for guaranteed security.
Handling Origin's elastic supply
Receiving stablecoin yield from OUSD requires smart contracts to opt-in. However, most AMMs frequently use immutable contracts or refuse to deal with the complexity associated with tokens with an ever-increasing balance.
Fortunately, Tangem Wallet has integrated support for OGV, OUSD, and OETH, allowing users to manage their Otokens securely and with unparalleled ease.
What’s next for Origin and Tangem?
Origin protocol DeFi will continue creating new strategies for the Origin Dollar and the Origin Ether to increase yield in the medium term. The Origin team plans to implement new liquidity provision strategies on leading AMMs, allowing for a more diverse yield from trading fees and various reward tokens.
Tangem has many new product features and upgrades to the new Tangem Wallet coming in early November 2023. This includes a big mobile app update that will further enhance how its users manage their assets. Tangem will also provide an option to use a seed phrase for crypto users who believe it is the key to their autonomy.
In addition to integrating support for more blockchain networks and DeFi protocols, Tangem will also launch new wallet wearable devices.