Summary:
This RFC recommends expanding Olympus’ recognized reserve assets to include USDe and sUSDe with the long term goal of using sUSDe for Cooler Loans, Treasury Reserves and float.
At current rates:
- sUSDS yields 4.75% (~$2.4m annualized, or ~$0.16 per OHM per year).
- sUSDE yields roughly 7.8% (~$3.9m annualized, or ~$0.26 per OHM per year).
This pivot represents a 64% increase in stablecoin interest income. On a $50m stable reserve base, the shift raises annualized reserve growth by ~$1.5m total, or an additional $0.10 per OHM per year.
Motivation:
Olympus’ treasury strategy prioritizes:
Security - Ethena’s USDe has proven itself as a best-in-class stablecoin, growing to ~$14.4B market cap, compared to ~$4.4B for Sky.
Backing Growth - Olympus leverages elastic supply and a balance sheet of productive assets to ensure OHM supply is consistently backed with liquid reserves.
Yield Efficiency - Optimizing stablecoin returns while minimizing risk.
Capital Efficiency - Maximizing the impact of each dollar earned, whether through OHM buybacks or direct reserve accumulation.
Recharacterizing reserves into sUSDE directly improves yield efficiency while maintaining a robust risk posture. On today’s supply (15m OHM), this pivot increases per-token annual backing growth from ~$0.16 to ~$0.26, a 64% improvement.
This enhances Olympus’ competitiveness versus peers and increases the predictability of long-term backing growth, an increasingly important factor for new investors conducting diligence.
Specification:
Reserve Asset Definition:
Define Reserve/Stable Assets as: USDe, sUSDe, USDS, sUSDS, USDC
Define USDS Cap as: Cooler Loans Outstanding + $1m Float with a max of $160m (Cooler LTV)
Defines sUSDe as: Minimum of Liquid Treasury Backing - $160m with no max cap.
Cooler Loans / Solvency Safeguards:
Demand for USDS-denominated Cooler Loans has tapered, growing only 11% in the past two years. Nevertheless, protecting the program’s solvency remains a priority.
As such, we will leverage the new OlympusHeart Task System to maintain a buffer of sUSDS liquidity for use in Cooler Loans but maintain protocol reserves in sUSDe. Upon each beat() call, if the buffer has been reduced below a defined threshold, the protocol will exchange sUSDe for sUSDS to top up capacity.
Looking Forward:
This RFC scopes near-term recommendations. Over time, as Olympus’ per-token backing grows from ~$0.26/year of stable yield alone, additional opportunities can be layered on top. Examples include (but are not limited to):
- USDe-denominated CD Markets (RFC #5098)
- USDe-denominated Cooler Loans
- sUSDE lending markets (Morpho)
These future initiatives would further strengthen Olympus’ role as a leading internet-native reserve currency, with stable yield growth improving the backing value of every OHM and every OHM holder.
Next Steps:
- Community discussion on approach and intent.
- Formal OIP vote to ratify recharacterization and asset additions.
