Chaser Finance Proposal

Author(s): Chaser Finance (Michael Manzano), neondaemon Status: Proposed Related Discussions: https://forum.across.to/t/rfc-grant-request-chaser-finance/1936

Summary:

Chaser Finance proposes a milestone-based grant from the Across DAO to finish its development. To enable novel investment strategies for decentralized protocols, Chaser implements Across V3 for bridging and depositing into reputable DeFi lending markets. With a successful launch, Chaser can bring great value to Across with a high volume of bridge transactions. The grants requested would reimburse necessary development expenses. Chaser also requests a deposit from the Across DAO to be returned with yield generated for the sake of promoting Chaser after launch.

What is Chaser:

https://forum.across.to/t/rfc-grant-request-chaser-finance/1936#what-is-chaser-7 [FOR MORE DETAILS ON CHASER, PLEASE SEE FORUM POST]

Specification & Implementation:

Chaser Beta is now live on Arbitrum Sepolia (https://chaser.finance), with a Mainnet launch scheduled for September. The beta has a working integration with Across V3, using the messaging handler to bridge and enter positions into both Aave and Compound on Sepolia, Optimism Sepolia and Arbitrum Sepolia. In order to fulfill the vision laid out above and bring true value to the Across community, there are some major product development tasks to be done before launch:

• Finish V1 contracts: There is still some refactoring to be done and features to be added before auditing. Additionally, I will make any fixes needed resulting from the audit.
• Hiring a JavaScript Developer: I am bringing on a full-time JavaScript developer to focus on building the front end and the strategy script mechanism. This will allow me to concentrate entirely on the smart contracts and protocol design.
• Searching for a Co-Founder: I am actively seeking a co-founder to handle the operational aspects of the project, including growth and finances.
• Conducting a Professional Audit: As a DeFi protocol aiming to attract investment, it is crucial to undergo a professionally conducted audit to ensure depositor confidence. Given the unique mechanisms Chaser employs to move liquidity between chains, a thorough audit is essential to identify any design flaws and vulnerabilities.
• Marketing: Beyond offering a quality service, we need to attract users to Chaser. Following a successful audit, we will start marketing on X (Twitter). The plan includes contracting a firm specializing in DeFi projects for social media management and content creation. Additionally, we will allocate an ad spend budget to reach as many users as possible.

Downside (Cons):

Smart contract risk: Because of general vulnerabilities when dealing with moving funds and data between chains, there is a higher level of risk when depositing to Chaser. Even though this is an inevitability for protocols looking to solve interoperability, this risk can be mitigated with good design and thorough auditing. While a private audit is a necessary step before launching Chaser, we are exploring doing a competitive audit as well for the sake of spotting these vulnerabilities.

Deposit and withdrawal delays: When depositing to Chaser, if the pool you deposit to has its position on another chain, you do not have instant liquidity. When needing to withdraw funds from Chaser, you have to send a request inter-chain to bridge back your deposits. Your position tokens are locked in escrow until you receive the funds. While this entire process is about 10 minutes, it can make a big difference for depositors needing liquidity at a moment’s notice. To avoid this drawback, Chaser allows pools to enable certain chains. This means that Chaser pools could restrict investments to only be on the home chain where liquidity is instant within a singular transaction.

Position movement illiquidity: In order to prevent issues with conflicting inter-chain messages and state among various contracts, depositor liquidity is paused during proposed position movements on a pool. Deposits and withdrawals to pools are blocked within one hour of the position change assertion being resolved. To impede unnecessary interaction pauses, Chaser pools select the bond amount required to propose an investment movement, making bad actors put up large amounts to be lost when submitting erroneous proposals. Also, if a pool deployer wants to only let a pool monitor bot automatically propose movements, they can assign the monitor address a specific role to be able to submit proposals.

Milestones and Funding Request

To successfully position Chaser to facilitate innovative strategies and optimize yields inter-chain, we seek support from the Across community. Below are the proposed milestones and the funds requested upon completion of each:

Milestone #1: Finish Product

• Conduct a private or competitive audit
• Build strategy monitors and create five basic strategies
• Finalize the front end
• Complete V1 contracts
• Estimated Completion: Late-August

Funding Request for Completion of Milestone #1: $8,990 in USD to cover the audit cost, as quoted by a reputable auditing firm. $7,000 in USD for development, including the front end, strategy scripts, monitor bots, and other tools. This amount is based on the developer’s salary. Total for Milestone #1: $15,990 USD (Paid in ACX)

Milestone #2: Launch

• Launch on Arbitrum Mainnet
• Initiate a marketing campaign on X and establish social media presence
• Estimated Completion: Mid-September

Funding Request for Completion Milestone #2: $10,000 USD for marketing to grow the user base organically. Approximately $5,000 will be allocated to contract social media experts for content creation and initial marketing strategy, and remaining amount for ad campaigns on X. $25,000 USDC deposit in a Chaser Aave/Compound pool, to be returned with yield earned to the Across DAO after 6 months. This is to help demonstrate the protocol’s legitimacy and yield-generating capabilities.

Total for Milestone #2: $10,000 USD + $25,000 USD deposit returned with yield generated (Paid in ACX)

TOTAL REQUEST: $25,990 USD + $25,000 USDC deposit for 6 months (Paid in ACX)

Future Plans Leading up to the launch, Chaser will request grants from other DAOs such as Arbitrum and Aave. While this grant proposal is to cover the absolute essentials in finishing Chaser, there are additional expenses to further guarantee Chaser’s success. This includes:

• Code4rena campaign to find a wider range of security vulnerabilities and inefficiencies
• Increase the marketing budget
• Hiring another Solidity developer

After the Mainnet launch, most focus will be on adjusting the protocol for any sort of issues or feedback based on the first users. While Chaser will move towards whatever early users show a need for, there are some ideas to pursue that could grow Chaser:

• Decentralized governance: Within a few months after launch, many actions will be decentralized in order for Chaser to grow as a decentralized protocol. As is standard in DeFi, major protocol decisions should be voted on to enforce quality and reflect the values of its users.
• Enable borrowing assets: Similar to using strategies to filter deposit markets, enabling borrowing against these deposits would allow for new use cases and greater transaction volume. Rather than only having use for depositors who want yield, Chaser could be used for entities that want to borrow against these deposits. With more protocols developing cross chain position capability, there is additional opportunity to deposit into a market on one chain, and use strategies to borrow assets from the market on the best chain according to customized parameters.
• Instant liquidity: Mechanisms could be built in Chaser’s smart contracts to allow for instant liquidity for deposits held on other chains. Essentially, it would borrow from deposits held on the home chain and repay the local pool when bridging completes with fees. This system would attract depositors that want to use Chaser’s strategy platform while also needing instant liquidity.

Links:

dApp: https://chaser.finance

X: https://x.com/ChaserFinance

Repo: GitHub - MichaelC1999/chaser

Docs: GitHub - MichaelC1999/chaser

Conclusion:

The Beta launch of Chaser Finance is live on Arbitrum Sepolia! chaser.finance

Please check out the dApp and comment about your experience! It would be great to have some feedback to perfect the Chaser dApp before the Mainnet launch.

All comments are appreciated! Before finalizing a proposal, we want to hear your thoughts about the requests laid out here and further elaborate on any details about Chaser. Looking forward to engaging further with the Across Community!

Voting:

For - In support of this proposal, should a For vote pass, we will begin implementation outlines within the proposal. Against - Not in support of this proposal, should an Against vote pass, we will take no immediate action.