Overview
Jade Protocol launched in late 2021 as one of hundreds of OlympusDAO forks that proliferated across multiple blockchains during the "(3,3)" bonding and staking craze. Built on BSC, Jade copied OHM's mechanism design: users could stake JADE for rebase rewards (receiving more JADE tokens over time) or bond assets (LP tokens, stablecoins) for discounted JADE.
The advertised APYs exceeded 100,000% — a number that should immediately signal unsustainability to any rational investor. These APYs represented token emissions, not genuine yield. When you stake JADE and receive 100,000% APY, you're receiving more JADE tokens — but if everyone is staking and receiving the same dilutive emissions, the per-token value decreases at roughly the same rate tokens are issued. It's a mathematical treadmill dressed up as yield.
Jade Protocol had no meaningful differentiation from OlympusDAO or the dozens of other OHM forks on BSC (including Klima, Snowdog, and many others). The team offered vague promises about "protocol-owned liquidity" and "decentralized reserve currency" — the same talking points used by every OHM fork — but delivered nothing beyond the standard fork mechanics.
The token followed the standard OHM fork lifecycle: initial surge of FOMO buying → peak price → staking dilution + seller pressure → exponential decline → death. JADE has lost 99%+ of its value and the project shows no signs of activity.
Smart Contracts
Jade's smart contracts were a direct fork of OlympusDAO with minimal modifications for BSC deployment. The bonding contracts, staking contracts, and treasury contracts followed OHM's architecture. The code functioned as designed — the problem was that the design itself was unsustainable for forked versions that lacked OHM's first-mover advantage and community.
No major smart contract exploits were reported, though the smart contracts were likely not audited to the same standard as OlympusDAO's originals.
Security
No technical security incidents were reported. The security risk was economic rather than technical — the protocol's mechanism guaranteed that late entrants would lose money as dilution outpaced price appreciation. The "security" failure was the design itself: a system that mathematically requires ever-increasing capital inflows to sustain token value.
The anonymous team presented an additional trust risk, though the smart contracts being forks of audited OHM contracts provided some baseline assurance.
Yield Generation
The yield was entirely dilutive emissions. No genuine revenue generation, no fee income, no productive deployment of treasury assets. Stakers received more JADE tokens, but the value per token declined as supply inflated. The "yield" was an illusion — holders ended up with more tokens worth less total value.
This is the fundamental criticism of all OHM forks: the (3,3) staking model creates the appearance of yield through token emissions while delivering negative real returns for anyone who doesn't time their entry and exit perfectly.
Adoption
Jade attracted speculative capital during the OHM fork frenzy, but adoption was always driven by APY farming rather than genuine belief in a "decentralized reserve currency" on BSC. When APYs compressed and token price declined, adoption evaporated. Current usage is near zero.
Tokenomics
JADE tokenomics are identical to OHM's: inflationary staking rewards, bonding for discounted tokens, and protocol-owned liquidity from bonded assets. The treasury accumulated some assets through bonding, but the token's 99%+ decline means the treasury's value far exceeds the token's market cap — yet there's no mechanism to distribute this value to holders efficiently.
Risk Factors
- PROTOCOL IS DEAD. Do not invest.
- 99%+ token decline: JADE has lost virtually all its value
- Ponzi-like economics: Yield came from dilutive emissions, not revenue
- OHM fork saturation: Hundreds of identical forks competed for the same speculative capital
- Anonymous team: No accountability for the project's failure
- No differentiation: Nothing to distinguish Jade from any other OHM fork
- Irreversible decline: OHM fork death spirals are one-way trips
Conclusion
Jade Protocol is a dead OHM fork on BSC — one of hundreds that copied OlympusDAO's mechanism design without understanding (or caring) that the model's sustainability depended on factors (first-mover advantage, genuine community, productive treasury management) that couldn't be forked. The 1.4 score reflects functional smart contracts and no technical exploits, offset by the complete economic failure of the model. Jade's story is the story of every OHM fork: unsustainable APYs attract speculators, dilution destroys value, and the "decentralized reserve currency" turns out to be a hyperinflationary token with a fancy name.