Olympus

This is a decentralized reserve currency protocol on the Ethereum blockchain. OHM is not pegged to fiat and is backed by a multi-asset treasury that manages issuance and liquidity through a set of smart contracts: staking, bonding, Range-Bound Stability (RBS), and a buyback program. The protocol uses a Protocol Owned Liquidity (POL) model, where the DAO itself owns most of the liquidity of its trading pairs rather than renting it from external pools. The project was launched in March 2021 via an Initial Discord Offering (IDO) without traditional venture capital allocation.

The primary purpose of Olympus is to create a free-floating reserve currency for the DeFi ecosystem that is independent of fiat stablecoins. Each OHM is backed by a basket of treasury assets (stablecoins, ETH, LP tokens), and its value is supported by revenue from protocol-owned liquidity and RBS operations. Unlike classic stablecoins, OHM is "backed, but not pegged": the price can fluctuate freely but remains within a range managed by algorithmic market operations.

What Makes It Unique

The main innovation of Olympus is Protocol Owned Liquidity (POL). Instead of paying rewards to external liquidity providers, the protocol itself buys back liquidity through discounted bonds. This prevents sudden capital outflows and makes liquidity permanent. Additionally, Olympus was the first to introduce the (3,3) mechanism for staking, incentivizing long-term holding, and the modular V3 architecture, which includes RBS, Yield Repurchase Facility (YRF), Emissions Manager, and Cooler Loans. The project also implemented a native burn/mint bridge based on LayerZero for cross-chain operations.

Features of Olympus

Technical Information

OHM is an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum mainnet. The Ethereum consensus is PoS Gasper (Casper-FFG + LMD-GHOST) with a slot time of 12 seconds and finality of approximately 12.8 minutes. The canonical address for OHM v2 is: 0x64aa3364F17a4D01c6f1751Fd97C2BD3D7e7f1D5. Staking uses sOHM (rebasing), while gOHM (non-rebasing, balance tracks the index) is used for portability and voting. gOHM is also deployed on Arbitrum, Polygon, Avalanche, and Fantom. Cross-chain transfers are executed via a native burn/mint mechanism using LayerZero messages, eliminating the need for wrapped IOU tokens. In 2024-2025, the following modules were launched: Boosted Liquidity Vault, Lending AMO, Yield Repurchase Facility, Emissions Manager, Convertible Deposits, and Cooler Loans v2. The protocol has undergone several major upgrades: Olympus v1 (March 2021), v2 (late 2021), v3 (2022-2023). RBS was launched in late 2022 via OIP-123, then refined to versions 1.3/1.4 (2023) and 2.0 (2024).

Tokenomics

OHM issuance has no hard cap - the supply is elastic and controlled by module policies. Initial distribution: 50,000 OHM were sold via IDO at $4 to early Discord participants; 18,260 OHM were seeded as initial liquidity. Early growth was incentivized by issuance through staking, backed by bond revenue. In 2022, for sustainability, the base reward rate was reduced to approximately 7.35% APY. Further issuance is limited by RBS and YRF policies. The inflationary model is transforming into a value accrual model based on treasury revenue. By October 2023, an effective 267:1 split occurred through multiple rebases. The current liquid backing per OHM is approximately $11.99, with the total treasury value exceeding $183 million. The majority of OHM is in staking (as gOHM) or used as collateral in Cooler Loans. Additional supply management mechanisms: DAI, USDC, and LP tokens are attracted through bonds.

Security OHM

The Olympus protocol has undergone numerous audits by leading firms: PeckShield (April 2021, V1), Omniscia (May 2021 V1, November 2021 V2), Spearbit (July 2022 V3), KebabSec (October-November 2022 V3), Code4rena (October 2022), Sherlock (February 2023 Boosted Liquidity Vault, September 2023 Cooler Loans v1, January 2024 RBS 2.0), OtterSec (March 2023 cross-chain), HickupHH3 (November 2023 RBS 1.3/1.4), yAudit (October 2024 on-chain governance), Guardian Audits (September 2025 Convertible Deposits), Trust (October 2025), as well as Guardefy, Electisec, Nethermind (2025 for hOHM/Cooler v2 and CCIP Bridge). A bug bounty program is maintained on Immunefi with substantial rewards, active since 2022. The only known incident: on October 21-22, 2022, a hacker withdrew approximately 30,437 OHM (~$300,000) from the BondFixedExpiryTeller (Bond Protocol) contract due to a validation error in redeem(). The attacker voluntarily returned the funds within hours after being contacted. Olympus emphasized the limited damage due to phased deployment and the existence of the bounty program.

Exchanges Where It Is Traded

Primary trading of OHM occurs on decentralized exchanges: Uniswap V3 (Ethereum, Arbitrum) and Balancer. Olympus owns its own liquidity through POL. Among centralized exchanges, the token is supported on Gate.io, MEXC, OKX, Bitget.

CEX exchanges: Korbit.

DEX exchanges: Uniswap V3 (Ethereum), Uniswap V3 (Base), Curve (Ethereum), Uniswap V2 (Ethereum), Balancer V2, Kodiak V3, Camelot, Sushiswap.

All-time high: approximately $1,415-$3,209 in November 2021 (adjusted for splits). An all-time low is not recorded in available sources.

Listings on Aggregators

• CoinGecko rank: 129
• Finkonkurs rank: 126

Investors and Funds

Olympus did not conduct traditional venture capital rounds with major funds (a16z, Paradigm, Polychain, etc.). Capital was raised through an early sale of pOHM (preliminary tokens) and the March 2021 IDO. Some notes mention Polychain Capital and Framework Ventures as participants in early trusts or holders, but no official rounds are documented. The protocol was funded through bond revenue and issuance, then transitioned to self-governance via the DAO.

Key Partnerships and Ecosystem

• Chainlink: Olympus uses Chainlink oracles to obtain market data necessary for protocol operations.
• Balancer: In 2022, Olympus moved $50 million in liquidity to Balancer, creating a 50/25/25 OHM/ETH/DAI pool, which reduced slippage and allowed Olympus Pro partners to raise funds through Liquidity Bootstrapping Pools (in collaboration with CopperLaunch and PrimeDAO).
• Bond Protocol (formerly Olympus Pro): A spin-off, separated in 2022 (OIP-104), providing bond infrastructure for other protocols.
• Cooler Loans: A lending platform that allows borrowing DAI against gOHM collateral without liquidation risk. Expanded to Optimism and Base in 2026.
• Banyan: An initiative for decentralized treasury management through specialized sub-DAOs and external vault managers (completed in late 2025).
• Grant Program: Olympus funds ecosystem projects related to tooling and additional protocols.
• Integrations: OHM is used as collateral in several DeFi applications; the protocol also interacts with Frax Finance and Ethena (comparisons in analytics).

Potential

Olympus remains one of the most innovative protocols in the reserve currency category. Technological advantages include a mature modular V3 architecture, a native cross-chain bridge, RBS and YRF mechanisms for price stabilization and value accrual, and Cooler Loans for liquidation-free lending. The POL model has proven resilient in volatile market conditions. The transition from inflationary issuance to treasury revenue accrual could enhance OHM's appeal as a long-term reserve asset. Expansion to Optimism and Base, along with further development of Banyan and Cooler Loans v2, opens new use cases. Market potential is tied to the adoption of OHM by institutional treasuries and its integration into DeFi infrastructure as a stable, backed settlement unit.

Risks [Identified by Finkonkurs AI Analytics System]

• Regulatory Risks: In the US, the SEC is considering classifying the rebasing mechanism as an unregistered security (in the context of cases against staking services). In the EU, MiCA may classify OHM as an Asset-Referenced Token, imposing additional requirements. Singapore's MAS currently does not include OHM in the scope of stablecoin regulation. As of July 2026, there are no formal lawsuits against the Olympus DAO, but precedents are possible.
• Lawsuits: In April 2022, investor Jason Liang (also Hu Chun Liang) filed a lawsuit in the Connecticut District Court against Olympus DAO and its pseudonymous founders, claiming he paid $50,000 in DAI for 4 million pOHM, but the protocol made the contracts non-functional, preventing conversion. The lawsuit remains unresolved; the defendants have not confirmed the founders' identities.
• Technical Risks: Active cross-chain expansion increases the attack surface, although audits cover the main modules. Dependence on Ethereum's performance (12-second slots) may be a limitation compared to networks with instant finality.
• Tokenomics Risks: OHM has no fixed supply; issuance is controlled by governance, creating uncertainty. High token concentration among whales (top 50 addresses hold a significant share) could influence governance.
• Competitive Pressure: Protocols like Frax Finance (FRAX) and Ethena (USDe) offer similar reserve concepts; OHM needs to maintain technological leadership.

Related Individuals

Zeus

Pseudonymous founder and ideological leader of Olympus. Known for public appearances in podcasts and protocol communications since launch. Real name undisclosed; the 2022 lawsuit mentions a possible identity - Timothy Gray Troxell, at the time a 22-year-old student at the University of Washington, but these claims are unproven. Zeus has no confirmed experience in cryptocurrencies prior to Olympus.

Apollo

Co-founder, also pseudonymous. The lawsuit suggests his identity is Daniel Bara, a Connecticut resident. No independent confirmation exists. Apollo participated in early protocol development, but current public activity is minimal.

Legal Entity:

To support DAO operations, the Olympus Association was established in 2022 under Swiss law. It serves as a legal "shield" for the community.

The team also includes developers and contributors working under pseudonyms; their exact roles and biographies are not disclosed.

Competitions, Activities, and Hackathons on Our Platform

• Olympus RBS 2.0 (Dec 5, 2023 – Dec 26, 2023)
• OlympusDAO (Feb 20, 2023 – Feb 27, 2023)

WhitePaper

The project's whitepaper describes the concept of a reserve currency, staking mechanisms, bonds, Protocol Owned Liquidity, and governance architecture. Official documentation is available on the Olympus website. Link: not publicly available.