Acala (ACA)
Acala is a decentralized stablecoin platform that supports cross-blockchain open finance applications within the Polkadot ecosystem. In August 2020, Acala secured a $7 million simple agreement for future tokens (SAFT) led by Pantera Capital, with additional investments from notable firms like 1confirmation, Arrington XRP Capital, ParaFi Capital, Coinfund, and Spartan Capital.
Overview
Acala operates with a governance token known as ACA, similar to MakerDAO's MKR. It enhances the user experience by integrating a decentralized exchange, facilitating both loan creation and liquidation. Acala's ecosystem revolves around two primary tokens: the stablecoin aUSD and the native token ACA.
| Ticker | ACA |
| Category | Polkadot Ecosystem |
| Website | https://acala.network/ |
| @AcalaNetwork | |
| Telegram | acalaofficial |
| https://www.reddit.com/r/AcalaNetwork/ | |
| Contract Addresses | |
|---|---|
| polkadot | |
Tokenomics
Acala token
The ACA token serves as the utility token within the Acala ecosystem, functioning on the Polkadot relay chain and driving the DeFi hub of Polkadot. Its primary uses include transaction fees, node incentivization, governance, and algorithmic risk adjustment. The ACA token has a fixed supply of 1 billion, minted during the genesis block at launch.
Acala Dollar
Acala Dollar (aUSD) is a decentralized stablecoin pegged to the US Dollar at a 1:1 ratio. Users can borrow aUSD by locking in selected crypto assets such as DOT, BTC, or ETH as collateral and are required to pay interest to maintain the loan.
The Honzon protocol
The Honzon Protocol is designed to manage aUSD loans with multiple collaterals and stabilize aUSD through mechanisms like collateral ratio adjustments, interest rates, and debt levels. Each aUSD is backed by a cryptocurrency asset and stabilized against the US Dollar using the Honzon Protocol. The protocol incorporates a dynamic system of Collateral Position (CDP), on-chain governance, and incentivized key actors, drawing inspiration from MakerDAO's decentralized stablecoin project in the Ethereum ecosystem.
Distribution and allocation
The ACA token distribution includes allocations for the Acala founders (20.25%), ecosystem development (10.75%), future investment rounds and private sales (18%), rewards for network contributors (34%), and an initial exchange offering (7%). No additional ACA tokens will be minted after the mainnet launch unless necessary as a contingency measure.
Team
The Acala Foundation's research focuses on decentralized finance protocol and mechanism design, parachain economic modeling, and governance. The team includes:
- Ruitao Su: Co-founder of Acala and CEO of Laminar
- Fuyao Jiang: Co-founder of Acala and founder of Polkawallet
- Bryan Chen: Co-founder of Acala and CTO of Laminar
Contributors
Key contributors to the Acala project include:
- Jack Platts: Advisor
- Ermal Kaleci: Senior Software Engineer
- Shaun Wang: Senior Software Engineer
- Yuzhu Liu: Head of Collaborations
- Jianjiang Wang: Chief Technology Officer
- Bette Chen: Chief Operating Officer
- Hao Qiu: Full-stack Engineer
- Antonia Chen: Chief Economist
Partners
Acala collaborates with an array of partners including Arrington XRP Capital, Divergence Ventures, P2P Capital, Hashkey Capital, Altonomy, Hypersphere, Parafi Capital, CoinFund, Spartan, Goodmore Capital, Pantera, KR1, 1confirmation, Polychain, Zee Prime Capital, Web3 Foundation, Web3 Capital, Stake.Zone, Dentons, Digital Renaissance, Berkeley Blockchain Xcelerator, CMS Holdings, SNZ Holding, and Digital Currency Group.
Ecosystem projects
Acala supports various ecosystem projects integrating its technologies, such as aUSD stablecoin, L-DOT staking liquidity, and a decentralized exchange. Some of these projects include Ontology, Ren, Dipole, Subscan, ChainX, Phala Network, Xanpool, PLASM, PolkaWorld, ChainLink, Moonbeam, Interlay, Centrifuge, and Subsocial.
Proof-of-liveness partners
Acala's proof-of-liveness partners include Purestake, Ankr, P2P, Chorus, Onfinality, SNZ Holding, Ryabina, and Figment Network.