DUO Network, a decentralized platform enabling issuance, trading, and settlement of tokenized digital derivatives, has launched its DUO DEX testnet to the public. It is the first 0x based, decentralized marketplace for trading a new class of tokenized derivative instruments — Collateralized Autonomous Token, or CAT for short, including products such as tranche tokens, options, and structured products.
DUO Network’s design provides an overarching framework for creative derivatives payoffs tailored to investor’s risk appetite. Terms are captured in smart contracts and enforced through price oracles.
CAT possess five key features:
- Collateralized — CAT’s value is backed by digital assets held in its custodian smart contract.
- Splittable — a custodian may create two or more payoff classes of CATs, each representing a partial claim of the underlying collateral. The split can be based on seniority, levels of risk or other option payoff structures.
- Fungible — CATs are two-way convertible with corresponding collaterals. They can be created from depositing collaterals into the custodian smart contract or redeemed back into collaterals anytime during its life-cycle. This mechanism enforces the net asset value (NAV) parity between CATs and their underlying collaterals and allows the market to self-correct any price dislocations.
- Autonomous — Streamlined issuance and settlement procedures mean reduced administrative costs and lower entry barriers. Distributed price oracles help to create a fair and objective reflection of the underlying asset value and safeguard against price manipulations. The result is high degrees of transparency and market autonomy.
- Tokenized — All CATs are ERC-20 compatible. By allowing storage and trading across most existing wallets and exchanges, DUO Network is making it possible for derivative positions to be freely transferred and not bound to any centralized venue.
The team behind the DUO Network project believes the cross-platform trading of tokenized derivatives holds the key to an efficient market by improving decentralized liquidity and price discovery.
The beta test has been available for selected community members, crypto traders and non-profit blockchain clubs since late January. The purpose of the public testnet is to further improve the platform’s stability and performance by collecting system data and user feedback on a larger scale.
More details can be found on the DUO Network Whitepaper.