MIP: Ecosystem Investment - Sumer Money

TLDR

This proposal plans an investment of $200,000 USD worth of MTRG into Sumer Money - an ecosystem project closely associated with Meter - aimed at fostering growth and increased utility across the Meter network

Sumer Money - Creating a Fungible Liquidity Layer

Sumer is a Cross-chain Synthetic Assets Money Market Protocol, deployed simultaneously on a network of supported chains. Sumer enables creation of SuTokens (Synthetic Assets of USD, ETH and BTC) to provide a credit card-like experience to users.

As a DeFi user, you can deposit your assets (ETH, BTC, USDC, USDT etc.) on the native blockchain in the lending and borrowing market to mint synthetic assets (SuUSD, SuETH, SuBTC) that are fungible across the network of all supported blockchains. Cross-chain transfers are secured by Chainlink CCIP and LayerZero.

With growing Liquid Staking Derivatives and yield bearing stablecoins market, Sumer is also well-positioned to create a liquidity fungible layer with SuTokens encompassing liquid staking derivatives and yield-bearing stablecoins as collateral in the multichain DeFI ecosystem.

Sumer is currently deployed on Meter, Arbitrum and Base with a TVL of over 2.5 Mill USD on Meter Network.

Investment Details

Amount and Terms

Meter will invest an amount of $200K USD worth of MTRG at the price in the latest sale round of Sumer. The Meter Ecosystem will get SUMER tokens at TGE.

Use of Funds

Sumer Money plans to allocate the investment to bootstrap liquidity across 2 major verticals;

1. Bootstrap SuToken (suUSD, suETH) liquidity on supported networks
2. Incentivize deposits of Liquid Staking Derivatives (primarily ETH), Restaking and Yield bearing Stablecoins on Sumer

Burn Rate

Sumer will utilize the investment over the next 1.5-2 years.

Rationale for the Investment

We have historically defined 4 key objective criteria that help drive growth and adoption of Meter Network as a public goods platform - Ability to generate transaction volume, Ability to attract TVL, Ability to attract new users, Fill gap in current Meter ecosystem needs.

This investment in Sumer helps Meter meet the criteria in both tangible and intangible ways.

1. Design Principles of Sumer Money and natural synergies

Sumer, by design, will feature across the major blockchain networks supporting native assets in the money market and enabling minting synthetic SuTokens. Sumer has a lot of potential to partner with Liquid Staking Derivative Protocols, Restaking Protocols and yield bearing stablecoin protocols. Expansion across chains gives Sumer exposure to chain user like on Base and Arbitrum.

Major DEX integrations across chains gives Sumer exposure to sophisticated DeFI users like partnership with Aerodrome on Base (confirmed) and Camelot/ Sparta DEX on Arbitrum (ongoing discussions). Partnership with major bridging protocols like Chainlink CCIP and LayerZero.

All these natural synergies give Meter the much needed attention to ensure network adoption.

2. Exposure to MTRG asset to users across chain

Utilizing MTRG as reward token until TGE provides MTRG with the exposure to sophisticated DeFI users. This move has the potential to increase MTRG user base, increase MTRG trading volume while introducing minimal selling pressure.

3. Sumer Airdrop to MTRG Holders

All the Sumer Tokens received from this investment will be airdropped to MTRG Holders engaged in Node Operations, Staking (liquid and non-liquid) and Liquidity Provisioning in DeFI Applications along with PASS Token Holders. The Airdrop is subject to the vesting requirements defined at the Sumer token launch. The snapshot date will be as communicated by Sumer.

Risk Assessment

While there are definitely Market Risks (Volatility, competitive landscape, adoption rate) related to the investment, the investment primarily aims to garner adoption for Sumer and capitalize on natural synergies with wider DeFI ecosystem and blockchains. The execution risk is limited due to the team operating Sumer. It is the same team behind Meter. Sumer does carry security risks, as with any smart contract protocol. The team has conducted 2 audits to mitigate the security risks and is planning for another round of audit.