[Draft] [OBRA] Enhancing SAFE Token Utility: Strategic Research and Development - Hopper Protocol

  1. Abstract: Provide a brief summary of your initiative

This proposal aims to extend the utility of the SAFE token via Hopper vaults
This proposal is linked to a second proposal on the Wildcard Strategy:

[Draft/Discussion] [OBRA]: Hopper Protocol: DeFi Reimagined for Asset Managers

  1. Aligned strategy: Which pre-approved strategy is this initiative driving forward?

[Strategy 1]: Research and implement Safe token utility

  1. Funding request: What resources are being requested from SafeDAO in USDC?

$25,000 USDC

  1. If applicable, upfront funding: Indicate if upfront funding is needed. Refer to 'Payout’ under Get funding from SafeDAO for lump sum payment options.

Not applicable

  1. Relation to budget: State the requested funding as a percentage of the total initiative budget and remaining budget (e.g. if you ask for 50k from Strategy 1 with remaining budget of 100K - Total Budget: 25%, Remaining Budget: 50%)

12.5% of Total Initiative Budget

25% of Remaining Budget

  1. Metrics and KPIs: Which metrics and KPIs will the initiative be measured against?

Our main Metrics and KPIs:

  • Number of new use cases for SAFE token

  • Quality and relevance of these use cases

  • The interest sparked on the governance forum

  1. Initiative description: What is the initiative about?

Integrating Hopper protocol into the SAFE ecosystem offers a great opportunity to boost SAFE token’s utility.

  • Enhance the value of the SAFE token

  • Enable SAFE to monetize new services

  • Expand the use cases and interactions of the SAFE token

Here are some initial ideas for which we would like to study feasibility:

  • Holding/staking SAFE tokens to create vaults.

  • Holding/staking SAFE tokens to have a vault curated by Safe and visible from the Safe wallet interface.

  • Holding/staking SAFE tokens to access Zodiac modules

  • Reducing protocol fees through collateralized fee credits with Safe token

  • Premium features for vaults created by SAFE token holders/stakers, such as NAV or monitoring services for vaults.

  • Allow SAFE token holders/stakers to have voting power in vault governance.

  1. Current status: Does the offering (product/service) already exist or is the funding used to create it?

Two months ago, Hopper successfully completed its first proof of concept using Safe and Zodiac modules. Today, the MVP is ready, and Hopper plans to release its first curated beta vaults before the end of 2024. By early 2025, Hopper’s infrastructure will become fully permissionless, enabling anyone to create and manage a vault on top of Safe.

  1. Risks: What risks does the initiative entail?

The proposed incentives may not be sufficient or may not increase the value of the SAFE token.

  1. Timeline and milestones: Provide a detailed timeline or roadmap, include key milestones

Research & Development:

  • Duration: 16 weeks ; September - December 2024

  • Milestones:

    • Conduct workshops with all stakeholders in the Safe ecosystem to gather their needs and expectations regarding the token.

    • Define the most relevant use cases for the SAFE token.

    • Design and test preliminary models for SAFE token integration.

    • Conduct simulations and refine mechanisms based on test results.

  • Deliverables:

January 6th, 2025: Strategic Research and Development report including:

  • Needs assessment

  • Presentation of use cases

  • Tokenomics design and simulation results

  1. Initiative lead: Who is the accountable initiative lead? (individual or organization)

Hopper Protocol

  1. Team: How many individuals in total will be working on this initiative and what role do they have? Please provide a brief background of the team members, highlighting their relevant experience and expertise

RĂ©mi Foult

  • Role: Project Manager, he will oversee the project and provide expertise as an asset manager.

  • Background: Remi is an engineer and DeFi asset manager with experience as the lead blockchain developer at Deloitte and Natixis. Since 2019, he has been managing DeFi funds, including the Ethereum France treasury, and has managed up to $80 million on-chain.

Romain Lavernhe

  • Role: Stakeholder Liaison, he will gather the needs of Safe stakeholders and propose relevant use cases.

  • Background: Romain is a multi-founder in DeFi, having recently launched Amphor.io and Morphous.xyz.

Aymeric Lorenzelli

  • Role: Token engineer, he will design preliminary models and conduct simulations.

  • Background: Aymeric is the founder of WAGTI.corp and specializes in project analysis. He has been studying tokenomics and governance models for the past two years.

Aymeric will be fully dedicated to this study, while the other members will contribute on an as-needed basis.

  1. Additional support/resources: Are there any resources (non-financial) requested from the Safe Ecosystem Foundation or the core contributors?

We will need to engage with all relevant stakeholders of the Safe ecosystem to gather their needs and identify priority areas.

  1. Implementation dependencies: Does the implementation of this initiative require any prior changes in the current governance processes, e.g., updates to the governance framework, or have any other dependency? If yes, please specify these. Note that the funding of the initiative will be dependent on the approval and (if needed) successful implementation of such necessary governance modifications or any other dependency.

N/A

Hi @Hopper,

We’ve already completed the first two milestones you mentioned through the Safe Token Utility Sprint 1.

In our minds, the next step for Token Utility would be working out some pilots. However, I see great potential in collaborating with your team to continue research and create simulations of the Safe Token Utility opportunities instead. This would allow us to get more data/proof before funding pilots/production!

Let’s connect before Thursday and see what we can do?

3 Likes

Gm gents,

Great to see more contributions on the token utility strategy. As @LuukDAO mentioned, we’ve already covered quite a bit of ground in the previous sprint.
Would be great to coordinate on this, to define where it makes sense to conduct more research. I think most of the deliverables described in the proposal were already covered. But we didn’t do any simulations, this could help to confirm demand/impact for the different token utility cases.

2 Likes

Following the Safe Governance call yesterday - Romain (Hopper), Aymeric (Hopper), Lavi (Safe Token Utility), and myself (Safe Token Utility) have collaborated on a new iteration of this proposal that builds on the outcome from the Safe Token Utility Sprint 1, early data from Safe {Pass}, and the native Swap integration combined with market research by our teams to simulate and describe the potential value of Safings Accounts and Safe Vaults (Vault Marketplace) for the SAFE tokeneconomy.

We created a clean thread for the updated proposal here: [Draft] [OBRA] Simulations and Report: Safings Accounts and Safe Vaults - Kolektivo Labs & Hopper Protocol

2 Likes

Thank you @LuukDAO for all the work you provided so far. We are glad to work in collaboration with you and your team to help on final designs and simulation tests.
We think Hopper is a great opportunity to concretize your ideas.

2 Likes