SECTION 1: APPLICANT INFORMATION
Applicant Name:
Ross Middleton, on behalf of rhino.fi
Project Name:
Project Description:
rhino.fi is a DeFi aggregator - a one-stop-shop which abstracts the complexity of multichain away from the user by allowing them to access the best of DeFi from one gas-free layer 2 account. Users can instantly bridge between L2s, zap into yield opportunities/strategies on different chains, order book trade, swap on different chains with aggregated liquidity, receive airdrops and make private transfers.
The rhino bridge connects twelve L2s/chains, is super-fast, cheap and private, The rhino bridge has been used by 323,000 users to-date, and has processed a total of 700,000 transactions.
The rhino.fi bridge was deployed to Arbitrum One in 2021, and Arbitrum Nova in 2023
Team Members and Qualifications:
Will Harborne. Founder & CEO of rhino (four years) and zkValidator. Previously Bitfinex & Tether. Founder Ethfinex and zkValidator.
Daniel Yanev- Cofounder $ CPO of rhino (four years)
Lexi Short. CMO rhino(two years). Women in Web 3
Ross Middleton. Cofounder & CFO of rhino (four years). Arbitrum Dao delegate
Contact Information
TG: rossmidd
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/rhinofi
Email:
ross[at]rhino.fi
Do You Acknowledge That Your Team Will Be Subject to a KYC Requirement?
Yes
SECTION 2: GRANT INFORMATION
Detail the requested grant size, provide an overview of the budget breakdown, specify the funding and contract addresses, and describe any matching funds if relevant.
Requested Grant Size:
500,000 ARB
Grant Matching:
75,000 ARB - given to rhino.fi as part of the initial ARB airdrop and so far have been held in the rhino multisig to contribute to a larger community incentive campaign in the future (such as this). Currently we’re running a low level test to incentivse users to bridge liquidity to Arbitrum One and Nova in celebration of the Odyssey https://twitter.com/rhinofi/status/1707331241647710432
Grant Breakdown:
The grant will support an extensive community incentive program on rhino.fi by rebating & subsidizing rhino bridge transactions to One & Nova from eleven L2s & chains using the rhino.fi supr-fast & frictionless bridge product.
Funding Address:
Funding Address Characteristics:
2/4 multisig
Contract Address:
SECTION 3: GRANT OBJECTIVES AND EXECUTION
Clearly outline the primary objectives of the project and the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) used to measure success. This helps reviewers understand what the project aims to achieve and how progress will be assessed.
Objectives:
High level - Incentivise users to bridge to Arbitrum One and Arbitrum Nova from Ethereum, and eleven other Layer 2s by providing a small individual subsidy/reward to users using the rhino bridge, whilst showcasing some of the best projects on Arbitrum to users who bridge.
Assuming a conservative $3-5 average COA, the campaign will lead to >115,000 users on-boarding to Arbitrum One and Nova via the rhino bridge.
Note, the exact structure of the community incentive program may change slightly based on user data (for example, starting at a lower subsidy level) from the current small scale test that rhino has implemented, but the overall aims of the rhino community incentive program is to target a wide number of users over a longer period of time.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):
Number of addresses bridging to Arbitrum one and Nova
How will receiving a grant enable you to foster growth or innovation within the Arbitrum ecosystem?:
Reducing friction and facilitating users to easily on-board to Arbitrum One & Nova from eleven other chains, as well as between Arbitrum One & Nova, and future Arbitrum rollups, Orbit and Anytrust chains as they launch.
Rhino is/will collaborate with projects deploying on Arbitrum technology to meet the specific bridging needs of their users at a deeper level.
Rhino also currently allows users to zap into advanced strategies on Arbitrum One (eg Beefy Finance strategies), saving them time and removing friction from having to complete multiple steps over a period of time. Rhino plans to extend this yield/strategy ‘zapping’ to other Arbitrum chains, ultimately increasing sticky TVL in Arbitrum based yield products.
Justification for the size of the grant:
At a conservative $5 average COA, the campaign will target >100,000 smaller users over a longer period of time than a more concentrated spend.
Execution Strategy:
Grant Timeline:
DONE - Deploy the rhino bridge contract on Arbitrum One (2021)
DONE - Deploy the rhino bridge contract on Arbitrum Nova (2023)
Test campaign with a small amount of ARB tokens to test COA (https://x.com/rhinofi/status/1707331241647710432)
Review test campaign and implement rhino bridging ARB community incentive program
Do you accept the funding of your grant streamed linearly for the duration of your grant proposal, and that the multisig holds the power to halt your stream?
Yes, this will be built-into the rhino ARB community incentive program
SECTION 4: PROTOCOL DETAILS
Provide details about the Arbitrum protocol requirements relevant to the grant. This information ensures that the applicant is aligned with the technical specifications and commitments of the grant.
Is the Protocol Native to Arbitrum?:
Rhino is naturally a multichain product, but with a significant presence on Arbitrum One And Nova. rhino enables users to do the following activities via different products and contracts
Bridge ETH and Stablecoins to/from Arbitrum One and Arbitrum Nova
Zap into selected Arbitrum One yield vaults & strategies
Swap Arbitrum based tokens via Paraswap and Uniswap on Arbitrum One
On what other networks is the protocol deployed?
Yes, Arbitrum One, Nova and eleven L2s & chains, to facilitate cross-chain swapping and bridging
What date did you deploy on Arbitrum?
August 2021 (Arbitrum One)
September 2023 (Arbitrum Nova)
Protocol Performance:
The rhino success metrics are 1) number of active accounts, and 2) total accounts
333,000 total user accounts
Approximately 80,000 monthly active users (current metrics, during a quiet time in the market)
$28m TVL
The rhino bridge contract on Arbitrum One has facilitated over 155,000 TXs to-date
Protocol Roadmap:
Supporting future Orbit & AnyTrust chains via the rhino super-fast bridge to facilitate frictionless onboarding for users
Audit History:
rhino.fi has been operating since 2020 with no loss of user funds
Audits - Smart Contract Audit Report | rhino.fi
SECTION 5: Data and Reporting
Dune dashboard or similar internal reporting tools displayed publicly
Is your team prepared to create Dune Dashboards for your incentive program?:
Yes
Does your team agree to provide bi-weekly program updates on the Arbitrum Forum thread?
Yes, we will provide a breakdown of campaign progress
Does your team acknowledge that failure to comply with any of the above requests can result in the halting of the program’s funding stream:
Yes