Stablecoin protocol Gyroscope rolls out token and airdrop amid revenue growth

Gyroscope, the stablecoin protocol behind Gyro Dollars (GYD), has rolled out its governance token, GYFI, amid continued growth.

The GYFI token launch includes an airdrop of up to 2.1 million tokens — about 15% of the total 13.7 million GYFI supply — for eligible users, Gyroscope co-founder Lewis Gudgeon told The Block. Eligibility for the airdrop was determined through Gyroscope governance votes, with participants from the SPIN points campaign, founding member NFT holders and Gyroscope Galxe campaigns included.

As of publication time, Gyro Dollars had a market cap of $24 million, according to data from CoinGecko .

Users who claim GYFI can choose either to take the full amount as liquid tokens or to lock their tokens for additional rewards: a 9-month lock provides 40% more GYFI, while an 18-month lock offers 150% more. GYFI will allow holders to participate in the decentralized governance system, where they can vote on protocol decisions. Additionally, Gyroscope mentioned the possibility of implementing a buy-and-burn mechanism in the future.

Gyroscope reports growth 

The GYFI token launch comes as Gyroscope reports a record-high total value locked (TVL) of $62 million. Its year-to-date trading volume has reached $4.1 billion and protocol revenue has grown to over $2 million on an annualized basis, Gyroscope said. The protocol's success is partly attributed to its liquidity model, which includes both volatile and stablecoin yield-generating pools.

"Gyroscope's stablecoin GYD serves as an optional settlement asset for the stablecoin component of volatile and stable pairs," the project said. "Instead of splitting liquidity across multiple stablecoin pools, (e.g., USDC, USDT, sUSDe) assets can be paired with on-demand minted GYD, which acts as a central hub-and-spoke asset."

Gyroscope said its volatile pair pools, which carry higher risk, have generated annual percentage returns (APRs) ranging from 40% to 150%. The protocol has plans to scale these pools, potentially expanding by over 100x. If successful, Gyroscope expects this growth to generate significant revenue in a sustainable and efficient manner.

"In the current market size, Gyroscope’s volatile pair pools could be scalable by 100x+ (e.g., comparable with Aerodrome, Uniswap, etc for relevant pairs), with GYD’s pairing asset usage similarly scalable," the project said. "If realized, this would generate significant revenue in a highly efficient and organic manner. Gyroscope’s model is also strategically positioned to benefit when the market itself grows, e.g., when FX [foreign exchange] volumes come onchain."