Date: June 3rd, 2024

Term Structure, a groundbreaking non-custodial fixed-income protocol, has recently launched its mainnet on Ethereum, marking a significant milestone in decentralized finance (DeFi). This debut introduces a pioneering institutional-grade fixed-income protocol that transforms the dynamics of liquidity provision between lenders and borrowers.

Users can utilize their LSTs and LRTs as collateral to access tokens at fixed rates and terms while earning points and staking rewards in the primary markets. The auction mechanism in the primary markets streamlines the borrowing and lending processes. Simultaneously, the secondary markets facilitate the trading of fixed-income tokens via a real-time order book to enhance liquidity.

Co-founder Jerry Li, emphasizing a traditional finance viewpoint, highlights the absence of fixed-income products as a key inhibitor to DeFi's exponential growth. The Term Structure Protocol plays a crucial role by offering fixed-rate and fixed-term products that enhance risk management and introduce new trading strategies previously absent in the DeFi sphere, essential for institutional and individual investment planning.

With the mainnet launch, Term Structure aims to set new global benchmarks for liquidity management, empowering users to secure a fixed fund cost. This stability is paramount for leverage opportunities to potentially yield higher APYs or capitalize on token price appreciation. Jerry Li underlines that the mainnet, tailored for institutional clients, traders, and retail investors, signifies a pivotal advancement in DeFi, enabling users to leverage their digital assets with fixed rates and terms.

Term Structure's distinguishing feature lies in its unified fixed-income market integrating both primary and secondary markets, contrary to other protocols that segregate them or use AMMs for different tokens. Users can begin by using their LSTs and LRTs as collateral to borrow tokens at fixed rates and terms, set preferred interest rates, and select maturity dates in the primary markets. Borrowers receive borrowed tokens upon order matching and must repay debts by the maturity date to reclaim collateral, while lenders obtain fixed-income tokens redeemable at maturity for the principal plus interest.

The secondary markets allow the exchange of these fixed-income tokens through a real-time order book. Moreover, the protocol leverages zkTrue-up, a personalized ZK Rollup, to eliminate gas fees for orders and ensure swift finality and data availability. It incorporates safety features like Forced Withdrawal and Evacuation Mode to safeguard user assets in emergencies.

Before its mainnet release, Term Structure secured $4.55 million in initial funding through seed fundraising rounds from prominent investors like Cumberland DRW, Decima Fund, HashKey Capital, Longling Capital, and MZ Web3 Fund. To bolster security and reliability, the protocol's smart contracts and ZK circuits underwent meticulous audits by blockchain security firms ABDK and HashCloak. Additionally, a trusted setup ceremony for zkTrue-up was conducted in collaboration with ABDK, HashCloak, and Web3 software development company Bware Labs, ensuring the security of zkTrue-up by discarding "toxic waste" to prevent any control attempts and eliminate rug pulls.

Term Structure exhibited significant market traction during its testnet phase, with over 8,000 wallets and 2 million transactions. Jerry Li expressed delight in the enthusiastic engagement during a recent testnet trading competition, where 560 wallets actively participated in over 314,000 transactions, demonstrating the platform's robustness and readiness for broader adoption.

With the mainnet live, Term Structure will introduce innovative features to enhance its capabilities: trading API, Layer 2 swaps, roll to Aave, and debt de-register. The protocol will expand support for yield-bearing tokens as collateral, introduce RWA tokens collateralized financing, and develop DeFi forwards and term futures, promising exciting advancements for users. Stay updated on the protocol's latest developments through its social media channels.

About Term Structure

Term Structure brings a unique ZK Rollup solution democratizing fixed-rate and fixed-term borrowing, lending, and fixed income trading with low transaction fees, backed by Cumberland, HashKey Capital, Decima Fund, Longling Capital, and MZ Web3 Fund.