[Tender Finance] [Draft] [STIP - Round 2]

Archive Short Term Incentives Program (STIP) Round 2
1

Applicant Name: Gemach DAO

Project Name: Tender Finance

Project Description: The team is developing a native Arbitrum-centric DeFi offering with a decentralize money market/borrowing and lending platform, loan application, index fund, Telegram bot, Telegram token scanner, and a Telegram Crypto Intelligence Bot. Referred to as DeFi legos.

Team Members and Qualifications:

Anhnt (developer) - GitHub - anhntbk08 (Anhnt) · GitHub

Ben J Kanbour (developer) - GitHub - bjkanbour (Ben J Kanbour) · GitHub

Ian Kane (Growth)

Dr. Justin Goldston (Research and Operations)

Project Links:

Tender Finance - https://tender.fi https://app.tender.fi

Tender Finance documentation - https://docs.tender.fi/

Tender Finance GitHub - tender-finance · GitHub

Tender Finance Demo - https://youtu.be/gkJfeIuF3dw?si=QAmZ602RBbdm4nxI

Gemach DeFi Legos - https://gemach.io/

Gemach documentation - Intro to Gemach - Gemach DAO

Contact Information:

Dr. Justin Goldston

TG: @drdegen

Twitter: @phd_justin

Email: justin.goldston@sydtek.ai (cc: contact@gemach.io)

Do You Acknowledge That Your Team Will Be Subject to a KYC Requirement?:

Yes

SECTION 2: GRANT INFORMATION

Requested Grant Size:
We are requesting 750,000 $ARB tokens from the Short-Term Incentive Program.

Grant Matching:
N/A

Grant Breakdown:

  • 100% of the grant (750,000 ARB) will be distributed among market participants (suppliers and borrowers on the platform). Each market participant is entitled to the proportion of emissions directed to the different markets they are participating in (USDC or ETH markets) and the percent of the pool they have contributed.

Funding Address:
0x80b54e18e5bb556c6503e1c6f2655749c9e41da2

Funding Address Characteristics:
The above address is the DAO’s treasury address which is a 3 of 6 gnosis safe on Arbitrum.

Contract Address: N/A

SECTION 3: GRANT OBJECTIVES AND EXECUTION

Objectives:
We aim to use the funds from the grant to incentivize depositing and borrowing activity in the Money Markets and the participation into our borrowing and lending markets.

By providing depositors with more attractive yields and borrowers with cheaper borrow interest rates, we expect these incentives to improve the general available liquidity in the lending markets. This will allow users to deploy their assets more efficiently, but also support Protocols that are facilitating leveraged yield-bearing strategies such as looping with GLP v1 and GLP v2 as well as other strategies included in the future.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):

We believe that the main KPIs to measure the success of the grant are:

Total Value Locked (“TVL”):

  • Growth in the total deposits on the Protocol
  • Growth in the total deposits of yield-bearing assets

User Count:

  • Total number of weekly users
  • Number of new users

Utilization Rate:

  • How much of the funds are being utilized in the makers. This is an important metric as we want markets to be efficient

ROI

  • The last metric that is important to measure is the ROI on the emissions paid out per market. This is to ensure efficient distribution of incentives.

How will receiving a grant enable you to foster growth or innovation within the Arbitrum ecosystem?:

By providing an alternative platform for tokenholders to utilize their native application tokens, our goal is to assist applications by:

  • Enhancing the competitiveness of native yield-bearing assets compared to other ecosystems through leveraged looping of these assets;

  • Maintaining a larger user base and tokenholder community; and

  • Easing supply-side pressure on their token, thereby fostering the growth and adoption of their Protocol.

  • Creating a one stop telegram DeFi bot where users can perform all their regular crypto tasks including borrowing and lending.

With the increased liquidity from these incentives and the interoperability of our markets, we are excited to see other developers building on top of the TND markets and engaging in the aforementioned mechanisms to customize liquidity according to their specific requirements.

Justification for the size of the grant:

The eligibility guidelines posted on the forum categorize Tender Finance, now under Gemach DAO’s operation, as falling within the Sirens Grants category. Since its launch in January 2023, which marks 10 months ago, it has amassed deposits totaling $4.48 million.

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Notably, we have consistently maintained our TVL above the threshold for prolonged periods. It’s worth highlighting that we achieved this scale without relying on external funding, and through the merger between Tender Finance and Gemach DAO, we continue to deliver innovative products. Additionally, it’s also worth mentioning that we did not receive the ArbitrumDAO airdrop, underscoring our competitive standing with other protocols for liquidity.

Execution Strategy:

Tender Finance intends to distribute granted funds as follows:

  • Market participants will receive compensation in $ARB tokens directly for their protocol engagement.

  • Eligible rewards will be calculated weekly by dividing the total granted $ARB by the number of weeks until the incentive program ends in January 2024.

  • $ARB tokens will be emitted directly from the comptroller to users, requiring manual claiming through our dashboard.

  • Weekly $ARB distribution for each user will be determined by their total supply and borrow balances, allocated across different markets.

  • The Tender Finance team will monitor and report distribution metrics weekly to the public.

Grant Timeline:

We plan to deploy the incentives linearly as soon as the tokens are received. The start date will with the plan to end the emissions on January 31, 2024.

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 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?:

Tender Finance is currently native to Arbitrum.

On what other networks is the protocol deployed?:

Currently Tender Finance is only deployed on Arbitrum and is exploring other potential networks, but nothing has been realized as of yet.

What date did you deploy on Arbitrum?:

Tender Finance deployed on Arbitrum in Jan 2023 making it the longest standing native money market on Arbitrum.

Protocol Performance:

Tender Finance, a pioneering decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol, has continually demonstrated its commitment to fostering financial inclusivity and innovation in the blockchain space. Launched in January 2023, Tender Finance swiftly established itself as a robust and user-friendly lending and borrowing platform. Leveraging cutting-edge technology, Tender Finance has played a pivotal role in reshaping the landscape of borrowing and lending on the Arbitrum network by being the first platform to allow users to lend and borrow $ARB.

Key Achievements:

  1. Steady Growth: Tender Finance has exhibited remarkable growth since its inception.

  2. Innovative Features: The protocol has introduced innovative features such as leveraged looping, the first 2 in 1 auto-compounding money markets, and a built from scratch open source front end enabling users to enhance the yield of their assets, setting a new standard in DeFi.

  3. User Engagement: The vibrant community surrounding Tender Finance actively participates in governance proposals, demonstrating a high level of engagement and commitment to the protocol’s evolution.

  4. Security Measures: With a focus on security, Tender Finance has undergone rigorous security audits and bug bounties, ensuring the safety of user funds and data.

Performance Metrics:

  • Total Value Locked (TVL): Tender Finance has consistently maintained a substantial TVL, showcasing its appeal to users and investors.
  • User Activity: The protocol experiences high user activity, evidenced by the frequency of lending, borrowing, and yield farming transactions.
  • Liquidity Pools: Tender Finance boasts diverse and deep liquidity pools, enabling a wide range of yield farming strategies.

Protocol Roadmap:

With the recent merger of Tender Finance and Gemach DAO, this collaboration allows growth within the Arbitrum ecosystem. Below are the integration plans:

Phase 1: Integration of gBot and Telegram Direct Interaction (Q1 2024)

  • Development of gBot Integration: Tender Finance will focus on seamlessly integrating gBot, a cutting-edge chatbot technology, allowing users to borrow, lend, and manage their assets directly through Telegram. This integration aims to enhance user accessibility and convenience, fostering a frictionless experience within the Telegram environment.

    • Current gBot functionality on Ethereum can be found on Telegram at: @Gemach_Bot

  • User Education and Adoption: The team will initiate comprehensive user education programs, tutorials, and interactive guides to ensure that the community fully understands the capabilities of gBot. This educational effort will be pivotal in driving user adoption and engagement with the new Telegram-based features.

  • Crypto Alpha Intelligence: The team will also integrate the Gemach AI - Alpha Intelligence tooling onto Arbitrum. This tool is capable of exploring new market trends and executing strategic trades as well as providing users with the most valuable and up-to-date information in the DeFi space. In addition to being a DeFi co-pilot, Gemach AI - Alpha Intelligence can perform various actions such as checking if a URL is a phishing site, checking address and token security information, checking the risk of a dApp by URL, or checking for token approvals of an EOA address and associated risk items.

    • Current gBot functionality on Ethereum can be found on Telegram at: @GemachAlphaIntelligenceBot

Phase 2: Integration of GMX v2 for Enhanced Customizability (Q2 2024)

  • Implementation of GMX v2: Tender Finance will integrate GMX v2, an advanced version of the protocol, providing users with highly customizable strategies for lending, borrowing, and yield farming. The integration will empower users to tailor their financial strategies based on individual risk tolerance and investment objectives, enhancing the overall flexibility of the platform.
  • Partnership Collaborations: Tender Finance will actively collaborate with external DeFi projects and experts to explore innovative use cases and strategies leveraging GMX v2. These partnerships will bring diverse perspectives and expertise, enriching the platform’s offerings and providing users with a wide array of strategic options.

Phase 3: Full Integration into Gemach DAO DeFi Legos (Q3 2024)

  • Holistic Integration: Tender Finance will achieve complete integration into the Gemach DAO DeFi Legos ecosystem. This integration will create a seamless synergy between Tender Finance and other Gemach DAO projects, enabling users to leverage a comprehensive suite of decentralized financial services, all under one unified platform.
  • Cross-Protocol Collaboration: Collaboration initiatives with other Gemach DAO DeFi Legos projects will be initiated, encouraging cross-protocol partnerships and synergies. These collaborations will foster an environment of innovation, enabling shared resources and expertise to create novel solutions and enhance the overall DeFi experience for users.

Continuous Improvement and Community Engagement:

Throughout each phase of the roadmap, Tender Finance will prioritize continuous improvement, security enhancements, and proactive community engagement. Regular updates, security audits, and feedback-driven optimizations will be conducted to ensure a robust, user-friendly, and secure platform. Community feedback will be actively sought and integrated, aligning the development trajectory with the needs and preferences of Tender Finance users.

Additionally, to amplify the protocol and the community, our project, along with other projects within the Arbitrum ecosystem, will be profiled as use cases in Forbes as Dr. Justin Goldston is a member of the Forbes Technology Council and publishes in Forbes regularly. Please see a recent article where a few protocols and projects where highlighted in a recent article on multi-party computation and account abstraction:

Audit History:

Peckshield and Armors performed audits, and the reports/results can be found below.

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Peckshield Audit: https://github.com/peckshield/publications/blob/master/audit_reports/PeckShield-Audit-Report-Tender-v1.0.pdf

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Armors.io Audit: http://odex.vip/?sign=6100531bc2e5bf8b94dd7a7b87b53577

SECTION 5: Data and Reporting

Provide details on how your team is equipped to provide data and reporting on grant distribution.

Is your team prepared to create Dune Dashboards for your incentive program?:
We are able to keep track of the data and results of this grant with our Dune Dashboard, we can create a reporting interface in our front end, and store the relevant information in our database and access it via our API.

Does your team agree to provide bi-weekly program updates on the Arbitrum Forum thread?

Yes

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

6 Likes
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Tender, masquerading under the guise of an Arbitrum-centric protocol, seems to be a ship jumping from one port to another. After failing to make a mark on Arbitrum, they’ve now turned their eyes elsewhere:
:link: https://twitter.com/Tender_fi/status/1695103888787902794

And let’s not forget their recent rebranding to Glend. One has to wonder, why such a drastic pivot if all was well? Their silence on this pivotal change in the proposal is deafening:

:link: https://twitter.com/Tender_fi/status/1715106262310846832

But wait, there’s more! The Tender team’s penchant for amateurism reached its pinnacle when they recklessly updated their oracle code without any proper audit. Their blunder with the GMX oracle price (missing a mere matter of digits) was nothing short of a calamity, allowing a user to siphon off the entire protocol’s liquidity.

Lucky for them, the user had more scruples than skill.

Misleading APRs? Check. Tender’s audacity in inflating their APRs with fake esTND incentives while peddling them as regular APRs is nothing short of scandalous.

Now, let’s talk numbers. A staggering request for 750,000 ARB tokens in this proposal, juxtaposed against a paltry on-chain TVL of 4 million dollars? This flouts every reasonable DAO recommendation. Ridiculous

But where, pray tell, is their so-called ‘community’? One glance at their desolate Discord reveals a ghost town, with a lone moderator echoing in the silence.

The “team” behind Tender? While most left after the “exploit”, others remain enigmatic, what’s particularly puzzling is their Growth and Operation expert, the so-called “Dr” Justin Goldston. Despite his pivotal role, he’s never been introduced to the community. Why the secrecy?

Is it him ? https://twitter.com/Dr_Supply_Chain

Or one of these ?

Screenshot 2023-10-20 at 20.06.29
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I, a once proud member of the Tender community, was betrayed by this team while KOL were shilling “Tendies”.

Now, with eyes wide open, I beseech all delegates: Cast a resounding NO on this farcical proposal.

2 Likes
3

@RugMeOnce,

Thank you for voicing your concerns. In addressing these concerns, Tender Finance is committed to developing the Arbitrum ecosystem with the recent merger with Gemach DAO. While I disagree that this was done in silence, the Gemach DAO team has been strategically working with the Tender Finance team to develop a more sustainable product with GLend.

As the comment centered around the audit, there have been multiple audits that have taken place with Afterdark Labs, Peckshield, and Armors.

Next, I am the ‘Dr’ Justin Goldston you speak of, so allow me to reintroduce myself. While you are correct that I have not been introduced to the community, that is because I am a part of the Gemach DAO team that Tender Finance merged with. As this team may be one of the most doxxed teams in this round, I feel there is no secrecy centered around this project regarding the team or activities. You can see my credentials below:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-goldston/

Also, thank you for the X.com search you performed, as you uncovered fake accounts that I have to report. My actual account is @phd_justin and you can DM me for any additional questions you have.

4 Likes
4

Hi friend,

I’m happy to address your concerns. Your comments seem to be quite emotionally biased, and your accusations are untrue.

The main points I will address that are simply untrue:

“Recklessly updated their oracle code without any proper audit.”
The code that was deployed was fully audited by Peckshield and you can see that in the commit history in the audit, yet they refuse to acknowledge or take responsibility.

“Misleading APRs”
It is clearly displayed what you are earning is an escrowed token. No comment or proposal has been brought forward to change that. The APR’s are also separated so you see how much you are making from what.

“request for 750,000 ARB tokens in this proposal, juxtaposed against a paltry on-chain TVL of 4 million dollars”
These were the requirements set forth by the Arbitrum team, not us my friend.

“The “team” behind Tender? While most left after the “exploit””
You seem to be using words out of context here not to mention that this is also not the truth. The exploit happened in March and the team was working in full force for 5 months after that. Note that only 1 member left in July and everyone else that is no longer on the team currently was fired.

“I, a once proud member of the Tender community, was betrayed by this team while KOL were shilling “Tendies”.”
I want to note that not a single one of these KOL were paid, and no “team” member has been assigned any tokens yet.

All in all, we are still here, still building, and that is the main point to highlight. How many projects on Arbitrum have had millions in funding through VC’s, Crowd-funding, etc and are nowhere to be seen at the moment. We have no funding, with nothing to gain yet are still here.

5 Likes
5

First and foremost, a heartfelt thank you to both of you for addressing my impassioned concerns. Emotions might have fueled my words, but it’s high time our community learned from the pitfalls of past cycles. We must cease rewarding failed protocols, driven merely by the lure of liquidity farming, at the grave expense of DAO members and token holders.

@Dr.Degen, while it’s a relief to hear those accounts were mere impersonations, your presence remains an enigma to both the community and DAO members. We genuinely wished you’d made an introduction before championing this proposal in our name.

@kingblueberry.eth, let’s be clear about the exploit: it was due to a mere comma error in the oracle price. This glaring oversight exposes the sheer level of amateurism at play – updating on-chain code with no prior audit or verification.

The staggering request for 750,000 ARB defies all Arbitrum DAO guidelines. Specifically, for protocols with a TVL ranging from 4 to 15 million, the cap is set at 750,000 ARB. Tender’s TVL teeters at the lower end, and your proposal lacks any corresponding incentives. Thus, demanding 750,000 ARB is nothing short of a daylight heist of the DAO’s funds and the integrity of STIP round 2.

And who exactly are you trying to hoodwink with the esTND’s laughably inflated APR? An escrowed token for TND, which barely scratches 100k in liquidity, is beyond farcical.

The hour has come for our industry to wise up and stop endorsing projects that have consistently faltered. Tender’s track record since its inception screams incompetence, and this 750,000 ARB request is an unabashed scam.

Delegates, for the sake of our beleaguered community, cast a resounding NO on this proposal. Your vigilance is appreciated.

4 Likes
6

I’m torn. I would like Tender Fi to get a grant, because I’m a long term user and like bonus APRs, but I also don’t think this was a million dollar proposal…

The Good

tl;dr - I like Tender Fi. Leveraging GMD assets is awesome (and GMX and GLP).

I think the ability to use GMD assets as collateral is extremely under-appreciated and undervalued. I love being able to keep gmdETH, gmdBTC, and gmdUSDC deposited long term, while periodically borrowing other assets to take advantage of short term farming opportunities. The 0.5% deposit fee makes cycling in/out of GMD assets, particularly, gmdBTC which has no secondary liquidity. GMD has seemed to provide the highest consistent APR, but Tender Fi lets you take that to the next level, by leveraging an already productive asset.

The Criticism

If the GMX v2 strategy was priority #1, and if it actually sounded like there was any strategy/plan (all the proposal said was “GMX v2 == good”) then I’d be all for this proposal; however, the priority seems to be this telegram bot…

GBOT Skepticism

  1. Who is the target market for this bot?
    • Describe the persona(s) for this user
    • What assets and how much value would they manage?
    • What is the maximum market size, given this persona?
  2. Who uses telegram sniper bots? Same exercise, describe their persona(s), investment choices, expected behaviours, as well as assessing and quantifying the total addressable market.

In my estimation, user 1 is financially literate with a moderate-to-high risk tolerance, working with large funds; user 2 is a degenerate gambler making smaller bets. I am both, but my accounts for these two activities are all kept extremely separated.

More Questions:

  1. How does a TG bot benefit a CDP market user? Or, how does access to a lending market benefit a sniper? Only benefit I see if for flash loan arbitrage, which is not something TG bot users will be doing.

  2. Who would trust using a natural language interface to manage large lend/borrow operations? You’re removing useful UI affordances. Seeing before/after collateral ratios, remaining borrow limit, liquidation prices, etc. are all really important visual elements.

  3. How do we trust this self-custody, private and secure claim? Quick scan of website just looks like trust me bro.

  4. Who is trusting a bot to execute large transactions? What am I missing in your business model? Who the heck would ever use a TG bot to manage their Aave positions?! Respectfully, I really think you a building a product no one wants.

  5. What is this AI alpha thing you’re claiming? My BS meter is maxing out here.

  6. How is your NLP AI bot going to perform such advanced trend analysis and analytics that will provide that sweet AI alpha when it kind of sounds like you don’t even know how to make a compelling proposal when asked about analytics tracking and a Dune dashboard. You aren’t defining KPIs that Arbitrum Foundation would want to see, let alone methodologies for tracking this data.

self shill: I’m available for data strategies, data-driven project planning and tracking, and Dune reporting work.

Final Thoughts

Bots are stupid. Why does everyone want to make a TG bot anyway? Why not build a dedicated wallet app? The UX is awful.

The initial proposal sounds like it was written in 30 minutes. The follow up response was much better, but it still doesn’t sound like there are any actual plans other than finishing building your sniper bot.

If this proposal had plans for improving on Tender Fi, including new tokenomics, then it would make sense for an Arbitrum grant, but this sounds like some mainnet moonboys found an abandoned Arbitrum project, offered to take over leadership, and hope to make a quick buck to fund their Telegram :poop:coin sniper.

Don’t mean to be a hater. Like I said, I’m a long term Tender Fi user, but this proposal is at best incomplete, and at worst sounds like a complete scam.

3 Likes