[BNB Chain] Transfer of Funds for Allez Labs and Operational Expenses

Venus Governance Venus - Governance Proposals
1

This proposal consists of two main actions:

  1. Venus Treasury Redemption & Allez Labs Payment

    The Venus Treasury will redeem roughly $2,000,000 worth of vUSDC into 2,000,000 USDC.

    • Only 1,400,000 USDC will be transferred out to the Venus Recipient wallet. The remaining 600,000 USDC will be retained in the Venus Treasury for future use
      • As such, the full redeemed amount is not fully distributed.
    • The Venus Treasury will directly pay $70,000 USDT to Allez Labs for the remaining Q1 risk management services.
      • As outlined in the prior proposal, Allez Labs was engaged to provide risk management services for Venus Protocol. The first month payment of $35,000 USDT has already been settled off-chain. This proposal completes the remaining $70,000 USDT payment for the remainder of Q1.

  2. Venus Recipient Wallet - Operational Expense Distribution

    • The 1,400,000 USDC in the Venus Recipient wallet will support ongoing protocol development, maintenance, salaries, bonuses, and other operational needs to maintain and grow Venus Protocol.
    • Future operational fund withdrawals are expected to occur on a quarterly basis, with the exact amounts determined closer to each transfer and proposed through separate VIPs.

Action

This VIP consists of two key actions on BNB Chain:

1. Treasury Redemption and Allocation

  • Redeem roughly $2,000,000 worth of vUSDC into 2,000,000 USDC to the Venus Treasury
  • Allocate redeemed funds as follows:
    • 600,000 USDC retained in the Venus Treasury
    • 1,400,000 USDC transferred to the Venus Recipient address
  • 70,000 USDT to Allez Labs for the remaining Q1 risk management services

2. Operational Expense Distribution from Venus Recipient Wallet

  • 1,400,000 USDC will be used for operational expenses

Summary

If approved, this VIP will:

  • Complete the remaining payment to Allez Labs for Q1 risk management services
  • Allocate operational funds to support the continued development and upkeep of Venus Protocol
  • Establish a framework for quarterly operational fund withdrawals, with future allocations proposed via separate VIPs

We welcome community feedback on this proposal ahead of submitting it for a VIP vote.

1 Like
2

First of all, I want to say that it is great to see proactive budget planning. Having a forward-looking operational framework is a positive signal and shows that the team is thinking long-term rather than reacting ad hoc. Structured financial planning is generally healthy for any DAO.

That said, I would appreciate additional clarification before I can support this proposal.

1. Operational Expenses Breakdown and Time Horizon

Please provide a more detailed breakdown of the 1,400,000 USDC allocated for operational expenses:

  • What specific categories does this cover (engineering, DevOps, infrastructure, security, legal, marketing, risk, etc.)?
  • Over what exact time interval is this amount expected to be spent (quarterly, semi-annually, annually)?
  • How was this figure calculated? Is it based on historical burn rate or projected expansion?

Without a defined spending interval, it is difficult to assess whether the requested amount is reasonable.

2. Budget Structuring and Transparency

It would improve transparency to separate:

  • The immediate fixed budget required to maintain the core team and ongoing operations.
  • The variable or event-based budget, which could be requested periodically through separate VIPs as needed.

A tranche-based approach with periodic reporting would provide clearer accountability and align better with DAO governance standards.

Additionally, how will reporting be handled? Will there be structured quarterly reports outlining:

  • Actual spend vs. planned spend
  • KPI alignment
  • Operational outcomes tied to expenditures?

3. Team Structure and Market Alignment

For the operational budget, it would be important to understand:

  • The size of the team (number of contributors / FTE equivalents).
  • Role distribution (engineering, risk, DevOps, marketing, operations, etc.).
  • General salary bands or market benchmarks being used (no need for personal identities).

Without this context, it is not possible to determine whether the requested budget aligns with current market compensation standards or whether it is proportional to the stated objectives.

At the current stage, I am not inclined to vote FOR this proposal, not because I oppose budget planning, but because key parameters remain unclear:

  • The exact time intervals over which the requested amount will be spent.
  • The size and composition of the team.
  • Whether spending levels are aligned with market standards.
  • The direct linkage between expenses and measurable goals.

With clearer timelines, defined team structure, and market-based justification of costs, I would be open to reconsidering my position.

5 Likes
3

Thank you to everyone who took the time to review the proposal and raise questions — we truly appreciate the scrutiny and engagement.

To provide additional context:

The requested transfer relates to H1 2025 operational expenses and service costs incurred during that period, under the prior operating structure of Labs. These costs were part of the ongoing development, infrastructure, security, and operational commitments supporting Venus during that timeframe.

As this proposal reflects historical expenses from H1 2025 rather than new forward-looking budget allocations, the scope primarily covers:

  • Development and technical services
  • Infrastructure and tooling
  • Security and audits
  • Operational overhead associated to protocol maintenance

For reference, during the last operational withdrawal from the treasury for work done in H2 2024, several key deliverables were outlined for execution in H1 2025. These included:

  • Maintenance & Support: Upgrading Venus in preparation for the BNB hard fork to accommodate increased block rates
    • Result: Executed.
  • Capped Oracles: Introduction of capped oracles to ensure stable and secure pricing for LSTs and stablecoins
    • Result: Executed across several VIPs between May and July.
  • Enhanced Risk Management: Development of “Risk Stewards” for automated, real-time parameter adjustments
    • Result: While this was not executed in H1 2025, “Risk Stewards” has been passed in a recent VIP by the current Venus Labs team.
  • ERC-4626 Wrapper for vTokens: Improving vToken interoperability to enhance capital efficiency
    • Result: Executed.
  • Omnichain Governance Enhancements: Synchronizing voting power across supported chains
    • Result: Executed.
  • Venus V5: Defining and announcing the Venus V5 proposal
    • Result: No V5 proposal was formally announced in H1 2025. However, Venus Labs has further developed Venus Protocol with new features, and is adding to the suite of Venus products, including the addition of Venus Flux. More details will be shared in future budget proposals for the timeframe beyond H1 2025.
  • Multichain Deployments: Expansion to additional EVM-compatible chains
    • Venus was deployed on Unichain in H1 2025, further expanding the protocol’s multichain presence.
    • Venus is now live on 8 different chains.

Continual maintenance and support also remained essential to the protocol’s sustained success:

  • Security Audits & Risk Management: Ongoing collaboration with leading security firms to ensure Venus remains secure and resilient
  • Technical Support & Community Engagement: Continuous technical support, AMAs, surveys, and governance discussions
  • Protocol Documentation & Education: Updating documentation for new releases, features, and markets to support users and integrators

Additionally, several implementations and upgrades were added to Venus Protocol during the aforementioned time period:

  • Isolated pools refinement to include the risk isolation mechanism, allowing for the creation of lending pools with independent risk parameters for specific asset classes
  • Integration with Merkl rewards to support incentive campaigns
  • Integration for markets with points distributions (e.g. sUSDe, xSolvBTC etc.)
  • Added 28 new markets across 6 different chains
    • Arbitrum: gmWETH-USDC, gmBTC-USDC (2)
    • BNB Chain: SOL, PT-clisBNB-APR25, asBNB, PT-sUSDE, USDe, sUSDe, USD1, xSolvBtc, USDF (9)
    • Ethereum: sUSDS, USDS, BAL, USDe, tBTC (5)
    • Base: wsuperOETHb, wstETH (2)
    • zkSync: wUSDM (1)
    • Unichain: WETH, USDC, XVS, UNI, weETH, wstETH, USDe, WBTC, USDâ‚®0 (9)
  • Added Venus Port V1 that supported importing positions from Aave to Venus
  • Venus integration in Safe
  • Analytics added to the dApp
  • Heath factor added to accounts

We acknowledge the community’s feedback regarding clarity and reporting standards.

Going forward, we will:

  • Submit the operation and development fund request for H2 2025 by the end of March
  • Submit quarterly fund requests rather than large retrospective periods for Q1 2026 onwards
  • Provide clearer categorical breakdowns of costs incurred
  • Improve transparency around operational spending and reporting cadence

Our goal is to ensure that future proposals offer more granular visibility and allow the community to evaluate expenditures with greater confidence.

Thank you again for your engagement and for continuing to hold Venus to a high standard.

6 Likes