Gauge Proposal Template:
Summary:
Pre-approve gauges for Bloom TBYs (Term Bound Yield) Tokens, the first permissionless (non-KYC, freely transferrable) US Treasury-backed Debt token on Ethereum. TBYs are completely permissionless and offer approximately 4.5% APR on USDC at scale. Native yield combined with Aura rewards may usher in a new era of profitable yield farming and attract significant TVL, while effectively funneling dollars from tradfi into the DeFi ecosystem (more net liquidity benefits us all).
References/Useful links:
Link to:
• Website
bloom.garden | blueberry.garden
• Documentation
docs.bloom.garden
• Github Page
GitHub - Blueberryfi/Bloom-protocol
• Communities
discord.gg/blueberry (15k) | twitter.com/BLBprotocol (16k)
• Other useful links?
Blueberry & Bloom Protocols – Medium | testnet.bluebery.garden (20k+ unique addresses)
Raise announcement: Team Behind Blueberry Raises $1.2M to Enable Capital Efficient Borrowing on Ethereum | by Blueberry & Bloom Protocols | Medium
Protocol Description:
Bloom brings yields from the US Treasury into the DeFi economy with its two permissionless and compliant products: TBYs (loans which behave like T Bills) and stUSD (yield-bearing stablecoin backed by TBYs).
Docs (audit incl): docs.bloom.garden
TBYs behave similarly to US T Bills, paying out a fixed-term yield over a 6-month period that can be redeemed at maturity. TBYs are the first product to bring near-treasury rates to DeFi, at scale with no KYC requirements.
Each month, Bloom will open up minting for a 3-day period for that month’s TBY. Users mint TBY with USDC, and are paid out in USDC at maturity.
Once a new Maturity of TBYs are active, there will be additional pools created on a rolling basis. Because there is a new TBY each month, we propose to pre-approve a gauge for all future TBYs.
stUSD is a stablecoin backed by TBYs that rebases yield, much like stETH (wstUSD will also be available). We believe the applications for such a product are incredibly wide-ranging, from the most accessible USD-denominated savings app in the world (a $Trillions market), to a fundamental DeFi lego to boost yields on AMMs, money markets, and more.
The project is backed by Chainlink Labs, Bitscale (Lido Seed), and White Star Capital (Dollar Shave Club) among others.
Incentive Exclusivity Offer
We understand it is unusual to approve a gauge prior to launch. As a sign of good faith and our commitment to this partnership, we will commit to making Balancer the primary trading venue upon the launch of stUSD. Of course, other DEXes may come online naturally. However, Balancer will be the exclusive DEX for incentive spending and bribing from the Bloom team for at least the first few months. We intend to scale incentive spend significantly over the first 12 months of operation in both Blueberry (BLB) tokens as well as USDC.
Describe the proposed asset(s), the corresponding protocol(s), and historic prices of the token (price must come from the source of highest liquidity).
Mostly done above, and please note that Bloom is going live on mainnet imminently, but it is not yet.
To address the pool itself: we will pair TBYs 50/50 with DSR DAI to maximize yield earned and pool stablecoin diversity. This will result in a 4% blended base yield, with trading fees and incentives on top. The net yield should prove extremely attractive in the current stablecoin landscape.
IMPORTANT: Balancer will earn the protocol fees on yielding assets, similarly to stETH or other LST pools, helping bring in diversified safe treasury assets for the protocol. To ensure competitive yields and because we have chosen to set the pool with this 50% fee share, we encourage the community to increase gauge rewards, and ensure the pools have the most competitive risk-adjusted yield possible post-fees.
Motivation:
Explain why this pool needs incentivization
TBYs make T Bill yields permissionless, but it comes at a cost: you lose 1% yield in the process. That means that currently, TBYs pay about 4.5%. This is already the best and safest composable/non-KYC yield in DeFi currently available. However, our goal is to start bringing dollars back from TradFi rails onto DeFi rails for the good of the whole space.
The last project to meaningfully accomplish this goal, like it or not, was Terra Luna. Why? Because they paid higher yields than tradfi. Now obviously, their source of yield was not sustainable. We now have the opportunity to build a similar ecosystem with truly sustainable yield as the backbone. Additional yield from Balancer and Aura will result in a superior risk-adjusted yield product compared to what is available off chain, so DeFi yields will lead the way once again.
This will benefit Balancer, Bloom users, and the ecosystem as a whole.
Specifications:
- Governance: Provide current information on the protocol’s governance structure. Provide links to any admin and/or multisig addresses, and describe the powers afforded to these addresses. If there are plans to change the governance system in the future, please explain.
As of today, there is no token or governance for Bloom, and all changes are made by the core team and council of advisors from around the DeFi space.
However, please note that Bloom is a fully decentralized, peer to peer protocol, where funds cannot be controlled or misappropriated by any admin. The one slight exception to this is if the swap duration to execute a batch does not complete within 3 days. In this case, we can do an emergency exit that sends the funds to the emergency handler wallet (multisig) that we then distribute back to lenders. There is no risk of loss of funds in this scenario.
For Bloom, the powers made available to the admin/multisig are:
- Set configurations for the pools
- Whitelist individuals that meet the ECP criteria and pass on-boarding to borrow and execute batches
- Update the BPSFeed for the rate to maintain a pegged rate to the underlying ib01
- Handle refunds in the event of an emergency where the pool can not advance to the next stage.
It should also be mentioned that our team is completely doxxed, very public, and VC backed.
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Oracles: Does the protocol rely on external oracles? If so, provide details about the oracles and their implementation in the protocol.
Chainlink provides the ib01oracle. and USDC oracle -
Audits: Provide links to audit reports and any relevant details about security practices.
docs.bloom.garden/audit -
Centralization vectors: Is there any component of the protocol that has centralization vectors? E.g. if only 1 dev manages the project, that is a centralized vector. If price oracles need to be updated by a bot, that is a centralized vector. If liquidations are done by the protocol, that is also a centralization vector.
Please refer to the answer to #1 as well as the flow of funds chart on docs.bloom.garden to address this question. While there are a few vectors that require centralized efforts to start the process and manage issuer relationships, the transactions that occur themselves are fully decentralized. -
Market History: Has the asset observed severe volatility? In the case of stablecoins, has it depegged? In the case of an unpegged asset, have there been extreme price change events in the past? Provide specific information about the Balancer pool: how long has it been active, TVL, historical volume? You must provide a direct link to the pool AND a link to your pool’s gauge.
As mentioned, these will be new pools.
ib01 is an extremely safe ETF managed by Blackrock, which is the underlying asset TBYs derive yield from. The oracle for it is provided by Chainlink, the most secure oracle provider, sourced from large tradfi exchanges. There should be extremely low volatility, and there are circuit breakers in place in case the oracle fails, as it is obviously the nature of the product to have low volatility. Additionally, the swaps are executed during expected prices, such that there is no slippage to the any of the participant. This creates full alignment for all participants.
Details on ib01 from Blackrock here
- Value: Is this pool intended to be the primary source of liquidity for the token(s)? If this is not the case, explain the expected value add to Balancer (can this pool generate consistent fees?)
Yes, Balancer and Aura will be the only DEX integration for the time being.