Every so often in projects, as in life, you have to look back and observe your milestones. This helps us realize how much we have accomplished and how arduous, but rewarding, that path has been.
This is the case of this small exercise through which we, the project team, and the community that has been growing over all these years, pat ourselves on the back.
Let's start at the beginning, actually, the public beginning, since there were many months of design, development, and testing before this.
On October 5, 2019, in Uruguay, the protocol was deployed on the Rootstock mainnet. We celebrated it a few weeks later, holding a first meeting in Buenos Aires in which we made a transaction buying some pizzas with DOC, yes, just like the first known purchase with bitcoin. That's how bitcoiners we are.
On December 12 of the same year, at LABITCONF held in Montevideo, Uruguay, we presented the protocol to the world, sharing access to a Web application. Also on that date, the first phase of the Liquidity Mining program began, which allows BPRO holders to accumulate MOC tokens, based on the liquidity provided.
Throughout this first year (2020), the protocol incorporated liquidity, and at the same time functionalities were developed.
Since Money On Chain is a protocol where a user can operate the “primary token market”, that is, where they can directly create (mint) and destroy (redeem) the tokens, it was necessary until another one emerges, to create a secondary market. Reason why we developed, and in November 2020 implemented on mainnet, the TEX for decentralized token exchange.
The next big milestone occurred in April 2021 with the TGE (Token Generation Event) or initial generation of MOC tokens. It was very important for Money On Chain because it meant the first step towards the autonomous governance of the protocol and therefore towards its decentralization.
At the same time that the TGE was carried out, the next phase of the Liquidity Mining program began, in which MOC tokens are accumulated that can be claimed by users to stake them and accrue more value.
In May 2021 we took the next step towards decentralization, implementing protocol governance, which enabled the submission of proposals and the implementation of the corresponding voting process.
The Money On Chain protocol was designed from the beginning to be fully decentralized. Another important step in this direction that allows independence at the same time, was the implementation of the OMOC decentralized oracles.
OMOC oracles are of great importance for the Roostock network because not only can anyone implement an oracle and compete in the publication of the price of bitcoin, but other apps can consult them. At the same time, they are of great importance for the protocol as they present another use case for MOC tokens, in addition to participation in governance and discounting platform fees.
In September 2021, several improvements were introduced to the protocol such as a new frontend of the web app, functionalities for integrators, and the Non-Liquidation feature, which makes the possibility of liquidation of the protocol much more difficult by introducing different mechanisms and incentives in case of an abrupt drop in the price of bitcoin, known as a flash crash.
Toward the end of 2021, we took two more new steps that brought us even closer to decentralization. The protocol starts taking the bitcoin price from the OMOC oracles and the Voting Machine governs the protocol. This means that decisions regarding the protocol, new features, and updates pass through the lens of the community of MOC hodlers through a voting process.
The year 2022 was a year of consolidation for Money On Chain, despite the passing of the bear market, in which the community grew. At the same time, we continue working to achieve another milestone, in February 2023 the front end was no longer on company servers that could eventually cancel the services, but was now hosted on the IPFS network. These acronyms refer to Interplanetary File System, which in English is Interplanetary File System. IPFS is a content-addressable peer-to-peer network and protocol that enables hypermedia storage and sharing.
A long-awaited achievement that became a reality in April 2023 was the first vote that tested the governance system. The proposal presented by community members was to simplify the model, by eliminating the BTCX position.
With this vote, the decentralization designed and pursued since the beginning of this adventure became palpable.
The Money On Chain protocol has been running uninterruptedly and stably for 5 years. Providing the possibility of having a solid and robust stablecoin with a 1:1 parity with the US dollar and with the best existing collateral, bitcoin.
