What is River (RIVER)?

Deep Dive

1. Purpose & Value Proposition

River addresses cross-chain liquidity fragmentation by allowing users to collateralize assets (e.g., BTC, ETH) on one blockchain and mint its stablecoin, satUSD, on another – without bridges or wrapped tokens. This "chain abstraction" simplifies DeFi interactions, enabling native yield farming, swaps, and leverage across 12+ chains (Decrypt).

2. Technology & Architecture

The protocol uses omni-CDPs (collateralized debt positions) to secure satUSD, with collateral managed on its origin chain (e.g., Bitcoin) while minting occurs on destinations like Ethereum or Solana. This eliminates bridge risks and leverages LayerZero for cross-chain messaging.

3. Tokenomics & Governance

• RIVER: Governance token with staking rewards (up to 80.8% APR) and fee discounts.
• River Points (Pts): Convertible to RIVER via a time-encoded mechanism – ratios improve daily over 180 days (up to 270x difference between early and late conversion).
• Supply: 100M total, 19.6M circulating (as of Dec 2025).

Conclusion

River reimagines cross-chain DeFi by unifying liquidity through satUSD and incentivizing long-term participation via its novel tokenomics. Will its chain-agnostic design become the standard for multi-chain stablecoins?