KIP-22: Whitelist C3 Gauges

Summary:

Whitelist C3 gauges as depositable vaults for treasury assets.

Motivation:

Currently, the assets in our treasury lay dormant and are used purely for backing KLIMA. C3, a recent addition to the ReFi ecosystem, offers gauges for users to stake assets in return for governance. By depositing assets in C3 staking and liquidity gauges, KlimaDAO:

• Supports the alliance laid out in KIP-15,
• Gains yield on treasury carbon assets, and
• Acquires more C3 governance.

Since deposited assets continue to back tokens and (in the case of LP tokens) earn trading fees, there is negligible risk to the KlimaDAO treasury value and inflows. Note that staking in C3 gauges requires a locking period, with boosted rewards for longer periods. This KIP also delegates the right to choose appropriate locking timelines for each staked asset to the Policy team in accordance with broader policy priorities.

Hotfix Changes

The policy team acknowledges the inherent opportunity cost incurred through locked staking: staked reserve assets cannot be paired and staked liquidity assets cannot be reallocated to optimize for liquidity depth, nor can neither asset class be staked elsewhere for potentially more lucrative returns. As such, the policy team proposes the allowance of locked staking, up to a maximum period of 1 day. A future KIP would be required to lock for longer periods of time.

In addition, the policy team will not be depositing any assets into C3 gauges until a) C3 rewards have been ramped up to full capacity and b) the supply of C3 tokens is greater than the demand. In doing so, C3 will be able to grow naturally without a single party engulfing its supply. As KlimaDAO was allocated 10% of C3 tokens vested linearly, it will remain a strong player regardless of depositing.

Proposal

Allow the Policy Team to stake up to 50% of each eligible treasury asset into C3 vaults. Allow the Policy Team to vote for gauge rewards using locked C3 governance tokens, as a temporary measure until a more decentralized method is developed.

Polling Period

The snapshot vote begins now and will end at 17:00 UTC 14/04/2022.