⁉️Frequently Asked Questions
Let's cover the basics.
Last updated
Let's cover the basics.
Last updated
Cofi is a decentralized application built on Solana and Ethereum that lets you generate interest in no-risk lending pools. What makes Cofi unique is the decentralized way that interest is designated to any Ethereum wallet in what we're calling stake-streams. Users get verifiable proof-of-support for designating interest recipients, creating singular pools of interest accessible by the stake recipient at any time* and in any way*.
The Decentralized Finance ecosystem grows at a fast clip. The for-the-people approach to collateralized lending (a complicated, usually middleman-riddled subject dominated by banks) was programmatically made redundant by the Solana and Ethereum world computers and, more recently, has garnered hundreds of billions in its lending systems. Cofi taps into these lending pools, eliminates risk, and exposes only the positive variable-rate interest. What this means is that you get the interest rate that the bank would usually get - instead, lent from people, to people.
The interest that someone creates with their money can be directed to anyone, anywhere. When you designate a person to receive the interest you would have otherwise earned for yourself, we call it a "stake stream" - you "stake" a bit of your own principal and "stream" the interest to whomever you like. When you don't pick someone to receive this interest, you keep it yourself - something like a "self-stake" (or, really, a savings growth account).
Transactions are built on the Ethereum Blockchain, which comes with it a fee structure that ensures that each user does not overwhelm the network. Cofi gets none of this fee and, as a matter of fact, takes no fees from the deposits users make. Instead, Cofi receives a percentage of the interest that you generate for yourself and others.
You do! Cofi doesn't store user funds and doesn't have access to any of your private financial information. What this means is that you control your data and that Cofi acts as a simple portal to interact with the larger financial world instead of a gatekeeper that forces you to give us data just to be shown a slice of what we want you to see.
There is no platform considered to be entirely risk free. That said, Cofi's very low risk doesn't come from the financial systems we create but instead the smart contract risk (like a bug in the code) and something called liquidation risk (like the risk found when there's a worldwide bank-run). We've taken precautions against the former and are highly skeptical of the latter.
By supporting others with stake-streams, you can earn their customized, unique rewards. Rewards are made by stake-stream receivers to be issued to their supporters on a month-by-month basis and once a reward is created, it becomes anchored to that point in time to only those specific supporters. Due to the limited nature of these rewards, you can convert these "lazy-minted" rewards into fully interoperable, Ethereum-based non-fungible tokens which can be transferred or and sold anywhere. You can also make your own rewards that people who stake into you can earn for themselves! Make them however you like - they're free forever.
Yep. We've made both an iOS and Android app that can work with our full platform (though, Web3 wallets need to use the desktop version for now). We're ironing out the kinks, but we expect to have the iOS version ready before the Android application.
Cofi is built using Web3 - or, the decentralized web. However, there are multiple ways of interacting with this new web standard. You can come to Cofi and create an account that's interoperable with the Web3 world or bring your own wallet and interact directly with the tools we've made.
At launch, we're only supporting Ethereum-flavored USDC as a source of funds for streams. This means that, for now, there is only very low inherent risk in the types of stake-streams that you can make on-platform. That said, we are able to support any ERC-209 compliant asset with time, and we expect to move quickly to any blockchain that can provide users with the same financial security and support that Ethereum can with time.
The Darwins team built Cofi in sunny Southern California. We come from a variety of backgrounds and are looking to help build both a diversified and unified future for the decentralized web. Find us here at darwins.io!
