Ethereum-based (ETH) decentralized finance, or DeFi, risk management marketplace Risk Harbor will soon take over control of Terra's Ozone Protocol, according to a press release published on Thursday.
Ozone is a decentralized insurance mechanism that provides coverage in the event of technical failures on the Terra DeFi ecosystem. The latter is a dual-token platform that features its governance token LUNA and stablecoin Terra USD (UST), which has an exchange rate of 1:1 with the United States dollar. UST has no underlying USD reserves backing it. Instead, it's collateralized via an algorithm by LUNA, and users can earn rewards by using LUNA to fix UST's exchange rate. The network has gained significant momentum in terms of total value locked.
Using Ozone, insurers who deposit UST can receive coverage when smart contracts do not execute properly on the Terra network — such as when users cannot withdraw their money from UST savings accounts in the Terra Anchor Protocol. Similarly, Risk Harbor operates an Ethereum DeFi hub that enables coin holders to cover their DeFi assets for an upfront premium. Meanwhile, other users act as underwriters that deposit their at-risk capital in various insurance collateral pools to earn rewards.
Do Kwon, co-founder and CEO of Terraform Labs, had the following to say regarding the development:
“Risk Harbor's talented and ambitious team has extensive experience working with DeFi protocols in the blossoming risk management space, having created one of the leading permissionless coverage marketplaces on Ethereum. We're thrilled for the Terra community to have Risk Harbor take the reins of Ozone and pioneer a capital-efficient and decentralized risk management marketplace for the Terra ecosystem at large.”
Ozone is currently undergoing an audit from blockchain security firms such as Oak Security and Certik. Pending the results of a Terra community governance vote, Ozone will be transferred to Risk Harbor's developers for maintenance and management.