$AMPL is a decentralized unit of account that serves as base money for DeFi.

It’s introducing a fundamentally different economic model compared to traditional cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies.

Unlike fixed-supply assets, such as Bitcoin or fiat currencies, which central banks can inflate at will, $AMPL features an elastic yet non-dilutive supply.

E l a s t i c i t y means that the total amount of $AMPL in circulation automatically adjusts in response to market demand, expanding or contracting daily through a mechanism called rebasing.

Despite these supply changes, each $AMPL holder maintains the same proportional ownership of the network as supply changes are evenly distributed across all holders.

$AMPL targets a stable purchasing power by aiming for a value of approximately one 2019 US dollar, adjusted over time to account for inflation. Rather than relying on reserves or collateral to stabilize value, $AMPL translates market-driven price volatility directly into supply volatility.

Building upon this innovative mechanism, the Ampleforth ecosystem provides users with the opportunity to deposit their $AMPL tokens into the Rotation Vault, which splits their position into two derivative assets with distinct volatility profiles: SPOT, a low-volatility asset, and stAMPL, a high-volatility asset.

Staked $AMPL ( $stAMPL ) is designed specifically for users seeking amplified exposure to $AMPL’s elastic rebasing dynamics.

When depositing $AMPL into the vault, users opting into stAMPL essentially accept all the volatility forgone by SPOT holders, resulting in enhanced exposure to rebases, typically around 1.1 x to 1.2 x the daily rebase compared to standard AMPL.

The arrangement creates a distinctive dynamic: stAMPL holders may see their proportional ownership of the network change after each rebase.

Specifically, in positive rebases, stAMPL holders gain additional network ownership because SPOT holders exchange volatility (and thus network exposure) for greater stability.

In other words, stAMPL holders capture the volatility premium that SPOT holders willingly forgo, presenting a leveraged opportunity that is directly aligned with the growth cycles of the $AMPL network.

Through $AMPL and stAMPL, Ampleforth provides a novel financial toolkit that enables crypto investors to manage their exposure to volatility and stability in a unique manner, all within a fully decentralized and algorithmically governed framework.