I am always on the lookout for companies whose aim is clearly disruptive, or revolutionary— whether or not this is articulated on their website. Ones with wicked branding piques my interest the most…and when an AI called Archimedes comes to my attention, it’s journalist hat on.
Mozaic.finance is a DeFi platform that aims to optimize yield farming strategies using AI and machine learning algorithms. According to their website, they launched in August 2021, which makes it a relatively new player in the DeFi space.
Down the DeFi rabbit hole we go:
AI Yield Farming is a relatively new concept in the world of decentralized finance (DeFi) that uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning algorithms to optimize yield farming strategies. Yield farming involves lending or staking cryptocurrency assets in order to earn rewards, such as interest or governance tokens, and it has become a popular way for investors to generate passive income in the DeFi space.
As for Archimedes, it is the name of the AI engine that powers the Mozaic.finance platform. According to their website, Archimedes uses advanced machine learning algorithms to analyze market data, identify trends, and optimize yield farming strategies in real-time.
Quite apt in more ways than one, I thought. Archimedes was a real person from history, who lived in ancient Greece in the third century BC. He is often considered one of the greatest mathematicians of all time. It's possible that the founders of Mozaic.finance chose the name Archimedes for their AI engine as a nod to his legacy as a brilliant thinker and problem-solver. It’s also an interesting parallel that yield farming and any AI-powered engine are both far from infallible, and thus requires investor due diligence.
After all, The Death Ray Legend of Archimedes has been debunked no fewer than three times on the television show “Mythbusters” (the third time at the behest of President Obama).
AI yield farming is a strategy that can be implemented using various DeFi protocols and platforms
...including those provided by Aave, Compound, Yearn Finance, Harvest Finance, and Curve Finance. Aave and Compund appear to have the most number of engaged users. At time of writing: Aave appears to have over 1 million unique addresses that have interacted with its smart contracts on the Ethereum network and Compound is reputed to have about half of that. Of these 5, I like Harvest’s brand design the best, despite seemingly only having 25,000 engaged users. But actually, user numbers isn’t the metric to rule all metrics. The investment values correlated to those users is not something I have the privilege of knowing (yet).
But hang on, what IS Yield Farming? My Yield Farming Analogy to Wine Making.
Yes, I said wine. As a wine enthusiast determined to one day do the Malbec Mendoza Biking Tour in Argentina—this is an analogy that is perfectly apt:
At first glance, wine and finance do not seem directly related—other than a glass of wine pictured as a seemingly perfect punctuation mark to the end of a successful day.AI yield farming can be compared to a winemaker who carefully tends to their vineyard to produce high-quality grapes, which are then harvested and turned into bottles of wine. In the same way, an AI yield farmer provides liquidity to a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol, which carefully cultivates and manages the investor's assets to generate a yield.
Just as the winemaker selects the best grape varieties and carefully manages the vineyard's soil, sunlight, and water to produce the highest-quality grapes, the DeFi protocol's algorithm carefully selects and manages the assets to optimize the yield for the investor.
Once the grapes are harvested, the winemaker turns them into wine, which can be aged and refined over time to enhance its quality and value. Similarly, the DeFi protocol's algorithm generates a yield for the investor in the form of cryptocurrency tokens, which can be held and compounded over time to increase their value.
However, just as winemaking involves risks such as unexpected weather conditions, pests, and disease that can impact the quality and quantity of the harvest, AI yield farming also has risks such as impermanent loss and smart contract failure that can impact the investor's yield. Therefore, it's important for the investor to carefully evaluate the risks and rewards of yield farming—AI driven or otherwise— and do their own research before investing.
Another step back: But what is Decentralised finance (DeFi)?
Decentralized finance (DeFi) can be compared to a financial system that operates like a global open market, where anyone can participate and exchange value without the need for intermediaries, such as banks or other financial institutions.
Just as the internet democratized access to information and communication, DeFi democratizes access to financial services and products. With DeFi, anyone with an internet connection and a cryptocurrency wallet can access a range of financial services, including lending, borrowing, trading, and more.
Think of DeFi as a marketplace where buyers and sellers can interact directly, without the need for a middleman to facilitate the transaction. This creates a more efficient and transparent financial system, where transactions are executed on a decentralized network of computers called a blockchain.
To my knowledge—again at time of writing—no one has yet staked claim to AI Yield Farming as their key service quite like Mozaic.finance has. Except for DefiLabs. It’s quite an ambitious yet insanely brave brand promise. I love that about the Mozaic branding. I have a sense that the name Archimedes for their AI engine IS in fact a nod to his legacy as a brilliant thinker and problem-solver.
After all, a plethora of devices and ideas are named after Archimedes. Besides the Archimedes screw, there is the Archimedes principle, the law of buoyancy that states the upward force on a submerged object equals the weight of the liquid displaced. All seem quite great metaphors to finance, but In Greek mythology, Archimedes is also known for his famous quote "Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world”, an easy metaphor for the power of technology to revolutionize the world.
I remain transfixed by all this and hope to find out more as we await its launch.
Have you come across any FinTech or DeFi brands with branding that has piqued your interest? Tell us about it. Thanks to Content Creator Roland Rusvai for bringing Mozaic to our attention.