A new take on Stablecoins: AMPL (WAMPL) and SPOT as a collateral for ampUSD
Introduction
The Ampleforth ecosystem keeps evolving beyond just elastic money, moving toward a broader decentralized financial stack. Its core mission is to create innovative mechanisms and new kinds of assets that help preserve purchasing power in an open and adaptive way. As part of this bigger picture, ampUSD is being developed through close collaboration between the Ampleforth and Asymmetry Finance teams. It aims to deliver a decentralized stablecoin that maintains a reliable dollar peg without depending on centralized collateral like USDC or fiat reserves. At launch, ampUSD will be backed exclusively by WAMPL, with SPOT potentially added as extra collateral over time.
This article explains the essentials of WAMPL and SPOT, how they fit into ampUSD’s collateral model, and why this approach can help make DeFi more resilient. It also outlines what makes the system robust, scalable, and designed to help protect against inflation while staying fully decentralized.
What Are AMPL and WAMPL?
AMPL is Ampleforth’s original elastic supply token. Unlike fixed-supply tokens like BTC, AMPL adjusts its total supply daily through a process called rebasing. When demand for AMPL rises above its target price (roughly equal to the 2019 USD purchasing power), the supply expands to bring the price back toward the target. When demand drops, the supply contracts.
However, rebasing makes AMPL harder to integrate into certain smart contracts, as balances can change automatically. This is where WAMPL - Wrapped AMPL - comes in. WAMPL locks AMPL into a smart contract and issues an equivalent amount of ERC-20 tokens that doesn’t rebase. Instead, WAMPL’s market price floats freely to reflect AMPL’s market cap. This makes WAMPL ideal for use as collateral: it’s predictable, fixed-supply, and integrates smoothly with lending protocols.
At launch, WAMPL will be the sole collateral for ampUSD. SPOT could be added later as the system matures and SPOT’s supply increases.
Introducing SPOT: The Possible Second Collateral
SPOT is Ampleforth’s first of low-volatility assets designed to track real-world inflation. Instead of daily rebases, SPOT achieves price stability through volatility tranching, effectively bundling AMPL into senior tranches with reduced exposure to AMPL’s price swings. The result is a token that aims to preserve purchasing power over time, acting as a decentralized inflation hedge.
While SPOT is not part of the initial ampUSD launch, the plan is to integrate it as an additional collateral option later. Combining SPOT’s low volatility with WAMPL’s elasticity could create a uniquely robust collateral base for ampUSD, balancing supply flexibility with purchasing power protection.
How Does ampUSD Work?
ampUSD will function similarly to Liquity or MakerDAO, using a collateralized debt position (CDP) model. Here’s how the mechanism works:
- Users lock WAMPL as collateral.
- They mint ampUSD against that collateral, choosing their own loan-to-value (LTV) ratio within protocol limits.
- They can set their preferred interest rate for the loan, which determines how their position is prioritized for redemptions and liquidations.
- If their collateral value drops too far, liquidation mechanisms ensure the system stays over-collateralized.
- Liquidations are handled through stability pools, rewarding users who stake ampUSD with seized collateral.
- Arbitrage keeps ampUSD’s price close to $1: if it trades below, holders can redeem it for $1 worth of collateral, restoring balance.
Because WAMPL’s supply is fixed and non-rebasing, collateral accounting remains clean and predictable — critical for smart contracts that rely on stable balances. Over time, when SPOT is added, borrowers will be able to mix collaterals, diversifying risk and adding inflation protection.
Below is a simple flow diagram:
[ User Wallet ]
|
[ Deposit WAMPL ]
|
[ Smart Contract Vault ] ---> [ Mint ampUSD ] ---> [ Trade, Spend, Save ]
Why This Matters
Today’s most popular stablecoins are largely centralized. USDC and USDT rely on off-chain fiat reserves and trusted third parties. This creates regulatory and censorship risks. By contrast, ampUSD aims to be:
- Fully decentralized: No dependency on banks or fiat reserves.
- Scalable: AMPL’s elastic supply and WAMPL’s integration flexibility support growth.
- Inflation-resistant: When SPOT is added, the system gains a direct inflation hedge.
The Ampleforth design has been stress-tested over multiple cycles since 2019. WAMPL inherits this resilience while offering the technical simplicity needed for lending protocols.
Who’s Behind It?
ampUSD is being built by Asymmetry Finance, a DeFi protocol focused on yield innovation and decentralized money markets. The Ampleforth core team, which invented AMPL and SPOT, works closely with Asymmetry to align the monetary logic and smart contract design.
The project has attracted significant interest from notable partners:
- Fidelity (via Avon Ventures) is listed among Asymmetry’s backers, strengthening institutional credibility.
- Coinbase Ventures invested $1 million USD to support SPOT’s development, demonstrating confidence in Ampleforth’s unique design and its potential as a new inflation-protected asset.
While there is no confirmed launch date yet, the Asymmetry team aims to deploy ampUSD within 2025.
Opportunities and Outlook
When ampUSD launches, early adopters can borrow against WAMPL to unlock liquidity without selling their AMPL exposure. This could appeal to DeFi users looking for an inflation-resistant stablecoin and an alternative to fiat-backed tokens.
As SPOT becomes available as a second collateral type, the system could evolve into one of the most resilient and censorship-resistant stablecoin models on the market. For Ampleforth and Asymmetry, ampUSD is a step toward an ecosystem of decentralized, programmable money that adapts to real-world conditions without centralized choke points.
Further Reading & Official Links:
- Ampleforth Docs: https://docs.ampleforth.org/
- SPOT Primer: https://www.spot.cash/primer/
- Asymmetry Finance Docs: https://docs.asymmetry.finance/
Footnotes:
- Ampleforth Whitepaper, ampleforth.org
- Asymmetry Finance Official Docs, asymmetry.finance
- Liquity Protocol Documentation, liquity.org
- Coinbase Ventures Portfolio, coinbase.com/ventures
- Avon Ventures & Fidelity Partnership, avonventures.com
