Reserve is a decentralized, asset-backed stablecoin protocol with two tokens. It’s designed to produce a stablecoin that is as censorship resistant as BTC. The mainnet version of Reserve has not launched yet.

RSR is the second token in the network, and upon mainnet launch will be the tokens used for some arbitrage transactions in the protocol. RSR holders will have the cryptographic right to purchase excess Reserve stablecoins (RSV) that accumulate in the Reserve smart contract from transaction fees and any appreciation of underlying collateral assets that back RSV.

The value of RSR also plays a role in stabilizing RSV in some edge cases. Say there are 100 collateral tokens each backing 1% of the value in RSV and one of them defaults (e.g. through an exit scam or the government freezes its assets). The protocol mints and sells RSR to make up the difference, re-capitalizing the collateral pool from 99% back up to 100% again.