Wallfacer Labs is now entering month 8 of its 9-month engagement with TrueFi. As such, we think it’s a good time to give the community an update on our work.
In this post, we’ll recap briefly our contributions thus far and what we plan to do in the last two months of this year.
We break down our contributions into a few key themes below in detail
Key contributions
Developed and supported best-in-class lending infrastructure
TrueFi is infrastructure for on-chain lending. Our Asset Vault tech is behind Adapt3r’s tfBILL Short-Term US Treasury Fund and demonstrates how TrueFi can support RWA activity of many shapes and sizes. We’ve also provided technical support for TrueFi lines of credit, which we are excited to see launch with its first customer very soon.
Users are welcome to watch demos of these products or to deploy/interact with them directly via the tutorials in TrueFi’s docs.
- Developed Asset Vaults
- Asset Vaults are specialized vaults that make new types of “Real World Asset” (RWA) activity possible on TrueFi. Asset Vaults represent off-chain instruments by using on-chain attestations called Asset Reports, which are JSON files uploaded to IPFS that contain detailed descriptions of off-chain assets. Ultimately, parties involved in RWA activity need to hold actual legal ownership of the assets, and this infrastructure helps them represent such ownership on-chain.
- For a brief example of how Adapt3r tfBILL uses Asset Vaults, see this tweet.
- Asset Vaults went live on Mainnet with the launch of Adapt3r tfBILL. Documentation can be found here.
- Developed Index Vaults
- Index Vaults are “fund of funds” infrastructure that enable vaults to allocate funds across underlying TrueFi vaults and other ERC-4626 vaults.
- In the future, this infrastructure could be used to create a new version of “DAO pools” that allocate across multiple managers and strategies.
- Index Vaults are live in “Labs” beta on testnet. Documentation can be found here.
Governance took control of key functions and is set up to operate autonomously
In 2023 TrueFi moved further down the path of decentralization by moving ownership of key functions to the DAO, while also putting in place checks that mitigate the risk of malicious attacks to governance.
TrueFi smart contracts are owned and controlled by TrueFi DAO on-chain governance. We shepherded improvements here because we see governance as a key differentiator between TrueFi and the rest of the RWA market. Decentralized governance gives lenders, PMs, and borrowers assurance that they can’t be rugpulled by the protocol.
- Ownership of key contracts and functions was passed to DAO governance via the approval of TFIP-7.
- A “Canceller” multisig was set up so that TrueFi can cancel risky/malicious actions in the DAO governance timelock, and pause protocol smart contracts.
- Treasury smart contracts were established to hold DAO funds
- TrueFi token emissions were reduced by turning off stkTRU emissions.
- [Urgent] Adjust stkTRU rewards before they run out
- In conjunction, reduced staking period for stkTRU and reduced risk for stakers
- TrueFi governance controls ~247mm TRU that can be emitted in the future. No unlocks are scheduled.
- Supported @Michael.Bland in assessment and planning for Snapshot migration
- Ensured that TrueFi honored its governance commitments to TRU LPs, resolved lingering issue from 2022 Sushi LP incentive campaign
Improved the user experience and showcased how TrueFi can partner with institutions / third-party providers
TrueFi got a new, optimized front end that is much simpler and faster than the legacy user interface. This is meant to serve general purposes for users to view and interact with TrueFi. Additionally, we supported Archblock in their work on the Archblock marketplace app, which serves as good model in showing how third parties can build on top of TrueFi’s open infrastructure and cater to institutional investors.
- Updates made to https://truefi.io/ marketing website to align it with latest version of the protocol
- For examples of the new interface, see the links below:
Provided support to external parties
In addition to the more technical work mentioned above, we have also provided “soft” support to multiple actors across the TrueFi ecosystem. We continue to evangelize TrueFi and help external parties learn how they can work with TrueFi.
- Provided support and continue to support Adapt3r on their deployment and technical operations of tfBILL
- Provided information on TrueFi protocol to Kryptonim and facilitated governance conversation towards first deployment of TrueFi Line of Credit
- Collaborated with Archblock to build controllers / “hooks” on top of Asset Vaults, as well as its front-end for TrueFi that caters to institutional investors and PMs
- Maintained relationships with crypto-native borrowers, underwriters, and credit rating solutions. We hope to work with these parties in the future when market appetite returns for these types of deals.
- Facilitated conversations with market makers (MM firms) but ultimately did not push for MM deal because TRU token maintained fairly strong liquidity across Coinbase, Binance, and additional exchanges throughout 2023.
- Participated in token sale discussion with DWF Labs, ultimately deciding not to pursue deal with DWF.
Spread awareness of TrueFi through educational content and socialized ideas for TrueFi’s future
Additionally, we have spent time writing and sharing our ideas across the wider DeFi and RWA ecosystems. This has helped to spread awareness of TrueFi to new actors, and in 2024, we hope more focus on marketing and communication can help TrueFi reach more people.
- Tranche/fee comparison
- Highlighted TrueFi features in Substack post that spread awareness of TrueFi features throughout multiple DeFi and RWA communities (on Centrifuge for example)
- Comparing Fees of Credit Protocols
- Hosted Adapt3r on podcast https://twitter.com/wallfacerlabs/status/1713223141139632302
- Socialized TrueFi lines of credit and tranche vaults by putting forward experimental ideas
- Proposed Incentive program for PMs
- It has not been enacted, but did get recognized by wider DeFi ecosystem (link).
- We think this program is worth revisiting and implementing
- [Proposal] Create incentive program worth up to 25mm TRU to attract new PMs to TrueFi
- Put out long-term/moonshot ideas for TRU tokenomics
What’s next?
In the remainder of 2023, our focus is on supporting Adapt3r’s tfBILL by providing technical support to potential lenders, and potentially, by deploying asset vaults on L2 network(s).
We will also provide technical support to new borrowers, PMs, and lenders onboarding to TrueFi. Kryptonim is expected to launch its line of credit on TrueFi in early November, and we will be available to support this product.
In addition to these areas, we are happy to collaborate with other initiatives driven by the community.