The RD token
RD is the protocol's stablecoin. Standard ERC-20, 18 decimals, no admin keys.
How RD is created and destroyed
Only the protocol can mint or burn RD. There is no admin mint, no upgrade key, no governance vote that can issue RD outside the protocol's rules:
- Mint: when a borrower opens a trove or borrows more against an existing trove, the protocol mints RD to that borrower — plus 200 RD to the gas-compensation reserve when a trove is first opened.
- Burn: when a borrower repays or closes their trove, RD is burned. When a redemption clears trove debt, RD is burned. When liquidations are offset against a Stability Pool, RD is burned from the pool.
Total RD supply is exactly equal to total outstanding trove debt across all branches (plus the small gas-compensation float). Every RD in circulation is backed by overcollateralized debt, typically at ≥110% of its value.
How to acquire RD
Three ways:
- Mint by borrowing. Open a trove against collateral and mint RD against it. You're paying borrow interest on the debt; the RD is yours to use. See Open a trove.
- Buy on a DEX. RD trades on the Balancer pool that the protocol's market oracle reads for the controller's price feed, and likely on other AMMs. Spot price moves with supply and demand.
- Be paid in it. Same as any other ERC-20.
What's RD worth?
RD targets $1. The protocol maintains that target through redemption arbitrage and an adaptive interest rate; in extreme conditions, an internal price called par can also be adjusted within $0.75–$1.30. See How RD stays near $1 for the full picture.
Hard floor: redemption. Any holder can exchange RD for collateral at par (normally $1) minus a small fee. If RD trades meaningfully below par on the open market, that's an arbitrage opportunity, and the trade closes the gap. See Redemption.
Transfer Safety
RD is transferable like any ERC-20, with three guarded recipients to prevent accidents:
- You can't transfer to the zero address.
- You can't transfer to the RD contract itself.
- You can't transfer directly to the protocol's own core contracts (a branch's Stability Pool, trove manager, or borrower-operations). Those have explicit entry points that handle their own accounting.
Everything else works: wallet-to-wallet, wallet-to-DEX, wallet-to-arbitrary-contract.
What RD is not
- Not USDC-style. No issuer, no off-chain reserves, no whitelist, no blacklist.
- Not algorithmic-only. Every RD is backed by collateral locked in a trove. There's no "expand supply at will" lever.
- Not yield-bearing by holding. Holding RD is like holding a stablecoin, value comes from price stability, not from accrued yield. You earn yield by depositing into a Stability Pool, providing liquidity, or lending RD externally.
- Not subject to a bootstrap blocklist. Transfers work from day one. What's disabled for the 14-day bootstrap window is redemption: borrowing and repayment are unaffected.
Next
- How RD stays near $1: the three mechanisms that maintain the $1 target.
- Redemption: how RD becomes collateral at par.