SNX is coming to ZebPay! Starting July 14th, you can govern part of the DeFi ecosystem and vote on which new assets will enter the blockchain. As DeFi matures, we’re seeing a greater intersection between traditional and decentralized finance. Synthetix is leading the charge, by introducing blockchain-based derivatives.
This is a synthesizer. It may look just like a piano, but it is one of the most versatile musical instruments in the world.
If you can play a synthesizer, you can play any instrument! Synthesizers radically changed music since they were first widely used in the 1970s. Today, there are only a few songs made without a synth being used somewhere. They do this with the help of algorithms that command the synth to mimic a certain sound and tone whenever a key is pressed down.
Synthetix uses this same concept with decentralized finance – it creates new crypto assets that mimic both real-world assets, like US dollars or Tesla stocks, or other crypto assets like Bitcoin.
Who created Synthetix and SNX?
Synthetix began life as the Havven protocol, founded by Kain Warwick. Havven’s goal was to create crypto tokens which mimicked the prices of different fiat currencies on different blockchains.
At the end of 2018, Havven rebranded to Synthetix, and expanded its vision to include the creation of synthetic assets for cryptocurrencies and commodities. In 2019, Synthetix raised $3.9 million by selling SNX tokens to Framework Ventures.
SNX tokens govern how Synthetix operates. If you hold SNX, you can vote on changes to the protocol and decide how it will operate in the future.
Okay, but how does Synthetix work?
Synth tokens use oracle softwares, which connect blockchains to the outside sources of information, to track the price of the assets they represent.
This means that you can hold and exchange a Synth token like sGOOG as if you actually owned a share in Google. This brings two major benefits:
- It brings a new class of assets to the DeFi space. Now a crypto trader can buy and sell shares and commodities without needing to resort to traditional finance.
- It allows for fractional ownership and trading. Previously, you could not hold 0.5 shares in Google. Now you can, thanks to Synthetix!
It is important to note that this synthetic asset is different from a commodity like PAXG. Owning PAXG means that you own the underlying gold and that Paxos holds it for you, whereas owning sXAU means that you do not own the underlying asset. Instead, you can take advantage of the price of gold.
What’s really interesting is that Synths are issued on Ethereum, meaning you can deposit them on other DeFi platforms too! You can earn interest on your tokens as a liquidity provider to Curve or Uniswap.
