This is a guide on how to buy BANK token from Float Protocol and diving deeper into how Float works, what the protocol is trying to accomplish and the role of BANK token in the ecosystem.
What is Float Protocol?
Float protocol is a new “stablecoin” protocol except it is trying to be a crypto-native unit of account with low volatility as opposed to a traditional stablecoin like DAI that wants to be pegged to the USD. The token that does this is FLOAT. The advantage of a crypto-native denomination is that with minimal day to day fluctuations, the FLOAT token can become the default unit of account in the space while retaining some upside as the crypto market rises. An additional benefit is to reduce the risk of the US government clamping down on traditional stablecoins. In that scenario, an independent unit of account unpegged to the USD would be very valuable.
For the Float Protocol to accomplish its goals, it needs the BANK token to absorb some of the upside and downside volatility as the crypto markets see-saw. BANK is also the governance token of the protocol. Therefore if you are bullish on Float, then buy BANK and not FLOAT. The comparison here would be that BANK is similar to MKR and FLOAT to DAI.
It belongs in a category that several other projects are building too, notably RAI and FEI. However, Float Protocol seems to have several advantages such as a team that has delivered to date and a fair launch of the BANK token with really active community of holders and voters.
Float is also notable in creating a very fair initial token launch that rewarded active Ethereum protocol users as opposed to Whales. During the initial Phase-1 mining of BANK token, the team implemented a whitelist of addresses that previously participated in governance of other protocols. In addition, each address could stake at most $30k. This created a huge number of early satisfied users who have continued to remain active. Float has seen some of the most active governance participation rate in the entire DeFi ecosystem, which is a huge plus for it going forward especially compared to some VC coins. This has been instrumental in its steady rise in value since launch.
How to Buy BANK Token?
Step-1: Go to 1inch BANK exchange pair and select the token to pay with (ETH or another ERC20)
Step-2: Connect your Web3 wallet like MetaMask
Step-3: Accept the confirmation on MetaMask and wait for the transaction to get mined
Note: If you are paying with ETH, you can also directly go to the Sushi exchange to buy BANK. Currently, the Sushi pool is incentivized and not Uniswap, so although Uniswap also trades BANK, you are better off trading via 1inch to get the best order routing across all DeFi exchanges.
At the moment, BANK has a yield farming operation via the BANK/ETH LP on Sushi. This can earn you some BANK by being a liquidity provider for BANK with ETH on Uniswap. In order to participate, you will need to add liquidity to the existing BANK/ETH Uniswap pool. This will give you the UNI-LP tokens for this pool. Stake them here to start earning BANK.