Glossary
OlympusDAO
A 2021 DeFi protocol around the OHM "reserve currency" backed by treasury assets — pioneered (and ultimately exposed the limits of) protocol-owned liquidity and bonding.
OlympusDAO launched in March 2021 around the OHM token, marketed as a "reserve currency" backed by a basket of treasury assets and algorithmically expandable through "bonding" — users sold LP tokens to the protocol in exchange for discounted OHM.
The model produced explosive growth in 2021, with APYs sometimes exceeding 10,000% (paid in newly-emitted OHM). When emissions outpaced bond inflows in early 2022, the token collapsed from $1,400+ to single digits. Olympus pivoted to a more conservative treasury-management model. The protocol popularized "protocol-owned liquidity" as a DeFi design pattern.