I don't like the term "flatcoins" - they are as "flat" as stablecoins are "stable". They are supposed to be coins that track and reverse the rate of inflation. I prefer to call them paritycoins as their aim is to maintain purchasing power parity.
From Coinbase's Request for Builders
We are fascinated by the deep thought we’re seeing in decentralized stablecoin design and are particularly interested in ‘flatcoins’ – stablecoins that track the rate of inflation, enabling users to have stability in purchasing power while also having resiliency from the economic uncertainty caused by the legacy financial system. We also welcome other forms of ‘flatcoins’ that do not peg to fiat but rather fill the space between fiat pegged coins and volatile crypto assets. With the recent challenges in our global banking system, we believe these explorations are more important than ever.
We’re excited to hear from teams that are exploring their own system of stablecoin(s)/ flatcoin(s), or focusing on ways to increase adoption of already existing systems such as Reflexer/RAI, Spot/Ampleforth, Frax/FPIS, Olympus DAO, etc.
Some have already responded to the call: ‘Flatcoin’ Builders Respond to Coinbase Call to Deploy on Layer-2 Network Base
Do algorithmic stablecoins have a future as centralized coins are under scrutiny?
yes - just need better algos.