Yes, there are free options though, for the Global South and anyone. One example is the 100% Bitcoin-backed USD-pegged stablecoin DLLR by nostr:npub1s7uvsn0ku29gutma9tw43m5gpwuc8y3qwapzy5pnu5jtllpgcucsyvfwc4 which runs on Bitcoin's L2 Rootstock. Such projects need more attention so that they will be equally integrated in global payment services. Exodus wallet already supports DLLR and last I know also keeps it in its company treasury.
Discussion
I've never heard of this rootstock. Is it a BIP? It's also not what Trump is talking about. They want to back stablecoins with sovereign debt to keep the party going. They don't want gold 2.0.
Not a bip, stay away.
Have you looked into it? If yes, I'd be curious why you think it's not a good option. I'm trying to wrap my head around this for some time. Besides of course the best option, of Bitcoin being used as global currency.
Rootstock is an L2 to Bitcoin like Liquid. I'm not saying it's a final solution. But there are projects out there that are looking for solutions to this stablecoin problem in an as close as possible permissionless and decentralized way. I think it's worth checking these projects out and then decide whether it's nonsense or not. They are trying to help Bitcoinization. Yes DLLR doesn't have this US treasury backing like Tether, it's 100% Bitcoin-backed. But it still does the same thing. Facilitating payments in a USD equivalent.
I had a look at DLLR. This is what I found.
DLLR is an index of two dollar-pegged stablecoins. One of them appears to be completely centralized like Tether. The other one is overcollateralized by a single asset. In order to maintain a peg, the protocol takes the USD price of bitcoin through a bunch of people who have qualified to be oracles. Anyone who owns enough of the protocol's governance token can be an oracle. Like single-collateral DAI, the protocol rewards people for putting up bitcoins with a variable interest rate and it can shut down issuance when there isn't enough collateral.
I can't find that many designs for a stablecoin. They tend to follow the same few design patterns:
a) completely centralized
b) overcollateralized by multiple assets, including other stablecoins that can be centralized
c) overcollateralized by a single asset, the degree to which is determined by an oracle price feed
a is just fancy banking. do you trust companies like tether or circle? b is dumb because it usually collapses or turns into a proxy for a, like how multi-collateral DAI was eventually mostly backed by USDC.
c is a whole different can of worms. you could have something like a group of people who attest to the USD price of the collateral on centralized exchanges. or you could pull the data straight from a DEX where the collateral is trading against USDT. it doesn't work unless you can either hold oracles accountable or you depend on more centralized stablecoins functioning correctly.
the design of c can be about as trust-minimized as you can get or it can just get silly. but look at the behavior of Sovryn. they deliberately indexed DLLR against a completely centralized stablecoin plus an oracle style stablecoin. it's hard to figure out what they were really thinking here.
Thanks for looking into it so deeply! That's an honest discussion I was looking to have for a while. Looking at the Sovryn wiki for DLLR ... so, you think DOC from the MoC protocol is completely centralized? What makes you say that? And ZUSD is overcollateralized, yes, by rBTC. But not by a variable interest rate, but by the degree of what's considered a healthy overcollateralization. Both DOC and ZUSD form DLLR. Since it seems to fall into your c) category that makes the most sense. In a nutshell, where would you say lie the weaknesses of this structure? The price oracle governance? I know that the collateral protocol 'Zero' is not very strong for example due to the high degree of overcollateralization needed. What else?
It looks like there's something new on the horizon though for ways to create decentralized stablecoins on Bitcoin. Could be interesting ... nevent1qqszt9k74gssc4vrypupw35wdtey0j9pcut8k60hjuagcawapch9mgg9s06s2
