[AIP-10] Restrict pools of auraBAL competitors

Proposals
1

Authors: 0xButterfield (Aura)

Summary

This proposal suggests that pools that are significantly composed of alternative or directly-competing liquid veBAL derivatives should not be entitled to $AURA emission, and thus should be “shut down” to remove them from the Aura system, as they present risks to Aura’s moat and flywheel.

Background

Aura’s key moat is currently derived from its liquid veBAL derivative, auraBAL. It is in the protocol’s interest to maintain the position of auraBAL in the Balancer ecosystem, because it forms the foundation of Aura’s flywheel for protocol growth.

The boosted staking and $AURA rewards that Aura can provide for liquidity pools are intended to foster the efficiency and growth of the flywheel.

If incentivised with boosted staking and $AURA rewards, liquidity pools that are composed significantly of alternative or competing liquid veBAL derivatives may potentially extract much more value than they could add, diminishing the flywheel effect for the protocol.

Recently, StakeDAO’s sdBAL-80BAL-20WETH-STABLE pool gauge was added to Aura. Given sdBAL is a competing liquid veBAL derivative to auraBAL this proposal suggests action should be taken by the Protocol DAO to restrict the rewards for this pool.

Terms

The Protocol Multi-sig should call shutdownPool on the Aura Pool Manager contract for the aforementioned pool of pid: 25 .

This transaction will shut down the pool by withdrawing everything from the gauge; this can later be claimed by depositors by using the Pool Manager’s withdraw function.

As of writing, the gauge has ~$120 in deposits, so no significant positions will need to be withdrawn in such a way until deposits are made.

In the future, if similar pools are added, this proposal gives the multi-sig authority to consider taking the same action without the need for a new proposal.

Voting

This vote will be a single-choice vote. You may vote “For” or “Against” this proposal, or choose to abstain from the vote. By voting “For” this proposal, you are voting in favor of the Protocol DAO calling the aforementioned shutdown transaction on this pool, and to consider taking the same action for similar pools in the future.

Background Information

Aura Pool Manager Contract

sdBAL 8020 Balancer Pool

4 Likes
3

looks good to me

it’s naturally aligned with Aura’s objectives

1 Like
4

it makes sense not to spend AURA emissions to help a competitor build their veBAL stack

2 Likes
5

I am in full support. Like solarcurve said it makes no sense to help a competitor. That being said it was also a tad cheeky by Stake DAO to even add the gauge :sweat_smile:

2 Likes
6

This is good. I support this.

1 Like
7

Absolutely makes sense to not allow competitors on Aura. Full support

1 Like
8

Snapshot will be live shortly.

https://vote.aura.finance/#/proposal/0x60592efcd23d1a9da6bea7b950e118693c7ce92f34d12fe36190c4f02e4eeb14

1 Like
9

Hey everyone,
Hubert from Stake DAO.

I am a bit surprised by this proposal tbh. We don’t see ourselves as competitors of auraBAL since our wrapper, sdBAL, is interesting in different market conditions than auraBAL. In current market conditions, it is more attractive to buy auraBAL then sdBAL since the price per vote on Aura is around $9.5 while voting with BAL/ETH LP token costs around 16$.

We are all here for the greater good of Balancer and that’s what really matters: increasing the locking of BAL as much as possible to bring Balancer to the moon. A greater share of BAL locked means a higher backing for Aura, so Aura also benefits when BAL is permalocked via Stake DAO.

We would love to collaborate with Aura more, and we have started taking actions to that matter (e.g. currently working on a tool that will direct our users to the best pool between Aura and Stake DAO).
Convex has never opposed to those pools in the Curve ecosystem, as they know that it’s a complementary offer. We also have the convex pools on Stake DAO, btw.

Furthermore, we have also the auraBAL pool on Stake DAO, so it doesn’t seem to me that it’s necessary to go into this kind of aggressive actions. We would be very happy to have Aura community members going to Stake DAO and receiving SDT rewards.

Finally, I’d say that this pool is generating a good revenue for auraBAL stakers and vlAURA holders. There is no reason for Aura to cut this efficient revenue stream.

1 Like
10

Welcome to the forum, brother!

Our of personal curiosity, what was the rationale behind StakeDAO issuing its own wrapper?

11

COMPLETED: AIP 10 - Restrict pools of auraBAL competitors Aura Improvement Proposal 10 has passed with over 99% of the vote. The vote prevents the allocation of Aura rewards to Balancer pools that have competing synthetic/wrapped derivatives of veBAL. AIP 10 has been implemented and the B-80BAL-20WETH/sdBal pool has been deprecated as a result.