What is River (RIVER)?

River is a chain-abstracted stablecoin system designed to provide cross-chain collateral, yield, and liquidity without bridges. Powered by its omni-CDP stablecoin, satUSD, River enables users to earn, leverage, and scale across different ecosystems. River introduces the first omni-CDP module, allowing users to deposit collateral on one chain (Chain A) and mint satUSD on another chain (Chain B) without bridges or wrapped tokens. In this article, we will explore what River is, how it works, and the opportunities it offers in detail.

What is River?

River is designed as a stablecoin system that unifies cross-chain liquidity. It consists of three core modules:

• Omni-CDP: The first cross-chain CDP system built on LayerZero’s OFT standard. Users can deposit BTC, ETH, BNB, or LSTs as collateral on a source chain and mint satUSD on a target chain without bridges or wrapped tokens. Stablecoins like USDT, USDC, and USD1 can be swapped 1:1 with satUSD.
• Yield: Users can stake satUSD to earn satUSD+, a yield-bearing token that shares protocol revenue. River offers smart vaults for institutions and individuals to deposit BTC or ETH, generating yield through DeFi strategies and protocol revenue with zero liquidation risk.
• River4FUN: A contribution layer where users stake tokens, connect their X accounts, and earn River Pts through social interactions like sharing, referring, and voting. These points can be converted to $RIVER at the TGE (Token Generation Event).

The project addresses DeFi’s fragmented structure: capital is isolated across chains, stablecoin liquidity lacks coordination, and governance systems rarely reward impact or contribution. River establishes a full-cycle system that synchronizes collateral, yield, and user actions. satUSD enables assets to participate in value creation, distribution, and circulation across ecosystems, offering native cross-chain capital flow without bridges or wrappers.

River’s Purpose

River’s vision is to build a chain-abstracted stablecoin system that connects liquidity and value across ecosystems, enabling any asset to participate in frictionless value creation, distribution, and circulation anywhere. With the slogan “Connect with value, flow with River,” it aims to enable capital to move freely across chains and feed community participation back into the protocol. River solves DeFi’s fragmented nature:

• Assets and collateral are trapped in isolated ecosystems.
• Stablecoin liquidity is fragmented and slow to move.
• Transfers require expensive bridging and swapping.
• Yield is concentrated in a few protocols.

River standardizes collateral deposits and satUSD minting with omni-CDP, directs protocol revenue to stakers via satUSD+, and enables bridge-less liquidity flow through its native chain abstraction design. This allows capital not only to be deployed but also to circulate across ecosystems.

How River Works

River operates with an omni-CDP protocol that unifies cross-chain liquidity using LayerZero’s OFT standard. The process flow is as follows:

• Collateral Deposit: Users deposit BTC or LSTs on a supported source chain (e.g., Bitcoin L2, Ethereum, Solana).
• Omnichain Minting: satUSD is minted on the target chain based on the collateral ratio.
• Cross-Chain Liquidity: satUSD is transferred across chains without wrapped assets or liquidity fragmentation, providing unified liquidity across ecosystems.
• LayerZero Messaging: satUSD is burned or locked on the source chain, and a cross-chain message via LayerZero triggers minting on the target chain.
• Security and Consistency: River’s OApp manages cross-chain minting, position creation, and liquidations using _lzSend and _lzReceive functions, ensuring synchronized debt and collateral data.

Minting Costs:

• Minting Fee: Base rate + 0.5% (min 0.5%, max 5%).
• Annual Interest Fee: Currently 0% (fixed rate on debt).
• Gas Compensation: 2 satUSD reserved for liquidation.
• Total Minting Fee: Minting Fee + Interest Fee + Gas Compensation.
• Base Rate Dynamics: Previous base rate + (0.5 × repaid satUSD / total satUSD supply). An hourly decay factor (0.944) is applied with a 12-hour half-life.

Use Cases

River offers a wide range of use cases for cross-chain liquidity and yield:

• satUSD Minting: Mint satUSD with BTC, ETH, BNB, or LSTs at 0% interest.
• Yield Staking: Stake satUSD to earn satUSD+ and share protocol revenue.
• Earn through Interaction: Connect an X account to River4FUN, share content, and earn River Pts, convertible to $RIVER at TGE.
• Ecosystem Usage: Use satUSD on platforms like Pendle, PancakeSwap, Segment, and LayerBank with 5-25x River Pts multipliers.
• Smart Vault: Deposit BTC, ETH, USDT/USDC for zero-liquidation-risk yield through automated DeFi/CeDeFi strategies and satUSD staking.

River (RIVER) Tokenomics

$RIVER is River’s governance and incentive token. Total supply: 100,000,000 RIVER.

Distribution:

• Community: 32% (32M, dynamic airdrop + reserve; River Pts convert to $RIVER at a rate increasing from 1x to 270x over 180 days).
• Investors: 15% (15M, 3-month lock, 10% unlocked at M4, 6-month lock, 24-month linear vesting).
• Core Contributors: 15% (15M, 12-month lock, 30-month linear vesting).
• Advisors: 3% (3M, 12-month lock, 30-month linear vesting).
• Liquidity: 11% (11M, 100% unlocked at TGE).
• Ecosystem Foundation: 10% (10M, 60-month linear vesting, unlocked every 6 months).
• Ecosystem Partnerships: 2% (2M, 100% unlocked at TGE).
• Ecosystem Incentives: 12% (12M, 60-month linear vesting).

Staking:

• Duration: 3, 6, 9, 12 months (1x-4x voting power).
• Governance: Collateral types, risk parameters, vault settings, chain expansion, satUSD incentives, treasury usage.
• Yield Boost: veRIVER offers higher satUSD+ yield, rewards for LPs and long-term stakers, and 1.2x-2x multipliers in River4FUN.
• Fee Benefits: Lower minting, redemption, and swap fees; priority access to limited campaigns.

River (RIVER) Team

Formerly known as Satoshi Protocol, River was founded in 2024 and is led by Naka. Team information is limited; the project is community- and ecosystem-focused.

Official Links

• Website
• X (Twitter)
• Whitepaper

You can freely share your thoughts and comments about the topic in the comment section. Additionally, don’t forget to follow us on our Telegram  ,YouTube and Twitter channels for the latest news and updates.