Unus Sed Leo(LEO)

UNUS SED LEO (LEO) is the native token of the iFinex ecosystem, which comprises the popular Bitfinex crypto exchange. It was launched in May 2019 through an IEO (Initial Exchange Offering) of 1 billion tokens, conducted by Bitfinex. LEO was amongst the very few tokens of its time that witnessed a simultaneous launch on two different blockchains. While 64% of the token’s total supply was minted on the Ethereum blockchain, the remaining 36% was generated on EOS. Each LEO token was pegged to USDT at a 1:1 ratio at the time of issuance. The token’s unique name is derived from the iFinex motto, ‘Unus Sed Leo’ a Latin citation from Aesop’s fable, “The Sow and the Lioness”, which lays emphasis on quality over quantity.

The LEO coin was issued by iFinex after Crypto Capital, one of its payment processing partners had its funds seized by the government authorities. The token was issued to overcome the financial shortfall, and with a commitment to gradually buy it back from the market over a period of time.

LEO price

Despite being pegged to USDT, LEO price quickly climbed up and appreciated by almost 200% within a month of its May 2019 launch. However, it soon receded and stayed range bound within $0.90 to $1.40 till the end of 2020. The first noteworthy uptrend in LEO price came during 2021’s first crypto bull run which started around January that year. Boosted by crypto-wide bullish forces, the LEO coin made rapid strides and breached multiple resistance levels to reach nearly $3.80 on May 13, 2021. 

According to our LEO live price chart, the bullish sentiment around the token continued for the most part of that year, with LEO fluctuating mostly between $2.10 to $3.30, before making its next big push in November 2021. This came at the peak of crypto market’s second bull run of 2021. An upward rally that began in November 2021, culminated in February 2022, with LEO registering it's all-time high of $8.14 on Feb. 8, 2022. LEO’s fully diluted market valuation stood at $8+ billion at that price point. The token has since given into bearish pressure and was testing a new support at $5 by the end of Q2, 2022.

How LEO works

UNUS SED LEO serves as the primary utility token of the iFinex ecosystem, and particularly the Bitfinex crypto exchange. People holding LEO tokens can avail benefits and discounts on a wide range of current and future products & services in the iFinex portfolio. In case of the Bitfinex platform, it is meant to empower the Bitfinex community by offering them a range of benefits that include:

Trading fee discounts – All LEO token holders are allowed a minimum 15% discount on crypto-to-crypto transactions, including crypto-to-stablecoin by holding up to 4,999 USDT in LEO tokens in a Bitfinex wallet over the past 30 days. Level 2 users (who hold 5,000 to 9,999 USDT in LEO) get a 25% discount, whereas Level 3 users (10,000 USDT in LEO or above) can avail discounts of up to 6 basis points, over and above the 25% fee reduction when trading crypto-to-crypto, crypto-to-fiat or crypto-to-stablecoin. Level 3 users can also benefit from a 2-basis points reduction on crypto derivatives trades. More details on these discount tiers can be found here.

Lending fee reduction – LEO coin holders are also entitled to a P2P lending fees discount of up to 5%, with fee reduction at 0.05% for every 10,000 USDT held in LEO coins, during the preceding month. Hence, the maximum discount is reached when 1 million USDT are held in LEO coins for a given month.

Fee discount on fiat/crypto deposits/withdrawals – LEO coin holders can benefit from up to 25% fee discount on crypto deposits and withdrawals by holding over 50m LEO tokens in their Bitfinex wallet for any given month.

Affiliate benefits – Holding an average of 500 USDT in LEO tokens or above for a period of 30 days can earn you additional multipliers on various affiliate activities.

As committed by iFinex, there’s a token burn mechanism that reduces the circulating supply of LEO each month, in alignment with the company’s promise of buying back the entire LEO quantity from the market. The buyback is presently funded by the iFinex monthly revenue and will also be fueled by funds recovered from Crypto Capital and Bitfinex hack in the future.

LEO news, updates and highlights

LEO surged significantly after the news broke that US Federal officials had seized around $3.6 billion worth of Bitcoin funds connected to the Bitfinex exchange hack in 2016 — sparking a buying spree for the coin, and catapulting it to its all-time high of $8.14 in February 2022. Since iFinex had promised that it would use the recovered funds to buy-back LEO coins from the market, crypto traders started buying large quantities of the coin in expectation of an incoming supply crunch.

Frequently asked questions about LEO

• Can you mine or stake LEO?

No, it’s not possible to mine LEO as the entire supply was pre-mined at the time of the token launch.

• What are some of the best LEO wallets?

Your choice of LEO wallet will depend on whether the token was issued on the Ethereum or the EOS blockchain. That said, some of the popular LEO wallets are: MetaMask, Ledger, Assure Wallet and Freewallet.

• What can you do with LEO cryptocurrency?

You can use LEO tokens to avail discounts and affiliate benefits on the Bitfinex crypto exchange.

• How to buy LEO?

The best way to buy LEO is from established crypto exchanges, using fiat currency, or through crypto trading pairs involving other prominent coins like BTC, ETH, SOL, USDT, ADA and more.