Vote 34: Panda Pod 2nd Term Proposal

Summary

This proposal is for Gro DAO to allow the Panda Pod to continue operating for another 6-month term, with a funding request of 282,000 USDC; OR to extend its current term by 1-month, with a funding request of 55,000 USDC.

See GRFC: Panda Pod 2nd Term Proposal for complete details.

Voting Options

• Fund Panda Pod for another 6-month term
• Extend Panda Pod’s existing term for 1 more month to audit and release the deposit relayer
• Reject all options

Implementation

Panda Pod previously completed the testnet of the deposit relayer, which reduces the gas fees that are needed to use Gro DAO products. This will enable Gro DAO to attract users with token holdings on non-Etheruem chains, including Arbitrum and Optimism. Additionally, Panda Pod introduced research into 3 strategies (lvUSD, crvUSD/USDT, crvUSD/USDC) as well as built a backlog of promising other strategies to evaluate.

Option 1: 6 month term

By approving the full 6 month term, the DAO will enable Panda Pod to complete the cross chain relayer audit and offer the first new product offering from Gro DAO to the community in recent times. Additionally, Panda Pod will focus on researching and implementing new strategies (if DAO approved) that will increase the APYs offered by PWRD and GVT and address the core critical problem with the Gro Protocol today. Objectives will include:

• Complete audit on deployer
• Launch the cross-chain deposit relayer
• Introduce new strategies to DAO and put forward the proposals to whitelist those opportunities
• Build out protocol support for strategies with other yield token than 3crv (including building modules that manage slippage and check price oracles)
• Implement the whitelisted strategies approved by Gro DAO
• Further strengthen the strategy allocation framework started by Levi (Groda Pod)
• Setup the stop loss logic and review with other pods
• Update monitoring and alerting service to add new critical checkpoints for whitelisted strategies
• Support emergency multi-sig to cover more time zones.
• Design and implementation of new version of alerting system to help monitor the rebalance key check points

If this option is selected by the DAO, the 2nd Panda Pod term would run from 24 August, 2023 to 24 February, 2024.

Option 2: 1 month extension

By approving the 1 month extension, Gro Dao will enable the Panda pod to complete the work on the deposit relayer and launch it with a completed audit as well as continue to demonstrate our capabilities on strategy research. At the end of the 1 month period, Panda Pod will present a refined proposal for a 6 month term renewal. Objectives will include:

• Complete audit on deployer
• Continue revising UI/UX based on beta testing feedback
• Launch deposit relayer into Optimism and Arbitrum mainnet
• Submit 1-2 additional strategies to the DAO for consideration

If this option is selected by the DAO, the Panda Pod's current term would be extended until 24 September, 2023.

Option 3: Rejection

In the event that the aforementioned option is not approved, the Panda team will carefully review the proposal and engage in a thorough dialogue with the community to incorporate any feedback received. This collaborative approach will enable us to refine the proposal and ultimately identify the most suitable solution that aligns with the community’s interests and expectations.

Budget

The budget for the 1 month extension is 55,000 USDC, including 49,000 USDC for the 6 Panda Pod contributors and 6,000 in additional budget for completing the deposit relayer audit as the best quote received and selected was in excess of the previously allocated 30,000 USDC budget in term 1.

The budget for the 6 month full term is 282,000; 276,000 USDC for the 6 Panda pod contributors and 6,000 in additional budget for completing the relayer audit. Any additional budget needed for strategy audits will be requested in the individual strategy whitelist votes.

Composition

Following the Gro DAO collaboration framework, the Panda Product Pod will include contributors who participate in engineering and product management.

4 full-time contributors and 2 part-time would form the Panda Product Pod:

• WW (backend & smart contract)
• LH (backend & smart contract)
• VW (backend & smart contract)
• SC (product & pod facilitator)
• Kwww (product)
• EW (front-end)

Timeline & Voting

This vote will run for 5 days and will follow the ranked-choice voting (instant runoff voting) format as there are 3 viable options to choose from. Accordingly, users can rank their choices in order of preference. If no option receives a majority share of votes (over 50%), the option with the least amount of votes will be eliminated, and those who voted for this option will have their second choice recorded instead.

You can read more about ranked-choice voting here.