It took a month and a day, but the FEI stablecoin has finally hit its target price of $1.
Since its debut on April 3, FEI has largely traded well below its goal of parity with the U.S. dollar. From April 7 to April 20 it stayed below $0.80, more than 20% off its peg, according to data on CoinGecko.
Things started to turn around on April 20, when the price began to generally rise toward the goal. Tuesday morning, FEI finally hit $1. It remains to be seen if FEI can hold this price.
FEI’s chief innovation is a concept called “protocol controlled value” (PCV), which is supposed to hold the price steady in a decentralized way that’s more capital-efficient than other stablecoins. Its chief competitor in this regard is the stablecoin issued by MakerDAO, DAI.
The FEI project was funded by a suite of elite investors, such as Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Coinbase Ventures and Framework Ventures.
Prior to its launch, FEI recruited liquidity into its system with a launch event that promised discounted FEI and opportunities to earn its governance token, TRIBE, in exchange for ETH, the second-largest cryptocurrency. The launch attracted over $1 billion worth of ETH.
While FEI has finally reached its goal of a $1 price, its supply on the market has decreased significantly. According to CoinGecko, its market cap was $1.9 billion on April 29. That fell precipitously to $976 million by April 30.
There is currently $1 billion in FEI on the market.
Since the launch, the TRIBE governance token has traded between $2.45 and $1.04. As of this writing, it is at $1.59.
The FEI team could not be immediately reached for comment. This is a developing story. CoinDesk will update as further details emerge.