What is Hifi (HIFI)?

Hifi is a decentralized finance protocol that allows people to lend and borrow crypto at a fixed interest rate.

Hifi is made up of decentralized interest rate markets that mature on specific dates. Hifi markets use an Automated Market Maker model, in which users supply tokens to “liquidity pools” and an algorithm sets the interest rate based on supply and demand.

Users supply liquidity, borrow, or lend into any of the active markets. Borrower’s pay a fixed interest rate to lenders without needing to negotiate terms like maturity, interest rate, or collateral. By supplying tokens to liquidity pools users can earn rewards while enabling peer-to-peer lending and borrowing.

Hifi Governance is the community organized process for managing the Lending Protocol. HIFI is an ERC-20 token that gives its owner the ability to delegate voting rights to any address, including their own. The delegate's voting rights are automatically adjusted when the owner's token balance changes. Hifi Governance enables the community to propose, vote on, and implement changes via the administrative functions of the Hifi Protocol. Proposals can change system parameters, support new markets, add entirely new collateral types, or deploy resources towards specific causes.

Hifi was originally known as Mainframe when it launched in Nov. 2017. Mainframe began as a decentralized communications layer for Web3 but pivoted to Decentralized Finance and rebranded to Hifi in early 2020.

Who are the founders of Hifi?

Hifi was founded by Mick Hagen, an early adopter of blockchain technology. Hagen stepped down in early 2020 and was replaced by Doug Leonard. Leonard is avid NFT collector and is known to have financed the purchase of his family’s mini-van using early crypto protocols. Leonard has led the Hifi rebrand and pivot into decentralized finance.

What makes Hifi unique?

Hifi provides a greater degree of predictability when compared to similar protocols. This predictability comes from Hifi’s fixed interest rate markets. Borrowers know up front exactly the amount they will pay to borrow, and lenders know exactly what they will earn before lending any funds. This gives users more predictable outcomes in decentralized finance compared to similar variable interest rate protocols.

How many HIFI coins are in circulation?

The total supply of HIFI is 126.25M. 101.25M (80%) are currently in circulation and 25M will be distributed over 2 years to Hifi Labs.

The exact rate of HIFI emission is subject to change over time, as voters are able to increase or reduce the emission rate by passing a proposal through community governance.

How is the Hifi network secured?

Hifi is a protocol of smart contracts that trustlessly allow users to deposit collateral and mint hTokens, a bond like instrument, representing an on-chain obligation that settles on a specific future date.

Lenders purchase hTokens at a discount and can redeem the for full face value at a specified maturity date. The protocol enforces a collateralization factor, ensuring all debt is over collateralized at all times. If the collateral falls below the maintenance threshold, it will be sold to liquidators at a discount, paying down some of the loan and returning the remainder to an acceptable collateralization factor.

This arrangement enforced by smart contracts helps to ensure borrowers maintain their collateral levels, provides a safety net for lenders, and creates an earning opportunity for liquidators.

Where Can I Buy Mainframe Token (MFT)?

MFT is available for trading on a growing number of exchanges, with cryptocurrency and stablecoin pairs currently available.

Binance offers the largest amount of liquidity as of February 2021, while Bittrex also offers a Bitcoin (BTC) pair, and Upbit has a KRW pair.
MFT can also be purchased on Uniswap V2 for a decentralized option.