SECTION 1: APPLICANT INFORMATION
Provide personal or organizational details, including applicant name, contact information, and any associated organization. This information ensures proper identification and communication throughout the grant process.
Applicant Name: Cavalier
Project Name: Synthetix
Project Description: Synthetix is a liquidity layer that powers an array of onchain derivatives. The primary product is Synthetix Perps, which has generated $45b in trading volume and $35 million in fees.
Team Members and Roles:
Project Links:
Website - Synthetix.io
Staking / LPing - Staking.Synthetix.io
Github - Synthetix ¡ GitHub
Twitter - Twitter.com/Synthetix_io
Contact Information
Point of Contact: @cavalier
Point of Contactâs TG handle: cavalier_eth
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cavalier_eth
Email: fang.unrest206@addy.io
Do you acknowledge that your team will be subject to a KYC requirement?: Yes
SECTION 2a: Team and Product Information
Provide details on your teamâs past and current experience. Any details relating to past projects, recent achievements and any past experience utilizing incentives. Additionally, please provide further details on the state of your product, audience segments, and how you expect incentives to impact the productâs long-term growth and sustainability.
Team experience (Any relevant experience that may be useful in evaluating ability to ship, or execution with grant incentives. Please provide references knowledgeable about past work, where relevant. If you wish to do so privately, indicate that. [Optional, but recommended]):
Kain Warwick founded Synthetix, originally as Havven in 2017. The protocol has progressively decentralized over the years, and now features four main councils to steward the protocol. This includes the Spartan, Treasury, Grants, and Ambassador Councils. These councils work alongside the Core Contributors, who help to enact proposals and variable changes through SIPs and SCCPs to add additional features and manage the protocol.
The Synthetix Protocol includes core contributors who are all longtime DeFi users, developers, product designers, etc. Many of our contributors have been involved in DeFi/Crypto since its early stages. We are happy to share additional information with the council privately.
What novelty or innovation does your product bring to Arbitrum?
Synthetix introduces Synthetix V3 and Synthetix Perps to Arbitrum. Synthetix V3 marks a significant advancement in DeFi, enabling developers to create on-chain derivative applications using Synthetixâs liquidity and infrastructure permissionlessly. This innovation aims to expand the DeFi ecosystem by facilitating the development of diverse derivative products.
Synthetix Perps, the primary application utilizing Synthetix liquidity, has facilitated over $45 billion in trading volume, distributing $35 million in fees to liquidity providers. Synthetix has also led the way in DEX Perps innovations, creating the standard for using Pyth off-chain oracles to decrease trading fees and the potential for frontrunning attacks while still maintaining decentralized trade execution. Alongside this, risk management innovations such as dynamic funding rates and price impact (simulated orderbooks) were created by Synthetix core contributors to ensure delta neutrality for perps LPâs. Both of these innovations are now commonplace across the DEX Perps industry, and shows how Synthetix is an innovator in the DeFi DEX Perps space.
DeFi perps trading is larger on Arbitrum, and the natural destination for Synthetix as the real innovator of decentralized perps infrastructure and features. Arbitrum is where we all have the best chance for true defi to attract traders from centralized exchanges and traditional finance. Its time to put aside tribalism so defi has the best chance of dominance.
Is your project composable with other projects on Arbitrum? If so, please explain:
Yes, Synthetix V3 serves as a foundational liquidity layer, enabling the creation and integration of various derivative products. It allows for the establishment of permissionless pools, acting as collateral and liquidity sources, which can be leveraged by other protocols on Arbitrum to create derivative markets. This functionality not only facilitates the launch of new derivative protocols but also ensures seamless integration with Synthetix Perps.
We anticipate collaborations with existing partners and new ones such as Kwenta, Polynomial, Infinex, Rage trade, and others, leveraging Synthetix Perps liquidity to enhance perps trading activity on Arbitrum.
Do you have any comparable protocols within the Arbitrum ecosystem or other blockchains?
In the context of Synthetix Perps:
- GMX
- Vertex
- Gains Trade
Regarding Synthetix V3:
- Perennial
How do you measure and think about retention internally? (metrics, target KPIs)
Relevant usage metrics - Please refer to the OBL relevant metrics chart. For your category (DEX, lending, gaming, etc) please provide a list of all respective metrics as well as all metrics in the general section:
Synthetix measures retention through key metrics aimed at tracking trading behavior, market behavior, long-term LP stickiness, and economic value created for Arbitrum. With this in mind, the main objective of Synthetix & Synthetix Perps is to transition users from CEX derivatives to DEX derivatives.
Synthetix ran a trading rebate campaign in 2023 for traders of Synthetix perps and saw $155M in average daily volume during the incentive period, while maintaining $151M in daily volume in the period after incentives completed, retaining ~97% of daily volume with no incentives as of mid January 2024.
https://dune.com/queries/3070613/5114546
Council Q&A for this section
a) How much was the volume prior to the campaign?
Before the incentives kicked off (Dec 22, 2022 - Apr 19, 2023), Synthetix had established a daily trading volume of $35.5 million. Itâs critical to put this into perspective though, the initial release of Synthetix Perps V2, completed on Dec 22nd, had supported a limited number of markets and OI caps, and had been scaled up during this time. However, the ETH and BTC markets were live during the pre-campaign period and have since maintained their status as the primary drivers of volume for the protocol despite nearly 80 additional perps markets going live since.
Post-Incentives campaign, daily volume has shifted with the market and other competitor campaigns. Synthetix experienced several weeks of volume averages below the campaign period but also over 100% above pre-campaign averages. Recent weeks have far exceeded the incentivized volume period. As of this statement, the rolling 7 day volume average has been above $250M, nearly 70% higher than the volume during our incentives campaign.
https://dune.com/queries/3070613/5114546
b) How many funds were allocated to the commercial refund? Were they own funds or an initiative subsidized by an external party? (Grant from Optimism for example)
The total amount of incentives distributed from the Phase 0 Optimism distribution was ~5.9m OP in trading incentives over a period. The average price of OP during this time was $1.48, so this makes the entire incentive program worth approx $8.73m.
c) Do you have any dune that could accompany this statement?
Yes, a community member made a Dune that includes the incentivized periods. https://dune.com/westie/synthetix-incentives
d) Based on the state of the market, how do you think this same campaign can play out at this time, on Arbitrum?
Given the current market dynamics, increased engagement with o-chain derivatives, and the technological advancements since our last campaign, we expect a similar outcome.
Users are likely to be attracted by LP and trading incentives to explore Synthetix. We believe they will remain engaged long-term upon using Synthetix LP & Synthetix Perps, particularly because of its innovative features such as the delta neutral LP experience using ETH/USDC collateral. This approach enables users to leverage their LP exposure more safely with the Arbitrum native stablecoin. We plan to rapidly increase LP collateral and stablecoin liquidity on Arbitrum in the first two months, positioning Synthetix to attract traders and encourage protocol use.
The metrics that Synthetix primarily looks at are centered on a few main areas:
- Trading Fees
- Trading Volume
- Open Interest
- Unique Addresses Trading
- Perps Integrators & Volume/Fees generated by each
- Sequencer Fees Generated
- Developers building on Synthetix V3 and Perps V3
Alongside OBL relevant metrics via Arbitrum Grants for each supported market (overlap expected)
TVL: A daily time series expressed in USD.
Trading Volume: A daily time series, also measured in USD.
Open Interest: A daily time series measured in USD.
List of Traders: A comprehensive record of individuals or entities that have engaged in trading activities. This list should include trader addresses and the volume of trades executed.
List of Liquidity Providers: A list of current and past participants who have provided liquidity during the incentivized period of the protocol. The list should include LP addresses, their current liquidity in USD, time-weighted liquidity in USD, and the duration of liquidity provision.
Trader Net P&L Improvement: The change in tradersâ profit and loss accounts, reflecting on the platformâs fairness and attractiveness to traders.
Funding Rate Stability: Tracks the fluctuations in the funding rates, assessing the balance between long and short positions and market sentiment.
Liquidations: A daily time series measured in USD.
Do you agree to remove team-controlled wallets from all milestone metrics AND exclude team-controlled wallets from any incentives included in your plan: Yes.
Did you utilize a grants consultant or other third party not named as a grantee to draft this proposal? If so, please disclose the details of that arrangement here, including conflicts of interest (Note: this does NOT disqualify an applicant): No.
SECTION 2b: 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?: No, Synthetix initially launched on Ethereum Mainnet and later expanded to Optimism and Base.
On what other networks is the protocol deployed?: Ethereum Mainnet, Optimism, and Base.
What date did you deploy on Arbitrum mainnet?: Synthetix was deployed to Arbitrum on March 15th 2024.
Do you have a native token?: Yes, the native token is $SNX
- Governance: SNX holders can participate in Synthetix governance by electing council members.
- Fee Share: With the introduction of other collateral types like USDC on Base, a portion of the fees from these will be used to buy back and either burn or distribute $SNX to stakers.
Past Incentivization: What liquidity mining/incentive programs, if any, have you previously run? Please share results and dashboards, as applicable?
Synthetix participated in the Optimism Phase 0 Distribution, distributing OP to Synthetix Perps traders, sUSD liquidity providers, and bridge users. For detailed results, a retrospective can be provided to the council.
Current Incentivization: How are you currently incentivizing your protocol?
Currently, Synthetix does not offer incentives to perps traders, with only minimal incentives on Velodrome for sUSD liquidity on Optimism.
Have you received a grant from the DAO, Foundation, or any Arbitrum ecosystem related program?
No.
Protocol Performance:
- Total Value Locked (TVL): Synthetix has a TVL of $678 million, distributed as $257 million on Optimism and $435 million on Ethereum Mainnet.
- (Source: DeFiLlama)
- Total Perps Volume: The platform has surpassed $45 billion in total perpetual trade volume.
- (Source: Internal SNX Data - can share link with council)
- Unique Perps Traders: Over 60,000 traders have traded on Synthetix Perps.
- (Source: SNX Community Dune Analytics)
- Total Perps Trades: There have been over 760,000 cumulative trades
- (Source: SNX Community Dune Analytics)
- Total Perps Fees Generated: Fees generated from perpetual trades exceed $35 million.
- (Source: Internal SNX Data - can share with council)
- Total Sequencer Revenue: The revenue to the Optimism sequencer amounts to 915 ETH, approximately $2,516,250.
- (Source: SNX Community Dune Analytics)
Protocol Roadmap:
* Spartan Council approval for initial Arbitrum deployment specification
* Write & Audit Arbitrum Gas Oracle Adapter smart contract
* Deploy on Arbitrum Sepolia Testnet
* Risk analysis of Arbitrum Specific Implementation vs Current Deployment
* Release Synthetix V3 Core System & Perps v3 on Arbitrum Mainnet on March 15th
- Progressive ramp up of V3 liquidity and then open interest
- Perps V3 UX Improvements
- Support for existing perps markets on Optimism/Base
- Support for a yield generating collateral type to amplify Perps Fee yield
- Core System Upgrades will be delivered to Arbitrum as developed
- Collaborate with ecosystem partners and integrators on Arbitrum
- Governance will help to guide the long-term vision of the Synthetix protocol and introduce relevant products to the ecosystem to support its long term growth and etc
Audit History & Security Vendors: Permanent engagement with Iosiro for all code released, as well as one off audits for major releases from Open Zeppelin.
Security Incidents: No. Synthetix has not had any security incidents.
SECTION 3: 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: 4,500,000 ARB
Justification for the size of the grant: The grant is aimed at bootstrapping liquidity for Synthetix derivative markets on Arbitrum through LP incentives, fee rebates,trading competitions, growth experiments to engage users, and supporting a decentralized Synthetix stablecoin on Arbitrum.
This request is based on the significant potential to shift substantial trading volume and TVL from centralized to decentralized platforms, as perps protocols have proven their product market fit among traders and users.
Grant Matching: Synthetix Treasury Council has a strong history of incentivizing liquidity and trading, and will do so on Arbitrum. In addition to specific SNX Arbitrum incentives that will be disclosed soon, there are existing SNX incentives that will apply to Arbitrum, such as STP-10.
Grant Breakdown:
- 1,600,000 ARB for LP incentives.
- 1,800,000 ARB for trading fee rebates.
- 500,000 ARB for Stablecoin liquidity.
- 600,000 ARB for trading competitions and other growth experiments
Funding Address (Treasury multisig on Arb): 0xf0288B07A9B9a49dbf9a2f584DB371093E8C14E2
Funding Address Characteristics: 3 of 4 multisig, members elected by token holders.
Treasury Address on L1: 0x99f4176ee457afedffcb1839c7ab7a030a5e4a92
Contract Address: 0x4Ab09F627fa9706f33178129005300Fd4c00EDF1
SECTION 4: GRANT OBJECTIVES, EXECUTION AND MILESTONES
Clearly outline the primary objectives of the program and the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), execution strategy, and milestones used to measure success. This helps reviewers understand what the program aims to achieve and how progress will be assessed.
Objectives:
The grant aims to use ARB incentives to kickstart deployment of the Synthetix protocol on Arbitrum and bring Synthetixâs innovative derivatives liquidity platform to Arbitrum users. Synthetix has a strong history of carefully using incentives to build momentum for great products, which carries on long after incentives have ended.
Execution Strategy: [Describe the plan for executing including token distribution method (e.g. farming, staking, bonds, referral program, etc), what you are incentivizing, resources, products, use of funds, and risk management. This includes allocations for specific pools, eligible assets, products, etc.]
- Allocation of ARB Incentives:
- 1,600,000 ARB allocated for Perps V3 LP incentives to attract a critical mass of LP collateral and offer competitive perps liquidity. These LP incentives will be the primary focus of the first month, but distributed over months 1 and 2. These aim to establish and continue a solid foundation for liquidity of ARB, ETH, USDC and DAI as collateral for Synthetix Perps.
- 500,000 ARB for stablecoin pool Incentives: These incentives aim to support liquidity for an Arbitrum native Synthetix-powered stablecoin (sUSD) that LPs will be able to borrow against liquidity positions.
- The most likely pairs to incentivize will be sUSD/USDC and sUSDC/DAI - which allows LPs to increase their capital efficiency of LPing to Synthetix
- These LP incentives are critical to increasing the systemâs capital efficiency. LPs can mint sUSD against their ETH/USDC/DAI/ARB collateral delegated to Perps V3 on Arbitrum, allowing users to swap this sUSD into USDC/ETH/DAI/ARB and LP into the system again. Using this newly minted sUSD, users can leverage their LP exposure while maintaining the same delta neutrality the Perps V3 system is known for. Wrappers will be used for maintaining peg, as well proven on other chains.
- 1,800,000 ARB for trading rewards: This allocation is aimed at acquiring new users with rebates for both gas and exchange fees. These incentives will be capped at 100% of fees traded by each trader, so there will be no possibility to sybil. Trading rewards will be utilized and the focus of the 3rd and final month following distribution. Synthetix has a track recording of building the best onchain perps, and effectively using incentives to gain traction, after which volume and activity is largely retained.
- 600,000 ARB for Trading Competitions and other growth experiments: Trading competitions will be held to attract new users and increase trading volume. The ARB allocated will be distributed as prizes over several competitions throughout the 2nd and 3rd month, with a focus on maximizing engagement and bringing in new traders.
- Growth Experiments: These include gas fee rebates, trading competitions, cross-synergies between Arbitrum protocols, and incentives that will bring users from other chains, such as utilizing ARB incentives to rebate trading fees/gas fees/competitions for partner protocols, like Pyth Network on Solana alongside those building alongside/atop Synthetix on Arbitrum. We see this as a very supportive way to bring users from other chains to Arbitrum and keep them engaged with our Arbitrum specific ecosystem.
- Incentives Distribution Timeline: All incentive programs will be concluded following 3 months after distribution. Synthetix will begin with LP incentives for the first month, stablecoin liquidity incentives in the second month, and trading & growth experiment incentives in the third and final month.
What mechanisms within the incentive design will you implement to incentivize âstickinessâ whether it be users, liquidity or some other targeted metric? [Provide relevant design and implementation details]
To enhance stickiness of capital / trading activity and ensure sustained engagement with Synthetix on Arbitrum, our incentive design includes multiple strategies:
- Initial Engagement through Liquidity Incentives and Trading Rebates: Initially, incentives will be used to seed a critical mass of LP TVL which, combined with trading rebates and Synthetixâs best-in-class trade execution, will be extremely attractive to early users.
- Streaming ARB Rewards: Weâll distribute rewards for trading and liquidity provision over time. This approach encourages ongoing participation and engagement with the platform.
- Emphasis on Continuous Product Innovation: As we plan for a future reduction in direct incentives, our focus will shift to retaining users through continuous innovation and the introduction of new features which will expand the product offering, reduce fees, and keep users within the Synthetix Ecosystem. Some of these new features include, but are not limited to, support for yield-generating assets to reduce the need for LP incentives, alongside yield-generating perp margin, auto-LP leverage looping tools, decreased perp trading fees following Pyth Oracle innovations, and more.
- Involvement in Governance: Engaging users in governance decisions aims to foster a deeper connection to the platform, encouraging long-term engagement. Synthetix has one of the most well-rounded and engaged governance systems in all of DeFi, and we expect to onboard many new users indirectly through ARB rewards. While rewards will not be utilized to incentivize governance activity, Synthetix will market community-run campaigns to support new perps assets, increase OI caps, and add yield-generating native perp margin/LP collateral native to arbitrum. All of these are vital areas that governance must debate and work through with the support of new Arbitrum users.
- As Synthetix has successfully demonstrated on other chains, wrappers can be used to maintain the peg of the sUSD stablecoin on >$100m market cap across two chains.
These strategies are designed to draw users initially with trading incentives and then retain them through platform improvements, rewards for continued participation, and governance involvement. Our aim is to cultivate a dedicated trading community on Arbitrum, with a future focus on reducing reliance on direct financial incentives to ensure a sustainable deployment.
Specify the KPIs that will be used to measure success in achieving the grant objectives and designate a source of truth for governance to use to verify accuracy. [Please also justify why these specific KPIs will indicate that the grant has met its objective. Distribution of the grant itself should not be one of the KPIs.]
To effectively measure the success of the grant objectives, we will track the following KPIs during the 3-month incentive period:
- Perps Trading Volume: Monitor the weekly/ monthly increase in trading volume to track active trader engagement and usage of incentives.
- Fee Growth: Assess the monthly growth in trading fees generated, this will also help to support continued LP interest in supporting Perps V3.
- Total LP TVL: Measure the total value of liquidity provider collateral backing the markets. Increases here will allow for deeper OI support for markets, and long-tail market support.
- Unique Addresses: Count the number of unique wallet addresses engaging with the platform, reflecting âuniqueâ user adoption.
- Open Interest for Individual Markets: Track the open interest across different markets to gauge long-term market interest.
- Open Interest for ETH/BTC and Long-tail Markets: Special focus on open interest in major and niche markets to understand trader distribution across supported markets.
- Number of Markets Supported: Regularly track the total number of supported markets, with an expectation that continued support for new long-tail markets will help to bring in new traders.
Grant Timeline and Milestones: [Describe the timeline for the grant, including ideal milestones with respective KPIs. Include at least one milestone that shows progress en route to a final outcome. Please justify the feasibility of these milestones.]
Week 1-4: Establish LP base
- Begin distributing ARB incentives focusing on initial LP incentives to scale collateral on Arbitrum
- Milestone: Reach 50m in LP collateral across ARB, DAI, USDC, ETH, and any other supported collateral types.
- KPI to Watch: Initial increase in LP collateral, initial perp markets launched.
Week 4-8: Scale Open Interest
- Milestone: Reach 20m in liquidity Stablecoin liquidity on key pairs like sUSD/USDC and sUSDC/DAI Milestone: Support primary perp markets and begin to allocate OI to these markets to scale up trading activity for week 8-12
- KPIs to Watch: Stablecoin liquidity, LP collateral, # of supported markets, OI limit for supported markets.
Week 8-12: Scale Perp Volume and User Onboarding
- Milestone: Achieve 10b in cumulative trading volume, and add longer tail perp markets
- Milestone: Onboard 10,000 unique trading addresses.
- KPIs to Watch: Cumulative trading volume and unique trading addresses.
Week 12 onwards: Self-sustaining volume and growth
- Milestone: Onboard a native yield-generating collateral type. Continued tracking for trading volume growth, open interest, and number of markets.
- KPIs to Watch: Number of markets supported, trading volume and open interest.
How will receiving a grant enable you to foster growth or innovation within the Arbitrum ecosystem? [Clearly explain how the inputs of your program justify the expected benefits to the DAO. Be very clear and tangible, and you must back up your claims with data]
Receiving this grant will significantly impact the Arbitrum ecosystem by driving growth and fostering innovation in several ways:
- Increased Trading Activity: The incentive program is expected to boost trading volume on Arbitrum, further increasing the trading activity on Arbitrum. This will help to ensure Arbitrum is a competitive DeFi ecosystem.
- Liquidity and Market Depth: By incentivizing liquidity providers, the grant will ensure deep liquidity for Synthetix markets on Arbitrum. This makes the protocol more attractive for perps traders, helping to improve the trader experience
- User Adoption: With targeted incentives for new and existing users, the program aims to significantly increase the number of users interacting with Synthetix and Arbitrum.
- Experimentation and Innovation: Synthetix will also work to enable the new perps markets and collateral types, including yield-generating collateral assets.
- This can include, but is not limited to sDAI, sUSDe, etherfi eth, wsteth, etc.
- Ecosystem Synergies: The growth of Synthetix on Arbitrum will have spillover effects on other protocols within the ecosystem, driving overall growth. Increased activity on Synthetix can lead to higher demand for Arbitrumâs DeFi ecosystem, fostering development of composable protocols atop Synthetix liquidity and infrastructure.
- Synthetix Support for Arbitrum: By deploying on Arbitrum, Synthetix, a well-established protocol in DeFi, directly encourages its existing user base to try out its Arbitrum deployment. Many Synthetix users have shown interest in Arbitrum, and this move signals a strategic expansion that meets user demand.
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
SECTION 5: Data and Reporting
OpenBlock Labs has developed a comprehensive data and reporting checklist for tracking essential metrics across participating protocols. Teams must adhere to the specifications outlined in the provided link here: Onboarding Checklist from OBL. Along with this list, please answer the following:
Is your team prepared to comply with OBLâs data requirements for the entire life of the program and three months following and then handoff to the Arbitrum DAO? Yes
Does your team agree to provide bi-weekly program updates on the Arbitrum Forum thread that reference your OBL dashboard?
Yes, Synthetix will create a dashboard via Dune (or equivalent) dashboard to display KPIs discussed in this grant, and will also utilize a Notion dashboard alongside public comms to break down any developmental progress made discussed in this grant.
First Offense: *In the event that a project does not provide a bi-weekly update, they will be reminded by an involved party (council, advisor, or program manager). Upon this reminder, the project is given 72 hours to complete the requirement or their funding will be halted.
Second Offense: Discussion with an involved party (advisor, pm, council member) that will lead to understanding if funds should keep flowing or not.
Third Offense: Funding is halted permanently
Does your team agree to provide a final closeout report not later than two weeks from the ending date of your program? This report should include summaries of work completed, final cost structure, whether any funds were returned, and any lessons the grantee feels came out of this grant. Where applicable, be sure to include final estimates of acquisition costs of any users, developers, or assets onboarded to Arbitrum chains. (NOTE: No future grants from this program can be given until a closeout report is provided.) Yes.
Does your team acknowledge that failure to comply with any of the above requests can result in the halting of the programâs funding stream?: Yes
If this case is approved, does it mean that the DAO is telling us not to deploy on Arbitrum until we apply for a grant? 
