SNXweave Weekly Recap 37

SNXweave -

May 3, 2022

The following post contains a recap of news, projects, and important updates from the Spartan Council and Core Contributors, as well as the Grants Council and Ambassador Council from last week.

Spartan Council and SIP updates

Present at the April 26, 2022 Spartan Council Weekly Project Sync:
Spartan Council: Afif, calavera, Danijel, JVK, Kain, ksett, Mark, Synthaman
Core Contributors: Cavalier, KALEB, Rafa

The Menkent release is currently on Kovan, as the parameters are just being nailed down for the Mainnet release. Db and Kaleb are also working on the two circuit breaker SIPs, SIP-230 and 231, which were both presented last week. Kaleb said circuit breakers are a priority because they allow the fees to be reduced and the latency in oracle feeds to be accounted for. He added that latency attacks have decreased considerably with all of the improvements that Chainlink has been making, so they’re definitely on the right path.

Let’s review these two SIPs, as well as the other SIPs that were presented last week:

SIP-230: Universal Circuit Breakers (presented by db)

  • This SIP proposes restructuring the existing contract exchange circuit breaker and replacing it with something more generic.
  • The objective is for it to be compatible with any kind of oracle used in the future.
  • Db explained that a circuit breaker is needed, but the existing one isn’t able to follow the same rules as the synth circuit breaker (SIP-55) so they’re hoping to streamline the code and provide better protection with this SIP.
  • The vote for this SIP is open

SIP-231: Off-Chain Circuit Breakers (presented by Kaleb)

  • This SIP would Formalize the functionality of the centralized circuit breaker specified in SIP-55, by pausing and resuming trading based on configurable SCCP parameters for each asset class.
  • This would reduce the potential for latency attacks and allow rates to be lowered.
  • The vote for this SIP is open

SIP-229: Optimism Bridge for Synths (presented by db)

  • This would serve as a temporary alternative plan to synth teleporters by enabling the transfer of synths for deposit and withdrawal through an optimism bridge.
  • This SIP introduces the capacity for any synth to be transferred between networks. But for its initial release, only sUSD transfers will be enabled.
  • Db also confirmed that there is no possible case where oracle latency could affect the transfer.
  • Danijel asked if this SIP would allow for fast bridge integration, which db affirmed saying there are rumors that Hop Protocol might integrate sUSD once this SIP is available. This functionality would allow them to set up pools on each side to enable these fast withdrawals.
  • The vote for this SIP is open

SIP-203: Volume Source Fee (presented by Kain)

  • This SIP, which was presented again with the changes made to it, will add an optional source as a transaction parameter that can be passed from any frontend to the Synthetix Exchange Contracts.
  • Consensus was reached to make the fee additive.
  • The idea is to allow permissionless integration for anyone who creates a UI.
  • There will also be a maximum volume partner fee, which can be configured via SCCP.

SIP-232: Core Contributor Committee (presented by Ana)

  • This SIP proposes amendments to the original Core Contributor Committee (CCC) described in SIP-161, by more thoroughly detailing the responsibilities of the CCC.
  • Language has been modified to reflect the management and leadership functions of this committee.
  • The governing period will also be changed to 6 months, rather than 3 months, and only Core Contributors can vote for CCC positions.
  • Kaleb called attention to the fact that the SIP self-assigns stipends to the CCC, and Kain agreed saying that this is a function of the Treasury Council. The SIP has been corrected accordingly.
  • The vote for this SIP is open

SIP-228: Commodity Synths on Optimism (Presented by Kaleb)

  • This SIP will negate the voting outcome of SIP-212, which originally proposed adding Silver and Gold spot synths on Optimism.
  • SIP-228 will instead add these commodities as futures markets for a number of reasons that you can read on the SIP proposal page.
  • The vote for this SIP is open

SCCP-190: Update Fees & Atomic Volatility Circuit Breakers Parameters (Presented by Kaleb)

  • Lastly, this SCCP was presented to propose updating the parameters for the atomic and non-atomic exchanges in light of the release of the updated atomic exchange function and exchange fee system SIPs.
  • The purpose is to group the fee changes and synth additions into 1 proposal.
  • Kaleb said this provides flexibility in terms of subdividing the exposure between risky and non-risky assets.
  • The forex fees will also be more attractive and there will be reduced latency frontrunning opportunities.
  • The vote for this SCCP is open

During their meeting, the Spartan Council also discussed debt migration. While v3 may provide an efficient way to manage staking contracts on multiple networks, Kain thinks they are going to have to migrate all staking positions to L2 before the v3 migration. The Council has also just voted on and approved an SCCP to divert 10% of the current SNX inflationary distribution ratio towards L2, so this should hopefully mean more stakers moving over to L2.

Grants Council

Present at the April 28, 2022 Grants Council meeting:
Grants Team: ALEXANDER, BigPenny, CT, Mike

In Grants Council updates, the team is working with a 300 member who has stepped up to write the descriptions for the Tools site. Mike has also been working closely with Matt on the 300 Lieutenant Role, which they plan to start initially on a trial basis and expand from there. They have submitted an outline for this role to the Grants Council, and are in communication with a possible candidate.

Ambassador Council

Present at the April 29, 2022 Ambassador Council meeting:
Ambassadors: mastermojo, Matt, MiLLiE

In Ambassador Council updates, the Ambassadors hosted another Spartan City Hall last week, as well as an L222 Tuesday call.

During the City Hall, the Ambassadors spoke with Ale and Dhannte from EthernautDAO, which is a public good DAO aimed at transforming developers into Ethereum developers. This basically means grabbing senior devs from web2 and giving them a web3 crash course.

Ale described how it was difficult trying to build on Synthetix during the bull run, since every solidity dev was very busy at the time. So he decided to start contacting talented devs who he had worked with before crypto. He was able to get them up to speed very quickly and they were almost immediately able to contribute to protocol development.

“Some protocols have built their entire teams through this process and it really works. We’re doing this because we truly believe that there’s a next generation of people who are going to build great things on Ethereum.” -Ale

He added that there are 3 types of mentorships:

1. For team mentorship

  • Individual posts seeking training towards a specific project

2. Public good mentorship

  • Individual posts seeking training towards a specific project

3. Recruiting mentorship

  • Protocols post seeking a particular skillset for a given role

The process starts as simple education. Mentees eventually end up dedicating a good portion of their training time to an actual protocol, which usually ends up showing interest in the mentee and could offer them a job. And that’s where a mentorship might end!

In summary, EthernautDAO basically serves to bridge the gap between web2 and web3 by offering a paid training program with the high probability of an offer at the end of that training. The turnaround typically ends up being about a month or two, and they currently have 2,000 developers on their server right now, with 16 active mentorships in progress. The DAO is also entirely a public good, with all funding coming from donations and NFT auctions!

Lastly, the L222 call last week featured Kain, as well as the Lyra and Polynomial founders. Mike, one of Lyra’s founders, gave a brief overview of Lyra and discussed some upcoming projects.

These projects include:

  • Education: exposing more DeFi users to options trading
  • Bringing liquidity to Optimism: hopefully fueled by the recent Optimism token launch
  • Adding markets: Lyra currently has ETH, BTC, LINK, and SOL, but they hope to double or triple this in the next year

Mike also discussed the upcoming Avalon release, which will allow partial collateralization. Right now, it’s inefficient capital-wise to sell options, so that creates asymmetry. Avalon will fix this by creating better balance between both sides of the trades.

Gautham, Polynomial’s founder, also gave a quick overview of the protocol and their upcoming projects. He agreed that education is key, and that increased capital efficiency is important and should hopefully change with Avalon.

Our guests also discussed the Optimism token launch, noting that distribution was less “whale-centric” than past airdrops. Everyone was also particularly excited about the public-good-focused, digitally-native governance structure that they are trying to build.

In addition to further discussing Optimism deployments, the team also talked about LEAP-20, the benefits of Polynomial, and much more. So be sure to check out the recording if you missed it!

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SIP/SCCP status tracker:

SIP-230: Universal Circuit Breakers, Status: vote pending

SIP-231: Off-Chain Circuit Breakers, Status: vote pending

SIP-229: Optimism Bridge for Synths, Status: vote pending

SIP-203: Volume Source Fee, Status: SC review pending

SIP-232: Core Contributor Committee, Status: vote pending

SIP-228: Commodity Synths on Optimism, Status: vote pending

SCCP-190: Update Fees & Atomic Volatility Circuit Breakers Parameters, Status: vote pending

SIP-198: Update to Atomic Exchange Function, Status: approved

SIP-222: Update Exchange Fee System, Status: approved

SCCP-189: Change SNX inflationary distribution ratio, Status: approved