Persistence Labs to acquire $300k worth ASTRO tokens to forge a strategic alliance with Astroport on Neutron

Proposals ARC (Astroport Request for Comments)
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Introduction

Through this forum post, Persistence Labs is delighted to announce our keen interest in acquiring $300,000 worth of ASTRO tokens from the Astroport Assembly. This move is to establish a strategic partnership with Astroport Hub on Neutron and enter the AstroWars to support the Persistence ecosystem applications – starting with pSTAKE Finance.

The recent announcement from Astroport regarding the migration of the Hub to Neutron has sparked deep interest and excitement among the contributors of Persistence Labs. With the latest revision in ASTRO tokenomics and the introduction of Astro Tributes for Cosmos, Persistence Labs aims to establish a direct stake in the Astroport Protocol’s deployment on Neutron. Our objective is to support Persistence ecosystem assets, commencing with stkATOM for the upcoming AstroWars 2.0.

This strategic initiative aims to fortify a closer alignment with the Neutron ecosystem and enhance the deep liquidity of pSTAKE’s LSTs, with a particular focus on stkATOM on Astroport.

Recently, pSTAKE Finance secured a 600k ATOM allocation as stkATOM Hub Protocol-Owned-Liquidity from the Cosmos Hub, following the approval of Prop 853 aimed at expanding ATOM Liquid staking. Out of this allocation, 350k ATOM (approximately 60% of the total allocated liquidity, equivalent to ~$3.5M at the current market price) is designated for deployment on the newly launched stkATOM/ATOM pool on Astroport’s outpost on Neutron. This liquidity injection introduces a new ATOM LST pair - stkATOM/ATOM on Astroport and is poised to increase Astroport’s Total Value Locked (TVL) on its Hub –Neutron by approximately 8.75%. To incentivize liquidity, the aforementioned pool comes with a 100,000 PSTAKE token incentive over 30 days.

The establishment of this deep liquidity on Astroport is expected to unlock various use cases for stkATOM within the Neutron ecosystem, generating additional revenue for the Cosmos Hub by increasing Protocol revenue from Neutron chain activity. Allocation of ASTRO emissions to this pool will further add value to this Cosmos community initiative to grow ATOM Liquid Staking with stkATOM.

The Proposal for the ASTRO Acquisition

Persistence Labs signals its intention to directly purchase $300,000 worth of ASTRO tokens from the Astro Assembly, bypassing any third-party deals. To maintain transparency with the community, Persistence Labs has already been acquiring ASTRO on the secondary markets, but given the close alignment of interests between Astroport (on Neutron) and pSTAKE Finance, as highlighted above, we believe that an open and public deal would be more efficient and mutually beneficial. Therefore, we propose a deal that allows Persistence Labs to acquire USD 300k worth of ASTRO tokens at a 7-day Time-Weighted Average Price (TWAP) of $0.11418 per $ASTRO.

If the Astroport community supports this proposal, the specifics of the agreement will be as follows:

  • Persistence Labs will transfer $300k in USDC to a wallet address provided by the Astroport Assembly
  • The deal will be closed at an agreed-upon price of $0.11418, which is the TWAP price of the last 7 days at this instance, irrespective of any positive or negative changes in the price from this point.
  • A total of 2,627,430.37 ASTRO tokens will be transferred to a Neutron address provided by Persistence Labs - the publisher of the forum post
  • These ASTRO tokens are being acquired for the purpose of participating in ASTRO Wars 2.0

Participation in AstroWars 2.0

Persistence Labs aims to acquire ASTRO with the sole objective of fostering a robust partnership between Astroport and the Persistence ecosystem. This includes incentivizing the development of pSTAKE’s ‘stkTokens’ liquidity on Astroport. As the liquidity hub on Neutron, the ICS-consumer chain for all Hub DeFi activity, Astroport remains a strategic choice to establish deep liquidity for Persistence ecosystem assets.

Expressing confidence in Astroport’s Hub on Neutron, Persistence Labs proudly shares its intention to join the AstroWars 2.0 by initiating support for stkATOM.

About Persistence

Persistence is a cosmos app chain for LSTfi (liquid staking finance) with the issuance of & DeFi for LSTs.

The Persistence core-1 chain hosts pSTAKE Finance–a multi-chain liquid staking protocol for issuing LSTs that allows users to earn staking rewards while participating in DeFi primitives, and Dexter–the Interchain DEX for yield-generating assets like LSTs.

Persistence aims to offer a one-stop shop for liquid staking for PoS (Proof-of-Stake) users and enable developers to build innovative applications around LSTs.

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This is a bullish step forward. Astrowar will be an enticing progression in the Cosmos defi ecosystem.

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A strong no. Ridiculous discount, and legal reasons. Please buy on market, and then, welcome to the Astro Wars!

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Considering the legal issues highlighted by lex_node and the discounted price compared to current, I will unfortunately have to vote no. I love the initiative by Persistence Labs though

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I will absolutely vote NO to this - its ridiculous. Why would Astroport agree to such a deal? What is the upside for Astroport or the ecosystem. If Persistence Labs want to achieve that level of discount they need to work for it, like the rest of us that have stuck with Astroport team from the good-times and through the darkest of times

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To fellow ASTRO stakers, let’s not get aggressive towards a protocol that has genuine motivation engage with Astroport. We might differ in opinions, but let’s engage in a constructive dialogue with the Persistence team.

Hi Persistence team, thanks for considering Astroport for being one of your LST pools where you’ll find great success having low slippage with a substantially lower liquidity via the PCL pool. As Lex has suggested earlier, the DAO is in no position to offer its tokens in the Astral Assembly, which is the reason why Neutron and Terra resorted to OTC trades with other whales.

I’m pretty sure some builders or contributors might want to offload their vested stake, or you could reach out to Jose that could link you up with some OTC deals. However, I suspect with the recent bullrun for Astro tokens, it’ll be hard for you to obtain a discount, rather a slight premium from market rates. You could however, set a buy wall with Astroport limit orders using Warp.

I do hope that you’ll be able to acquire a substantial stake in Astroport and bring your LST pools to Astroport.

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I hadn’t seen anyone being aggressive. In fact, I think everyone was keeping the door open and being welcoming but pointing out (quite rightly) that the way the proposal was worded and the price being requested was either i) not serious, or ii) hoping the majority of holders wouldn’t recognize how big the discount to current valuation was and would pass it anyway.
I can’t think of many who wouldn’t like to buy a slab of any asset at a 30%+ discount!
Any incredulity that responses contained were aimed at this element of the proposal. And I think quite fairly.

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Thank you everyone for sharing your views!
I acknowledge that the proposal may have been slightly rushed and overlooked certain legal implications related to the Astroport Assembly DAO. It’s apparent that this deal might not be the optimal choice for the DAO, more so for legal reasons than asset pricing-related concerns. I appreciate everyone highlighting the alternative options.

I want to reassure you that Persistence Labs remains committed to joining the AstroWars, with the intention of establishing Astroport on Neutron as the primary liquidity hub for stkATOM as we look forward towards a fruitful long-term partnership.

In the interest of transparency, I’d like to share that we have acquired $ASTRO tokens through an OTC purchase, as advised by Astroport contributors. We are genuinely excited about the future of Astroport and look forward to the AstroWars 2.0! ✦

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