Proposal: Add KNC as a supply & borrow asset. Collaboration with Venus.

Proposals
1

Summary

KyberSwap (Kyber Network’s flagship product) is a multi-chain DEX aggregator + liquidity platform, which aims to offer the best rates for traders and the best returns for liquidity providers with concentrated liquidity.

Kyber launched on Ethereum in February 2018 and is a pioneer in the DeFi space, developing one of the earliest decentralized exchange protocols (DEX) with Vitalik Buterin as an advisor. The team has continued to innovate; spearheading the launch of WBTC (Wrapped Bitcoin) - the most popular ERC20 version of Bitcoin today, as well as developing amplified liquidity pools on KyberSwap that offers capital efficiency for any token pair. Kyber was the most used DeFi protocol in 2019 and also part of the pioneer batch of Alliance DAO/DeFi Alliance mentors and Asia DeFi Network. Today, KyberSwap is one of the most popular DEX aggregators and liquidity platforms on BNB Chain(BSC), Ethereum, and other chains.

This proposal aims to list the Kyber Network Crystal (KNC) token (BNB chain) as a supply and borrow asset on Venus on BNB Chain. We also want to explore a collaboration with Venus on marketing and incentive programs.

Motivations

KyberSwap is one of the oldest and most popular DEX aggregators with an average of 400K web visitors per month KyberSwap has already been deployed on 13 chains, including BNB chain and Ethereum. Total trading volume has crossed $15B+ and current total value locked (TVL) on all chains is $90M+.

KNC is Kyber’s utility and governance token, and is an important part of KyberSwap operations. KNC holders can stake KNC to vote on proposals to improve KyberSwap. In return, KNC voters receive rewards from fees collected through trading on KyberSwap and other benefits from ecosystem collaborations. As more trades are executed and new protocols added, more rewards are generated.

KNC is a liquid asset with many token holders. KNC holders may want to obtain additional liquidity without selling KNC so that they can still capture potential upside in value. With KNC supported on Venus, KNC holders can borrow funds for a wide variety of DeFi use cases, such as margin trading or for new investment opportunities, all without selling their current holdings.

We are keen on a long-term, strategic relationship with Venus, and adding KNC as a supply and borrow collateral asset is a good first step towards this objective.

We are also open to providing KNC incentives for the Venus community to get KNC supported on the platform.

Specifications

1. What is the link between the author of this proposal and the Asset?

Shane is Head of Strategy for DAO & KNC at Kyber Network, managing Kyber’s strategic efforts regarding the KyberDAO and KNC tokenomics.

Email: [email protected]

Telegram: shaneHk

Twitter: https://twitter.com/shaneMkt

2. Provide a brief high-level overview of the project and the token

KyberSwap is Kyber Network’s flagship product. It is a multi-chain DEX aggregator + liquidity platform which aims to offer the best rates for traders and the best returns for liquidity providers with concentrated liquidity.

KyberSwap provides substantial benefits to Venus users/developers

  • For Traders: KyberSwap aggregates liquidity from different DEX pools (including KyberSwap’s own pools), getting the optimal trade route and best price for XVS (Venus) and other tokens. On the BNB chain, liquidity is sourced from many DEXes such as PancakeSwap, Biswap, DODO, Ellipsis, MDEX, Sushi, and Apeswap. Traders can also identify tokens that are ‘Trending’ or ‘Trending Soon’ using a detection algorithm that tracks on-chain metrics as volume and market cap.
  • For Liquidity Providers: LPs deposit tokens into liquidity pools and earn compounding fees. Pools are flexible and have features such as anti-sniping and concentrated liquidity, mimicking higher levels of liquidity and achieving better capital efficiency, volume, and returns. KyberSwap offers much better slippage for the equivalent pool and trade size on a typical Univ2 AMM fork. Liquidity on KyberSwap would result in a much bigger positive impact on swap rates compared to typical DEXes. XVS token LPs can consider setting up a pool on KyberSwap to enjoy these advantages.
  • For developers: Wallets and Dapps like Venus on BNB chain and other supported chains can integrate with KyberSwap pools/farms and aggregation API to provide the best rates for their own users, saving time and resources. Chainlink is already supporting price feeds for the KNC token on the BNB chain so KNC can also be used as collateral on a lending platform such as Venus.

General KyberSwap stats

About KNC

KNC is Kyber’s utility and governance token, and is an important part of KyberSwap operations. KNC holders can stake KNC to vote on KyberDAO proposals. Important proposals include improvements to KyberSwap, determining the various incentive mechanisms for liquidity providers, and capturing value created by new innovations. In return, KNC voters receive rewards from fees collected through trading on KyberSwap.com and other benefits from ecosystem collaborations. As more trades are executed and new protocols added, more rewards are generated.

KNC investors include: Hashed, Signum, ParaFi, HyperChain, and Stake Capital.

Side note: In 2021, KNC was upgraded to add additional utility and upgradeability. The old KNC was renamed KNCL (Kyber Network Crystal Legacy) to differentiate it from the new KNC. Since 20 April, 2021, users can migrate their KNCL (ie. convert it) to new KNC through a simple procedure.

Top exchanges are already supporting the latest version of KNC. KNC can be obtained on decentralized platforms such as KyberSwap.com as well as centralized exchanges such as Coinbase, Binance, FTX, Crypto.com, OKX, KuCoin, Kraken, Huobi, Gate.io, Bitfinex, Bittrex, Bithumb, Upbit, WazirX, and eToro.

Token Smart Contract:

3. Explain the positioning of the token in the Venus ecosystem. Why would it be a good borrow or collateral asset?

  • KNC governs KyberSwap, one of the most popular DEX aggregators and liquidity protocols in DeFi which is deployed on 13 chains.

  • KNC is a highly liquid token but is still not on many decentralized lending platforms. Supporting KNC on Venus would bring many KNC holders to the platform.

  • KNC price feeds are supported by Chainlink on BNB Chain, Ethereum, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, and Avalanche.

  • KNC is already a supported asset on the bridges for BNB Chain, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, and Avalanche.

  • KNC has over 30,000 token holders (4,931 on BNB chain), including crypto VCs and other DeFi projects.

  • If KNC is added to Venus, KNC holders would be able to lend KNC to earn interest instead of selling their tokens.

  • By supporting deposits of KNC as collateral, users can borrow stablecoins or altcoins for other activities.

  • KNC can be borrowed for staking on KyberDAO to earn rewards and support governance proposals.

Note: We are willing to add more KNC liquidity on BNB chain if required by Venus.

Benefits to the Venus Community

  • New KNC is highly liquid but it is not on any major decentralized lending platform on BNB Chain or other EVM chains. Venus can be one of the first to support it and get heavily used by KNC holders.

  • KyberSwap has a large community on our social media channels (e.g. 242K Twitter followers). KyberSwap can provide marketing support and resources to promote the launch of new KNC on Venus, thereby spreading more awareness about Venus.

  • KNC has over 30,000 token holders (4,931 on BNB chain), including VCs and other DeFi projects, and they would be able to have a direct use case for their tokens on Venus.

  • KyberSwap plans to discuss potential collaborations with Venus and listing new KNC would be another positive step forward in our relationship.

  • If KNC is supported on Venus, we are also open to providing KNC incentives for the Venus community.

4. Provide a brief history of the project and the different components: DAO (is it live?), products (are they live?). How did it overcome some of the challenges it faced?

Kyber was founded by Victor Tran, Loi Luu, and Yaron Velner in 2017, with the first protocol live in February 2018. All 3 founders are well-known researchers in the Ethereum and DeFi community, and Victor and Loi were both Forbes 30 under 30 recipients. Yaron is also the founder of B.Protocol and Risk DAO.

Since inception, KyberSwap has successfully facilitated over $15 billion in transactions and over a million trades for thousands of users, with 50+ DeFi/Dapp integrations. For example, our main product KyberSwap integrated with leading trading analytics platforms DEXTools and DeFiLlama, enabling millions of users to access KyberSwap’s token pairs at the best rates.

KyberSwap.com currently supports 13 chains including BNB Chain, Ethereum, Polygon, Avalanche, Fantom, Cronos, Arbitrum, Optimism, Velas, Aurora, Oasis, BitTorrent, and Solana.

Historical milestones

  • Developed one of the earliest DEXes in 2018 with Vitalik Buterin as an advisor
  • Built Oyente, which was the first automated smart contract verification framework and one of the most used open-source auditing tools by security experts (e.g. Enzyme, Quantstamp).
  • Kyber initiated and co-launched Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), the most used wrapped version of BTC in the DeFi space today. More details here.
  • Created the Waterloo Cross-chain Bridge in 2019, a decentralized practical bridge between EOS and Ethereum, which inspired NEAR protocol’s Rainbow Bridge.
  • Kyber was the most used DeFi protocol in 2019, according to Binance Research.
  • One of the first to use DEX/liquidity pool aggregation by integrating different DEXes, and first to develop amplified pools with high capital efficiency for any token pair, not just stablecoins.
  • KyberSwap launched as a unique DEX aggregator that not only has our own permissionless liquidity pools, but also sources liquidity from external sources to give the best rates to traders.
  • First to develop and launch amplified pools with high capital efficiency for any token pair (before Uniswap v3), not just stablecoins.
  • KyberSwap partnered with Multichain to provide an alternative UI with seamless bridging of cross-chain assets between Ethereum and BNB Chain.
  • Kyber organized and participated in various hackathons that contributed to the launch of top DeFi projects. Examples:
    • Kyber DeFi Hackathon 2019 with our partners Enzyme Finance (previously called Melon), Synthetix, Chainlink, bZx, Compound, and WBTC, contributed to the launch of Zapper (previously called DeFiZap)
    • Kyber’s bounties in Ethereum hackathons such as ETHSingapore and ETHBerlin helped launch 1inch.io
    • InstaDapp won a Kyber bounty with their integration in ETHIndia 2018, contributing to their successful launch

Recent KyberSwap Features

**1. DEX Aggregation API**

KyberSwap’s aggregation algorithm and API aggregates liquidity, automatically searching multiple DEXes on a chain to identify and select the optimal trade routes and best prices for users. KyberSwap makes trading more efficient and saves time and money for thousands of users. KyberSwap sources liquidity from over 70 different DEXs such as PancakeSwap, Biswap, DODO, Ellipsis, MDEX, Sushi, Apeswap, and many others to achieve the best rates for traders on BNB chain and other supported chains.

**2. Concentrated/Amplified Liquidity Pools**

Elastic Pools: Liquidity providers (LPs) can deposit tokens into Elastic pools and earn compounding fees. Pools have customizable price ranges and features such as anti-sniping and concentrated liquidity , mimicking higher levels of liquidity and achieving much better capital efficiency, volume, and returns, compared to other DEXes.

Classic Pools: LPs also have the flexibility to create or select amplified liquidity pools with an amplification factor that greatly improves capital efficiency and help reduce trade slippage.

As such, liquidity providers can achieve greater capital efficiency, rates, volume, and returns compared to other DEXes. LPs earn more in an efficient manner.

Moreover, LPs earn trading fees that are automatically claimed when you withdraw your liquidity.

**3. Trending Soon Analytics**

KyberSwap users can view which tokens are ‘Trending’ and ‘Trending Soon’. Tokens displayed under the Trending tab are based on current trending data gleaned from top data aggregators CoinGecko and Coinmarketcap.

Tokens displayed under Trending Soon are detected based on Kyber’s special trend detection algorithm, using trading volume, price, market cap, and other on-chain data.

**4. Limit Orders**

KyberSwap users can set Limit Orders to ensure they automatically buy/sell assets at a desired price. A buy limit order will be executed only at the limit price or a lower price. A sell limit order will be executed only at the limit price or a higher one. This is another useful trading feature for XVS holders who want to buy more XVS at lower prices without staring at the screen 24/7.

5. How is the asset currently used?

KNC is Kyber’s utility and governance token, and is an important part of KyberSwap operations. KNC holders can stake KNC to vote on KyberDAO proposals. Important proposals include improvements to KyberSwap, determining the various incentive mechanisms for liquidity providers, and capturing value created by new innovations.

In return, KNC voters receive rewards from fees collected through trading on KyberSwap.com and other benefits from ecosystem collaborations. As more trades are executed and new protocols added, more rewards are generated. Over $10M worth of rewards have been distributed to KyberDAO voters over the years.

More information about KNC can be found here: Kyber Network | Liquidity Hub for Crypto Trading and DeFi

6. Emission schedule

There is currently no automatic emission. All tokens for founders and advisors from the token sale have been distributed since September 2019.

~19M KNC is managed by KyberDAO as part of an ecosystem growth fund to facilitate trade and liquidity mining, and other growth activities.

New KNC can be minted or burned by KyberDAO, subject to a DAO vote by KNC holders.

7. Token & protocol permissions and upgradability

KNC is an upgradeable token. The overall architecture for KyberDAO is largely based on Aave’s governance model with some differences/modifications such as the ability to enable the creation and voting of multi-option (generic, non-binary) proposals, and enabling the calculation of KyberDAO voting power based on a system that uses the current KNC staking model.

KNC is dynamic and can be upgraded, minted, or burned by KyberDAO to better support liquidity and growth.

The DAO has in-built governance safeguards to ensure that any decision or contract alteration will always be preceded by a suitable time period of preparation and reflection, as well as a minimum voter participation threshold. In addition, we have a 5/9 multisig with the role of a DAO operator that assists with operational tasks and ensuring the integrity of the DAO. The multisig comprises a mix of Kyber team members and founders of external DeFi projects with no direct affiliation to Kyber.

The Kyber team alone does not have the power to implement major changes to the KNC token, DAO, and the protocols in the network, without going through a DAO vote.

Changes to KyberDAO and KNC can only be made by the KyberDAO via voting on a Kyber Improvement Proposal (KIP).

8. Market data (Market Cap, 24h Volume, Volatility, Exchanges, Maturity)

Note: We are willing to add more KNC liquidity on BNB chain if required by Venus.

9. Social channels data (Size of communities, activity on Github)

Other Resources

KNC-related pages

10. Contracts date of deployments, number of transactions, number of holders for tokens

Risk Factors / Smart Contract Audits

Smart Contract considerations: KyberSwap smart contracts have been audited by Chainalysis and KNC and KyberDAO contracts by Hacken. Kyber is a mature DeFi project that has been operational for 4+ years with a long runway ahead.

Counter-party considerations: Decentralization and transparency are the guiding principles behind KyberDAO and KNC. KyberDAO is sufficiently decentralized as the Kyber team alone does not have the power to implement major changes to the KNC token, the DAO itself, or the protocols in the network, without going through a DAO vote. Changes to KyberDAO and KNC can only be made by the KyberDAO via voting on a Kyber Improvement Proposal (KIP).

A consensus from at least 5 members of the DAO Operator 5/9 multisig (comprising some external projects with no direct affiliation to Kyber) is required in order to even initiate a new proposal on KyberDAO.

Risk Matrix

20 Feb 2023

The Normalized Volatility is calculated by logarithmic percentage change taken from measurements taken on the KNC-USDT spot price every day.

  • 1M: 0.030
  • 3M: 0.049
  • 6M: 0.073
  • Average: 0.05

Suggested initial parameters

  • LTV: 40%
  • Liquidation threshold: 50%
  • Liquidation incentive/bonus: 10%
  • Reserve factor: 20%

Thank you for considering our proposal to add KNC on https://venus.io/ !

4 Likes
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You proposal sounds good to me, personally ill be happy if we can add KNC to Venus markets.

2 Likes
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This suggestion looks promising and useful. I hope the community sees the potential and supports our partnership.

1 Like
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So I’ve had a read. This is what stands out to me. $KNC only has 4,931 holders on the BNBChain. Is there really a demand for this by the BNBChain holders?

I’m also not sure what the liquidity is like of KNC on the BNBChain but they are willing to add more which is always a positive.

This here concerns me “New KNC can be minted or burned by KyberDAO”. If there is not a regular or linear supply of KYC tokens we must impose severe supply caps. This could gradually increase over time.

I like the initiative you have taken in posting this proposal, very detailed and makes assesment easier :+1: as for a market on Venus I would say I’m unsure on this one, would like to hear more from you

1 Like
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Thanks @Isitbathtime ! Those are indeed valid concerns.

Regarding KNC demand:

  1. We have yet to start a major liquidity mining or marketing campaign on BNB chain. It’d be preferable if we can launch one together with Venus :slight_smile:

  2. Admittedly, KNC liquidity and activity is higher on the Binance centralized exchange, where we’ve run several marketing campaigns such as

  3. Despite not running any recent campaigns, KNC holders on BNB chain has been steadily increasing to 4,981 (up from 4,931 on 13 March).

  4. KyberSwap is willing to add more and boost liquidity for KNC on BNB chain to meet the requirements of the Venus community, along with added incentives!

Regarding an increase in KNC supply

  • KNC does NOT have an ongoing automatic emission schedule (max supply is capped at the moment). Moreover, the KyberSwap team alone does not have the power to implement major changes to the KNC token such as increasing the supply without going through a DAO vote. Changes to KNC can only be made by the KyberDAO via on-chain voting on a Kyber Improvement Proposal (KIP), which involves a strict governance process.
  • That said, we understand the critical importance of the KNC supply metric when the token is used as a collateral asset. KyberSwap would like to align with the Venus community and team on a suitable LTV and Liquidation threshold based on the current supply. We would also provide sufficient warning in advance if there is any upcoming KIP vote that would lead to a supply increase.
1 Like
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Thank you @wonderomg @mopgawka we also want to do our best to add KNC to Venus markets :pray:

1 Like
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Thanks, I like your website. I think you’re too early for our main market for as collateral, maybe isolated lending is more suitable.

If you want to get onto our main market I’ll support you if the risk management team approves :+1:

You said you want to work on increasing your presence on the BNBCHAIN. This is something Venus could definitely help with. Please reach out to the team and good luck :crossed_fingers:

1 Like