ARC-57: Astroport <> Neutron

Summary

Note: all of the below is subject to a similar proposal being passed by the Neutron Grants SubDAO.

This is a non-binding signaling proposal to encourage discussion around and assess support for deploying an instance of the Astroport smart contract system onto Neutron (“Astroport satellite on Neutron”) at or shortly after Neutron’s genesis, as follows:

  • The Astroport satellite on Neutron will donate in perpetuity 10% of accrued Maker fees with the Neutron DAO’s on-chain Treasury.
  • 0.5% of Neutron supply will be allocated to a to-be-formed foundation entity devoted to holding protocol-beneficial-value (PBV) related to Astroport, with details of the governance of this entity and the permitted uses of the associated PBV to be submitted to the Astroport Assembly in a separate signaling proposal that is under development with legal counsel.
  • Neutron commits to:
    • Incentivise Astroport pools with NTRN rewards
    • grant governance power to Astroport NTRN LPs (i.e. so-called ‘superfluid staking’ where LP’d NTRN can still be used in Neutron DAO governance)
    • Lock the liquidity obtained during its Token Generation Event into Astroport’s satellite on Neutron.

As a result of this deployment, the Neutron and Astroport communities would be naturally incentive-aligned and Astroport’s satellite could emerge as the flagship AMM of Neutron. Completion of the transactions contemplated by the proposal is conditional on a mirror-image proposal passing any advisable or required votes in Neutron DAO as well as any binding on-chain proposals needed for the implementation ultimately passing the Astroport Assembly.

Context

Neutron is an upcoming Cosmos chain specialised for cross-chain smart contracts. It is the first interchain-security consumer chain secured by the ~$2.5b staked ATOM on the Cosmos Hub.

Neutron’s launch presents an opportunity for an AMM protocol like Astroport to launch simultaneously and be the chain’s inaugural AMM with a deep starting integration and natural incentive-alignment between the communities, creating a strong starting point for long-term synergies.

Additionally Neutron’s highly secure nature, neutral positioning and feature set designed for cross-chain smart contracts makes it an attractive home for cross-chain dApps such as Astroport’s.

As a multi-chain AMM, Astroport is incentivised to deploy and become a leader in any ecosystem that features economic activity or shows a high potential for future economic activity. Neutron meets these criteria.

Astroport Fee Share and NTRN Grant

After Neutron’s liquidity bootstrapping event it will need a decentralised venue to contain and further incentivise the resulting NTRN liquidity. Given this venue will be Astroport, it makes sense to align incentives between the L1 and AMM, and provide some benefit to Neutron to balance the benefit being granted to Astroport.

It also gives Neutron a schelling point for projects launching there to bootstrap and incentivise liquidity for their own tokens, resulting in Neutron being an attractive place to launch a project, improved UX for users and minimising the fragmentation of liquidity between multiple AMMs.

This proposal seeks to achieve this incentive alignment between Neutron and Astroport by granting the L1 a share of revenue from Astroport and in return an Astroport PBV entity receiving a gradually unlocking allocation of NTRN tokens to be used to benefit the Astroport protocol community.

As a reminder, on other chains, Astroport’s user fees for each particular pool are divided between LPs and the Maker contract, where the Maker contract is dedicated to purchasing ASTRO and apportioning it to ASTRO stakers in the Astroport Assembly). The fee split varies per pool: on XYK pools, there’s a ⅔ (66.67%) split to Astroport LPs and ⅓ to the Maker contract. Stableswap fees are split 50/50.

Instead, if this proposal is implemented, the Maker contract of Astroport’s Neutron satellite would send 10% of accrued ASTRO (originating from Maker fees) to the Neutron DAO, with the remaining 90% going to ASTRO stakers.

From the Neutron DAO side, 0.5% of NTRN supply would be allocated to a Foundation entity specifically designed to hold “protocol-beneficial value” related to Astroport, as further described below.

Liquidity is vital to an L1 and support from the L1’s community is similarly vital to the AMM. We believe this arrangement creates a good alignment between Astroport and Neutron that will be mutually beneficial.

Donation of NTRN to Astroport PBV Entity

To receive the NTRN donation, a new Astroport-adjacent foundation entity will be designed and incorporated using Delphi Labs’ new approach to ‘cybernetic organizations’ (aka “CybOrgs”, aka “BORGs”)–the Astroport PBV BORG. This entity will be devoted to holding “protocol-beneficial value” (PBV) related to Astroport. PBV is a legally compliant, transparently entity-owned and entity-managed alternative to the kind of “protocol controlled value” innovated by OlympusDAO and others (which, unfortunately, can cause numerous legal problems in its native form (including a major risk of turning the PCV-’owning’ DAO into a taxable partnership)).

Although the Astoport Assembly will not “own” this value and cannot receive it as dividends, distributions, etc., the Astroport PBV BORG will have encoded into its governing documents and multisig smart contracts constraints requiring that all PBV be used for the good of the entire Astroport community (liquidity providers, traders, the Astroport Assembly, etc.). A possible use of the donated NTRN would be providing liquidity to an ASTRO/NTRN pool and donating the resulting fees to an Astroport Grants Foundation that could fund further protocol research and development related to the Astroport Protocol. It could also be used to obtain voting power and participate in potential future incentives distribution or other governance decisions.

The Astroport PBV BORG would be designed to have both legal and technological checks-and-balances with the Astroport Assembly (within legal limits)-–for example, one feature under discussion is whether the Astroport Assembly could directly and permissionessly vote staked NTRN on Neutron DAO proposals. The exact details of this entity and copies of its draft governing documents would be submitted for public review/discussion and an Astroport Assembly signaling vote before being finalized.

Other benefits

If the above is agreed then Astroport will be the inaugural AMM on Neutron, and we propose that the Neutron DAO also agree to the following:

  • Neutron to deposit and lock the liquidity raised during its Token Generation Event into Astroport
  • Neutron provides voting power to Astroport’s main NTRN liquidity pools via Voting Vaults, unless justified by disproportionate technical or governance risk.
  • Neutron to match ASTRO incentives for the main Astroport pools on Neutron.
  • The Neutron community would be incentivised by its fee allocation to support Astroport with integrations and order flow.

There is a strong alignment between Neutron and Astroport: cross-chain expansion model, providing voting power to LPs, etc ; as well as synergies between Neutron, Astroport, Lido and Mars protocols.

Disclosures/Disclaimers

This proposal is being made by Delphi Labs Ltd., a British Virgin Islands limited company. Delphi Labs engages in incubation, investment, research and development relevant to multiple ecosystems and protocols, including Astroport Protocol and Mars Protocol. Delphi Labs and certain of its service providers and equity holders own ASTRO tokens and have financial interests related to this proposal. Additionally, Delphi Labs is one of several entities associated with one another under the “Delphi Digital” brand. Delphi Digital’s associated entities and/or equityholders or service providers of such entities may hold ASTRO and may have financial interests related to this proposal. All such entities, service providers, equity holders and other related persons may also have financial interests in complementary or competing projects or ecosystems, entities or tokens, including Neutron/NTRN. More specifically:

  • Delphi Ventures invested in NTRN-token-related contract rights in a venture financing round related to Neutron.
  • Delphi Labs is in discussions to potentially acquire NTRN tokens (independently of this proposal).
  • One of the P2P group companies incubated Neutron Protocol and its affiliate is an investor and shareholder in Delphi Labs.

These statements are intended to disclose relevant facts and to help identify potential conflicts of interest, and should not be misconstrued as a complete description of all relevant interests or conflicts of interests; nor should they be construed as a recommendation to purchase or acquire any token, asset or instrument

This proposal is also subject to and qualified by the Astroport Disclaimers/Disclosures. Delphi Labs may lack access to all relevant facts or may have failed to give appropriate weighting to available facts. Delphi Labs is not making any representation, warranty or guarantee regarding the accuracy or completeness of the statements herein, and Delphi Labs shall have no liability in the event of losses or damages ensuing from approval or rejection or other handling of the proposal. Each user and voter should undertake their own research and make their own independent interpretation and analysis of all relevant facts and issues to arrive at their own personal determinations of how to vote on the proposal.

11 Likes

Excellent proposal. Fully in favour. But would like to ask a few clarifying questions:

Who controls the Astroport PBV BORG?

According to the deal, Neutron will be matching ASTRO incentives for the “main Astroport pools on Neutron.” Which pools does that include?

Since Astroport Neutron satellite will be giving 10% of fees to Neutron in perpetuity, will Neutron also match ASTRO incentives in perpetuity?

Most importantly, this proposal doesn’t say anything about MEV. For both Astroport and Neutron, MEV is potentially a large source of revenue.

So who will get priority to Astroport’s MEV revenue? Will the Astroport protocol be able to use its Skip integration to get “first dibs” on Astroport MEV, or will Neutron somehow have a superior ability to extract MEV from Astroport trades?

3 Likes

Amazing proposal, big YES for me.

Probably should be better highlight the MEV part of agreement.

1 Like

Great questions.

Who controls the Astroport PBV BORG?

TBD exactly, but it would be a mix of people - e.g. not majorly controlled by Delphi Labs. There would be a separate proposal once these specifics are figured out.

According to the deal, Neutron will be matching ASTRO incentives for the “main Astroport pools on Neutron.” Which pools does that include?

Also not exactly defined, but I will create some clarity before the on-chain vote and before the mirror Neutron proposal goes live.

Since Astroport Neutron satellite will be giving 10% of fees to Neutron in perpetuity, will Neutron also match ASTRO incentives in perpetuity?

That’s my expectation yes. Of course both projects are DAO governed so either could end this agreement at any time, which would presumably lead the other project to do the same.

So who will get priority to Astroport’s MEV revenue?

Because of the order in which the steps happen Astroport will always have the power to use a Skip style integration to capture MEV. Anything not captured in this way would be free for the L1 to capture. This is also a reason for the incentive alignment via share of maker fees, and arguably any MEV integration with Astroport should also allocate a share to Neutron.

5 Likes

Amazing proposal; can’t wait to see this come to fruition, fully in favour

Amazing, really interesting

A yes from me too ASTROPORT SHOULD ALLOCATE A Share to Neutron.

We believe this partnership will bring great benefits to both Astroport and Neutron and are eager to see the Astroport satellite become Neutron’s flagship AMM.

Thumbs up to the Delphi Labs team for putting this solid proposal together. Let’s make it happen!

Thanks everyone for the comments.

@John_Galt just following up on the “main Astroport pools” point.

Which pools exactly these are is not defined yet - intentionally kept open so as not to be too restrictive. There will instead be some broad heuristics like volume threshold and strategic importance to Neutron that will be used to identify said pools. Ultimately though, we can expect that Neutron will match ASTRO incentives for some pools. Sorry I can’t be more precise at the moment.

This Astroport proposal will be posted on-chain tomorrow.

1 Like

I fully support this proposal. But what’s the purpose of a non-binding signaling proposal?

1 Like

I fully support this proposal. Astroport on Injective has produced the same or more volume than Astroport on Terra, benefiting Astroport stakers.

swapping $500 is a bit expensive espicially for people participating in many airdrops.why not reduce it to $300?

Good question. I think the phrasing of non-binding is perhaps a bit misleading. It’s actually binding in the sense that if it passes Astroport WILL deploy on Neutron with the maker fee share, but conditional on a similar proposal being accepted by the Neutron DAO.

2 Likes

Great teamwork, I fully support such a proposal and look forward to further development!