Grant Proposal Template
Part 1 - Proposal Submission (*Mandatory)
Name of Project:
Ocean Protocol Non-Custodial Loan Infrastructure
Proposal in one sentence:
A decentralized, non-custodial and trustless protocol that allows users to create overcollateralized debt instruments across Ocean and Ethereum
Description of the project and what problem is it solving: (You can give more details in “proposal details” section farther down.)
Ocean’s current circulating supply is currently around 613,099,141 OCEAN which accounts for about 43% of the Max supply. The liquidity of ocean protocol is therefore limited. Likewise, many token holders do not have mechanisms to trade the time-value of their holdings. As a consequence, Centralized Lending solutions have emerged to provide liquidity to the market, however, these lending services are centralized entities that can seize or steal funds and are not easily accessible to everyone.
As a solution to this problem, we propose a decentralized, non-custodial and trustless protocol to allow users to create overcollateralized debt instruments across Ocean and Ethereum Protocols. Thus, users will be able to borrow and lend OCEAN using Ethereum tokens as collateral.
To make this a reality, we are moving to design a cross-chain protocol with Hashed Time-Locked Contracts (HTLCs) to enable debt and repayment between parties. We will also adopt an atomic swap functionality that strategically reveals secrets to stand for actions in the loan chain.
Grant Deliverables: (Target deliverables for the funding provided.)
- Design Uni/UX files and protocol documentation to enable other devs to implement the systems in their respective application environments.
- Begin the mobile implementation of the Ocean Loans Protocol in a compatible wallet infrastructure.
- Create Marketing Materials to target crypto enthusiasts and traders to utilize our framework.
Which Project Category best describes your project? Pick one.
Build / improve applications or integrations to Ocean
Are you applying for an Earmark? Pick one.
- New Project
What is the final product?
Oceanprotocol.loans will be an API that will allow everyone to build a loan application on OCEAN, making it possible for borrowers and lenders to interact and earn with automated APY’s. With the final product, users will be able to use Ocean token as collateral for borrowing Ethereum based tokens.
We will also push to go B2C as we scale in order to target normal users in a bid to reduce the barriers to entry by making fast, appealing and simple to use interfaces - Making borrowing and lending OCEAN/ETH as easy as sending a text message.
**Question on “value add” criteria: which one or more of the criteria will your project focus on? Why do you believe your team will do well on those criteria? **
Creating cross-chain interoperability between Ocean and Ethereum will allow market participants to access liquidity between blockchains by enabling loans to occur between different blockchains without intermediaries.
Some of the benefits to the OceanProtocol ecosystem are:
- Enabling stablecoin/ERC20 tokens access to Ocean holders.
- Allowing OCEAN holders to exchange the time value of their tokens without selling.
- Allowing users to Lend and Borrow tokens without intermediaries or giving up custody of their assets.
Some of the risks to the ecosystem if this system is not implemented correctly:
- OCEAN market volatility due to lack of liquidity.
- Centralised OCEAN lending services can be hacked or steal the funds of their users.
- Lack of OCEAN interoperability with other blockchains.
Risks that could make executing this project difficult:
- Libraries in early development stages.
- OCEAN specifications / functionality still not implemented
- Lack of library support for web/mobile environments.
Funding Requested: (Amount of USD your team is requesting - see the available funding levels here)
$2,870
Proposal Wallet Address: (must have minimum 500 OCEAN in wallet to be eligible. This wallet is where you will receive the grant amount if selected).
0x279c866dD68a378E105e2755E32535c5F3E6D4EC
Have you previously received an OceanDAO Grant? If yes, please specify what round(s) and how much was granted each round.
N
Team Website (if applicable):
oceanprotocol.loans (in progress)
Project lead full name:
Stephen Petras
Project lead email:
Country of Residence:
Sweden
Part 2 - Team
IMPORTANT: See Criterion (4). One Project/One proposal on communicating “Core Team” versus “Advisor”. You may be ineligible if not correctly updated.
2.1 Core Team
For each team member, give their name, role and background. An example is below.
Name: Steven Petras
Role: FOUNDER & CEO
Background/Experience:
Seasoned Entrepreneur with a robust wealth of knowledge and experience in building and managing several IT firms and other startups including Jetbrain, Mainteny, Revolut. Also equipped with over 6 years of experience as a crypto veteran. And over 13 years of experience with managing third-party loan infrastructures. A diversified portfolio cutting across both national and international entities. Also gifted with an unmatched passion to grow the crypto community through massive awareness campaigns.
Part 3 - Proposal Details (*Recommended)
3.1 Details
Details of the proposal:
Already available solutions to the lending of crypto assets are centralized. The fact that these services are centralized raises some concerns such as the funds may be stolen, and the funds are not always available. Oceanprotocol.loans is our unique solution to this problem. It is a decentralized, non-custodial and trustless protocol that allows users to borrow or lend Ethereum based tokens using ocean tokens as collateral or vice versa using a method known as atomic swap.
3.2 If in Category “Build / improve applications or integration to Ocean”:
App will be live at:
app.oceanprotocol.loans
Is the software open-source?
N
**If open-source, please specify the license. If no, please specify why not open-source. **
The software for oceanprotocol.loans will not be open source pending when the necessary protocols and procedures to protect the system are in place, the team may decide to make the protocols open-source. But at this infant stage of the project, in order to protect the community and its users, The team have decided against making the project open-source.
Project software can be found at:
Nil
3.7 If the project includes software:
Are there any mockups or designs to date? If yes, please share details / links.
Y
Some
- Comprehensive research on non collateralized loans.
- Assembled the founding team.
- Hired a UI/UX designer and a full stack to start the initial building block set up for the project.
**Please given an overview of the technology stack. **
(1-4 paragraphs, ideally with images)
3.8 If the project includes community engagement:
Which channels will be used? For how long? E.g. “twitter, for 8 weeks”. Other details?
- Twitter ( 4 weeks) with a target to grow x3.5 MoM.
- Facebook (2 Weeks)with a target to grow x5 MoM.
- Instagram (6 Weeks) with a target to grow x3 MoM.
- Paid Telegram, Discord and Twitter influencers and Micro influencers to increase rareness within the Ocean Communities and the data ecosystem at large
3.9 Project Deliverables - Roadmap
Any prior work completed thus far? Details?
(Y or N; details)
What is the project roadmap? That is: what are key milestones, and the target date for each milestone. Please make sure that one milestone is about publishing your results, e.g. as a medium blog post.
MAR 2022
- Development and testing of project prototype.
- Media publication of articles explaining relevant project updates, and roadmaps on Medium.
- Create public awareness for Oceanprotocol.loans through massive media campaigns.
- Release Technical whitepaper and lightpaper for Oceanprotocol.loans
2nd Quarter 2022 (APR - JUNE):
- Create a functional dashboard to enable users to monitor their financial assets.
- Auditing of oceanprotocol.loans by renowned crypto and financial auditors to build public trust of the protocol.
- Integrate/Connect to the Ocean Protocol Marketplace.
3rd Quarter 2022 (JUL - SEPT):
- Auditing of oceanprotocol.loans by renowned crypto and financial auditors to build public trust of the loaning institution.
- Obtaining Certik Certification for embedded smart contracts within the oceanprotocol.loans system.
4th Quarter 2022 (OCT - DEC):
- Release a mobile application on the App Store and Play Store.
- Research multi-chain deployment of the Oceanprotocol.loan service
- Research expansion of the protocol to include tokens outside the scope of ETH.
What is the team’s future plans and intentions? Is there maintenance? Possible extensions to the work?
Our long-term plans to maintain this software and upgrade it over time include:
- Maintain & update the Web dApp to implement newer oceanprotocol.loan browser-based wallets.
- Migrate Oceanprotocol.loans protocol from using Payment Channels to the native virtual machine smart contracts once it is released.
- Create interoperability with other EVM based blockchains.
3.10 Additional Information
Any additional information to add? E.g. custom fields or images? E.g. other grants or fundraising to date?
MARKET MAKERS
Makers propose their borrow/lend interest rates to market takers. To initiate the position, they have to collateralize at least 120% in ETH or Ocean as the case may be.
MARKET TAKERS
Takers see the proposal and take a deal. In a loan deal, they will be borrowers or lenders. To make a deal, they have to collateralize a proportional value of Ocean or ETH-based token as the case may be.
OCEAN NETWORK
Ocean used to settle and verify the transfers of tokens involved in loan deals.
MONEY & CAPITAL MARKET
Market smart contracts used to gather market information. It works like an on-chain two-sided order book.
COLLATERAL MANAGEMENT
Based on Ethereum smart contract that takes ETH/USDT as collateral and manages the funds’ ownership based on its state.
LOAN REGISTRY
It is a smart contract that stores all the loans to manage schedules for coupon payments, calculate PV (present value), and control its state.