Stability and Ease of Use Will Dictate the Fate of the Crypto Economy

Bitcoin, Ethereum and altcoins have grown exponentially over the past two years. The combined market cap has expanded over 500% to over $300 billion.

Despite the rapid rise in price, crypto newcomers and experts alike regularly call the industry "nascent" and "unstable". It's clear why. The main currencies, Bitcoin & Ethereum, frequently spike and crash. This price instability has lead many to have concerns over using these currencies for everyday transactions.

Though, for anyone who has tried to get involved in the crypto ecosystem, it's clear that price volatility is just the tip of the iceberg.

The ecosystem is riddled with complicated user experiences creating an uncomfortable environment for new users looking to acquire currencies. Even the most prominent tools and services require a steep learning curve, resulting in a massive barrier to adoption.

Without an easy way to get involved and with no stable way to store value, the fate of the crypto economy remains questionable.

Decentralized organization MakerDAO is intent on delivering products that are particularly valuable for the growth of the ecosystem. Their first product, Dai, is a stablecoin pegged to one dollar. Dai addressed the issue of price stability. Today, their launch of Oasis Direct aims to address the second major problem plaguing the industry, user experience.

The Dream of Price Stability

Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies that tend to have less price volatility.

Tether was the first coin to address the stability issue. Tether is a stablecoin pegged to one USD. It is controlled by a central organization. In recent months, however, the nature of the backing of Tether has came into question as doubts have been raised about the legitimacy and transparency of the company behind the coin.

"We are witnessing an historical paradigm shift in business. Trust, reliability, and decentralization are at its core. A new generation of blockchain organizations are enabling a global digital economy where users transact directly, without the risks and costs of middlemen. Blockchain is evolving from its origins in financial services into logistics, media, and mobility. At VERSES, we apply it to the largest emerging asset class - 3D virtual objects - which have incredible Industrial, Retail, Health, and Entertainment uses. We enable their interaction, transaction and management across users, devices, and locations within Virtual/Augmented Reality applications. An emerging trillion dollar market."

Executive Director of VERSES - Gabriel Rene

For this reason, many users have been pivoting to MakerDAO's Dai. Dai is a fully decentralized stablecoin. This means that any user can verify the stability of the ecosystem without having to trust a central party. Dai has been live for more than 3 months and since it's launch, they have solved the price stability issue on the blockchain.

While this alone was a huge step forward for the cryptocurrency ecosystem as a whole, users have long complained about the challenges of acquiring cryptocurrencies. The methods to acquire tokens are not immediately intuitive to newcomers, and in general, users are demanding friendlier on-ramps.

Oasis.Direct: Addressing the User Experience Dilemma

Today, MakerDAO is announcing their solution to the user experience issue with Oasis.Direct. Oasis Direct brings a faster, easier experience for users to acquire tokens, including Dai.

Typical decentralized tools often require fairly complicated knowledge of markets and order books. While this is beneficial for knowledgeable users, new entrants require a better option.

MakerDAO has taken a forward thinking approach in building tools for the masses.

Oasis.Direct is fully decentralized and designed to be an instant trading platform for every day users. Through this new platform, users can exchange ether for the Dai stablecoin without creating an account and without paying fees. To start, Oasis.Direct will support Dai, as well as MKR, but plans to serve more tokens in the future.

It is interesting to highlight that Oasis.Direct is decentralized, meaning there is no third party to any transaction and no central custodianship. All trades are peer to peer and both the orderbook and settlement are on-chain, making it easy for users to verify their transactions.

A Stable, Friendly Crypto Ecosystem

Notably, MakerDAO is one of the few companies in the industry intending on solving these problems head on.

In the cryptocurrency space, there is considerable hope over what the future holds. However many critics argue that only a handful of companies have delivered on their visions. Thus far, MakerDAO is among the few that have delivered with working products.

Currently Dai has been stable for more than 3 months. It's tradable on a number of exchanges and the team has been very vocal about their vision for a decentralized future. MakerDAO's products unlock the vision of a financial ecosystem on the blockchain. Dai was the first leap forward. Oasis Direct is the second.

It's an exciting time in the industry as the promise of blockchain comes closer to realization.