Radix Platform Overview
Founded - 2013
Public Launch - July 28th, 2021
Category/Sector - L1 Blockchain Smart Contract Platform built for DeFi
Project Stage -Mainnet & token ($XRD) launched, tech still developing
Team Size - 20-30
Active Users - 10k Active Wallets
Market Cap - $2,254,000,000
FD Market Cap - $5,567,000,000
Platform Description and Purpose
Radix exists to provide new ledger, programming language, smart contract libraries, consensus mechanisms, and scaling solutions that are specifically designed for DeFi, focusing on increasing speed and security of individual projects as well as the entire ecosystem.
Platform Background
Originally under the name eMunie, the Radix team has been working on problems related to scaling public ledgers since 2013. Since then, they have developed their proprietary Radix Engine and Mainnet; data structure, called Tempo; consensus system, called Cerberus; smart contract language, called Scrypto.
Ecosystem / Resource Overview
Cerberus - Linearly scalable consensus, built to accommodate billions of users of global financial systems. Takes existing “single-pipe” Byzantine Fault Tolerance process (a consensus mechanism that can resist malicious activity by 1/3 of a system), and parallelizes it across “practically unlimited number of shards.” Currently, launched in a simplified, unsharded version. The fully sharded system is expected to launch in 2023.
Scrypto - Programming language based on Rust that is used to develop a unique form of smart contracts called “components.” Users can quickly and securely develop new dApps by calling instances of existing, common, audited, on-ledger components, called blueprints, that function as templates.
Token Purpose & Utility
The Radix ecosystem is powered by a fairly standard novel coin called RADIX (XRD), which secures the proof-of-stake network. Currently, 53.8% of the total supply is locked into stakes. Staking rewards (300m total XRD annually) are automatically compounded back into a user’s stake, returning an estimated 11-12% APR.
To balance the emission of new coins, all transaction fees are burned to curb inflation.
XRD finds other utility in the Radix Ecosystem by being required to access DeFi dApps, deploy smart contracts, and pay for transactions. XRD will likely also be an important source of user collateral in the Radix ecosystem, and can be moved between the Radix and Ethereum networks.
Token Distribution
At the genesis of the Radix Ledger, 12Bn XRD (50%) was allocated, as indicated in the below table.
The remaining 50% will be minted at ~300m XRP/year over 40 years to incentive securing network through proof of stake. Since genesis, all initially allocated tokens (except for the stable coin reserve) have been unlocked through a price-based mechanism.
Key Personnel & Team Backgrounds
Dan Hughes - Founder & director, has been working on solutions to scale blockchain since 2011.
Piers Ridyard - CEO & director, is a Y Combinator alum and entrepreneur in DLT space.
Other team members have worked on Consensys (a different decentralized consensus platform), in blockchain gaming, and in blockchain legislature. Across the team is significant experience developing, launching, and marketing products for companies including Microsoft, IBM, Visa, and UBS Bank.
User Marketing and Partnership Acquisition Strategy
The Radix ecosystem is supported by a number of organizations such as The Radix Foundation, RDX Works LTD., and Radix Tokens (Jersey) Limited, which promote, develop, and educate on Radix.
Community growth was incentivized by designing accessible and linear staking rewards (10-12% APR) that benefit individual stakers more than just the largest nodes. Similarly, the platform leveraged support from its price-based unlock mechanism for initially allocated tokens (ended as of Sept, 2021), which drove price increases and community participation.
Supported by the expertise of CSO Adam Simmons, Radix already has a large community across social media (telegram 16k+, discord 10k+. twitter 119k+, Reddit 7k+), as well as a physical presence at tech events.
Partnerships & Investors
To develop and implement their systems, the Radix team has partnered and received funding from other enterprises, including Copper, Quantstamp, ExpoLab, Argent, Instapass, Ren.
Total Addressable Market and Competitors
While Radix will compete against other L1 blockchains, especially those that are address similar problems related to scalability and speed, its attention to DeFi and tools for quick deployment of secure protocols sets it apart.
Its mission of leveraging an easy-to-use and safe DeFi ecosystem leads to the Radix team’s assertion of potentially reaching billions of users.
Road Map Success & Developments
2019
- Alphanet Launch
- Wallet Launch
2020
- Tempo, Cerberus, DeFi White/Academic Papers
- 1million transactions per second demonstration
- Token Launch, sale, & ex listing. DeFi launch
2021
- Alexandria Mainnet v2 launched, unsharded
- Early Scypto testing and dev experimentation
Upcoming Road Map Milestones
2022
- Public mainnet upgrade 2 (Babylon)
- Cerberus scalability (the achievement of state-sharded being an internal goal for the team)
- Scypto components running on network
- Decentralized Royalty system
- On network blueprint catalog
- Fully featured, secure, dApp ecosystem
2023
- Public mainnet upgrade 3 (Xi’an)
- Unlimited Scalability
- Fully sharded Cerberus linear consensus
- Capacity to support DeFi for billions of users