Name: ZeKraken
Address or ENS: vebalrepresentative.eth
Discord username/TG username: zekraken#0645 / @ZeKraken
I have read and understood the Delegate process: Yes
I understand that becoming a delegate is a significant commitment: Yes
My reasons for wanting to be a delegate: I’ve been a baller or formal community member since August 2021 and in that time I have attempted to contribute in as many ways as possible. I want to provide an alternative option for veBAL holders to consider when delegating. I am always going to vote in-line with what I believe is best for the Balancer ecosystem. I hope you’ve seen me probing and questioning proposals when necessary in the forum over the past few months. As an active member of the Grants Committee I take the same care when considering projects for approval. My main goals are to preserve the treasury, transition balancer into a sustainable platform (as liquidity rewards are reduced over time), shape an ecosystem that many partners can thrive in, and lastly continue to provide utility for veBAL holders.
My view on Fernando’s vision for Balancer: while I don’t disagree with the core tenets of Fernando’s vision I do think a lot will transpire before the protocol gets there in scale. Meaning there are likely to be a lot of proposals that will require careful consideration, otherwise that grand plan may never come to fruition. I believe there are a number of projects that could benefit from providing liquidity on Balancer in a more traditional sense. Dynamic fee setting and custom weights is something that the platform provides “out of the box” and isn’t currently found elsewhere. I think features such as these just need to be highlighted to new projects as they are searching for a liquidity provider. New complex projects will come, likely out of necessity and ease of use of the platform, but the point I’m trying to make is that we can focus time in other areas right now.
My web3 interests: I’m an active participant in this space because I think the technology will improve the world we live in. The existing systems used for payments and money movement specifically are very antiquated at this point. I also believe in the financial independence and freedom that this space offers. People can take control of their finances and aren’t required to face off with traditional banking systems and institutional authorities that are in place.
Languages I speak/write: English
My skills and areas of expertise: analytical, testing, organization. I added metrics to the old LM committee tracker spreadsheet to measure TVL change and BAL per TVL assigned. After working in that space for a while I penned a successful proposal in the space to make the program more flexible (link). I created the treasury balance sheet tracker (before the analytics site was built out), created/maintain the protocol projection spreadsheet, and set up the original veBAL calculator. I also have been testing the frontend functionality across multiple chains every week since August. Lastly I have created procedures for most of the operational tasks I have taken on for updating elements of the front end via github.
Other web3 projects I’m involved in: I have no official status within any other web3 projects
8 Likes
Allocate BAL to a Ribbon Finance Vault
Voted No, I think potential gains for this strategy are not worth it. Plus we do not have control over the selection of strike prices. I’ve traded covered calls in tradfi and most of the time it wasn’t worth it, it only works if the market conditions are right and strike selection is on point. In a downward market you will eventually end up selecting a strike too low because you want to secure a premium “worth it” but then the market runs up and you end up selling your principal for far under its acquisition cost (understand BAL here has zero cost basis, but you’d still have to sell some of our treasury if this were to happen). In an up market your gains are capped, so why not just hold. This strategy is really useful for sideways markets where volatility is high and price range semi-predictable. This type of setup doesn’t happen very frequently for extended periods of time.
Send back 3CRV stuck to Stake Dao Multisig Address
Voted Yes, makes sense to help out the Stake Dao community
Introduce ChildChainGaugeTokenAdder
Voted Yes, no reason to not allow for additional reward tokens on L2s
Tribe DAO : boost delegation
Voted Yes, correcting an unforeseen issue with boosting, only fair to fix this
EDIT: some grammar tweaks and added one additional point to the Ribbon rationale
4 Likes
[BIP-1] Operating Framework for Balancer DAO
Voted Yes, I’ve thought long and hard about this one, but in the end I needed to separate this proposal from the ultimate funding proposals that will come from different SPs. My biggest remaining worry in regards to this proposal was potential overlap of SPs and the transition from the current framework. In the end I believe this framework will allow for more freedom and flexibility for the protocol in the long term, that is why I voted Yes. This framework can be tweaked over the coming months/years, so I have taken that into account as well.
[BIP-2] Allowlist GnosisDAO’s treasury in VotingEscrow
Voted Yes, long term partner of Balancer so no reason to not say yes
[BIP-3] Allocate BAL towards Ethereum<>Optimism Bridge Liquidity
Voted Yes, the 7 day withdraw period that currently exists for the official bridge is painful to many, so it makes sense to have the ability for BAL holders to move more freely between chains. 40K seems like an acceptable amount to put at risk to support these operations
[BIP-4] Implement New Gauge Requirements
Voted Yes, it is important to put in some controls around the ve model so the system can maintain for years to come. The DAO should have control over swap fees so bad actors can’t just park their assets in a pool and not support swapping since that is what the current liquidity pools are for after all.
[BIP-5] Tribe DAO: Unclaimed BAL Rewards
Voted Yes, unforeseen outcomes has led us here, I don’t think there is any reason not to supply Tribe with what they are owed
2 Likes
[BIP-6] Execute SNX Recovery Coordinator
Voted Yes, this is really a no brainer decision. We must move the impacted Synthetix tokens back to the vault in order to return to BAU.
I am writing the following message to get in front of any upcoming voting on SPs (in the case that the Operating Framework for Balancer DAO proposal passes in a few hours).
My plan is to abstain from voting on any SPs where I am either directly part of the SP or have a close working relationship with any of the individuals in a SP. I feel this is the most appropriate approach to take for the first round of voting on what would be the new framework of the Balancer DAO. I do plan to vote on subsequent proposals by reoccurring SPs if it is for a SP that I’m not directly part of. At that time in the future I feel I will have enough information, related to performance of the SP, to make an apt decision.
If however there is a clear majority on any vote and my votes are needed to achieve quorum I do feel some obligation to vote in order to reach quorum for either side (‘yes’ or ‘no’). Please let me know if anyone disagrees with the rationale of the above approach and feels I am not performing my duty as a delegate.
2 Likes
[BIP-7] Enable auraBAL/[8020 BAL/WETH bpt] Gauge [Ethereum]
Voted Yes, bringing more liquidity to this pool will help support the Aura platform
[BIP-8] Enable TetuBAL/20WETH-80BAL Gauge [Polygon]
Voted Yes, allows for more liquidity to be brought to the Tetu pool supporting TetuBAL
[BIP-9] Update Snapshot Parameters
Voted Yes, makes sense to streamline Aura voting and increasing quorum now that there are more active voters is a good idea
[BIP-10] Enable AURA/ETH 80/20 Gauge [Ethereum]
Voted Yes, bringing more liquidity to this pool will help support the Aura platform
[BIP-11a] Enable DFX/ETH 50/50 [Ethereum]
Voted Yes, DFX community seemed interested in adding gauges and i don’t see a reason to block them
[BIP-11b] Enable DFX/TEL/USDC 40/40/20 Gauge [Polygon]
Voted Yes, DFX community seemed interested in adding gauges and i don’t see a reason to block them
[BIP-12] Whitelist OlympusDAO Gnosis Safe for Balancer’s VotingEscrow
Voted Yes, Olympus is looking to get more integrated with the Balancer platform AFAIK, no reason to block this piece
[BIP-13] Whitelist DFX Finance Gnosis Safe for Balancer’s VotingEscrow
Voted Yes, my assumption is they want to vote on their new gauges so makes sense to pass all pieces
[BIP-14] Funding Proposal for the Balancer Foundation
Voted Yes, this will allow for legal entities to interact with Balancer DAO going forward. I did wonder if this was a necessary step right now, but I’ve come to understand that some SPs will need this type of entity so it makes sense to be ready for that scenario.
[BIP-15] Enable FIAT/USDC/DAI Stableswap Gauge [Ethereum]
Voted Yes, FIAT DAO has shown indication recently that they would like to operate within the Balancer ecosystem
[BIP-16] Update DAO Multisig Replacement List
Voted Yes, makes sense to have signers that are readily available to sign at any time, especially in the case a quick turnaround is needed
[BIP-17] Request BAL from treasury for June 2022 Balaries
Voted Yes, ultimately the payment was already agreed upon in the last subDAO vote so this isn’t an ask for additional funds. It makes sense to take in the stable coins from the Ops subDAO for BAL that is in the treasury
[BIP-18] Fund the Balancer Maxis for Q3
Abstained, I am a member of this proposal, so it wouldn’t be right for me to vote for myself
3 Likes
[BIP-7] Enable auraBAL/[8020 BAL/WETH bpt] Gauge [second vote]
Voted Yes, very important that this pool is given a gauge in support of the Aura layer
[BIP-19] Incentivize Core Pools & L2 Usage
Voted Yes, to me this is another version of revenue sharing, the difference is that it is very pointed in terms of who is rewarded. veBAL/Aura holders voting for these pools and getting bribes for doing so can take comfort that they are helping maximize volume for the protocol. Eventually core pools will be ones that are hooked into pools with other assets akin to 3pool on Curve
[BIP-20] Funding Proposal for Orb Collective
Abstained, as posted above my plan was not to vote on the first round of SP votes where I knew individuals in the SP
[BIP-21] Funding Proposal for Ecosystem Ops and Development Squad
Abstained, as posted above my plan was not to vote on the first round of SP votes where I knew individuals in the SP
[BIP-22] Fund Balancer Grants for Q3
Abstained, I am a member of this proposal, so it wouldn’t be right for me to vote for myself
[BIP-23a] AURA/ETH/graviAURA Gauge [Ethereum]
Voted No, pretty cool design, however I fail to see the big value add to Balancer at this time
[BIP-23b] auraBAL/ETH/graviAURA Gauge [Ethereum]
Voted No, pretty cool design, however I fail to see the big value add to Balancer at this time
[BIP-24] Allocate BAL to a Ribbon Finance Vault
Voted No, as I posted in the forum discussion on this topic I don’t believe this strategy is ideal at these price levels.
[BIP-25] Enable AURA/ETH 50/50 Gauge
Voted Yes, allows for deep liquidity in support of swapping the Aura token
2 Likes
[BIP-8] Enable TetuBAL/20WETH-80BAL Gauge [second vote]
Voted Yes, also voted yes the last time around. This pool adds support for veBAL on Polygon
[BIP-26] Enable MAGIC/USDC Gauge [Arbitrum]
Voted Yes, as stated in my forum post, glad to see a popular native arbitrum project with some interest in Balancer. USDC provides an alternative pairing to face off with WETH paired pools elsewhere
[BIP-27] Enable DIGG/wBTC/graviAURA 40/40/20 Gauge [Ethereum]
Voted No, I appreciate Badger thinking of unique strategies which uses the multi token pool functionality, however I don’t think this pool type should be approved at this time. The volume for DIGG is not that great at the moment and graviAURA has other routes on the platform
1 Like
[BIP-28] Kill CREAM/WETH Gauge
Voted Yes, I chalk this up to a learning experience. I think we were too hasty trying to get gauges onboarded at the very beginning of veBAL. We overlook the potential problem that gauges like CREAM brought along with it.
CREAM specifically is a very old project, but it has had its fair share of issues over that time. I don’t think that this gauge warrants the amount of voting it is receiving. One, because it will never command the TVL and volume that helps moves the whole protocol forward and Two, the majority holder of the BPT themselves have said they are using it to farm BAL to recoup their investment loss. Well the majority of other people at a similar percentage loss don’t have the same luxury of being able to implement this farming strategy.
Ultimately I would like to think that the market would settle naturally on voting for pools that are best for the protocol overall, but I know that is too naïve a view. In summary I think this gauge is being exploited, but I do wonder where the whale moves next. It could be a bit of a game of whack-a-mole if their only intention is to farm as much BAL as possible to the determent of the protocol overall.
3 Likes
[BIP-29] Introduce GaugeAdder v2
Voted Yes, necessary protocol update
[BIP-30] Purge Unused Gauges
Voted Yes, as posted in the forum thread, i think this is a good update on multiple fronts. UX gets cleaned up and get’s rid of some gauges that don’t bring much in return to the protocol, especially with no project backing
[BIP-31] Authorize the Batch Relayer v3
Voted Yes, necessary protocol update
[BIP-32] Funding Proposal for Daoism Systems: PROTOCOL REVENUE SHARING FOR POOL & FACTORY CREATORS
Voted Yes, it is good to have another capable contract team onboarded. it is an area the DAO has no expertise today
[BIP-33] Orb Marketing Budget Proposal for the Remainder of Q3
Voted Yes, appreciate the trimmed budget. it makes sense for them to pursue what they have outlined
2 Likes
[BIP-30] Purge Unused Gauges [second vote]
Voted Yes, same reasoning as the first time around here
[BIP-34] Enable the 50/50 RBW/wETH Gauge on Polygon
Voted Yes, RBW has been with Balancer on Polygon for a few months now. There pool has had pretty good activity so seems to make sense for them to have a gauge
[BIP-35] Whitelist the Laguna Games’ Gnosis Safe for Balancer’s Voting Escrow
Voted Yes, looking to be an active participate of veBAL
[BIP-36] Enable TEMPLE/DAI 80/20 Gague (Ethereum)
Voted Yes, I thought about this for awhile as we’ve found ourselves in trouble with 80/20 pools where the project team themselves haven’t set clear reasons around the use of a 80/20 pool. Solar had a conversation with the team and the reasons seem valid, ultimately time will be the judge
4 Likes
[BIP-37] Allocate BAL Liquidity to Polygon & Arbitrum Multichain Bridge
Voted Yes, as mentioned in the forum thread, it is good to have liquidity for users to move back and forth between chains
[BIP-38] Request for BAL Allocation to Orb Collective
Voted Yes, bonuses to blabs employees was moved over to the control of the DAO to be pointed to Orb, makes sense to follow through with past agreements on behalf of blabs
[BIP-39] Repay Aura Treasury for Unclaimable Rewards
Voted Yes, no fault of Aura, makes sense to come good on what they are due
2 Likes
[BIP-40] Enable FOLD/ETH 50/50 Gauge [Ethereum]
Voted Yes, Manifold is an interesting project, happy to see moving over to balancer as the main liquidity provider, the 50/50 pool type will work well for this purpose
[BIP-41] Whitelist THX Network Gnosis Safe multisig for Balancer’s Vote-Escrow
Voted Yes, THX has been part of Balancer polygon for awhile, glad to see they are looking to get in on the veBAL game
[BIP-42] Enable rETH/weth Metastable Gauge [Optimism]
Voted Yes, this proposal should come as no surprise, we’ve been waiting to onboard Optimism gauges ever since the Beethoven team rolled out the Balancer platform on that chain
1 Like
[BIP-43] Redeem Treasury FEI for USDC
Voted Yes, as posted in the thread, operational costs are up and USDC is the preferred stable for a number of SPs
[BIP-44] Support Balancer Space delegation on Snapshot for vlAURA holders
Voted Yes, makes sense to do this
[BIP-45] Balancer LP BAL into MLP
Voted Yes, number of positives behind this proposal as I pointed out in my thread posting
[BIP-46] Enable SILO/ETH Gauge on Ethereum
Voted No, nothing against the SILO project, but i’d rather see where the converstation behind the gauge framework bip goes before introducing new pools below the line (based on the spreadsheet in the proposal).
[BIP-47] Balancer <> Across Protocol for Bridging Tokens Across Chains
Voted Yes, giving BAL holders multiple routing options for cross bridge movements is a good thing
[BIP-48] Kill FEI/WETH Gauge
Voted Yes, makes sense to remove this gauge as it appears the FEI/TRIBE is winding down
[BIP-49] ComposableStable and AaveLinearPools: permission granting
Voted Yes, necessary step for new pool type that closes previously disclosed vulnerability
[BIP-50] Set Protocol Fee on Yield
Voted Yes, additional functionality being given to adjust fee on yield baring tokens, initial value will be the same as today
[BIP-51] Gauge Migration to Composable Stable Pools
Voted Yes, see above, necessary rollout
[BIP-52] Allocate BAL Liquidity to Aave
Voted for 100K, as pointed out in the thread, makes sense to get some yield on dormant BAL. AAVE is a solid platform as well, however nothing is riskless
[BIP-53] Enable crosschain Gauges via LayerZero
Voted Yes, not sure why we wouldn’t do this. gives additional utility to the protocol as a whole. should be a no brainer for non-mainnet users
[BIP-54] Authorize Balancer Labs to initiate distributions on Optimism gauges
Voted Yes, in support of the OP rollout of balancer by BEETS
[BIP-55] Funding Proposal for the Balancer OpCo
Voted Yes, we need to have a frontend development team in place for functionality to be added in the future as well attempting to make the front end more robust against downtime (for various reasons)
[BIP-56] Re-enable CREAM/WETH 80/20 Gauge [Ethereum]
'Voted No, I don’t think it makes sense to re-enable this gauge without a framework in place, this gauge doesn’t add anything to the Balancer ecosystem knowing that the intention is to pass somewhere around 25-30% of emissions towards it.
[BIP-57a] Introduce Gauge Framework v1
Voted Yes, ultimately I feel there needs to be a framework in place around gauges, is this the 100% best model, probably not, but it is still a good starting point. The community as a whole should be more interested in trying to form the best model.
[BIP-57b] Introduce Gauge Framework v1
Voted Implement a 2% emissions cap, I went back and forth about the 2% or 5% cap and came out of it still thinking 2% is the best starting place. This is obviously a very sensitive subject, but there has to be a more constructive way to go about these conversations vs. where the previous conversation went.
[BIP-58] Increase Snapshot Quorum
Voted 500K, a good start, however will likely have to be raised again soon. I’m curious to what quorum will be at for some of the less contested votes
[BIP-59] Enable MAI/USDC Gauge on Ethereum
Vote Yes, Qi Dao are long time participants in the Balancer ecosystem, i don’t see any reason to not allow their gauge
[BIP-60] Enable XSGD:USDC “FXPool” Gauge [Polygon]
Vote Yes, it’s cool to see other fiat derivatives enter the crypto space. there are obvious other projects doing the same, but i don’t think USD should be the only prevalent fiat supported in crypto
[BIP-61] Operating Procedures for DAO’s Selling Their Locked BAL Position OTC
Vote Yes, agree that this is a good middle ground solution, FEI/TRIBE that is winding down is able to offload their position for stables and the ultimate owner of the veBAL will be able to do what they want with the BPT once the lock expires. there will be decreasing utility with that position over time
[BIP-62] Stable v2, composableStable, Weighted v2 Permission Granting
Vote Yes, makes sense since this proposal is handing over permissions to the emergency subdao and maxis that is already in place on other contracts today
[BIP-63] Enable IB/WETH 80/20 Gauge w/2% emissions cap [Optimism]
Vote Yes, now that we have a capped framework in place i don’t see a big issue with granting approval to smaller cap gauges
[BIP-64] Revised Gauge Migration to Composable Stable Pools
Vote Yes, necessary upgrade and migration
[BIP-65] Enable INV/DOLA 50/50 Gauge on Ethereum w/2% emissions cap
Vote Yes, see BIP 63 above for rationale
[BIP-66] Migrate Lightly Used Gauges to Capped
Vote Yes, if projects agree with the changes i don’t see a negative to moving their pools to a capped gauge
[BIP-67] Enable rETH/RPL Gauge [Ethereum]
Vote Yes, rocket pool is competing in the staking world, i think it will be even more important to the balancer ecosystem in the future than it is today
[BIP-68] Enable wstETH/LDO Gauge [Ethereum]
Vote Yes, much like the rocket pool comment above, staking is obviously the future so i think it is very important for balancer to focus on these projects
[BIP-69] Whitelist Beethoven X Gnosis Safe for Balancer’s VotingEscrow
Voted Yes, Beethoven has been a very close partner for almost a year now, there is no reason they shouldn’t be granted this access
[BIP-70] Authorize the Batch Relayer v4
Voted Yes, this is a necessary update as far as i’m concerned
2 Likes
[BIP-71] Enable wstETH/weth Gauge [Arbitrum]
Voted Yes, I think that staked eth is a very important pool for the ecosystem
[BIP-72] Enable wstETH/USDC Gauge [Arbitrum]
Voted Yes, see rationale above
[BIP-73] Whitelist the gauge for the USDD/FRAX/USDC Pool to receive BAL emissions
Voted No, i went back and forth on this one, ultimately i don’t think this pairing brings enough to balancer overall. while the backing is supposedly better than UST the framework is close enough to make me uncomfortable at this moment
[BIP-74] Fund the Balancer Maxis for Q4 2022
Abstained, member of this SP so it isn’t right to vote on myself
[BIP-75] Orb Marketing Budget Proposal for Q4
Voted Yes, I appreciate that the marketing team has focused on cutting as many costs as possible for this next quarter. I believe the marketing team can still perform at a high level with this trimmed budget
[BIP-76] Balancer Grants Budget Proposal Q4 2022
Abstained, member of this SP so it isn’t right to vote on myself
[BIP-77] Friendly Balancer Protocol Fees for Integrators
Voted Yes, it is good to outline some framework concerning revenue sharing going forward. it was an important point that solarcurve made about the fact that charging fees isn’t a requirement straight away
1 Like