Author:
@SeaSaltyFunk & @ChainsightLabs
Please Note; @0xSato has now been removed from authors’ list. We share special thanks for his ideas, thoughts, feedback and knowledge share that contributed to this proposal
Update on Status of Previous Proposal:
Note; As promised this post serves as a follow up & revision to our original proposal
Since our original proposal we have taken onboard feedback from the community & entered into an in-depth dialogue with a member of the multisig team. Unfortunately, this dialogue broke down on 5th May, with no response offered on our most recent feedback & suggestions (EDIT 11th May: Multisig member reached back out with a response shortly after this recommendation was made - the comments received do not change or alter our recommendations). Due to the limited nature of this dialogue, we remain uncertain whether the views expressed are representative of full alignment of the multisig.
We also noted a lack of support during these discussions for the scope we had previously presented, although some support to provide limited compensation for contributions that would be in the areas of documentation, articles & newsletters was expressed. This was cited due to a lack of capacity to fund from the Keep3r treasury, with strict controls around payment from Multisig controlled treasury.
As a result of this feedback we came to the realization that our original proposal was deeply flawed. We believe that what Keep3r needs at this time to succeed would require a more substantial commitment of time & expense than originally envisioned.
Therefore, we have taken the decision to withdraw the previous proposal despite having achieved a total expression of 93% support for the proposal. Simply put, the proposal is unworkable without the full support of both the multisig & the community.
We would like to thank the community & multisig for the inputs received & transparency on current planning, and appreciate the careful consideration, constructive feedback & thought-partnership that transpired.
We are now absolutely convinced that the protocols & vested token holders would be major beneficiaries should dedicated & compensated roles be implemented & incorporated as part of the Keep3r team. Therefore this version includes significant revisions from our original.
Whilst we appreciate that nobody expected or anticipated a change in leadership for Keep3r, and that likely the existing team is still managing through transitions, we feel this is necessary as the current planning as shared with us by the member of the multisig is, in our opinion, too passive & would present too long a time horizon to achieve upon the potential available to the Keep3r protocols. We further address how this passive approach is negatively impacting the protocol currently in the “Motivation” section below
We leave it to the discretion of the full multisig team whether they would like to share the plan with the wider community however, we are treating these details as having been shared in-confidence & as such, will refrain from sharing further detail on those plans
Through the process of this dialogue it was also made clear to us that the member of the multisig team does not consider governance processes to apply to the Keep3r protocols, nor do they consider KP3R holders that have vested (i.e. vKP3R holders) to hold governance voting rights
We have challenged this interpretation, as we understand that many members of the community feel that prior expectation ( 1 2 3 4 ) & precedent ( 1 2 ) for vKP3R holders have been set. We also understand that clarification on this point is likely to be considered a very contentious issue amongst the community of token holders that have previously locked for up-to 4 years
We invite any concerned vKP3R holders to address these concerns in a separate post thread, and allow this recommendation to be focused on ways in which to grow revenues for Keep3r protocols
Edit: Link to thread/conversation on governance rights for vested token holders is here
We would like to present an alternative vision that promotes a more dedicated focus on growth, which we believe will accelerate realization of potential.
This is incorporated below.
Summary:
Whilst we realized that the approach described in our initial proposal was flawed. We still have a strong belief that community contributions should be incentivized & recommend an allocation of funding to fulfil this need
We feel that, upon reflection, these positions should be recruited directly based on the revised scope detailed rather than volunteering ourselves to fulfil these roles within the proposal
However, we would like to state that we continue to be willing to support the Keep3r protocols within capacity of contributors
The major difference within this revised proposal vs previous are;
- Withdrawal of offer to serve as a Community Management Team in part-time capacity/efforts by the authors
- An establishment of full-time dedicated roles with specific briefs to clearly separate duties & responsibilities
- Revision of funds from prior model
- Roles would be adequately compensated & included strong incentives that ensure motivation to deliver for the success of the Keep3r network & Fixed Forex protocols
- Includes incentives for multisig team members, to ensure they have “skin in the game”
This would be achieved by establishing a budget and recruiting formal roles within the Keep3r team that are intended to support the following areas;
- Head of Growth, Fixed Forex; charged with driving & securing revenue streams
- Head of Growth, Keep3r network; inclusive of protocol job listing & attracting/onboarding new keepers
- Head of Community Management; drive growth of users & associated user income streams
- Lead Technical Support; focused on user issues resolution, automation of Keep3r & Fixed Forex maintenance tasks & integration of any protocol partnerships established
Head of Community Management role would also assume responsibility for managing dedicated fund to compensate community contributions.
We would recommend that each “Head” position also initially incorporated responsibility for marketing in their respective area, along with a duty to identify and feedback to the Keep3r team dev or design needs to support additional growth
Applications for roles listed will be open to all including members of the author group, members of the broader community & any other interested individuals
This proposal includes funding via an allocation of existing treasury held funds to the total value of $1.275m USD including cost for staffing & an incentive pool for community contributions - representing less than 1.5% of treasury funds at time of writing.
Our proposal also includes provision for an additional minting of up-to 3,800 KP3R to further incentivize the performance of role holders. We also feel it important to sufficiently incentivize the Multisig to collaborate with the proposed team, and therefore also incorporate a proposal to reward each Multisig member, currently 5 members at time of writing, with a further additional mint of 1,250 KP3R (or 250 KP3R when split between each member equally) should the team be successful in achieving all goals & targets.
In total, assuming a current price of $205 per KP3R, this would be equivalent to a total allocation of 11,270 KP3R at present. We feel this is directly comparable with the precedent set in the recent payment of 10,000 KP3R made to the team at defi wonderland
We understand that this recommendation differs significantly from the plans shared by the Multisig, which is that focus on staffing should be for Developers currently, with a willingness to compensate community contributions on documentation, articles & newsletters. However, we strongly believe that this plan alongside the support of the Multisig would bring the Keep3r protocols to a position whereby they are able to deliver upon their potential in a short-term timeframe.
Status:
In discussion
EDIT; 6th June 22; no formal response from Keep3r mgmt team or multisig. Does not appear that there is a capability or willingness to fund roles at levels suggested from current treasury holdings. Proposal is in limbo as a result. We are open to any suggestions for amendment - please use comments sections below to provide further suggestions.
Note; The difference in interpretation of governance rights for vested token holders of the Keep3r protocol has caused us to revise approach in following the governance process as outlined in Yearn’s YIP-55, since polling would not be seen as a step to validate support prior to progressing to snapshot votes.
This prevents the authors from being able to follow the process previously proposed, or from being able to move any proposal forward to snapshot where vKP3R holders have previously voted as the author rights on snapshot are currently locked. Regardless of these facts, we do believe it would be in the best interests of all if the multisig team were in alignment with & acted in support of the proposal. Should they not approve of the below, then we are willing to withdraw the proposal entirely & accept the decision of governance rights holders.
Therefore in the absence of any agreed governance structure, we would like support for this proposal to be signalled by “signing” support from the userbase. Please note this will should not be considered a binding obligation but would signal support of community to the multisig, we understand that the multisig team is of the belief that the multisig holds the power to accept or reject these recommendations
To do so, please reply in the thread below with a simple +1 & we will add you to the list of signees, similar in execution of the Yearn Manifesto
Abstract:
If adopted this proposal seeks to;
- Establish 4 new, distinct & full-time roles within the Keep3r team
- Establish a ringfenced allocation of funds to incentivize community contributions & participation, through commissioned requests managed by a Head of Community Management
- Create a performance incentive fund, to provide strong mechanism to incentivize the new team roles should set metrics be achieved
Approve a budget allocation of;
- 1.275m DAI (or alternative stable) to compensate these roles, further breakdown below
- Establish a fund for rewarding community contributions of equivalent in value to $150k USD (included in 1.275m figure above)
- Create a long-term incentive scheme, allocating a total potential award of 3,800 KP3R for team meeting targets with any rewards granted allocated on a 12 month linear vesting unlock schedule
- Sets a transparent incentive for the Multisig to work in collaboration with the new team, via an additional potential award of 1,250 KP3R should team meet or exceed all set goals & targets
Establish a mechanism to approve or dismiss role holders through community participation;
- Role appointments will be ratified by community vote, whereby a majority consensus has to be reached (i.e. achieving 51% support for appointment)
- Role holders can be removed by community vote where sentiment establishes lack of satisfaction with performance via a majority consensus (i.e. achieving 51% support for removal)
Key benefits are expected to be;
- Fixed Forex
- Increase in revenue from Fixed Forex related adoption & use (i.e. deeper achieved in ib asset pools & loans)
- An increase in protocol partnerships related to Fixed Forex
- Keep3r Network
- Migration of existing V1 Keep3r jobs to V2.2
- An increase in protocol listed jobs
- An increase in active keepers available to work jobs
- Community Management
- A demonstratable improvement in community relations
- A demonstratable increase in key community metrics including;
- Increase in avg lock duration
- Increase in % of supply locked
- Revenue generated through community participation (i.e. restoration in OLM or equivalent revenues)
- User Support
- Minimize the time needed to restore functionality in the following areas;
- Maintaining expected functionality of protocols
- Ensuring reward payments are executed in timely manner & on-schedule
- Supporting protocol partnership functionality as needed
- Minimize the time needed to restore functionality in the following areas;
- Community Participation
- Drive improvements in user information & documentation
- Create promotional materials (i.e. memes, visuals, etc)
Further details on how this will be achieved are included in the sections below
Motivation:
We are of the conviction that continuing along the currently planned path & mode of operation that has been in place over the last two months would be deeply inefficient, and would ultimately lead to a failure for the Keep3r protocols, Keep3r network & Fixed Forex, to achieve their undoubted potential. We consider this highly time sensitive as Keep3r attempts to stay ahead of rival/competitor protocol offered solutions.
We also feel that the most constructive way for these challenged to be tackled head on would be for a fixed commitment from the multisig to work with the community to address these issues
We summarize current issues, challenges & impacts in the areas highlighted below
Community Relations;
The KP3R token holders have had expectations set prior to the change in team management that the following features would be forthcoming;
- a version of ve(3,3) tokenomics for vKP3R holders, protecting vested token holders from dilution & With rKP3R rewards for vKP3R ending upon implementation
- testing for new ve(3,3) model already in process
- A new SIP with synthetix enabling full forex swaps, not just $ibEUR
- On/Off Ramps for fixed forex stables ( 1 2 )
- Tools for reporting, regulation & tax compliance on cross border transactions
- Forthcoming trading fees directed to vKP3R holders
- A v2 version of rKP3R that simplifies steps required to redeem
There has been no official update on progress against any of these expectations, nor a reset to share that there has been a change in plans. This is bound to cause discontent with users that still uphold an expectation of delivery of these features. Additionally a recent asset risk assessment highlighted the lack of full audits for contracts in the Fixed Forex protocol.
The community was previously able to access a community Telegram group & an official discord group which were both moderated & acted as the primary source of news, support and information alongside Andre Cronje’s personal medium posts. These forums have now been shutdown for comments for over two months, with no news shared with community about progress on above, changes to vKP3R rewards, use of the treasury funds or details on who is now managing the protocols, this has caused a negative sentiment within the community of users & token holders
The current approach has been to maintain complete silence, and allow users access to a support thread hosted on this site that rarely elicits an acknowledgement or resolution of any reported issues or queries from anyone within the team, examples; 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
We feel that if unaddressed this continue to negatively impact the Keep3r protocols as user sentiment will become excessively negative
The Keep3r Network;
Although significant work has been undertaken by the team at defi wonderland to revise the Keep3r network there has been an overall lack of any promotional efforts from the Keep3r team, the approach seems to be one of “build it and they will come”. This, in our opinion is too passive and creates an opportunity for rival solutions to benefit at the expense of Keep3r. Challenges can be summarized as;
- An absence of any dedicated roles focused on driving or securing new Job listing or promotion of Keep3r network with protocols
- An absence of any dedicated effort to attract Keepers to work listed jobs, which in term challenges the legitimacy of claim for the network to be considered truly decentralized
- Barriers to entry for new participation of Keepers due to initial cost required, i.e. overhead for bonding KP3R + ETH to cover gas required for jobs
- A lack of any significant revenue or perceived benefits to KP3R token holders that vest, where previous expectation had been that Jobs would share 1% benefit of fees
We feel that if not addressed with a dedicated focused role the opportunities available in this area will remain unfulfilled
Fixed Forex;
The team at Keep3r is currently pursuing a strategy of consolidating yield opportunities in two of the Fixed Forex stables, ibCHF & ibEUR. In order to achieve this the treasury has moved to secure POL via the Olympus Pro bond program, and secured curve gauge emission directing assets (CVX & CRV) through utilization of treasury funds.
The team also seems to be reliant on an external wallet holding veCRV positions directing votes to pools with ib Assets within them (wallet 0x431e81e5dfb5a24541b5ff8762bdef3f32f96354), currently directing 8.2m votes via veCRV.
Although concentrating yield opportunities in selected assets is likely to increase TVL in a rapid manner, it’s also true that as TVL increases the same voting weight will not be sufficient to maintain consistent yields. Therefore a greater focus on strategic alignments with other protocols may reduce need for vote directing assets to be held directly by the treasury (or acquired through purchase or farmed through LP) should mutual benefits with other protocols holding vote directing assets be established
Fixed Forex is currently reliant on securing TVL through debt or swaps, and through individual yield seekers (i.e. minnows & whales). In contrast & within a highly competitive market for stable yield seekers, other protocols are taking advantage of protocol partnerships which can secure bigger capital commitments through utilization of other protocol treasury funds
The sudden & abrupt end to yield opportunities in ibKRW, ibGBP, ibJPY & ibAUD without any official announcement, especially whilst swapping opportunities between ib Assets remain extremely limited & reliant on external platforms like Kwenta, is also likely to cause negative sentiment with users that have secured positions in these stables through collateralized positions
Therefore we are concerned that the current strategy will lead to asset migration or a lack of faith from yield seekers in ib Assets for consistent yield return.
So far the consolidation of efforts in this strategy area has not been able to significantly increase revenues from ib assets, to the detriment of vKP3R holders via lower pay-out. Coupled with the strategy on rKP3R rewards this has not been able to fill the gap left by heavy decrease in OLM revenues - by our calculations a combined TVL in excess of $500m on Fixed Forex assets would be required to achieve a monthly revenue of $0.8m (which is avg of OLM revenue over 5 months between Nov-Feb), and a $700m TVL to bring in similar revenues as OLM at peak ($1.2m per month vs OLM revenue Nov 21 at $1.3m) would be required.
We feel that a dedicated & focused role primarily concerned with ways in which to drive consistent growth in liquidity of Fixed Forex assets would be able to resolve many of these issues.
Revenue Performance & Impacts on Vested Token Holders;
Revenues for Keep3r are down significantly compared to the period pre-Andre Cronje’s announced departure. Although we feel that some of the causes for these decreases have been driven by market conditions we also feel there are several areas where Keep3r has to strive for better results
Historically revenues from OLM have been the largest contribution to total protocol revenue, having delivered over $5m in revenue at time of writing. We acknowledge that OLM revenues are directly impacted in two ways;
- KP3R market price
- Volume of redemptions
We note that the team have taken a decision to stop granting rKP3R rewards to vKP3R holders, and consider this has negatively impacted OLM revenues as vKP3R are more likely to redeem options on rKP3R that farmers utilizing curve or convex positions. This can be determined through decrease in volume of redemptions since the end of weekly rKP3R rewards to vKP3R w/c 14th March to present (compared to period prior)
We therefore believe that focus in this area should be in promoting demand for KP3R at the same time balancing demand with scarcity through new vested locks would lead to an expectation of positive price action. Prioritization of increase in vested locks, and duration of locks should therefore be made. No doubt, an increase in revenues and an increase in fees to vKP3R would help secure these goals, but could be greatly enhanced through more direct focus on promoting benefits to users
As demonstrated above, fees from Fixed Forex will require far greater levels of demand to achieve a TVL sufficient to generate fees that exceed historical contributions from OLM. Although these could be accelerated through a more aggressive approach to protocol partnerships & by providing opportunities beyond collateralized debt positions for access to ib assets for users (i.e. swaps & ramps)
A concession for vKP3R holders should be made, to compensate them for dilution beyond expectation as demonstrated in previously & for the lack of any rKP3R rewards since Mid-March. If unaddressed, we are concerned this will lead to negative sentiment from vKP3R holders discouraging potential new vest positions. There are 864 unique addresses locking KP3R, with 78,422 locked (20.61% of supply) at time of writing. Getting vKP3R aligned with promotion of the benefits of vesting KP3R is viewed as critical to broader success of the Keep3r protocols in our view.
As stated above, we feel there is also a wide held expectation by vKP3R holders that they have governance rights over the Keep3r protocol, inclusive of ownership of treasury funds. Alongside the factors laid out above, we consider this debate should be addressed directly by the team with the community to avoid any further risk of negative sentiment through held by the 864 unique addresses locked.
The additional factor, that 2 of the past 3 rewards payment windows have been delayed without any comment or comms from team is also highly likely to exasperate & inflame sentiments of dissatisfaction held by vKP3R holders, and steps should be taken to prevent further delays in this area.
We feel attempts to increase revenues from OLM in the short term should be an area of focus, alongside a well thought out strategy to increase revenues from Fixed Forex demand. Restoring confidence of users that vested their holdings for up-to 4 years should not be viewed as an optional or trivial concern
Specification:
We detail how this recommendation can be delivered upon & how it could work in the sections below.
Please note; that we would only consider this recommendation feasible should the multisig make a similar commitment to work with the roles outlined in a spirit of partnership, ensuring that compensation is made on time & in full should the conditions be met.
Role & Scope;
- Head of Growth, Fixed Forex, scope as follows;
- Drive protocol partnerships & demand for Fixed Forex assets, including marketing & promoting benefits
- Secure alternatives to debt based demand (i.e. swap & ramp opportunities) for Fixed Forex stables
- Propose and implement additional revenue generating opportunities via Fixed Forex stable use
- Identify & Advise development team of features required to secure enhanced use of Fixed Forex stables
- Develop a roadmap for on-chain forex swaps
- Explore off-chain utilization of on-chain forex swaps
- Identify opportunities for community contribution of materials (such as; documentation, promotional materials, user guides etc. via bounty)
- Head of Growth, Keep3r Network
- Ensure migration of Keep3r Jobs from v1 to v2.2
- Grow new protocol job listings, including marketing & promoting benefits
- Develop roadmap & implement method to onboard more keep3rs to work jobs
- Establish mechanism to generate protocol fees from Keep3r network
- Identify & Advise development team of features required to support further growth of Keep3r network
- Identify opportunities for community contribution of materials (such as; documentation, promotional materials, user guides etc. via bounty)
- Head of Community Management
- Own community liaison to multisig
- Admin of official discord, telegram, forum, medium & twitter
- Recruit & appoint additional moderators for forums
- Market & promote benefit of locking KP3R via vest
- Explore & own opportunities to economize smaller holder locking (i.e. through user compounded positions etc.)
- Drive & champion community participation in community contribution opportunities
- Act as sign-off for any materials that created
- Manage & control community contribution fund (initially $150k USD)
- Lead Technical Support
- Support above roles in technical onboarding or implementation of partnership realizations for both Keep3r & Fixed Forex protocols(i.e. listing jobs, supporting protocol development teams on integrations or contracts etc.)
- Lead on any user report issues, ensuring timely delivery of fix & response to the user
- Work towards automating capital management on AMM funds
- Work towards automating payment of fees to vested token holders
- Provide transparency on rationale for new feature deployment (or change of plan vs previous features where expectations were set)