Roadmap update | Q4 2023
Cross-chain on Archway, and a path to increased bnUSD stability with the bnUSD Savings Rate.
During the third quarter of 2023, the contributors’ core focus was to take Balanced cross-chain. Our team is working alongside ICON as they develop xCall, and now that it’s connected to Archway via IBC, we’re in the testing phase to ensure cross-chain swaps are seamless when the feature launches in Q4.
The bnUSD peg was also a major topic of discussion this quarter. With the Stability Fund empty, the price has struggled to maintain $1. Plans are in motion to address the issue, like a new bnUSD Savings Rate feature (more below), but some community members also want to consider more immediate solutions, like adjusting the redemption threshold. To catch up on the discussion, see Efforts are needed to align the bnUSD peg to $1.
Here's a summary of what's been accomplished since the Q3 roadmap update:
Smart contracts
- Completed implementation of Archway contracts to support Archway <> ICON xCall messaging
- Began scoping work for the bnUSD Savings Rate
- Began scoping work for ongoing interest rates on loans
- Implemented security floors for the Loans contract
Front end / back end
- Added withdrawal limits to the Stats page
- Added Archway wallet integration on testnet
- Added a new multi-wallet UI on testnet
- Launched cross-chain swaps on testnet
- Launched a new Bridge UI on testnet
Quality of life and code improvements
- Improved the individual NFT pages in the Balanced NFT Collection
- Made additional enhancements to balanced.network
- Fixed an issue with how liquidity rewards were estimated
- Fixed some bugs related to proposal listings and notifications
Marketing initiatives
(Now that Balanced is ready for cross-chain connections, the roadmap updates will also track the effort put into building Balanced’s cross-chain audience.)
- Submitted balanced.network to Awwwards
- Received an Honourable Mention for the design
- Increased website visitors by 50% since September 4
- Prepared content to promote Balanced’s cross-chain connection with Archway
- Published a case study titled The making of Balanced: Designing DeFi for the rest of us
Cross-chain
At the start of October, ICON launched its first cross-chain connection with the Archway blockchain. Now it’s time for Balanced to take advantage of it.
The launch is set for later this quarter, with the date to be announced in a few weeks.
Once live, you’ll be able to use Balanced to swap and transfer assets between ICON and Archway.
Cross-chain loans will also be possible, but Archway is a new blockchain so Balanced will pursue this once there’s more liquidity and price discovery for the ARCH token.
Stay tuned for more cross-chain content as we get closer to launch. If you don’t want to miss an update, subscribe to the Balanced blog:
Governance updates
Governance has continued at a slow pace since the last roadmap update, with few things requiring community input. However, discussions have ramped up recently with bnUSD and cross-chain activities, so make sure to keep an eye on the forum.
BIP42: Re-establish protocol-owned liquidity for sICX/bnUSD
Balanced’s protocol-owned liquidity was cleared out to cover the exploit, so this proposal used 250K bnUSD and ~931K sICX from the DAO Fund to supply ~$500K of POL to the sICX/bnUSD pool.
BIP43: Upgrade the Rewards contract to fix a bug
Due to an error in the Rewards contract, the BALN distribution percentages began slipping after incentives were removed from some of the liquidity pools. This proposal upgraded the Rewards contract to fix the issue.
BIP44: Add a withdrawal limit to the Loans contract
To protect funds on Balanced in case of a future exploit, this proposal added a 15% withdrawal limit for assets held as collateral. The limit is set per asset at a platform-level, rather than per person, and it resets daily. So far the withdrawal limits haven't been hit, and you can view how much is remaining for the day at the bottom of the Stats page.
BIP45: Add withdrawal limits to the Stability Fund
Following on from BIP44, BIP45 added a 15% withdrawal limit to the Stability Fund.
bnUSD Savings Rate discussion
To improve the bnUSD peg and attract more liquidity to the Stability Fund, the community have begun discussing a new token economics strategy called the bnUSD Savings Rate (BSR). The goal is to increase demand for bnUSD, so much like MakerDAO’s sDAI and DAI Savings Rate, you could stake bnUSD to earn a return.
The rewards can come from many places, like BALN inflation, interest charged to borrowers, and income the DAO earns from other revenue streams, like real-world assets.
For the full discussion, take a look at bnUSD Savings Rate, Real World Assets, and the next pocket of growth for Balanced.
DAO performance
Over the last 3 months, Balanced earned $8,861 from fees:
- 921 bnUSD from loans
- $7,940 from swaps
$2,658 of that was distributed to bBALN holders, which gives bBALN a 30-day trailing APY of 2.69%.
Since the last roadmap update on July 27, the DAO used ~45% of its holdings to re-establish protocol-owned liquidity. Balanced’s total holdings have increased by $12,502.
13,404,039 BALN have been locked in 996 wallets. There’s a total of 5,862,247 bBALN, giving an average lock-up time of 1.74 years.
Balanced wallpapers and NFTs
The cover for this roadmap update, Infuse, has been added to the collection of Balanced wallpapers.
The animated version has been added to the Balanced NFT collection, which you can view on the Balanced website:
If you’d like a chance to win the Infuse NFT, share the roadmap update with your followers and include the asset or blockchain you’re most excited to use with Balanced. If you post on Twitter or Bluesky, make sure to tag @BalancedDAO, otherwise you can share your efforts in the #balanced-nft channel on Discord.
The winner will be announced in 10 days.
Plans for Q4 2023
During Q4, the contributors plan to continue moving forward with Balanced’s cross-chain implementation:
- Launch Balanced with cross-chain swaps on Archway
- Launch cross-chain swaps on additional networks supported by ICON’s xCall service
- Promote Balanced cross-chain activities to our new audiences
- Deploy the bnUSD Savings Rate and related loan changes on testnet
If you have any questions or want to discuss these updates, start a discussion on the Balanced forum or in the Balanced Discord channel.