Learn about Haven Protocol

Haven (XHV) is the world's first network of private stable assets.

It enables holding wealth as crypto, in private, without volatility. It's like having your own bank.

Users convert from XHV, a form of private treasury note, to xUSD, the world's first private algorithmic stablecoin. xUSD is converted to other private assets (xAssets) like xAG (Silver), xAU (Gold), xBTC (Bitcoin), xCNY (Yuan), xEUR (Euro), etc.

Haven ensures 1 xUSD can always be converted to $1 worth of XHV on the blockchain regardless of the price of xUSD on public exchanges.

• Download or try online.
  
  
• Read instructions how to install Haven Protocol (XHV).
  
  
• Buy XHV from TradeOgre or NonKYC or XeggeX or CoinEX.
  
  
• Buy xUSD from TradeOgre or NonKYC.
  
  
• Trade xAU with xUSD on NonKYC or xAG with xUSD.
  

How it works

Haven has elastic supply of XHV, xUSD, and xAssets. It's a fork of Monero, adds Proof-of-Value to ensure converted value is equal between assets during conversions, adds Vault Backed Shoring (VBS) to balance inflation of XHV and xUSD, and plans to simulate slippage like real world exchanges. VBS currently targets an XHV:xUSD market cap ratio of 10:1 to support xUSD pegged at $1 on public exchanges.

18.4 million XHV will be created by mining. Demand for xUSD can mint an unlimited number of xUSD by burning XHV. Demand for XHV can mint an unlimited number of XHV by burning xUSD.

Converting XHV to xUSD (going offshore) and converting xUSD to XHV (coming back onshore) requires holding XHV as collateral equal to the converted amount multiplied by VBS. The collateral is locked for 14 days during the conversion to prevent excessive and rapid minting of XHV that would cause a death spiral. The converted amount unlocks in 1 day. When the conversion completes the collateral is unlocked and returned to the user.

Transactions are private. Transaction addresses and amounts are hidden like Monero.

Conversions are less private. Conversion addresses are hidden but amounts are public to keep track of the total supply.

Converting XHV to xUSD unlocks the converted amount in 1 day and the collateral in 14 days. Same for converting xUSD to XHV.

Converting xUSD to xAssets unlocks the converted amount in 2 days and does not require collateral. Same for converting xAssets to xUSD.

Converting from XHV directly to xAssets in one step isn't allowed.


Why

Haven's hypothesis is:

• You can't back something with a real world asset. It's impossible to do accurately, impossible to audit, and impossible to do without counterparty risk.
  
  
• Exchanging assets on the blockchain with burn and mint is the only way to ensure you can always convert a stablecoin for another asset at a known and fixed peg. All other pegs can fail because of counterparty risk. As long as the blockchain runs, exchanging on the blockchain cannot fail because the protocol defines you will always get $1 worth of XHV back for your xUSD.
  
  
• If Monero is digital gold, xUSD is digital cash. Monero never can be because it's volatile and hoarded instead of spent. If Monero is the future Bitcoin, Haven is the future competition to CBDCs.

Satoshi Nakamoto didn't know of a way for software to know the real world value of things. If there was a way, Bitcoin's rules could have been programmed to peg it to something and manage the supply.

Haven has a way. It gets the real world value of XHV and xAssets from a Chainlink oracle, pegs xUSD to $1 on the blockchain, and manages the supply.


Frequently Asked Questions

What are some use cases for a stablecoin?

The biggest use case for a stablecoin so far is to store cash in it. As of April 2024 USDT (Tether) has a $107 billion dollar marketcap and USDC (Circle) has a $30 billion dollar marketcap.

Another use case is to purchase goods from merchants.

Why not use Monero?

Monero is volatile. Its price can change a lot unexpectedly and it dropped more than 75% before.

xUSD is designed to be stable. Haven's protocol defines xUSD is always worth $1 on the blockchain. xUSD is converted at $1 for xAssets on the blockchain regardless of xUSD's price on public exchanges.

Monero is only one asset. Haven supports multiple xAssets and exchanging between them in private.

Is burn and mint similar to redeeming gold for fiat?

No. It's very very different. You're converting, not redeeming. If XHV were stored away waiting for you to redeem your xUSD then XHV would be "backing" xUSD. But that's not the case.

Since xUSD can be converted to xAU, why is XHV needed?

If you want xAU, buy xAU directly or buy xUSD and convert it to xAU. XHV isn't needed to buy xUSD or xAU.

XHV exists because there has to be a way to buy into or sell out of Haven's ecosystem.

XHV was needed in the beginning when the blockchain started. There was no xUSD or xAssets then. Some XHV had to be burned to mint the first xUSD. XHV is needed as one way to mint more xUSD.

Is xUSD backed by XHV?

No. The market cap for XHV could be $1 while the market cap for xAssets could be billions of dollars and the system would still work.

XHV represents demand for new xUSD and all the other xAssets. When demand to mint new xUSD to purchase xAssets is low XHV price is low, and when demand for new xUSD and xAssets is high XHV price is high.

What is xUSD backed by?

xUSD and xAssets are backed by the same thing all money is backed: confidence. They're backed by use of xUSD and xAssets in the real world. This confidence is low in the beginning of any new ecosystem and increases as the total network value of the ecosystem increases. For the first 9 months Bitcoin was worth $0.06. Now it's worth over $60,000.

A big use of xUSD and xAssets is to trade in private in the vault.

Does XHV price drop when xUSD is converted to XHV?

No. When xUSD is converted to XHV the XHV supply increases but so does XHV's market cap. In the math the XHV price stays the same.

Buying and selling on markets has nothing to do with Haven's protocol.

Is Haven like Luna?

No. Luna burned LUNA to mint TUST but it offered unsustainable yield rates backed by crypto held in company wallets. When large amounts of TUST were unstaked and TUST depegged the company sold BTC removing much of the backing and driving LUNA and TUST to $0.

In Haven XHV is burned to mint xUSD but XHV isn't held by a company and xUSD is backed only by real world use. Haven also has VBS designed to prevent a death spiral and plans to simulate slippage.

Binance ex-CEO CZ said Luna had the right idea but failed on execution.

Is Haven an L2 (layer two) solution for Monero?

No. Haven has it's own blockchain. It's an L1 (layer one).

Does Haven use only Proof-Of-Work (PoW) or is it a hybrid?

Haven uses only Proof-Of-Work (PoW) to mine coins.

Haven uses Proof-Of-Value (PoV) to convert value between assets. This can burn XHV to mint xUSD, burn xUSD to mint XHV, burn xUSD to mint xAssets, and burn xAssets to mint xUSD. The purpose of all these PoV conversions is to transfer value between assets, not to mine new coins.

How secure is Haven?

Security in a Proof-of-Work (PoW) network is measured by its hashrate cost. Haven uses a different version of Monero's CryptoNote hashing algorithm. Haven's hashrate is 1.5 MH/s and Monero's 2.0 GH/s. If these algorithms are equally fast Haven is 0.001x as secure as Monero.

Why not do atomic swaps of Monero with a stablecoin?

Stablecoins with reserves can lose their peg. Reserves can turn out to be missing when audited. Reserves held in a bank can be lost if the bank mismanages the reserves or goes bankrupt.

Most stablecoins aren't private. xUSD is private.

What does Haven's oracle do?

It reports the market price of XHV, xUSD, and xAssets. These prices are used by the blockchain to convert between assets.

The oracle's goal isn't to keep the price of the stablecoins stable.

How is the price of Haven's stablecoins kept stable?

By making it easy to arbitrage xAsset and xUSD prices.

When xUSD sells for less than $1 on exchanges, xUSD is bought from exchanges, converted to XHV in Haven's vault for $1, and sold on exchanges.

When xUSD sells for more than $1 on exchanges, XHV is converted to xUSD in Haven's vault and the xUSD is sold on exchanges.

What happens if the price feed is disrupted?

When the price feed is disrupted conversions aren't possible.

What happens if the US Dollar loses its dominance or stability in the future?

It's possible for the Haven community to agree to upgrade Haven to replace xUSD with another stable asset.

Does Haven recognize xAG (Silver) as collateral when converting from xUSD to XHV?

The only collateral used in Haven is XHV. XHV is used as collateral only when converting from XHV to xUSD and from xUSD to XHV.

Has xAG (Silver) been maintaining its peg to the oracle price?

Yes. But probably because xAG was trading with an xAsset (xUSD). When trading with a non-xAsset, xAG can depeg.

Inside the vault, xAssets are pegged to the oracle price. They maintained their peg and the protocol ensures they will maintain it.

Outside the vault, xAsset prices are defined by the market. xAssets trading with an xAsset have maintained their peg to the oracle price. It's reasonable to assume an xAsset trading with another xAsset will maintain their peg because any percentage depeg for an outside-the-vault xAsset will be based on the percentage depeg of xUSD, and this will be the same as the percentage depeg of the second xAsset. The percentage depeg of two xAssets trading with each other cancel out.

Outside the vault, xAssets trading with a non-xAsset have not maintained their peg. xUSD lost its peg to USDT. It's reasonable to assume xAssets will lose their peg when xUSD loses its peg and will restore it when xUSD does.

Can I withdraw cash out of Haven without a CEX?

No. Withdrawing cash from Haven depends on a centralized exchange (CEX). Same for most cryptocurrencies.

An important use case is to get merchants to accept xUSD payments. Merchants haven't begun adopting xUSD.

Did Haven have a premine?

No. It is believed the initial developers solo mined about 95,000 XHV (0.2% of supply) that were sold on the market by January 7th 2019. Since then a new team of developers took over the project.

In comparison it is believed Satoshi Nakamoto solo mined 1.1m BTC (5.2% of supply). About 500,000 LTC (0.5% of supply) were mined at launch because of high demand and the difficulty adjustment capped at 4x by the LTC/BTC protocol.

Did Haven have fair distribution of the XHV supply?

No. Conversions between July 20th 2020 and June 4th 2022 minted millions of XHV without simulating slippage. The impact of these conversions on the supply is still playing out as XHV supply is inflating since September 13th 2023 when VBS was set to 10. It is believed this made XHV similar to a 13.6%-23.9% pre-mine assuming holders who minted XHV without slippage haven't also been buying the new XHV supply minted since September 13th 2023.

How is Haven development funded?

Haven development is funded by a 1.5% fee from asset conversions and community crowdfunding. The 1.5% fee may be reduced in the future as conversion volume increases. Funds are used for development, exchange listings, and marketing, and were also used to compensate exchanges and miners for two rollbacks after two hacks. Treasury reports are public. Haven didn't receive venture capital.


Limitations

The mining pool hashvault.pro controls about 59% of Haven's hashrate.

Conversions depend on a price feed from a Chainlink oracle that charges the Haven dev team $200 per month. The price feed is provided by an API hosted on centralized servers. Haven doesn't know of a secure way to have decentralized miners verify asset prices.