[Proposal] Stake NEAR, Bootstrap Ecosystem

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Hello friends,

REF currently has approximately 300,000 NEAR in its treasury. This is a simple proposal to stake some or all of that NEAR into Meta Pool. This simple move would unleash a range of benefits that can support growth for specific projects and for the NEAR ecosystem as a whole.

Benefits (Value Proposition)

  • [REF] Additional revenue stream: by staking NEAR we go from having a dormant assets to having productive capital returning approx. 10% per year in a very low risk setup. We are potentially looking at an additional 30,000 NEAR per year return, which would greatly contribute towards the Treasury health, enabling us to have more funds to spend on growth initiatives, reduce reliance on investors, and create value for REF holders. To put things in perspective, this is equivalent to all the trading fees that have been distributed to REF token holders to date.
  • [REF] Help decentralise the network. REF is one of the most actively used smart contracts on NEAR. I strongly believe all projects should have some skin in the game and contribute towards network security. By staking with Meta Pool, they automatically distribute the 300,000 NEAR across 90+ validators.
  • [Meta Pool] Contribute towards meta pool TVL. Meta Pool is a strategic partner, currently they are responsible for a large chunk of LP funds deposited on NEAR, and volume is likely to increase significantly as stNEAR is adopted across lending platforms (leveraging bonanza)
  • [REF-Burrow] Staking through stNEAR enables a bunch of synergies to turbocharge growth. By receiving stNEAR, we have several options such as depositing those funds on Burrow - partner project - to help them bootstrap their TVL.
  • [REF-Burrow-Stablecoins] An extra tier would be for REF to use the stNEAR to issue USD Stablecoin through a partner lending platform such as OIN Finance or Rose, MAI Finance that will be launching soon on Aurora. This would enable us to seed lending protocols such as Burrow with USD which retail users can borrow. Helping these platforms source initial liquidity is massively valuable, we would also earn interest on the USD.

ALL ROADS LEAD TO REF - the key takeaway is, while we can generate extra revenue, this is an measure that can 10x value in the ecosystem, unlocking liquidity that should ultimately flow back to REF and see an increase in swaps and TVL

Next Steps

  • Create proposal on Astro, I believe this would require a custom contract call that deposits NEAR into Meta pool contract? @Marco @refchef
  • Start earning staking rewards, move on to next stage of discussion: allocation of stNEAR across partner platforms.

Looking forward to hearing feedback on this. The Defi summer is about to explode and I feel like we should be leading the pack. LFG

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Yeah this is a great proposal. As soon as there are many ways to earn more yield profit from our treasury, I suppose that we can choose a route to earn more. The last route is a good one, and as there would be more yield aggregators, lending protocols on Near and Aurora in the upcoming week, we could also use them.

Moreover, using part of the treasury to support, invest in early projects in the Near ecosystem would also be a good way of using this money. However, this is a riskier way of using the treasury, I recommend we spend 80% to gain safe profit, and use 20% to invest to expect larger profit from the blooming Near ecosystem.

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Strongly Agree! Obvious great idea!

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Strongly agree! Great proposal.

1 Like