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ALEX Newsletter: Ordinal Giveaway, Incentived Testnet and sUSD
March 13, 2023

Dear Alexians,

Crypto evolution happens fast — DeFi even faster. The past weeks have been momentous for the Bitcoin DeFi ecosystem and we’ve adapted our Roadmap for Q2 accordingly.

In the wake of the Ordinals Protocol and its popularity, there’s been a surge of interest in Bitcoin layers and the protocols, such as ALEX, built on those layers.

ALEX BRIDGE

It is evident that we need a bridge with great urgency. It is a major point of friction for new users to have to use CEX to onboard our ecosystem.

To streamline implementation of the ALEX Bridge, we will directly launch sUSD (wrapped USDT). The ALEX Bridge will link ETH USDT <> Stacks sUSD.

We will publish the details on Medium in the coming days, at the moment we want to emphasize:

  • xUSD will continue serve as a stablecoin
  • sUSD/xUSD stableswap will be created on our DEX
  • Incentivized testnet for the new ALEX Bridge will begin in ~2 weeks

Trustless Ordinal Trading

Those following our Twitter may have seen it teased that ALEX is working on trustless Ordinal trading and indeed we are. Ordinals mark a major shift in the use case of Bitcoin from a purely monetary store of value to a store of information.

NFTs and DeFi have been merging and as a liquidity exchange we want to attract trading activity of every variety. This NFT-meets-DeFi approach is nothing new for ALEX — our Roadmap from May 2022, discussed utilizing our Orderbook engine for NFT trading.

Ordinals have made it urgent that we place ALEX on the ground floor of enabling Ordinals trading with smart contract capabilities through Bitcoin layers.

Further details will be published in coming weeks.

Tokenomics Changes

When the proposed changes to ALEX tokenomics were passed by governance vote, changes were set to take effect at the end of cycle 108 (blockheight 103,825).

ALEX Bridge and Ordinal trading will reshape both protocol activity and our user community. Given these new developments, allowing more time to make the proposed changes will lead to a smoother roll out and a more informed tokenomics overall.

For AutoALEX holders no action needs to be taken. Manual ALEX stakers and LP providers will notice they are able to stake for 32 cycles again and need to manually restake their LP tokens after cycle 108.

Emissions Halving

At the end of cycle 100 we will reach the end of year one of ALEX emissions. Beginning with cycle 101, we enter year 2 and emissions will be halved.

Below is an approximate emission schedule reference:

  • Year 1: ~106M $ALEX
  • ​Year 2: ~ 53M $ALEX (starting cycle #101)
  • ​Year 3: ~ 26M $ALEX
  • ​Year 4: ~ 13M $ALEX
  • ​Year 5: ~ 7M $ALEX

Thank you for your continued support as we strive to provide a sustainable and rewarding experience.

Ordinal Giveaway

To commemorate International Women’s Day, ALEX is inscribing its first Ordinal collection to be given away to our community.

Last year for International Women’s Day, Chiente celebrated her mother-in-law, Merbi, in Senegal. With this Ordinal collection that celebration is extended to the Senegalese community and countless women DeFi can benefit.

The inscriptions are being done in partnership with Senegalese artist Fally Sene Sow and his vibrant and layered depictions of Colobane market in Dakar.

The market is an artistic wellspring for Fally; the colors, the movements, and figures in a space of commerce create a rich tapestry of life.

It is easy in DeFi, with its technological focus, to forget the human element. Fally’s work is a vivid reminder of what universally inclusive finance means and the people and myriad lives that it will serve to improve.

With immense gratitude,

ALEX Lab Foundation