By most measures, 2021 was a breakthrough year for the Crypto Volatility Index (CVI). From launching on the Ethereum Mainnet to having a transaction volume of above $130M on the platform, and distributing over $1M in fees to our community; we had a remarkable year and we are working hard on both the business and technical sides to ensure CVI is utilized effectively across the DeFi ecosystem.
Mainnet Launch: After significant development work, we were pleased to launch our Mainnet in January. After multiple rounds of bug fixing, new feature releases, and an extensive TestNet, where we had over 1,000 users engage and interact with the platform, we released the CVI Mainnet and roadmap to the community. Around the same period, we distributed $GOVI tokens and launched the staking initiative, where we $GOVI stakers could claim shares of CVI platform trading fees.
In May, just a few months after our Mainnet launch, we were pleased to announce that $GOVI will be listed on KuCoin while also launching a deposit and trading competition with $GOVI token rewards. KuCoin is one of the major crypto exchanges, so getting a listing within the span of a few months was a milestone for the team.
Keeping to our promise of providing a secure platform for our users, we launched a second audit in June with PeckShield Inc., another leading blockchain security and analytics firm, where they ran multiple tests across our smart contract code. Just as expected, the results from them were satisfactory and we were pleased with some of the minor recommendations highlighted by PeckShield.
June was also the month we integrated the CVI into Polygon, providing another gateway for crypto users to access the CVI. We listened to our community’s constant complaints about Ethereum’s gas costs and worked with the Polygon team to launch a second network for CVI users. The team has also been exploring various rollup and sidechain solutions that will continue to expand the scalability of CVI while providing the same security and seamless user experience.
After a few months of Mainnet launch, we released version 2.0 of the CVI with a revamped UX, USDC platform, Volatility Tokens, Margin Trading, and lots more. The introduction of Volatility Tokens was a huge milestone that provided traders and arbitrageurs with a creative solution to the trading of volatility. Our Margin Trading functionality allows traders to deploy leverage on their position, ensuring they receive access to greater sums of capital that will enhance their trading strategies. After just a few months of this release, we reached the significant milestone of distributing over $1M in accumulated fees to $GOVI stakers.
Our staking program had been live shortly after our Mainnet launch, and we were pleased to see increased staking interest from the community. We are upgrading our staking program with additional functionality and will be releasing updates in a few days; we encourage everyone to participate, especially users who plan to hold the token in the long run and be part of the community.
We took the huge step of migrating from USDT to USDC in November, while also performing significant platform upgrades to the AMM. The migration to USDC allowed for major improvements to the platform such as margin trading, composability with volatility tokens, and a much improved AMM. We implemented a dynamic purchase fee-based on collateral ratio and launched a smart slippage tolerance mechanism that allows traders to get the best possible trading rates. We also made significant upgrades to the index oracle, improving its reaction response.
In December, we reached another milestone when we launched the ETHVI, an index that tracks the 30-day implied volatility of Ethereum. This index is also based on the Black-Scholes option-pricing model, which computes the implied volatility of the Ethereum option prices and analyzes the market’s expectation of future volatility. As one of the largest Layer-1 protocols powering DeFi, the team believes an index that tracks Ethereum’s sentiment across the market will be a relevant tool for traders and investors alike.
Our launch of both the ETHVOL & CVOL Volatility Tokens later that month was another significant step by the team to deliver robust trading and risk management solutions for our users. Through this release, traders got access to arbitrage tools that will enable them to generate short-term profit across the CVI and DEXs. Users could also provide liquidity or trade volatility using the Volatility Tokens, similar to how Wall Street traders trade the original implied volatility tradfi index.
A few days after our Mainnet launch, we announced the integration of Chainlink to the CVI, in an attempt to decentralize the calculation of the CVI while also making it accessible across other platforms. With this integration, CVI stayed true to its ultimate goal of remaining a decentralized, stable, transparent, informative, and replicable benchmark for cryptocurrency volatility information. We also received positive comments from Stansberry Research, an investment-focused publishing company on the importance of the CVI as a tool to gauge and access crypto market sentiment. Getting listed on DeFi Pulse, Investing.com & DappRadar among other major crypto projects was another highlight for the team. Given the wide reach of these sites, we were pleased to receive a listing just a few months after our Mainnet launch; this improved the visibility of CVI to a much wider audience and we are working on more listings in 2022.
Towards the end of 2021, the team shared the CVI GitBook, a tool for sharing information about CVI’s API, product, knowledge base, data, and lots more with the community. Staying true to our open nature, we created a tutorial to guide users on how to utilize the CVI platform for their benefit. We will be adding insights on the Volatility Tokens and lots more detailed information about the platform in the coming months. CVI also got added to Dune Analytics, a platform that enables users to create and share analytics of blockchain data. With this addition, CVI users can access real-time analytics and data trends that will enable them to further trade volatility and remain informed on current market movements.
On the partnership side, we teamed up with Alchemist to launch the Aludel X CVI Reward Program. Through this, the Alchemist community had the chance to listen to our team speak about CVI and learn about the protocol while earning GOVI rewards which later they can stake in our platform. Our partnership with Orion enabled us to add both $COTI (BEP20) and $GOVI to the Orion Pool. The launch of this pool marked the first stage of lots more to come between the Orion & CVI partnership — expect more announcements in 2022. Our partnership with EPNS enables the team to build a more robust communication medium that will encourage user participation on the CVI platform. Through this, users can choose to receive notifications on market conditions, arbitrage opportunities, and lots more.
2021 was a year filled with milestones for CVI and we see 2022 as an extension. We have received continuous interest from the broader crypto and blockchain community, and we look forward to forming more strategic partnerships, expanding the scope of our technology, and providing creative solutions for users to trade volatility.
2022 is about adoption, we are going to have products built on CVI with the volatility token and the impermanent loss protection system.
Thanks to our community for their constant feedback and support, we look forward to providing more updates and announcements in 2022.
For all of our updates and to join the conversation, be sure to check out CVI channels:
Website: https://cvi.finance
Whitepaper: https://cvi.finance/files/cvi-white-paper.pdf
Twitter: https://twitter.com/official_CVI
Telegram (group): https://t.me/cviofficial
Telegram (channel): https://t.me/cvichannel
Discord: https://discord.com/invite/jXba8HmTs5
Gitbook: https://docs.cvi.finance/
